Vivitek Qumi Q7 Plus Multimedia Projector: we’ll stay on top of the crisis!

Spring is coming – make way for projectors! It already turns out that by the beginning of spring Vivitek company tends to release some noteworthy novelties on our market. Last year the Qumi Q7 and Qumi Q5 were introduced, this year it’s followed by the equally interesting Qumi Q7 Plus and Qumi Q7 Lite and the pocket-sized Qumi Q4. Taking into consideration the economic crisis, we want to know how actual and affordable these novelties will be for me and for my inner circle.

Vivitek Qumi Q7 Plus Multimedia Projector

Appearance

The look of Qumi Q7 Plus is virtually unchanged. Same sleek! The same sleek design that hints at the unit’s serious intentions. The same white or black plastic housing with controls on the top panel. Smoothed corners, nothing sticks out or protrudes, no gaps – build quality at the highest level. Available in two colors: white and black with silver trim.

The interface is also practically unchanged: two HDMI-inputs, USB-port, computer VGA, composite video input and 2xRCA audio jacks. There are also three.5mm audio output for headphones and mains plug. But the surprise is still there – it is hidden inside the HDMI 1 input, about which we will tell a little later.

What’s new??

The most noticeable new feature is the brighter LED source: in the previous model there was an 800 Lm LED, while now there is a 1000 Lm one, which will noticeably improve the picture on the screen in daylight. And the estimated LED life isn’t any less – the same 30,000 hours or 12-13 years with daily use of the projector. I can’t even imagine – during this time the kids will grow up, technology will change, and I, alas, will get unbearably old…

Another feature of novelties is a closer integration with mobile gadgets: smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, laptops, game consoles and other devices. For this purpose, the new series has an MHL port that turns projectors and gadgets into Siamese twins. But it is impossible to touch the new port by hand, because this is the surprise that hides inside the HDMI 1 input. But with its help you can transfer even streaming video to the screen and control the projector directly from your smartphone and tablet

For a handheld that you always have with you, it also has a built-in gyroscope, which allows you to quickly correct the keystone in the image. The projector is deployed quite often in a variety of field conditions, so the automatic picture adjustment is very convenient.

Novelties, like their predecessors, are based on DLP technology and fully possess the same functionality for business and entertainment: presentation without computer, video playback from smartphone, flash drive or built-in hard disc. You can also play computer game with armada tanks … 3D format is stored, built-in browser, built-in player and connection via Wi Fi. All in all, another gadget, this time with its glowing eye.

Qumi Q7 Plus: Specifications

Q7 Plus Brightness	1000 ANSI Lm
Contrast	30 000:1
LED lamp running time	Note. 30,000 hours
Zoom. The image size diagonally	Up to 107″ 271.78 cm
Projection distance	0,8 – 3 m
Zoom, focus	1.1x, manual
Image Format	16 : 10 Standard, 4 : 3 and 16 : 9 compatible
3D Ready	Direct 3D, 2D to 3D conversion via HDMI .
Audio	2 x 2W, stereo + the possibility of connecting external audio monitors.
Projection type	Table-top, suspended or tripod-mounted
Video standards	SDTV 480i , EDTV 480p , HDTV 720p, 1080i NTSC/NTSC 4.43, PAL, SECAM.
Document format	Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint , Adobe PDF, Text .txt .
Video format	MPEG-4, H.264, Divx, WMV, MKV
Image format	JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF
Audio Format	MP3, WAV
Interfaces	HDMI v.1.4 x 2 , MHL, VGA-In, Composite Video, RCA – Audio-In L/R , Mini-Jack, USB Type A
Dimensions H x W x D	180 x 238 x 40 mm., weight 1.4 kg.
Guarantee	3 years
Color variations	White, black. Trim – silver

Impressive? Me too! But here we didn’t say anything about Wi-Fi, the possibility to connect a keyboard… Let’s move on!

Let’s try to turn on the projector. I didn’t expect the astounding effect, because the announced picture quality is HD Ready 720p 1080i – not even Full HD, and certainly not 4K. Switching on..

Once you turn it on, you immediately forget about its portable size and light weight – the picture is better than the most modern TV, although the resolution is higher. The puzzle! But on the other hand, a brightness of 1,000 Lm works as a boost for picture quality.

I’ve gone from an ordinary room to a real movie theater. The picture is huge and bright. Colors are deep and saturated, contrast is excellent. It would also sound like a movie! Though the built-in 2x2W speakers will do for presentations in the classroom or a small conference room, but for a normal movie theater you’ll need to connect an AV receiver and an external speaker.

