NEC P451W Review - A High-performing, Entry-level Installation Projector

The Brighter the Better?

The things to look out for in a conference room projector are usually quite different compared to those of a home theater projector. For the former, the number one spec one tends to zoom in on is the brightness. The assumption is: the brighter the projector, the better it is at overcoming ambient light. There’s another reason for paying attention to a projector’s light output. Because brightness decreases as the projector moves further away from the screen, a brighter projector is also seen as being more able to project a larger image, while maintaining a bright enough image.

The NEC P451W we’ve here is exactly that: a high brightness projector designed for large conference rooms or even small auditoriums. It has a maximum light output of 4,500 ANSI lumens, a contrast ratio of 4,000:1, and a native WXGA resolution (that is, 1,280 x 800). It’s one of two new WXGA projectors in NEC’s P series of entry-level installation projectors; the other being the P401W, and the only meaningful difference is the latter’s slightly lower light output (4,000 lumens). For those looking for something more affordable and is okay to exchange that with a lower XGA resolution (that’s 1,024 x 768), NEC has it in the form of the P451X (also 4,500 lumens). And for a bit more, the XGA-also P501X bumps the brightness to 5,000 lumens. In a nutshell, the four aforementioned projectors are near identical form and function-wise, save for their brightness, resolution, and naturally, lamp life and power consumption stats.

To better illustrate their differences, here’s a table comparing the key specs of the four projectors:

Design & Hardware

Design-wise, the P451W (and its other three siblings) isn’t unlike the NEC projectors who’ve reviewed in the past: a mostly white box with NEC’s signature sliding lens door that acts as an audio/video mute switch. Of course, being an installation projector, it’s bigger than your average meeting room projector. It’s expectedly heavier too: its 4.1kg frame makes it a hassle to lug around (it wasn’t designed to be, anyway) than your typical 2kg portable business projector.

The 1.7x zoom lens is another highlight; the resulting 1.3 to 2.2 throw ratio offers quite a good bit of placement flexibility. To give you an idea, you need about 9 to 15m between the projector and the screen to get a 300-inch widescreen projection. For those intending to ceiling-mount the P451W, it also comes with vertical lens shift (0 to +0.6V), something you don’t usually find in smaller meeting room projectors. Both the manual zoom and focus levers reside in a cavity at the top of the cabinet, just behind the lens.

Like most of NEC’s M series portable projectors, the P451W is decked with connectivity options, such as VGA, S-Video, and composite video inputs. Not one but two HDMI inputs (that also carry audio) can also be found, a sensible move considering most if not all digital video output devices (Blu-ray players, camcorders, PCs, smartphones) these days support HDMI. Mic-in, monitor-out, and RS-232C terminals aren’t usually the must-haves for most buyers, but they’re present for those who do use them (for example, teachers who need to simultaneously view the projected image on an external monitor; IT administrators who require serial communication from a PC). It goes without saying too that the P451W supports communication from a Crestron Roomview system.

For networking, you’ve two options: either use the built-in RJ-45 LAN port, or get a dongle (NP02LM2) to enable wireless LAN. This dongle plugs into a USB port that’s hidden behind a cover, which requires a screw removal before you can open it. And speaking of USB ports, the terminal panel is also home to a Type B USB port and a Type A USB port. The former lets you control your Windows PC’s mouse using the bundled projector remote, or project your PC’s screen (including audio!) over the USB cable (yes, sans any other video cable), while the latter provides the option for PC-less presentations, since it’s capable of reading images stored on a USB memory device.

All in all, if you’ve used any recent NEC projector, you'll feel right at home with the P451W. One nitpick: for its price and considering NEC is always touting its USB features, it'd be nice if NEC throws in a USB cable that has the less common Type B connector.

Software & Networking Features

Several software and networking features on NEC’s M series business projectors that we’ve come to like are also found on the new P series projectors, including the P451W. Briefly, here's a list of the major ones:

• Virtual Remote Tool: As the name implies, this is a virtual remote window or toolbar that you can bring up on your PC’s screen. Requiring only the VGA cable, it lets you perform functions like turning the projector on or off, changing of signals, and muting the audio and video. Through a serial or LAN connection, you can even replace the projector’s on-screen logo. This is a Windows-only program.

