BenQ W1400 review

BenQ has split its high-end projector range into two separate models: the W1500, and the W1400 reviewed here. The only major difference between is that the W1500 supports wireless video, so if you’re happy to use a cable the W1400 is a significantly cheaper alternative. Like the W1500, the W1400 is a fairly compact home cinema projector that supports 1080p Full HD resolutions and 3D. Focus and zoom controls are located on top of the W1400, and there are vents on the front and sides to expel hot air from the lamp.

At the back, twin HDMI inputs let you connect multiple devices directly to the projector, or pass through a 3D signal if your A/V amplifier isn’t compatible with 3D sources. There’s also component, composite, S-Video and PC VGA video inputs, phono and 3.5mm audio inputs, along with a 3.5mm audio output should you not want to use the integrated speakers. Considering the two 10w drivers are merely average at best, producing weak, tinny audio with no real bass, we’d definitely suggest using a set of dedicated speakers. Finally, you can use the W1400’s 12v trigger and RS-232 port with an automation system to activate an electric screen or draw blinds, should you have such a system.

Unsurprisingly at this price, the W1400’s lens system is completely manual. You have a slider to adjust the level of zoom up to a maximum 1.6x and a wheel to control focus. We’ve seen projectors with loose focus wheels that struggle to keep everything pin-sharp, but that wasn’t the case here. You’ll also find lens shift controls beneath a small flap. This system moves the entire lens assembly, which is much more useful than the digital keystone feature seen on many sub-£1,000 projectors.

The buttons on top can be used to turn the W1400 on and off, change the active input, control the volume and navigate menus, but once the projector is in place the backlit remote control is much more convenient. However you navigate it, the rather sparse menus only give you a small amount of image quality controls. You get the standard brightness, contrast, sharpness and colour sliders, along with three picture presets: Dynamic, Standard and Cinema.

By default, the W1400 starts in Standard mode. This produces impressively bright images but at the same time the projector struggles to produce deep blacks, leaving darker scenes looking a little grey and washed out. At least colours were vibrant, giving football matches and games plenty of punch. The Cinema mode works best in the dark, boosting shadows and toning down colour vibrancy for a more film-like appearance. We used it as a starting point for our calibration, saving the results in one of the three user preset modes.

Advanced features include Brilliant Colour, which boosts colour vibrancy even further and attempts to make whites look white, rather than slightly yellow. We turned it on for most content, but it occasionally made certain shots look a bit unrealistic. Noise reduction and detail enhancement do a great job of sharpening videos without introducing unwanted pixel artefacts, as long as the onscreen content is moving fairly slowly.

The most important extra feature is frame interpolation, which smoothes moving images to remove judder. It works best on its lowest setting, and the W1400 coped well with fast-paced Blu-ray films without creating noise or artefacts. They begin to creep in when you turn the setting up to either Medium or High, so it should be left on Low for best results.

The single DLP chip inside the W1400 produces colours using a 6-segment colour wheel and 2,200 ANSI lumens lamp, which is just about bright enough to use in daylight, but only for brightly-lit content such as sport and cartoons. For everything else you’ll still want to turn off the lights to retain as much of the claimed 10,000:1 contrast ratio as possible. In practice, doubling the number of colours in the wheel helps reduce rainbow effects slightly, but not completely. If you’re susceptible to the effect you’ll definitely notice it here when watching dark scenes or black and white content.

At least the W1400 stayed reasonably quiet in Normal mode, even after several hours of use. Switching to Eco mode will reduce the noise even further, but it also dims the picture. We preferred a brighter image with slightly more fan noise in the background of our films. Curiously, it gets much louder when watching 3D video, which can prove a little distracting.

3D video itself was a major let-down on the W1400. Images are overly saturated with red shades, and this seems to be a side effect seen in many DLP projectors, but the single pair of 3D glasses bundled with the projector didn’t remove it completely. Images looked sharp and colours were vibrant, even with the slight red tint, but throughout our testing the glasses often failed to synchronise with the projector. This is incredibly frustrating if you’re engrossed in a film and the glasses mid-way through.

The W1500 looked expensive when compared to other home cinema projectors, but BenQ has managed to reduce the price significantly by removing the wireless video feature. At around £1,000, it’s difficult to find a competing LCD model that supports Full HD resolutions, so you’ll have to spend significantly more to get better picture quality or eliminate the rainbow effect. The relatively basic image processing won’t challenge a high-end TV, but if you want the biggest display possible for your cash, the W1400 is a worthy contender.