Epson PowerLite S9

Epson PowerLite S9 Multimedia Projector

Epson promotes its PowerLite S9 Multimedia Projector ($499 direct) as a classroom projector, citing features such as built-in closed captioning, audio-out, and monitor-out. This projector provides decent image quality as well, and should be suitable for its intended role, as long as your classroom is not too large and you don't require advanced features like interactivity. One thing for sure is that it provides good value for its price. The PowerLite S9's light source, based on the 3LCD technology developed by Epson, is rated at 2,500 lumens. The projector provides SVGA (800 by 600 pixel) native resolution, at a 4:3 aspect ratio suitable for data presentations. From a distance of about 7 feet away, the projector was able to fill our test screen with an image about 64 inches on a diagonal that stood up well to ambient light, which should be fine for smaller classrooms. The S9 measures 3.0 by 11.6 by 9.0 inches (HWD) and weighs 5.1 pounds. The projector is white, with rounded corners that give it a sleek profile. There's a manual focus wheel accessible through an indentation above the lens; I was able to bring it to a reasonably sharp focus. It lacks an optical zoom, in favor of a 1.0 - 1.35 digital zoom.