Casio’s slim XJ-A projectors repurposed for gaming, we take a gander

Jun 18th 2010
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Casio’s XJ-A series projectors wowed us in January with an ultra-slim 43mm design, but at E3 2010 we got the chance to see whether image quality was equally bright — the watchmaker was there with some economical models to attract the portable gaming crowd. Sure enough, it’s an interesting choice if you want to play Xbox 360 in the field. Though hefty, the projector’s small enough to fit into a messenger bag, and can throw a pretty decent-sized screen; using the company’s 2,500 lumen, XJ-A240 model ($1,000), we emulated a 70-something-inch, 720p HDTV. At that size and resolution, colors were a little washed out, but impressive nonetheless — though we did note that when attempting to play 1080p content on the same projector, the result was quite fuzzy.

Casio claims that image’s good for 20,000 hours, as the projector doesn’t use a bulb, relying instead on a proprietary combo of laser and LED. The PJ accepts all standard TV resolutions through VGA or HDMI and has optional composite and component video breakout cables, though sadly no audio passthrough — only a 1W integrated speaker. Starting at $800, the true bargain models sport only 2,000 lumens and a 1,024 x 768 resolution, but we could still see some snapping them up for split-screen Halo on a giant, portable TV.

Gallery: Casio XJ-A series slim projectors eyes-on