• Image Express Utility Lite: Supporting both Windows and Mac, IEU Lite lets you transmit the image on your computer’s screen to the projector over the network. An Easy Connection function helps to simplify the wireless LAN connection process.
  
  
  
  Unfortunately, this is about all this tool is useful for on the Mac. On Windows, IEU Lite has more features. For example, you can also send audio from the PC to the projector over the network or the USB cable. In other words, USB Display, which lets a USB cable carries both video and audio signals from the PC to the projector without any other A/V cable isn’t possible on the Mac. In addition, photos and videos on your flash drive that’s connected to the Type A USB port can be streamed to the projector over the network. Lastly, the GCT software (geometric correction tool) that does advanced correction of image distortion (even from an angle) is also Windows-only.

• Image Express Utility: The main difference between this and IEU Lite is that you can use it to transmit an image via a network connection to up to four projectors at the same time. Also, a Meeting mode enables meeting participants to see the projected image on their own screen. You can even save the image locally. Again, this software is Windows-only.
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• PC Control Utility Pro: The only other software that works on both Windows and Mac, it lets you operate the projector from your computer over a LAN connection.
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• Wireless Image Utility: Considering the popularity of mobile devices, and the increasing use of BYOD (bring your own devices) policies in companies, it'll be unwise for any projector maker to not have a way for their users to beam what they've on your mobile devices to the projector. For NEC, the enabler is the Wireless Image Utility app (iTunes App Store link). In short, it lets you wirelessly project photos and documents from your iOS device to the projector. Real-time camera images can also be projected.

To summarize, you’re in for a treat if you’re running Windows, but not so much if you’ve a Mac, since most of the projector’s software bells and whistles don’t work on Apple’s desktop OS. In particular, the geometric correction tool is very handy for remedying distortions that can’t be corrected by keystone and lens shift adjustments (for example, an image projected on a curved screen).

For the Wireless Image Utility mobile app, granted, it's not the prettiest app we've seen, but it's a move in the right direction. The decision to incorporate annotation and pointer features is spot on. Disappointingly, there's no Android equivalent.

Performance & Image Quality

The P451W scored well in both the usability and image quality departments. In our tests, it started up and detected the video source quickly, and was able to ramp up to set brightness in less than a minute. This can be brought down to mere seconds if the normal standby mode is used. By default, this is set to power-saving standby mode to further lower energy consumption by disabling certain functions, such as monitor and audio-out, Virtual Remote Tool, and USB Display. Looking at the numbers, you can see why NEC uses this as the default: under normal standby mode, the power draw is 10W; under power-saving standby mode, it’s only 0.43W. If you can afford that minute or two, we suggest keeping the default.

Also, by default, the P451W tries to detect the last used input. You can change this to a specific source input in the setup menu. Pressing the Source button on the projector cabinet will prompt the projector to search for an available signal and display it; an easier method is to just use the remote control, which has dedicated input source buttons.

In addition, the P451W supports a Direct Power Off feature, which means you can just unplug it from the AC power to turn it off. If you were to turn it off via the remote or control panel, there’s also no need for a cool down period before you can put the projector away. Arguably, these features are more useful on a portable projector than a fixed installation projector - but hey, we aren’t complaining.

Now, the P451W’s 4,500-lumen brightness is only achievable in High-Bright mode; which means, light output dips when you use other presets or the Eco modes. There are actually several Eco modes you can choose from. Under Normal Eco mode, brightness drops about 20%; under Eco mode (or should we say Eco Eco mode?), it drops a further 40%. If you’ve control over the ambient lighting, the resulting 2,300 lumens is still very good, especially for movies. There’s also an Auto Eco mode that alternates between Eco Off and Normal Eco modes automatically. Of course, the purpose of engaging Eco mode is to lower power consumption, which in turn prolongs the lamp life. NEC quotes a 6,000-hour lamp life under the most power-saving Eco mode, 4,000 hours under Normal Eco, and 3,500 hours under Auto Eco or if Eco mode is turned off completely.