DLP technology: how “mirror umbrellas” show movies?

After reading the accompanying documentation I realized that it’s all about exclusive technology – DLP Digital Light Processing . The basis of this technology is a special microelectromechanical system which consists of a tiny mirror, the position of which is controlled by the same miniaturized mechanics by means of electric signals. Mirror can be in two positions: on off.

In the first case, it reflects light, which, after passing through the path, forms a dot on the screen. In the second case, the light falls on a special light-absorbing device. This way you get white and black colors. The deflection angle of the micromirrors is about 20 degrees. Thanks to its microsize, the mirror rotates extremely quickly. In order to form the image a whole array of micro-mirrors is required together with the controlling mechanics.

That’s why a microchip made by microelectronic technology called the Digital Mirror Device or “Digital Micro Device” has been developed. This technology was developed by Texas Instruments in the late 1980s and to this day DMD matrices are produced only by this company. One chip contains more than 2 million micro-mirrors, and each mirror is actually a pixel, similar to an LED TV.

There are two circuits on the market – single-chip and three-chip. In our case it’s single chip.

One-chip technology works as follows: the light from the source passes through a rapidly rotating transparent wheel, which is divided into several color segments. In first approximation, it is red, green and blue, the classic RGB. Then the colored color beam is projected on the DMD-chip, strictly synchronized with the disk, on which the micro-mirrors have already formed a frame for this light. The reflected light is projected through a lens onto a screen.

But this is theory, in practice, Vivitek uses its own, unique technology, which gives such a great picture in a small size. They also use chips from Texas Instruments, which is written on the nameplate. It is known that a sore spot of the DLP-projectors is excessive saturation of green and “rainbow effect” on the contrast edges. Vivitek helped to get rid of these diseases by its technology of refusing the color wheel. Instead of it we use its emulation – three RGB LEDs, working according to a certain algorithm.

Application of this technology has produced two additional effects: it has made the price of the appliance cheaper and prolonged its service life, because the firm has refused from expensive mechanics and has applied LEDs, which have a longer service life.

Navigation and customization

Navigation is simple and straightforward and the device can be operated directly from the device or with the remote control. Informative icons line up in a circle, and we start scrolling through them. Everything is so simple, that you don’t need to refer to the manual: here is video, photo, music. And there – WEB, Wi-Fi, documents. And these are the settings, I didn’t bother with them, the factory ones were enough for me.

By the way, the projector has a built-in 4GB hard drive, very convenient for storing documents and music. The heavier stuff we can view either through the HDMI port or through USB type A, using a flash drive or external hard drive.

“Display Mode”. There are six fixed modes: movie, TV, presentation, bright, game and sRGB. Plus two additional ones, Personal1 and Personal2, which we adjust according to personal predilections, the others are fully customized to the content stated in the title.

It is fair to say that only Brightness and Contrast are fixed in fixed modes, while Gamma-correction, Color temperature and of course Sharpness can be adjusted, but I adjusted only Sharpness depending on the size of the screen, and it varies from 0.8 to 3 meters!

We select the signal source in the submenu “Param 1”. There is also a digital Zoom, aspect ratio, audio and a few more options. projection adjusts automatically as far as possible . Most likely the Qumi 7 Plus has a built-in gyroscope, otherwise how does it know that the picture needs to be aligned at the corners?

Cautiously looked into the menu “Param 2”, fearing that I would not have enough knowledge to understand what is there… It turned out to be a wand. First, if we are illiterate and “drove” the device in a mode nobody understands, there is a magic button “reset to factory settings.

Also, for blondes, auto selection of the signal source. Interesting option – the LED lamp mode. I thought it was economical as it was. Turns out that there’s more “economy” mode LEDs! I dared not turn it on, in case I misunderstood something.

Image: just add acoustics!

I connected my Sony DVP-NS708H DVD-player through HDMI as a trial balloon. Purposely chose not a Hollywood action movie, but our domestic “Saboteur”. Before that, I watched it on a big screen LCD TV 55″ Full HD, Samsung . All the time I couldn’t get enough color, cranked it up to the max. On the three-meter screen, I understood all those muted tones, the director’s intent. I couldn’t tear myself away from the screen, even though I knew the movie by heart.

