Customer Reviews
Really Nice Little Projector 
2006-12-24
While there are certainly individual variations on products, the bad reviews below skew the ratings unjustifiably, IMO.
I have had this projector for about two months, and while I don't use it everyday, I have used it a lot. It has a very nice picture, is very bright (I have tried it on a white wall washed by direct sunlight, and, to my amazement, there was still a viewable picture in the sunlight), is remarkably tiny, and has been reliable so far.
We have used it at meetings at two trade associations I am part of, and it received many favorable comments. (The largest meeting had about 60 people, and the image was clearly viewable from everywhere in the room.)
It is not a long throw projector, and the zoom range is surprisingly limited. The colors are a bit washed out, no matter how I adjust them in the menus. They are not as vivid as on my computer screen.
That said, it is really a neat projector, and viewing pictures at the size this projector can easily do makes it an involving experience. I also have a 24" computer monitor, and watching pictures on the projector is way cooler than on the computer screen regardless of the color limitations. We have watched a couple of movies on it, too, and the movement response is smoother than on my LCD screen.
The energy/lamp saver (which supposedly doubles lamp life) has such a minimal effect on brightness that I leave it on that setting all the time.
In researching before buying, there were comments about the rainbow effect of DLP projectors. While I have seen it on a setup screen, where a circle is shown on a white screen, and when I scan my eyes over the screen quickly rainbows are visible, regardless, in actual use it is not noticeable. To my eye.
The case that comes with it is really nifty, abeit a tiny bit too small for all the accessories (which are also useful). It's hard to believe that such a cool thing fits into such a tiny package.
I would totally buy one again, and am actualy considering it at Amazon's current price (under $700; the guidelines say I'm not supposed to name a price). That is a screaming deal IMO.
Given that a replacement lamp is around $300, it's hard to not want to have a spare projector, too, for an extra few hundred $$.
Solid performance, bright picture 
2006-11-28
The company I work for has one of these and I've toted it around to many meetings, hooked it up to Dell's and Apple's, used it for gaming, moving watching and presentations, and haven't had one single problem. There are some naysayers below, and of course there are always lemons, but honestly the reason I came to this page (and was startled to find negative reviews) is because I'm looking to purchase a second unit for my personal use in a home theater. This device has a brighter picture than other units we have at my work, is quieter, has more intuitive menus and a practical remote (with a laser pointer!), has nifty adjustable feet on either side in the back which make it easy to level and center the picture, and lot's of other neat little nicities. Really, I don't have anything bad to say about it, but mine isn't broken like the two people who reviewed this before me. ;-)
Two defective units so far 
2006-09-27
The first unit had a non-functional control panel. Except the power button, pressing other buttons on the unit had no effect. Pressing the menu key on the remote brought up the menu but nothing could be selected. The picture could be displayed but was in a distorted shape. Nothing could be adjusted. The unit overheated after 10 minutes of use and turned itself completely off without leaving the fan running.
The second unit had a functional control panel. I have not tried the remote yet. But it also had the same overheating problem and shut itself off without the fan running after about 1 hour of use.
Once the colors, brightness and contrast are properly tuned, this unit displayed vivid colors. The colors were very good (with a slight yellowish cast) for displaying digital photos which was the reason I bought it for. I found even the eco mode, the unit was bright enough when projected to a Da-Lite 50"x50" matte white portable screen (gain=1.0) when the room was dark in the evening. In the eco mode, the project can last much longer without overheating. But who wants to keep a new car which overheats on highway speed?
I am waiting for the third one to be delivered. If the third one is not working as expected (functional control panel and not overheating), I will have to order another brand, such as the Optoma EP719.
I must add that Amazon has a wonderful customer service policy. Returning a defective unit is real easy and painless.
Update
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The third unit ran for three hours in the normal (not eco) mode without overheating. The front of the unit was not too hot to touch like the other two previous units.
The colors, contrast and brightness worked equally well as the second unit. I tried a DVD movie ran from the same laptop and it was pretty good. The remote worked too although I would have liked to have it simulate the mouse click through the USB port. Both the Infocs X3 and Epson Powerlite 76C have that feature. I guess I have to use my real wireless mouse for that.
This one is the keeper! I would like to upgrade my rating to 3 stars but there is no way to do that.
