The DLP-based NEC Display Solutions NP-P502HL ($4,599) delivers the bright, crisp image that its 5,000-lumen rating and native 1080p (1,920-by-1,080)-resolution promise. That by itself should pique your interest if you need a data projector for showing images with fine detail or lots of information in a midsize to large room. You also get the convenience of a 1.7x zoom lens and both vertical and horizontal lens shifts, plus a laser light source designed to last the life of the projector.

A close competitor to the Panasonic PT-EZ580U, the P502HL is also similar to it in some key ways. Both offer a 1.7x zoom, and both are a bit brighter than the Panasonic PT-RZ370U, our Editors' Choice high-resolution data projector. That makes them suitable for somewhat larger rooms, including small auditoriums. The two also offer horizontal and vertical lens shift, so you can move the image up, down, left, or right without needing a digital keystone adjustment to square off the image, which can introduce artifacts.

Between the two, the P502HL offers a larger horizontal lens shift by my measurements and only a slightly smaller vertical shift. The Panasonic PT-EZ580U offers a slightly higher brightness rating, a motorized (rather than manual) focus, zoom, and lens shifts, and a 10-percent-larger screen area with its WUXGA (1,920-by-1,200) resolution, giving it a 16:10 aspect ratio compared with 16:9 for the P502HL.

Setup

At 19 pounds 6 ounces and 5.4 by 18.5 by 14.4 inches (HWD), the P502HL is hefty enough to be a candidate for permanent installation. The 1.7x zoom, combined with the vertical and horizontal lens shift, gives you lots of flexibility for where to position it relative to the screen.

I measured the vertical shift at 49 percent of the screen height up or down from the midpoint, and the horizontal shift at 40 percent of the screen width left or right from the midpoint. Both are significantly different from what NEC shows on its website, with my measurements higher in both cases.

Image inputs on the back of the projector include a VGA port for a computer or component video, two HDMI ports, and a composite video port. In addition, there's a USB Type A port for reading files directly from a USB memory key, an Ethernet HDBaseT port, and a second LAN port strictly for controlling the projector over a network.

One of the P502HL's more unusual features is an Apps menu that gives you a selection of additional choices for image input. These include Miracast for wireless connections; Viewer, for reading files from a USB memory key or the projector's internal memory; and Remote Desktop Connection, which lets you show images from any PC on your network by running an app on that PC, and then using a keyboard and mouse connected to the projector to control the PC. There's also Image Express, which works with an app running on a PC to allow a moderator (or a teacher) to manage up to 50 simultaneous connections and chosoe up to 16 to show on screen at once.

Brightness

As with most single-chip DLP projectors, the P502HL has significantly lower color brightness than white brightness, which means full-color images may not be as bright as you would expect. The difference between the two also complicates brightness comparisons to other projectors, since three-chip LCD models like the Panasonic PT-EZ580U deliver matching levels for the two measurements, while DLP projectors with the same white brightness can have wildly different color brightness levels. (For more on this topic, see Color Brightness: What It Is, Why It Matters.)

See How We Test Projectors

Strictly as a point of reference, using SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) recommendations and assuming a 1.0-gain screen, the P502HL's 5,000-lumen rating should make it bright enough in theater-dark lighting for a 276- to 374-inch image (measured diagonally) at the projector's native 16:9 aspect ratio. With moderate ambient light, the size drops to 183 inches.

For smaller screen sizes, you can lower the image brightness by using one of the projector's two Eco modes, one of the lower brightness preset modes, or both. In addition, for Normal mode, the menus offer a slider for brightness that you can set to any level from 100 (brightest) to 16 (dimmest), with 16 giving you a far lower brightness level than the lowest-level Eco mode. Each step on the slider also lowers energy use, which I measured at a range of 106 to 459 watts, compared with 232 watts for the lowest-power Eco mode. In short, the slider effectively giving you an adjustable Eco mode.

Image Quality

With its multiple lasers and phosphor wheel, the P502HL's light engine delivered excellent color balance in all but the brightest mode in our DisplayMate tests, with neutral grays at all levels from black to white. Even the brightest mode was near excellent, with only a slight tint in the brightest shade of gray. Color quality was also excellent in most modes. Blue and red were a little dark in the brightest mode in my tests, but that's expected for projectors with a difference between color brightness and white brightness. Colors overall were vibrant, eye catching, and well saturated.

More important for most data images, particularly for a high-resolution projector, is the fact that the P502HL did a good job holding detail in my tests. White text on black was crisp and readable at sizes as small as 6 points, and black text on white was even more readable, at 4.5 points.

Video and Audio Quality
Full-motion video is best avoided with the P502HL. Our standard test clips showed unusually obvious judder (the jerkiness inherent in movies filmed at 24 frames per second), along with frequent rainbow artifacts (red-green-blue flashes). Both were much more noticeable, as well as more annoying, than with most projectors. The good news is that the only time I saw the rainbow effect in our data tests was with one image that's designed to bring them out, and even then I had to shift my gaze rapidly back and forth to see any hint of them.

3D and Audio

Unlike most data projectors for large venues, the P502HL offers 3D, with support for HDMI 1.4a 3D formats and both DLP-Link and VESA RF glasses. Unless you're in the tiny minority who needs 3D, however, this won't matter.

One last small plus is that the audio system delivers suitable quality for most data presentations, and the 20-watt mono speaker offers enough volume for a midsize room. If you need stereo, higher volume, or still better quality, you can connect an external sound system to the P502HL's audio-out port.

Conclusion
For a high-brightness, high-resolution projector designed for permanent installation on a tight budget, consider the Acer P7505, which keeps costs down in part by leaving out a lens shift, but offers a 2x zoom. Also look at the PT-EZ580U if you need a touch higher brightness or video that's at least watchable. The Panasonic PT-RZ370U delivers still-better video quality, albeit at a lower brightness. The NEC NP-P502HL is not a good choice for video, but it offers a high resolution and bright, high-quality data images.