Next up – “Pokrovskie Gates. It was like watching it for the first time. Tried to convert to 3D. Honestly – not so good. But, when I put the licensed disc of “Pirates of the Caribbean. “Dead Man’s Chest” and I tried to convert it and the effect was amazing! The waves seemed to be hitting me right in the face, and I really dodged objects flying into my face!

And how beautiful the bow cutting through the water! And those moving snakes or whatever? on the nasty pirate’s head. I wanted to hide under a chair when a hissing snake head reached out for me. I watched it in movie mode. Did not need additional settings.

Changed the source to a Sony PS3 and put in a Blu-ray “Wally”. I have not tried to grasp the sense of it, just looked at the picture like a spellbound man. I tried two modes – “movie” and “game”. The picture was juicier in play mode. Maybe it has something to do with the signal source – PS? The conversion worked great. I give the “toy” to my son, an advanced gamer who only plays on a Sony TV with a Sony PS3 Blu-ray console.

So, the signal source – PS3, the sound – AV receiver with cinema acoustics but it seemed to me that the internal speakers of the projector would be enough , the game – Assassins Creed. Even I was struck by the detailed drawing of graphics. If anyone knows, the action of this game takes place at a frantic pace and mostly in the dark. The LCD TV, no matter how you adjust it, every now and then some glare!

And the projector doesn’t glare, no artifacts and rainbow-colored transitions on the border of dark and light. Sharp edges, natural movements, no braking in fast-moving scenes. The reaction of the kid 11 years old was an inarticulate mooing that signified the highest degree of enthusiasm. It was knocked out for twenty-four hours. I did not catch the test game GTA, because at that time was asleep, but in the morning I realized that the “class!!!”.

Multimedia for all occasions

One of the differences from the previous model is the built-in MHL connector. With its help, you can not only receive content from your mobile device, but also charge the “donor”. MHL Format – 3.0. It is possible to use a passive-type cable, but in this case, the smartphone or tablet will not get a charge. This connector is built into the HDMI port 1.

You can go online, using Wi-Fi adapter comes with delivery or with mobile device smartphone or tablet , built on iOS or Android platform.

The main interface is the screen of the multimedia player. If a flash drive is inserted into the projector when it is on, the “multimedia” window will automatically open on the screen. In this window you can choose the type of portable information:

– Music. A music player, ready to play different types of audio files with recorded tracks.

– Movie. Very handy video player, able to play almost all popular video formats.

– Photo. View photos in popular formats. There’s a “slideshow” option.

– Application for viewing documents. Reads all documents written in Microsoft Office, Adobe PDF and Text .txt . Also reads mixed text with pictures .

– WEB-browser. Used for Internet browsing.

– Wi-Fi Monitor. Used to configure the connection to the Internet through different types of devices.

– Wi-Fi. Used to select the wireless access point.

The first test drive of the Teutonic Order

The first field test for multimedia capabilities of Vivitek Qumi Q7 Plus projector was in an educational school, where my son studies. The theme was “Teutonic Order”. Monitored the video for several days, typing the text, inserting pictures and medieval engravings, excerpts from historical films. After editing we “dumped” everything on the built-in drive of the projector and on the flash drive just in case.

I should say at once, the flash drive was not useful. The presentation was great, the projector did not let me down. The sound was enough on the built-in speakers, the standard class was normally voiced given that this was not a movie, and the report, the cinema sound was not needed, it was enough a pleasant timbre .

The sixth form was staring spellbound at the screen. The report was successful! Then we repeated the experiment with Qumi Q4, but there we had to connect active speakers. By the way, to deliver the device to the school used the bag, which we found in the delivery set.

At school, the projector was just mounted on the desk, but the screen was branded, found in the school stash. But, since the school screen was a modest size, it was impossible to get a full three-meter image, but the kids were delighted with that too.

Another test drive from home

The second field test was, oddly enough, at the cottage. Our friends, our neighbors, with whom we’ve been friends since high school, had their 30th anniversary of marriage. We left 24 hours in advance to get ready, and took the projector to brighten up a long winter evening.

And here’s the feast, everyone has had a little chat over a glass of tea. “Newlyweds” began to show photos from different periods of life, which were digitized and uploaded to a Samsung tablet. The tablet had to be passed around as everyone wanted to take a closer look and the screen was not big enough!

And then I had the idea of using a projector. I ran off at a gallop to my dacha and brought the projector. As the MHL cable is included, it was no problem to connect the tablet with the device, the device did it all by itself. I used the wall in front of me as the screen, and it was colored in pale gray.

