Relisys RLP2000 LCD Projector review

Relisys probably isn’t the first name you think of when considering your next projector purchase, but the combination of the RLP2000’s price and feature set may well be enough to change your mind. Like the ViewSonic PJ551 reviewed here, the RLP2000 is an LCD-based projector, but rather than appealing to the travelling professional, Relisys has instead concentrated on the mid-range of the projector market – namely meeting room and small installation setups.

With that in mind, it should come as no surprise to find that the RLP2000 isn’t a particularly lightweight product, weighing in at just under 4kg, and while it comes with a soft bag for transport, its dimensions make it rather unsuitable for frequent carrying between venues. However, it makes up for this with a powerful 200W SHP (super high performance) lamp capable of 2000 ANSI lumens peak brightness. This makes it suitable for presentations without having to draw the blinds – though like all projectors, contrast is improved in darker setups.

Speaking of which, one of the shortfalls of LCD engines is their lower contrast ratio compared to the DLP (digital light processor) engines, and the RLP2000 is no exception, with a quoted contrast ratio of 400:1 failing to match the 1500+ of competing DLP-based units. While this does affect the RLP2000’s ability to reproduce shallow tones, we should point out that 400:1 is still sufficient for most uses, with only image purists and video specialists demanding more from their projectors. The reason that LCD is still used in projector engines is because the technology brings with it more vivid colour reproduction and a complete absence of the rainbow effect that can be seen on many DLP projections.

As you’d expect from a meeting room projector, the RLP2000 supports table and ceiling-mounted installations, as well as rear projection. In keeping with its anticipated market, the lens has a narrower angle than a typical portable unit and a longer display range allowing image sizes between 30 and 300in diagonal at distances between 1.5m and 15m from the unit. Our test setup, which was 3.2m from the wall, provided us with an image with a maximum size of 82in. The native resolution is 1,024 by 768 pixels, though non-native displays of 1,280 x 1,024 and 800 x 600 are made possible by image resampling.

Both digital and analogue signals are supported, with a DVI-D port for the former, and 15-pin D-SUB, composite, component and S-Video for the latter. Another useful inclusion is the video pass-through, which lets you hook up a second monitor to the projector’s output for situations where you might not be facing the projection during your presentation. Vertical keystone correction is also provided to help reduce distortion caused by adverse projection angles, though this digital system comes with the usual caveat that what you gain in image correction, you lose in image definition. What may irritate the clutter-conscious is that the signal connectors are all located on the side of the chassis, while the power cable and mains switch is stuck at the back – a minor point that can be forgiven on portable systems, but which could have been avoided here.

The key advantage of a system that supports DVI is that signal lock isn’t an issue, but even if you’re running the RLP2000 from a standard D-SUB connection, it’s unlikely that you’ll experience pixel jitter as it provided an extremely clean image from both digital and analogue sources. Screen uniformity was excellent, though the relatively low contrast ratio became evident in some of our test patterns, with shallow tones at the top and bottom of the grey scale being lost. Colour reproduction was very good thanks to the LCD engine, and the RLP2000 doesn’t suffer too much from misconvergence, with even the extreme corners providing an acceptable degree of landing accuracy.