Sharp PG-A10S

Quiet and bright but with a hefty price tag.

A projector can be both a useful tool for business presentations, and a fabulous toy for big kids who want to watch movies on the wall on their living room.

The new Sharp PG-A10S LCD projector comes in two forms; we reviewed the 800 x 600 VGA resolution model, while the PG-A10X model, which costs £1,835 ex VAT, has a higher XGA resolution.

You can push the PG-A10S to a non-native resolution of 1,024 x 768, but the picture definition suffers a little.

The PG-A10S has a rated brightness of 1,500 lumens and a noise level of 35dB in standard mode. If you switch to eco-mode the brightness drops to 1,200 lumens and the noise drops to 31dB. Running in eco-mode the lamp life increases to up to 3,000 hours.

Our initial impression of the projector was very mixed as the keystone adjustment is fairly poor. Straight lines were either jagged or wavy, and looked anything but straight, but dropping the projector near to the horizontal worked wonders and the picture looked very good.

We tested the projector with the lights on and were impressed by how well it performed. Colour presentation was warm and accurate, but it is hard to distinguish between very dark shades that were near to black.

Sharp has included a remote control and the PG-A10S can be ceiling mounted, but we really don't see that would be practical with the keystone adjustment issue, unless the screen was angled appropriately.

On the other hand, it works well as a home entertainment projector, and the quiet operation is a real bonus. The problem is that you would have to spend over £1,600 of your own cash, which makes it an expensive luxury.

Contact: Sharp 0800 138 8879
www.sharp.co.uk

Specifications:

• 1,500 lumens
• 165W lamp power
• 400:1 contrast ratio
• 800 x 600 native resolution
• VGA, S-Video, RCA composite video, audio inputs, RS232 output
• remote control
• 2.9kg
• 297 x 89 x 229mm (w x h x d)
• 3yr RTB warranty