The presentation of digitized photos from the late seventies to the present was accompanied by enthusiastic cries of “Oh, that’s me!!, Look, it’s Lyuba Petya, Kolya ! And, of course, drink to your youth!

People were happy, and we parted well past midnight. By the way, someone guessed to play music in the background while you look at the pictures, the impression only intensified. The “slide show” mode with looped melodies by Francis Goya produced wonderful results!

“All-weather all-terrain vehicle” finds customers

And finally, a real presentation. We had to introduce our magazine to the next company entering the American market right now, when the ruble is cheap. The presentation was made by professionals, all pictures were heavy, a lot of graphs and video. The presentation couldn’t fit on a flash drive, so we had to use an external hard drive. By the way, the last corrections were made right on the screen, when we ran the presentation at the editorial office: it was enough to connect the hard disk of the projector to the notebook and to consider the projector as a flash-drive!

We didn’t take the screen, we just didn’t know if the potential partners’ room would allow us to put it up. Arrived. The office was modern, with all the walls covered in glass wallpaper painted white. Here is the screen! The presentation was fine and the projector did not let me down. The pictures from the hard drive showed smoothly without freezes or Pinocchio effect.

Despite the sunny day, the curtains did not have to close, the image was already bright and juicy. A more powerful LED source actually turned the Q7 Plus into an “all-weather rover” around any business center and at any time of day.

An hour and a half just flew by. Then we had a detailed debriefing, during which we had to play different parts of the clip, from text to video, several times. By the way, in pause mode the text did not waver or blur, the photos were not “blurry. The result: potential partners became regulars.

Vivitek Qumi Q7 Lite has a more democratic price, smaller not by much image size and brightness 800 Lm . But, for its focal length, it’s a calibrated brightness. Functionality at the level practically as described. The picture is amazing with the depth of the image and the brightness of the colors.

VivitekQumiQ4

Let’s start with the technical details:

Brightness	500 ANCI Lm
Contrast	30 000:1
Running time of the LED-lamp	Note. 30,000 hours
Max. The image size by the diagonal	90” 228.6 cm
Projection distance	0.8 – 2.2 meters
Zoom, focus	1.55x, manual
Image format	16 : 10 standard, 4 : 3 and 16 : 9 compatible
3D Ready	Direct 3D, 2D to 3D conversion via HDMI
Audio	Ability to connect headphones and active speakers
Projection type	Desktop or wall mounted
Video standards	SDTV 480i , EDTV 480p , HDTV 720p, 1080i NTSC/NTSC 4.43, PAL, SECAM.
Video Format	MPEG-4, DivX, H.264, WMV, MKV/
Picture format	JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF.
Audio format	MP3, WAV
Interfaces	VGA, HDMI, AV IN, USB t. A , miniJack.
Dimensions H x W x D	160 x 32 x 102 mm
Document Format	Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint , Adobe PDF, Text .txt
Warranty	3 years
Color	White, steel trim

The Vivitek Qumi Q4 is more of an educational projector for presentations. But it can show movies too, and on rather a big screen: the size of the screen is more than 2 meters.

The projector is meant to be a multimedia or educational center. Why educational? The projector is equipped with a VGA output, and can be used as a monitor. And not only can, but does a great job of it. The picture is of high quality, detailed. And since it is a monitor, we can go online and visit the usual sites, only with a big and beautiful image.

You can mount followed by demonstration of the presentation, as my son did. It is always more interesting to combine the process of education with the game. By the way, the text typed in Word looks good on the big screen, I even did not expect, and if it is supplemented with high-resolution photos, then you look at it like flowing water that is, endlessly .

Games on the big screen are great, only need to complete the projector with sound monitors. It’s hard to judge the quality of the game picture without real measurements, but it’s safe to say that the picture is clear and bright. And in the game Dungeon Keeper, which takes place in a dark dungeon, I was pleased with the detailed drawing of scenes. You won’t get such pictures on ordinary LCD-monitor – it will glare and distort colors.

Watching movies only increased the positive impression of the projector. I watched it in the room of 15 meters and the size of the image was enough for me. And what is pleasantly pleasant: 500 lumens are quite capable with the task! I watched the movie during the day, I didn’t pull the curtains down, and the picture was exceptionally bright!

And as a travel device for presentations, it’s just perfect: small size, light weight 460 gr , content playback from a flash drive, all-readability. And to top it all off – it comes with a carrying sack. And the price, by the way, quite democratic. The projector costs less than a 50″ TV, less than 37,000 Dollars!