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Stylish and slender, the 4.2-pound Sony VPL-CX20A ($1500, as of January 18, 2006) is an attractive and compact LCD projector for business users. This model's brightness rating of 2000 lumens enables it to handle presentations in fairly large rooms with low ambient light, and its automated features make it a breeze to set up, adjust, and use.
Automated features include a powered lens protector to cover or uncover the lens automatically; a powered tilt feature that raises the projector to the height you want; and a keystone correction feature to automatically fix trapezoid-shaped screens caused by tilting the projector. The unit also has powered lens zoom, and you can access all of the automated features via the remote or the projector's controls.
Most of the controls for the projector reside behind a panel on one side, with all of the inputs (including power) hidden away on the other side. Though this arrangement makes for a very sleek design, we sometimes had trouble locating the controls we wanted to use. Without the remote, for example, it took time to identify the menu navigation buttons and the lens zoom/focus controls.
In our still-image tests, the CX20A's lackluster performance only earned it a rating of Fair: its text wasn't particularly sharp, and its graphics lacked the color accuracy and detail (in light and dark areas) that better-scoring models delivered. In our moving-image tests, however, the projector scored closer to average.
The CX20A offers a few alternate picture modes (such as dynamic or standard, and text or graphics). Switching modes helped to improve the quality of some still images, but changing the color temperature from high to low was the best way to improve video display quality. If Sony had offered another picture mode that automatically optimized the image for video, this model would be more viable as a home-theater projector.
The on-screen menu is generally easy to use. The main menu disappears from the screen while you make certain adjustments, leaving only the option you're using displayed on the bottom--a nice touch. But we missed having some fairly common image adjustment options such as individual RGB control. Using the CX20A's credit-card-size remote was a bit harder than using a standard-size model, and no pointer or mouse control is provided.
The unit comes with a VGA cable and a proprietary adapter that provides inputs for composite video, S-Video, and audio sources, but not the cables you'll need to complete those connections. The projector's small (1-watt) speaker is fine for low-key presentations, but we'd want a more powerful sound system for viewing movies.
Upshot: For easy presentation setups, the Sony CX20A's automated features are great, but its image quality is mediocre.
Richard Jantz
