Torgny Nilsson

BenQ 8240 Impressions

BenQ has been making home theater projectors for some time now, but they are probably still best known for their business and multimedia projectors. But even those projectors seem more and more tuned toward the home theater market and more and more people—like me—seem to be using them as dedicated home theater projectors. I think BenQ may be one of the best buys in the home theater market. But given their past in the business and multimedia projector markets, it can still be hard to find reviews of their projectors for home theater use. This review will hopefully rectify that situation and educate some as to their benefits.

But this is not so much a review as a summary of my impressions of the 8240. I am not going to post the projector’s detailed specs here since you can easily get them on BenQ’s website or on the websites of any number of projector retailers. I will only say that the 8240 is a XGA projector with all of the usual connections (including DVI) and all the usual default settings such as Gaming, Video, Cinema, and Economy.

Though the 8240 is a 4x3 projector, it does of course have a 16x9 option. While some prefer a 16x9 projector, I am biased in favor of a 4x3 projector because I think it gives me the most out of my classic movies and 4x3 television shows as well as still giving me a very large and clear 16x9 image. You’ll have to make up your own mind. If you can’t do that on your own, check out the article on projectorcentral.com on the pros and cons of native 4x3 projectors versus native 16x9 projectors.

The 8240 is, of course, a DLP projector and I have to admit to a bias there as well. While some prefer a LCD projector, I think DLP projectors produce deeper blacks, don’t produce any screen door problems, and don’t have any of the pixel burn-out issues that LCD projectors have. And while some DLP projectors produce a rainbow effect problem, manufacturers seem to have figured out the cause of that problem and it seems to be harder and harder to find a projector with that problem. While both my wife and I are susceptible to the rainbow effect, and have seen it on other DLP projectors, we have not seen it on the 8240. And none of the 25 or so people who have seen our 8240 in action have mentioned seeing the rainbows either.

The people who have seen our 8240 so far have, however, commented on how sharp the picture looks. And I have to agree. The picture is very sharp and detailed, more so than even the BenQ 8220, and that projector produces a pretty sharp image. And that is using component cables: since I was not bright enough to run a DVI cable through my walls when I built my home theater, and since I don’t want to tear up all the drywall now, I don’t know if the picture is even better using DVI. For what it is worth, I am using a 100” screen and the 8240 is mounted approximately 13 feet from the screen (since it is a short-throw projector). You can get its throw ratio spec on BenQ’s website of any number of other sites.

While you can see a difference between the black projected by the 8240 and the, say, black edge of your screen, you have to think long and hard to do so. The only way I can do so is to concentrate on the letterboxing rather than on the movie being shown, and that is not something you are likely to do all that often (unless the movie is so bad that staring at the letterboxing provides you with more entertainment).

BenQ's default settings generally seem to be very close to what they should be according to Avia. And the 8240 is no exception. The picture in Cinema mode is especially good for home theater use, if perhaps just a touch darker than I would prefer. And while I find the economy settings on most projectors to be too dark and colorless, the Economy setting on the 8240 seems just right. Using Avia, and the Economy setting, I ended up with the following settings: Brightness: -14, Contrast: -20, Color: 0, Color Temp: 0.

The BenQ 8220 projector I had before was really pretty quiet, but you could hear it during quiet scenes. The 8240 is much quieter, even when running in one of its regular modes. Now that I am running it in Economy mode though, I totally forget it is there, even during quiet scenes. I am suspicious of the decibel specs I see on any product from dish-washers to projectors. But if you believe them, you can get them elsewhere. Suffice it to say that the projector is very quiet and I would not even consider getting a hush box for it.

I am not going to post any screen shots of my 8240 in action. I have yet to see any screen shots of any projector that end up looking bad. I think screen shots are a lousy way to decide whether to buy a projector. The best way to decide whether you like the picture produced by a projector is to try it in your home. And since retailers generally offer a 30-day money back guarantee on any projector purchase, what do you have to lose?

I have not noticed many drawbacks to the 8240. I really only have minor complaints. The lens cap is a real pain: it uses a squeeze-latch that makes it a real chore to put back on. You may just want to leave it off.

It is also really aggravating that the projector offers a lot of fine-tuning controls such as digital focus, digital horizontal picture adjustment, etc. that only accessible if your projector is connected via something other than component cables. I don’t really need them, but it is really maddening to have them there just out of reach. Like having the pastry store close its door just as you are about to enter.

The projector also does not allow you to connect your regular 3-connector component cables to it. You have to connect your regular component cables to their connector which ends in something that looks more like a computer connector.

And while my 8220 remote had a ratio button that automatically switched the projector from 4x3 to 16x9 mode, the 8240 remote has replaced that very handy button with a button that allows you to switch between the Gaming, Video, Cinema, and Economy modes (something I think most home theater users are unlikely to do once they get one of the modes set up properly using Avia). I would much have preferred to have the ratio button. Now, to switch between 4x3 and 16x9 modes, you have to go into the projector’s set-up screen and change the setting. That is relatively easy to do, but not nearly as easy as having a ratio button on the remote.

Since I think that the lack of a ratio button on the remote is probably my biggest gripe about the 8240, you can see that I am really splitting hairs in order to find critical things to say about the projector. I am overall very impressed by the projector and would recommend it to anyone else who is in the market for a 4x3 projector.