Viewsonic M2 full review

Viewsonic is a company that has entered dynamically in recent years in the market of DLP video projectors and I would venture to say that it has slowly begun to drive the developments on the projectors of this technology.

The company believes in LED technology and is constantly adding new models that make use of this light source.

But why LED and what does this technology have to offer the user?

Let’s start with the huge usage time that reaches 30,000 hours and from my personal experience I would say maybe a lot more.

Practically an LED projector will never need any kind of maintenance from its user (such as changing the lamp to a classic projector) and will operate seamlessly for 10 years and more.

The colors also of a projector that uses RGB LED are excellent with expanded color triangle and rich color saturations.

The low temperature resulting in the quiet operation of the projector can also be considered as two other assets.

What is M2 and to whom is it addressed to?

The M2 is an all round DLP LED projector, small , in pocket size, lightweight, that can be used almost anywhere and everywhere.

It can be used for on-the-go presentations due to its small size, travel, permanent installations or for use as a main or secondary projector in our personal home cinema. I mean, everywhere!

But the most important thing is that he does all of the above well, very well!

But let’s go and see more detail on M2, starting with his characteristics.

• Type : DLP LED
• Resolution : 1080p (1920X1080)
• Brightness : 1.200 LED Lumens
• Display size : from 24″ to 100″ (from diastance 0.6m to 2.54m)
• Light source : RGBB LED
• Light source life : 30.000 hours
• Audio : Internal Speakers 3W x2
• Power consumption : 74W
• Weight : 1.3Kg (2.9 lbs)

Its size is small, very small, its design simple, symmetrical and its color combination exudes a luxury… I tried to capture this feeling photographically…

M2 comes with a high quality remote control in its packaging as well as a USB wireless dongle to connect it wirelessly to our network.

Let’s take a brief look at his menu and the picture settings that offers …

Full grayscale settings for detailed gradient adjustment.

Full CMS (Color Management System)  to get our colors exactly where you want them to be…

The surprise comes from the fact that the M2 has Frame Interpolation which is something not usually seen in this price category, and works exemplary!

In three stages , Low, Medium and High

M2 is a DLP LED projector with a native resolution of 1080p as you have already read in its specs. But its trump card is that it can receives 4K HDR signal and even has the ability to play it directly from his installed player. It is also 3D capable…

Test

The M2 was set up opposite from my Celexon ALR screen and I opened a 92-inch frame with viewsonic’s well-known Aptoide makes its appearance…

For those who do not know Aptoide is an open source application that runs in Android environment with its own app store that you can install various related applications such as Youtube, Netflix, Amazon prime, etc.

The projector starts very quickly like as expected  and is extremely quiet to the point that you can have it right in front of you without understanding that it works.

The focus is done automatically with a sensor that reads the screen so the user does not have to do much, although there is always the manual option in the menu where it can be calibrated if the automatic does not leave us satisfied. Personally, I didn’t need it even once.

Contrast

2200:1 native contrast showed my instrument on the M2, measuring better than all the 4K DLP projectors out there, even projectors from the same brand!

Brightness

The Viewsonic announces 1200 led lumens, I measured maximum brightness 650 ansi lumens.

650 lumen brightness in LED is a corresponding in lamped projector about 1200-1300 lumens, and a brightness capable of filling 92-100 inch screen even if it is ALR with negative gain like mine, this to have an idea when you read about LED lumen brightness.

The brightness that the eye receives in a LED projector is something that cannot be described by numbers, only if you see you can understand.

Chromatically, M2 is a dream. The warm slightly over-saturated and bright colors give an impressive image that you can’t believe that comes from a “pocket” projector.

If you see a properly adjusted LED projector, there is no turning back and I personally congratulate Viewsonic for insisting and evolving this technology.

I would say that the M2 follows in the footsteps of the X10 that I tried a few months ago in its color rendering yielding over 120% of the rec.709

The combination of the very good lens for this  category, the perfect color palette offered by LEDs and the high ansi contrast of DLP technology is paying off, that’s for sure.

4K HDR

Here comes the great revelation of M2, which frankly got me thinking.

And I say it got me thinking because by powering 4K HDR material on the M2 if you don’t know it’s a 1080p projector, you swear you’re seeing a projector with a native 4K resolution. I’d love to see him side by side with some 4K DLP projectors because here’s there is something I can’t quite understand and I don’t want to make any unaccess assumptions…

You will see what I mean below in the video I have made, others get an idea with some screenshots…

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I have to mention that the player of M2 works perfectly without problems no matter what you put on him.

In combination with the frame interpolation that has and works in 4K material too, makes me believe that inside it hides a very powerful processor that undertakes to manage UHD playback with absolute success admittedly.

Another important point is that the M2 locks on all possible frequencies, of course at 24Hz which it reproduces without strange modifications so that the movement in this cinematic frequency is the one that should be.

At the video below you will get an idea of the performance of the M2 in 4K material, enjoy responsibly…

For the end I left the sound. Yes, M2 got some of that too.

2 speakers on the front of just 3W each but performing extremely well. I don’t know how they do that, like the latest generation bluetooth portable speakers released by serious manufactures so the M2 produces sound disproportionately good for its size.

Also because it diffuses it on the screen since the speakers are on its front side (smart), the viewer cannot perceive that this sound comes from the projector. The first time I put him play, I heard the sound coming from… everywhere, and for seconds I was frozen trying to figure out what was going on. Can someone use the M2 to see their film without connecting external sound?For sure yes.

Epilogue

The Viewsonic M2 is a small projector with a “large” image. Technology is moving fast, that’s for sure. A few years ago it wouldn’t even have crossed my mind that such a small package would fit so much image quality, and yet it did.

Analyses, characteristics and specifications have become simple numbers that I no longer know whether to pay attention to or not anymore. The M2 got me a little out of hand because I realized for good that in a little while the projectors will be in the size of a smartphone and will yield an image similar perhaps better than the 10kg beasts that many of us have hunged on our ceiling.

I’d buy the M2? Easily, even if I am not ready to hang something so small in my living room (it looks strange to me) I would like it for many different jobs that I “discovered” during the 3 weeks I had it in my possession. From monitor for my laptop to netflix without cables and hassle in the bedroom, at a friend’s house or wherever i want to enjoy a movie in any flat surface, so simple.

M2 is a multi-tool, the difference with the other super-compact projectors I’ve seen so far is that M2 plays well, plays really well, plays so well that he puts you in strange thoughts like if it is worth it anymore to invest on bigger and more expensive projectors for watching your movies in your living room…

Nikos Tsolas