Repeated failures 
2006-09-15
ViewSonic has replaced my brand new PJ458D model projector three times, and the current one has also failed after 10-30 minutes. In each case, the lamp shuts down and cannot be restarted until it cools. Several times the fan also shut down with the lamp, shortening the life of the bulb. This has been frustrating to the extreme and the company has offered no explanation. I will not accept another of this model, nor recommend it to anyone.
Good Entry-Mid Level Projector at an affordable price 2008-04-30
This is my first projector, I got it about a year ago and the way I have it setup is what you could consider "home cinema". I have a media PC hooked up to it via VGA (15 pin DSub) and a Playstation 2 hooked up via S-Video. The VGA setup comes out very crisp, for HD videos as well as HDTV. We had a superbowl party and everyone was quite impressed. The S-Video is decent, but nothing special - it's certainly better than using the yellow RCA jack. So currently I have it projecting from about 11 and a half feet away onto a white wall and the diagonal picture measurement is the equivalent of having a 100 inch TV.
The OSD menu is very helpful and the settings are pretty intuitive, from setting up the picture on slanted walls (keystone) or as a ceiling mounted projector, to correcting the color and white intensity. The ECO-mode, if it works as it claims, is such a small drop in brightness, that I have it on all the time. It's supposed to extend the lamp life by 1000 hours. I've already logged 900 hours on the lamp (another nice feature - it shows the total time the lamp has been on) and it's still running well, although I'll sometimes notice a faint flicker in the upper left corner that eventually goes away after 15 seconds or so. I'm not sure if that's from the signal or the projector itself.
The only drawback is the lack of either DVI or HDMI in. I don't want to upgrade to a digital in projector yet so I got an in-line converter from HDMI/DVI to VGA (Google HDFury) which will allow me to hookup an Xbox 360 or PS3 whenever I get one.
I'm quite pleased with the projector so far, and I would recommend it to anyone that isn't going to need a digital input, but wants a quality picture at a middle of the road price.
Worked great until it didn't anymore....not-so-great service 2007-11-21
This was my first projector. I was very happy with it until one day, with no warning, it stopped working. I would turn it on, and within 5 seconds it would indicate the temp was too high and shut itself off. I contacted Viewsonic to arrange a warranty repair. Their webpage said they'd send me a unit within 48 hours. Their phone support said no units were available, I'd have to wait up to 15 days for mine to be repaired. They received mine on the 2nd. Today is the 21st and I'm being told they still don't have any replacement units, so it'll be another 7-10 days. I get the feeling I'll hear the same thing in 10 days.
I'm going to buy an Optoma today.
Update 18-Dec-07: On 4-Dec, ViewSonic offered to replace my PJ458D with a PJ558D. I agreed and then waited for it to be shipped to me. I've been waiting ever since. Every 2 days I call and they tell me that due to a new computer system they've just installed, my shipment is in limbo. Then they say they will escalate my case. When pressed for more information, the customer service reps always admit, "that's all they can do". Whenever I ask to speak to a supervisor, I am put on eternal hold (last week it was 48 minutes before I finally gave up). The saga continues.
Get's the job done. 2007-09-21
My first attempt of setup was setting it on the coffee table in front of me, but it seemed to keep over heating and shutting itself off to cool. Since I installed it from the ceiling, it has not over heated.
I am projecting a really nice 90" widescreen image from about 8' from the screen. I have found that using the 16:9 widescreen setting give the best image. The brightness is enough that I can have a ceiling light on behind me and it does not effect the image that much.
No PIP, but from what I hear that usually does not turn out good anyway.
No HDMI input, but the S-Video works just fine.
The remote works great. Point it almost any direction you want and it works, and the pets love the built in laser pointer.
About the only thing I would change is HDMI input. Other than that, it is just what I needed, and about a thousand dollars less than trying to buy a LCD or Plasma big enough to really create a theater experience.
Great projector with a great price! 2007-05-15
This projector is super bright and works just great. Plus with its absolutely unbeatable low price, you won't go wrong with this purchase!
worth the money 2007-03-26
pros: been great for watching movies off laptop, hooked easily to my mac laptop
cons: very white scenes can be washed out, could not make it work with Windows running via boot camp, hook up with RCA cables to my component DVD player looks awful
overall: worth the cost
