HCC127.13_lg.projector

27/1/06

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Tried&Tested
LG AN110B N 1,900 (approx) N 5544 N www.lge.co.uk
DLP gets its first wallflower
Want a projector but dont know where to put it? Then LGs innovative wall-hanger might be just the solution you need, suggests John Archer
a projector. But most people also know that unless youre lucky enough to have a dedicated home cinema room, actually installing and using a projector tends to be far from convenient. Which makes me wonder why nobody has thought before of doing a projector like LGs AN110B What makes the AN110B so unusual is the fact that its designed to be mounted vertically either on a desktop stand or wall. The lens thus sits on what would normally be the top of a standard projector, with all the inner electronics specially designed to fit into a vertical design that only protrudes around 3.5 inches from your wall. LG has managed to turn this practical idea into a style icon too, thanks to a glossy, half mirror, ultra-minimalist black finish (white is also available). The necessary wall-mounting kit is included in the packaging, and the
verybody knows that for the ultimate home cinema experience, you really need
connections are situated in a recess along the units bottom edge so that cabling can hang tidily straight down ready for tacking to a wall or even slipping into a wall conduit if you happen to be rebuilding your house. The connections are a touch stingy, perhaps, in that a D-Sub PC jack has to double up as the component video input for analogue HD feeds. But at least the necessary adaptor cable is provided, and theres an HDMI interface for all-digital HD action. Happily the AN110Bs innovative design hasnt apparently been achieved at the expense of decent inner specifications. The unit has a native resolution of 1280 x 768, which shows that the Texas Instruments DLP chipset used is at least reasonably modern. The resolution also combines with the connections to earn the projector the all-important HD Ready badge. Other noteworthy claims are a claimed contrast ratio in excess of 2500:1, and impressive brightness of 1000 Lumens (though this drops to
700 ANSI Lumens if you use the projectors Silent running mode). A potential flaw with the AN110Bs concept crops up during setup, however. If you wall-mount it you immediately become quite restricted in terms of the image sizes you can achieve, potentially making it difficult to get a picture that fits accurately onto your screen. One solution would be to use a portable screen thats easily moved closer to or further from the projector. Alternatively, you could forgo a screen altogether and project onto a white wall. The AN110s 1.42x motorised zoom is at least more flexible than some. But I nonetheless strongly suggest that you check out the throw distance data supplied in

Excellent

Average

LAB REPORT

Colour Black level Contrast Resolution
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DLPProjector
LG has managed to turn this practical idea into a style icon too
Image controls look more like those on a TV than a projector The flat profile makes this PJ unlike any other
the Practical Tip box to see if the AN110 will work for your particular viewing room size. When it comes to other features, the most significant is LGs XD Engine processing technology, which delivers a host of picture tweaks bettering image clarity; colour saturations/tone; contrast; brightness; colour gradation/greyscaling; and frame-rate handling when watching movies. The onscreen menus, meanwhile, contain a few other bits and bobs of interest. There are three themed gamma presets, for instance; a white peaking option; adjustments for the offset/gain of the red, green and blue image components; separate saturation adjustments for the red, green, blue, yellow, cyan and magenta; and low and high lamp modes. definition without adding unwanted digital processing side effects. Colours are the next thing to impress, as the AN110 serves up some exceptionally natural tones bolstered by subtle gradations that avoid all traces of solarisation. This is particularly evident during Tim Burtons Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, as the projector does an unexpectedly fine job of bringing out the subtle skin tone differences Burton uses to distinguish Charlies real, gritty life from the chocolate box lives of many of the other golden ticket winners. The inevitable negative points are these. First, the picture isnt especially vibrant; colours are natural and subtle, but not spectacularly rich or dynamic. Also, while I wouldnt go so far as to describe the SD picture as soft, its certainly not the sharpest or most detailed Ive seen. Finally, while black levels contain plenty of shadow detail and subtle colouring, theyre not especially deep. This in turn serves to exaggerate the lack of dynamism caused by the slightly muted colours. Pump high-definition into the projector and there are immediate improvements. HDTV brings a snap to the image that is missing from DVD and DVB. There are also visible improvements to the colour range. it has clearly worked hard to combine its groundbreaking design with an enjoyable performance, particularly with HD sources. If the wall-mounting idea suits your needs and room, the AN110B really is worth considering I

Performance

And so to the $64,000 question: have the demands of the vertical design forced too many compromises in the AN110s performance? And the answer is: not particularly Kicking off a reasonable run of good points is the images video integrity. DLP projectors this side of 2k usually suffer with flickering stripes of pure colour in your peripheral vision (known as the rainbow effect) and/or fizzing noise over horizontal motion. But the rainbow effect here only appears so rarely that its barely worth
Vertically wall-mounting this LG projector makes for a stylish alternative to conventional PJs

Conclusion

I expected the AN110B to be a case of style over substance. But to LGs credit
The remote handset is simple and intuitive
mentioning, while the motion fizzing only affects standard-definition material and even then not badly. Its also pleasing to report that XD Engine seems more at home here than on LGs LCD and plasma TVs, delivering noticeable improvements to standard

HCC PRACTICAL TIP

Have you got a room/screen configuration that matches the AN110Bs throw distance? 40in image: shortest 1.5m; longest 2.1m 60in image: shortest 2.27m; longest 3.18m 80in image: shortest 3m; longest 4.25m 100in image: shortest : 3.8m; longest 5.32m 120in image: shortest : 4.57m; longest 6.39m 140in image: shortest 5.34m; longest 7.47m 160in image: shortest 6.1m; longest 8.53m 180in image: shortest 6.9m; longest 9.6m 200in image: shortest 7.63m; longest 10.7m

RATINGS

Highs: Space-saving design; quiet running; natural, noiseless pictures Lows: Black levels; problems getting the image to fit your screen
ITEM HD Ready Progressive scan Composite S-video Component video HDMI/DVI PC input Resolution Brightness

SPECIFICATIONS

SUPPORT G G G G G G G
Brightness Clarity Features OVERALL

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Contrast Dimensions Weight Also featuring XD Engine; low/high lamp modes; colour temp adjust; gain/offset adjust for red, green blue; other colour adjustments; gamma presets; white peaking adjustment; XD Demo mode; auto sleep; keystone adjustment; manual image shift; vertical design; wall mount included
DETAILS All the connections and specs required Compatible with 480p and 576p 1 phono input 1 input But only via provided adaptor and PC jack 1 HDMI 1 D-Sub 1280 x ANSI Lumens (700 in low lamp mode) (max) 2500:1 (max) 254(h) x 443(w) x 94(d)mm 4.5kg