The ViewSonic LightStream PJD7830HDL ($809.99) is different from most current projectors. Instead of being sold—and presumably designed—specifically as a home or data model, it's a little bit of both. ViewSonic calls it a crossover model, suitable for either kind of use. Our tests suggest that it's certainly worth considering as a data projector. Whether you consider it suitable for home entertainment, however, will depend on how easily you see rainbow artifacts and whether you find them annoying.

ViewSonic designing the PJD7830HDL ( at Amazon) for both data and video is more than just unusual. Most projectors are made to give their best image quality for one type of input or the other, as appropriate. For DLP projectors in particular, models for home entertainment, like the Optoma HD28DSE , are typically tweaked to show rainbow artifacts (red-green-blue flashes) less often with video. Models designed for business presentations, like the InFocus IN119HDx ($725.00 at Amazon) , are tweaked to show them less often with data images.

The problem for the PJD7830HDL is that it can't be tweaked both ways. In my tests, the projector did an excellent job of avoiding artifacts with data images, but not with video. If you find the rainbow effect bothersome, this projector is more appropriate for data images, despite ViewSonic's expectation that more people will buy it for home use with video.

Basics and Setup

At 4.3 by 14.3 by 9.1 inches (HWD) and only 6 pounds 3 ounces, the PJD7830HDL is small and light enough to carry with you or store away when you're not using it and then set it up quickly as needed.

Setup is standard, with a manual focus and manual 1.36x zoom. The choice of connectors is appropriate for either business or home use. Image inputs on the back panel include an HDMI port, a VGA port for a PC or component video, and composite video ports. There's also a second HDMI port hidden in a compartment behind a slide-out cover on the top front of the projector. Both HDMI ports offer full 1.4a support for connecting to a 3D video device. The hidden port is also MHL enabled.

Brightness

Like most DLP projectors, the PJD7830HDL has a lower color brightness than white brightness, which complicates any discussion of its brightness level. Briefly, a difference between the two can affect color quality, and it can also make full-color images dimmer than you would expect based on the white brightness. (For more on color brightness, see Color Brightness: What It Is, Why It Matters.)

Strictly as a point of reference, and according to recommendations of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), the PJD7830HDL's rated 3,200 lumens makes it bright enough, using a 1.0-gain screen in theater-dark lighting, for an image size of 221 to 299 inches (measured diagonally) at 1080p's native 16:9 aspect ratio. In moderate ambient light, the appropriate size drops to 145 inches. For smaller screen sizes or lower light levels, you can lower the brightness by switching to Eco mode or the even dimmer Super Eco mode, use one of the lower-brightness predefined modes, or both.

Quality for Data Images

The PJD7830HDL offers good to near-excellent quality for data images. Color balance in my tests was almost perfect, with suitably neutral grays at all levels from black to white in almost all modes. Similarly, colors in all but one mode were vibrant, well saturated, and bright.

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The exception in both cases was the brightest mode, which showed a slight tint in the brightest shades of gray and a notably dark red, blue, and yellow in terms of a hue-saturation-brightness color model. However, it's not unusual for projectors to have color-quality issues with their brightest modes, and DLP models tend to have dark colors in any predefined mode that has a big difference between their white- and color-brightness levels.

More important for most data images is that the PJD7830HDL did a good job of holding detail on my tests. White text on black, for example, was highly readable at 6 points, and black text on white was crisp and readable even at 5 points. The one issue that kept the image quality from being excellent was obvious pixel jitter and dynamic moiré on images that tend to cause those problems.

The good news is that unless you use pattered fills rather than solid blocks of color, you may never see this issue. The bad news is that you can't get rid of it by switching to a digital (HDMI) connection, as you can with most projectors that have the same problem. When I tried that with the PJD7830HDL, I saw a flickering effect on the same patterns.

2D and 3D Video Quality
If you don't see rainbow artifacts easily, or don't find them bothersome, 2D video quality is also nearly outstanding. The PJD7830HDL did a great job with shadow detail (details based on shading in dark areas) in my tests, and I didn't see any posterization (shading changing suddenly where it should change gradually), even in scenes that tend to cause the problem. Color quality was good with most test clips and at least acceptable in all of them. Skin color in one clip was a little greener than it should be, for example, but still within the realm of reasonable.

Image quality for 3D is usable, but a clear step below the projector's 2D image quality. Colors were noticeably duller than with the same movie in 3D in my tests. However, I didn't see any crosstalk or 3D-related motion artifacts.

Audio and Lag Time

The built-in sound system offers a 16-watt speaker that delivers reasonably good sound quality, with enough volume to easily fill a family room or small to medium-size conference room. If you need better quality, higher volume, or stereo, you can connect an external sound system to the PJD7830HDL's stereo audio output.

I measured the lag time, using a Leo Bodnar Video Signal Input Lag Tester , at 50 milliseconds, which works out to a three-frame lag at 60 frames per second. In most cases this won't be an issue, but if you play games where reaction time matters, you may consider it a little sluggish.

Conclusion

If you find rainbow artifacts bothersome, you're better off avoiding the ViewSonic LightStream PJD7830HDL for home-entertainment use. Instead, you should consider the Optoma HD28DSE or the Epson Home Cinema 2040 3D 1080p 3LCD Projector ($784.99 at Walmart) , which is our Editors' Choice moderately priced home-entertainment 1080p 3D model and, as an LCD device, is guaranteed not to show rainbow artifacts. That said, if rainbow artifacts aren't an issue for you, then you may want to consider the PJD7830HDL for use as your home-entertainment projector, and even more so if you need a data model as well.

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