All that said, the P451W turned in a very good image performance in our tests. Images were very bright, even at the extreme wide-angle end. This is one projector that should handle a 200-inch projection without breaking a sweat, and bigger if you could rein in the ambient light. At the telephoto end, brightness did dip about 20%, which is consistent with some of NEC’s projectors equipped with a 1.7x zoom lens we’ve come across in the past. While this may sound like a lot, it's in fact one of the better performers. Brightness uniformity was noted to be very good, though not stellar. Moreover, if you’re doing a 200-inch projection, it’s highly unlikely that you’d notice any uneven areas. And while the projector has a native 1,280 x 800 resolution, it accepts up to 1,920 x 1,200 analog RGB and HDMI signals.

Without a doubt, data performance was aided by the high brightness. We noted razor-sharp details on a 100-inch projection, as well as good color saturation, which means graphics-heavy PowerPoint slides looked very nice too. As the throw distance gets longer and the screen bigger, it would take a bit of fiddling to lock down that sharpest focus, especially if you’re doing the fine-tuning alone (remember, focusing has to be done manually, so you’ve to be physically near the projector). Yes, color accuracy took a hit under High-Bright mode; if that’s important to you, we recommend the Presentation mode, which renders colors better, and yet is bright enough to counter the ambient light.

The P451W also put up a good show when we hooked it up to a Blu-ray player using an HDMI cable. Gamma performance out of the box seemed to be good for our test unit. Contrast was kept fairly high, and shadow details were not crushed for the most part. For film or video content, the obvious presets to use is either Video or Movie mode (the latter is closer to 6,500K, by the way). To reiterate, light output was noticeably lower under these modes, so performance got better when we dimmed the room lights. For tweakers, there are gamma correction, color temperature (six options going from 5,000 to 10,500K), and white balance settings (among others) to play with. And before we forget, the projector has a DICOM simulation mode, which is meant for users who need to show accurate medical diagnostic images.

Conclusion: A Very Good Entry-level Installation Projector

In more ways than one, this new P series of projectors is the brighter version of NEC’s current M series of portable business projectors, which currently tops out at 4,200 ANSI lumens in the M420X. There are also other patterns that the P series follows, such as the similar cabinet styling (albeit bigger and heavier), the same remote control and wireless dongle, and similar core specs, like the 0.6-inch 3LCD tech, manual 1.7x zoom lens, and connectivity options.

Of course, for larger spaces like conference rooms or even auditoriums, the P451W’s 4,500 lumens or the P501X’s 5,000 lumens can only do more good. But don’t be mistaken that higher light output is the only thing going for the P series. These projectors also come with vertical lens shift (that is, the lens can be physically shifted up and down within the housing), which allows for greater leeway during placement. This is a key feature that the M series doesn’t have.

Aided by the high brightness and contrast (4,000:1 on the P series vs. no more than 3,000:1 on the M series), the P451W turned in excellent data projection quality and better than par video quality. The continued lack of 3D support is disappointing, but totally expected as it’s usually reserved for the DLP models. The built-in 16W monaural speaker was also noticeably louder than the best 10W speakers we’ve heard in other projectors. That being said, the volume is more conference room-filling than auditorium-filling. The plethora of inputs/outputs should also be lauded, especially the inclusion of two HDMI ports, and the twin USB ports for the USB Display and file viewing functions.

All in all, if you’re looking for a business-oriented projector for use in large conference rooms, which a 2,500 to 3,500-lumen projector can’t cope with, the P451W (and the other models in the P series) is more than worth your consideration. At S$2,499, it’s also one of the more reasonably priced 4,500-lumen projectors out there. If your needs go beyond that (for example, both horizontal and vertical lens shift, the ability to change lenses, a projected image size of 500 inches, brightness higher than 5,000 lumens), then you’ll have to turn your attention to more advanced (and more costly) installation projectors, such as NEC’s PA series or Epson’s EB-4000/G6000 series.

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