Viewsonic PJD5123

Value

The PJD6531w costs one or two hundred dollars more than the PJD5123, depending on the seller. Is it worth it? We think so. Because of its higher brightness level, its larger 1280 × 800 native resolution, and its HDMI port, it does everything the PJD5123 can do, only better.

	Comparison Specifications
	ViewSonic PJD5123	ViewSonic PJD6531w
Price
Resolution	SVGA 800 x 600 (4:3)	WXGA 1280 x 800 (16:10)
HD	No	Yes
3D Support	Yes	Yes

Blacks & Whites

Both of these Viewsonics have out-of-this-world greyscale gamma, but the PJD6531w had a much brighter maximum luminance. For large projections or rooms with light, this can be important.

Color

Color performance between these two Viewsonic models was about equally bad. Color temperature was more consistent in the PJD6531w, but its RGB curves and color gamut were slightly worse.

Remember that the color temperature chart below is not helpful for the PJD5123. See the chart above for its color drift for every shade of grey, from black to white.

Motion

Motion performance was similar, but better in the PJD6531w. This model performed better in motion and resolution scaling, yet fell behind the PJD5123 in terms of 24fps representation.

Viewing Effects

The zoom lens on the PJD6531w offered better flexibility for where you can set the projector in relation to the screen. It also had fewer optical issues, but as another DLP, it might still nauseate you with its rainbow effect.

Connectivity

At the cost of an infrequently-used RS-232C port, the PJD6531w has a HDMI and an Ethernet port beyond the PJD5123. These two ports make it the better choice.