Acer H6510BD Projector Review
Being an IT Technician in a school, I like to think that I know my way around budget to mid range projectors, which is why I had reasonable hopes for the Acer H6510BD when it arrived at my doorstep. The projector’s spec sheet reads like those in the price bracket above: full 1080p HD projection, 3D capable, multiple inputs, extensive image customization options and an advertised lamp life of at least 4,000 hours.
For a device that you can pick up for around £450 (if you shop around) the H6510BD has great image quality. Initially, the projector didn’t handle dark scenes particularly well, but some fiddling with the image settings easily fixed that. After that when projecting onto a white wall around 3-4 meters away everything I threw at it looked sharp and clear. The focus and optical zoom rings around the lens itself make it easy to quickly find the perfect image, even though the optical zoom is fairly limited.
The settings on offer allow you to customize almost every of the image, ranging from simply changing the setting to the appropriate content (such as Movie, Game or Sports, to name a few) to brightness, contrast, colour range or the image keystone. One neat feature that will certainly impress the masses is the wall colour setting, which will change the image colours based on the colour of the wall you are projecting onto.
The only time I had an issue with the image quality was when playing Far Cry 4 on the Xbox One. As a test I decided to climb to a high point of the map, and spin round randomly. Here the projector seemed to struggle to keep up with the fast changing of colors, which is understandable. However, during normal play there wasn’t a single image quality issue (on either PS4 or Xbox One) and input lag was non-existent.
One of the biggest downsides to the H6510BD is the sound. The built-in speakers are nothing special; they will do if you are using the projector on the move (which with the handy carry bag is a possibility) but if you intend on keeping the projector in one place an external speaker system is the only real option. The built-in speakers aren’t exactly loud, and when cranked up to full volume often distort sound or become very tinny.
The sleek white plastic design actually looks professional, despite the relatively cheap material it is made from. A few more heat output grills may have helped reduce the amount of heat that the front of the projector kicks out, and some slightly longer legs would have made it easier to angle the image as desired. Although, both of these are minor gripes with what is overall a nice looking and functional design.
Overall, the Acer H6510BD is a great projector for its relatively small price tag. The image quality is top notch and will easily handle almost anything you throw at it, whether that be a 10-hour Lord of the Rings marathon or just shooting some bad guys in CoD. If you do pick one up you will certainly want to get a decent set of external speakers so you don’t have to put up with the poor quality of the built in ones but other than that there is very few flaws. If you are looking for a projector on a relatively small budget, then you can’t go wrong with the H6510BD.
