Go Back Print Page

Boxlight Pro7501DP Review by Mike English - February 3rd -2011

Verdict: BUY! Boxlight’s new super bright projector is a great performer. The Pro7501DP is incredibly bright as you’d expect at 7500 ANSI Lumens, but colors are rich and subtle. Black levels are good too, even given the incredible light output.  Set up is straightforward and surprisingly easy – the Pro7501DP has significant horizontal and vertical lens shift. As well, it ships with both 4 and 6 segment color wheels. Swapping the wheels is easy, much like changing a lamp. The 4 segment offers enhanced brightness, while the 6 segment wheel provides better color. The Pro7501DP is a pro unit, meaning the on-screen menu system leans toward functional design instead of flashy. It’s a dual lamp projector, and swapping between dual lamp and single lamp mode is very easy. It’s useful to remember that at 7500 Lumens, this is a bright projector even in single lamp mode. All in all a really strong package. The Pro7501DP is ideal for houses of worship, auditoriums, exhibition halls, anywhere a good, bright projector is required.

By the Numbers:

Boxlight Pro7501DP – 1024x768 XGA Native, 2500:1 Contrast Ratio, 7500 ANSI Lumens, 4 and 6 segment DLP color wheels, Dual Lamp, 3000 Hour 280W lamps, 46 pounds, 1.78-2.35:1 Power Zoom Lens, 3 Year Warranty, Lifetime Tech Support

Boxlight Pro7501DP Overview:

Showing scale – that’s an 18 foot wide 2.35:1 image above a double door

Boxlight’s Pro7501DP is a work horse. It’s big, strong, reliable, but not terribly refined. Tailored for the pro installer, the menu interface is functional not flashy. The end user experience however, is a good one – the Pro7501DP performs, even under demanding light conditions. Colors are subtle with excellent saturation. Surprisingly, at anything close to an appropriate image size for a 7500 lumen projector, black levels are really good. This is a good projector, as well as being a very bright projector. User control is good, there are a lot of adjustments supported, but the interface is, well, a little boring. It’s functional, easy to navigate, but efforts weren’t made to make the menu system pretty. Which isn’t much of a limitation – this is a pro projector, not a home theater unit. Integration into existing installs is straightforward. New installs should be surprise free as well – there’s even a sturdy carry handle to help maneuver.

Button arrangement on the Pro7501DP. Both “LAMP” lights will activate in dual lamp mode.

Set up is surprisingly easy too. If a 46 pound projector could be considered portable, it’s this one. For my evaluation, I positioned a camera on a tripod in the center of the room, with the Pro7501DP set on a portable cart maybe three feet off dead center on the screen. Throw was about 26 feet, with a whopping 13.5 x 18 foot VA Draper Tensioned Electric Screen at the receiving end. Hey, for 7500 Lumens you go big or go home. The material shown is Draper’s High Def Grey 0.9 Gain.

Full frame image of a PC feed, in Dual Lamp mode, Hi-Brightness, with the 6 Segment Color Wheel installed. That’s 243 square feet of image.

Boxlight brightness valuations are, in my experience, quite accurate; I’m always pleasantly surprised by how bright Boxlight projectors are. There are ways to, not cheat, but inflate ANSI Lumen measurement, and I get the impression Boxlight doesn’t cheat, or at least doesn’t lie as much as many other main stream, big brand competitors. The Pro7501DP doesn’t disappoint – this is one bright projector, even knowing that it’s a bit of a laser cannon. Noise, even at peak brightness, is a perfectly manageable 40dB in full bright dual lamp mode. That’s 7500 ANSI hitting the screen at 40dB. I made the mistake of walking through the light-path during the course of my evaluation. It was like getting hit with a chandelier it was so bright.

The remote is well laid out, but again, it felt a little non-specific. It works well, with all the correct short cut buttons in the right places, and like most Boxlight remotes, comes with a built in laser pointer.

Boxlight PRO7501DP Video Projector Set Up
As I mentioned, I initially went with what would be considered a “less than optimal” projector set up position. I was able to square up the image, even with several feet of horizontal misalignment, using nothing more than lens shift and moderate keystoning. Image came courtesy of an XBMC media PC outputting 1080P via HDMI. Before any of that, we replaced the 4 segment color wheel with the 6 segment, which, while not quite as bright, provided a richer color palette. Frankly, as the pictures below will show, brightness even on a 22 and a half foot screen, with the 6 segment wheel installed, is exceptional. It’s accessible by removing the top cosmetic panel and requires a single Phillips screwdriver. Easy access means you can switch color wheels almost on the fly, with nothing more than a few minutes installation time.

4 Segment (red-green-blue-clear) DLP Color Wheel

First Impressions
I’ve had good experiences with Boxlight projectors, and the Pro7501DP continues the trend. As I’ve said, it’s a great unit, very competitive with anything that Christie or Panasonic has in the same class. Build quality is good, with excellent fitment. The projector ships without the lens, which proved to be very easy to install. Image quality was really good as well, making the Pro7501 an excellent all around performer.

Connecting to the Pro7501DP via LAN required running a cable from the laptop to the projector, setting the IP address, then logging on. IP functionality is good, but a little plain looking and lacking some controls I would have liked to see. For instance, while you can set inputs and basic picture functions, you can’t switch between lamp modes via IP. It’s not a big deal by any stretch, but it seems like a good feature to include in future firmware revisions.

Logged into the Pro7501DP by way of my Laptop

Picture and Performance
The Boxlight Pro7501DP took a variety of sources and rendered them well. Powerpoint and Flash presentations looked strong, as I expected. The real surprise was HD. HD performance looked great, especially given that this is a 4:3 aspect XGA projector. Allowing for resolution, picture performance was great – colors were bright and true, and black levels were very good too.

Actual un-retouched screen shot of a 13.5’ x 18’ VA projected image.

And that’s the real surprise here. That a 7500 Lumen projector can be this good says a lot about how the technology has matured. This an all around rock solid unit, designed for heavy duty installs, that looks and acts very much like a boardroom projector. Until you turn it on, anyway. Then it becomes a fire breathing dragon.

Because of its simplicity, the Pro7501DP can be used anywhere a bright projector is required. Boxlight is having success with the House of Worship market segment, who have been waiting for a projector this good, this bright, at a reasonable price, for some time now. 1080i HD looks great too. The Pro7501DP handled letterboxing well, given the strong black level performance. Scaling was good too, even allowing for the huge screen I used for testing. Strong HD performance provides a good all around functionality, ideal for multipurpose video applications.

More Pro7501DP  Goodness, courtesy of “Curse of the Golden Flower” at 7’ 9” high

The Bottom Line
With the introduction of the Pro7501Dp Boxlight is making a pretty clear line in the sand. Boxlight has released an excellent projector, crazy bright, with a very aggressive street price. Boxlight also has one of the best warranties in the business, three years bumper to bumper, less the lamp. They also offer lifetime tech support, believe it or not, from real life projector nerds. This is a good thing and yes, I’m one too, in case you wondered. The Pro7501DP is amazingly bright, with excellent picture quality. Set up is easy, particularly for a “fixed install” projector, so easy that you can and should imagine travelling with one. This is another nice unit from what I think might be the oldest manufacturer of video projectors. Put this one high on your buy list.