Epson PowerLite Presenter Projector/DVD Player Combo Review

Setup

Setting up the PowerLite Presenter is fairly easy. All of the ports are on the back of the Presenter, as shown in Figure 9. There is an HDMI port on the left. Next to that is a VGA port for a computer. The composite and component video and audio ports are next to that. On the right side is a USB port (Type B). Under these ports, you will see 2-10 watt speakers flanking the microphone input, the power connector, a digital audio out and a Type A USB port. The Type B USB port is used for an instant connection to a PC. The Type A USB port can be used for a USB thumb drive, providing PC-free slideshows.

Figure 9: The back of the Presenter.

There are only three steps to getting the projector to work with your PC. Connect the PC to the projector using the computer video port, transfer the video to the external video port (usually done by a key-combination on laptops) and choose the source on the projector. Actually, the projector may find the source automatically, but in some circumstances we found we had to press the SearchSource button on the top of the device.

Hooking up the computer by USB is almost as easy. The projector will automatically install the software needed for the USB connection. (It is in the projector.) All you have to do is answer a few questions on the screen. Be aware though, some patience may be needed. It can take some time for the software to start installing. On a Vista laptop, it took about 4 minutes. However, on an older XP computer, it took more than ten minutes, during which time you are left wondering what you did wrong. Our complaint was not so much the amount of time that the installation took, but rather that there were no prompts or windows that gave any indication that anything was happening.

Also, while the USB software will work on a PC, it is not available for the Mac.

You can also use the HDMI port of the projector to hook up other video and audio sources, like an Xbox, a PS3, or a Wii.