Sanyo PDG-DSU30 Projector

Sanyo PDG-DSU30 Projector

Built around a DLP-based SVGA (800x600) engine, the Sanyo DG-DSU30 is slightly brighter than its claimed 2500 lumens. It is reasonably portable, at 5.1 pounds, with the portability enhanced by a combination of features, including horizontal and vertical image shift, that help make setup easy. It's an attractive SVGA budget choice for classrooms and business use.

Advantages
Easy connection setup. The PDG-DSU30 makes setting up a connection as simple as plugging in a cable and turning on the video source. The auto input search feature quickly found incoming signals whenever we changed the image source in our tests, and the auto sync feature synchronized to the signal without even waiting for a command to sync. Even better, the auto-sync worked so well that images designed to bring out pixel jitter in analog connections looked as rock solid as with a digital connection.

Easy to set up image size and position.
Setting image size and position is much easier than with most projectors, thanks to a number of small conveniences. For basic control of image height, front and back leg adjustments let you point the projector up or down. You can then adjust the image position for both height and horizontal position with the vertical and horizontal image shift settings.

The 1.1x zoom feature doesn't let you change the image size by much, but it's enough to let you put the projector at approximately the right distance from the screen and then make fine adjustments with the zoom ring rather than having to move the projector.

Brightness.
Unlike most projectors, the PDG-DSU30 lives up to its claimed brightness rating. We measured its Bright mode at 2562 lumens, about 2% higher than its 2500 lumen rating. That's more than enough to throw a large image that can stand up to any likely lighting in a classroom or office.

Wide brightness range.
The projector also offers several modes suitable for lower levels of ambient light for any given size image. (The rated screen size ranges from 27.5-inches at 3.9 feet to 302.8 inches at 39.4 feet. We ran most of our tests using a roughly 100-inch diagonal image from about 13 feet.)