LCoS Projectors

LCoS digital projectors

LCoS is the third major technology used by business projectors, and reviewers say that it produces the highest-quality images of all. LCoS projectors used to be unaffordable to the vast majority of business professionals, but in the last couple of years their price has fallen dramatically.

The Canon REALiS X700 (*Est. $2,500) has an XGA resolution of 1,024 pixels by 768 pixels. M. David Stone, at PC Magazine, which awards the X700 an Editors' Choice award, measures brightness at an impressive 2,906 lumens, which is the highest of any projector at the time of the review, though substantially lower than the 4,000 lumens claimed by Canon. Images are vibrant and saturated, despite an unimpressive -- on paper -- contrast ratio. Image quality for entertainment -- movies and sports -- is better than most business projectors, but a tendency to lose detail in dark areas keeps it from being competitive with a home theater projector in that regard. Set up is quick and easy, and an auto set feature can be used to handle basic set up functions -- like focusing -- even easier. However, the automatic keystone adjustment added some image artifacts. Like many LCoS projectors, the X700 is on the heavy side, weighing in at 10.6 pounds, so it's not the best for portable use. Audio is a disappointment -- too faint to be heard more than a few feet away even at top volume.

If you are looking for a higher-resolution option, the Canon REALiS SX80 (*Est. $2,875) is worth considering. The SX80 is an SXGA+ projector, and its 1,400-by-1,050-pixel resolution is the highest of any projector targeted to the business user. This projector succeeds the earlier Canon REALiS SX50 and REALiS SX60, and experts such as Jeff Sauer of Sound & Video Contractor say that image quality is notably better than those two very well received models. Specifically, image processing has visibly improved, which means that the SX80 does a fantastic job in scaling other resolutions to its native 1,400 pixels by 1,050 pixels.

Brightness is also excellent with the Canon REALiS SX80. Sound & Vision Contractor measures it at 2,765 lumens in the projector's presentation mode, which is relatively close to Canon's claim of 3,000 lumens. Other modes cut brightness a bit, to 2,341 lumens in the standard mode, 2,074 lumens in the RGB mode and 1,705 lumens in the movie mode. One issue is that blacks tend to wash out badly when the presentation mode is used, which leads Sauer to suggest it should only be used "sparingly," such as when there's loads of ambient light.

ProjectorCentral.com also looks at the Canon REALiS SX80, and comes away sufficiently impressed to give it its Highly Rated designation. Color accuracy is a major plus, Evan Powell writes, saying it was nearly perfect in the sRGB mode right out of the box. The high resolution and lack of visible pixel structure make it a top choice for presenting complex graphics. It's also a top choice for photographers looking to display their work. Contrast is, again, unimpressive on paper, but things look tons better on the screen, and images have plenty of pop. Even outside of the presentation mode, blacks are not as deep as they would be on a better home-theater projector, but they are good nonetheless. The on-board audio is judged inadequate as the single speaker and one-watt amp sound "thin and tinny." Interesting features include PictBridge compatibility for displaying photos direct from a digital camera and the ability to display a presentation stored on a USB drive, without the need for a laptop or a PC. At 11.5 pounds, the REALiS SX80 is quite a load to carry, despite the inclusion of a soft carrying case.