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BenQ PB6200 DLP Video Projector
See it at Amazon.com for $2,195.00Average Customer Rating
(3.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Short lamp life makes this an expensive "budget" projector
(1 out of 5) by C. Carroll on Mar 27, 2005 (Orleans, CA USA)The picture from this projector is good for its price range, but the bulb failed after 300 hours. Other reviewers have experienced this, so it sounds like the lamp rarely lasts the advertised 2000 hours. At $350 for a replacement lamp, it makes this a poor choice for a budget projector.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Good but Flawed
(3 out of 5) by C. Hazelwood on Mar 31, 2005Rebate and recent flickering problems aside, this model is good for my DVD viewing. The projector works best with an additional component to RGB cable and a progressive scan DVD player. S-Video is too blurry for the 70-inch wide spread I'm using. After a year of use (~400 hours), it exhibited intermittent flickering in Cinema Mode and then began spreading to my other modes. BenQ quickly sent a refurbished replacement.
THE REBATE PROBLEM
I bought the projector at the end of March 2004 and promptly sent the rebate form to them within the week. In the week of August 16-20, 2004, I received a postcard that stated "Unfortunately, we could not honor your request because of the following reason: Unfortunately, the serial number you submitted is invalid or invalid due to special pricing." I contacted the online retailer where I bought the projector, and they promptly got me in touch with someone at BenQ. That person responded, and throughout the next two months, we exchanged a few e-mails. The BenQ official said that the lamps were backordered and there had been problems with their rebate handler. I received my free projector lamp the second week of November (8 months after my rebate had been sent).
THE FLICKERING PROBLEM
After a year of use (~400 hours), the projector had an intermittent flickering that worsened the longer it was left on. The flickering was noticeable at the top of the image as well as the top and bottom left areas. In layperson's terms, the flickering appeared as if someone was rapidly turning the brightness up and down in those spots on the screen. I troubleshooted the problem with the default blue screen display and discovered that switching from Cinema mode to Economy mode would make the problem disappear. When switching back to Cinema mode, the flickering would return after a few minutes. The problem then spread to Economy mode a few days later. I had the projector plugged into an APC surge and power filter throughout this process.
REMOTE CONTROL PROBLEM
Now, the power button on the remote control sometimes acts as if it has been pressed twice and turns the projector off without waiting for the second press confirmation.
REFURBISHED PROJECTOR CLARIFICATIONS
Contrary to the review published here, according to one BenQ official I e-mailed, *all* replacements are refurbished and the warranty for the refurbished replacement is only as long as the warranty for the original projector. The "hot swap" process involved BenQ mailing a Word document to me (accidentally including all their tracked changes to the document), my printing and filling out the form as well as including my credit card information, and faxing it back to them. The credit card information is required because BenQ charges $1795 (the MSRP) to your card until you return your original one. This process also required me to print out a mailing label from a Web site for the return box. Return postage was handled by BenQ. When I received the replacement projector, I noticed some differences from my original one. Although the box and packaging was sealed the same as my original projector packaging, the projector menu indicated that the bulb had been used for over 19 hours. The remote control also had some food and/or debris on it while the back of its casing had been pried open with a tool that left marks (even the protective plastic had been peeled off its face). The replacement projector also makes a noticeably louder high-pitched squeal when on than my original one, and I had to clean off several smudges and fingerprints from the front lens. So far, it is working good, but it's used and the warranty is less than my original. BenQ should have made this information available upfront for buyers and prospective buyers.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
BenQ's customer service was average to good. They lacked following up with e-mails that I sent requiring me to forward my previous messages and indicate how long it has been since the original (I waited one to four weeks between messages.) There is also a bit of a disconnect between support and their promotional materials. The Qxchange service (i.e., the hot swap process) was not defined on BenQ's Web site--I had to look at other sites (and this review) to determine what it meant. I then e-mailed the BenQ officials I had been in contact with and they cleared up the matter. When I called their returns department, the person I spoke to did not even know what the word "Qxchange" meant. BenQ's Web site uses an outdated and non-user friendly Web form to contact the company's departments. No carbon-copy is sent to a person filling out the form, so users have no record of when they submit a request.
THE REBATE PROBLEM
I bought the projector at the end of March 2004 and promptly sent the rebate form to them within the week. In the week of August 16-20, 2004, I received a postcard that stated "Unfortunately, we could not honor your request because of the following reason: Unfortunately, the serial number you submitted is invalid or invalid due to special pricing." I contacted the online retailer where I bought the projector, and they promptly got me in touch with someone at BenQ. That person responded, and throughout the next two months, we exchanged a few e-mails. The BenQ official said that the lamps were backordered and there had been problems with their rebate handler. I received my free projector lamp the second week of November (8 months after my rebate had been sent).
THE FLICKERING PROBLEM
After a year of use (~400 hours), the projector had an intermittent flickering that worsened the longer it was left on. The flickering was noticeable at the top of the image as well as the top and bottom left areas. In layperson's terms, the flickering appeared as if someone was rapidly turning the brightness up and down in those spots on the screen. I troubleshooted the problem with the default blue screen display and discovered that switching from Cinema mode to Economy mode would make the problem disappear. When switching back to Cinema mode, the flickering would return after a few minutes. The problem then spread to Economy mode a few days later. I had the projector plugged into an APC surge and power filter throughout this process.
REMOTE CONTROL PROBLEM
Now, the power button on the remote control sometimes acts as if it has been pressed twice and turns the projector off without waiting for the second press confirmation.
REFURBISHED PROJECTOR CLARIFICATIONS
Contrary to the review published here, according to one BenQ official I e-mailed, *all* replacements are refurbished and the warranty for the refurbished replacement is only as long as the warranty for the original projector. The "hot swap" process involved BenQ mailing a Word document to me (accidentally including all their tracked changes to the document), my printing and filling out the form as well as including my credit card information, and faxing it back to them. The credit card information is required because BenQ charges $1795 (the MSRP) to your card until you return your original one. This process also required me to print out a mailing label from a Web site for the return box. Return postage was handled by BenQ. When I received the replacement projector, I noticed some differences from my original one. Although the box and packaging was sealed the same as my original projector packaging, the projector menu indicated that the bulb had been used for over 19 hours. The remote control also had some food and/or debris on it while the back of its casing had been pried open with a tool that left marks (even the protective plastic had been peeled off its face). The replacement projector also makes a noticeably louder high-pitched squeal when on than my original one, and I had to clean off several smudges and fingerprints from the front lens. So far, it is working good, but it's used and the warranty is less than my original. BenQ should have made this information available upfront for buyers and prospective buyers.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
BenQ's customer service was average to good. They lacked following up with e-mails that I sent requiring me to forward my previous messages and indicate how long it has been since the original (I waited one to four weeks between messages.) There is also a bit of a disconnect between support and their promotional materials. The Qxchange service (i.e., the hot swap process) was not defined on BenQ's Web site--I had to look at other sites (and this review) to determine what it meant. I then e-mailed the BenQ officials I had been in contact with and they cleared up the matter. When I called their returns department, the person I spoke to did not even know what the word "Qxchange" meant. BenQ's Web site uses an outdated and non-user friendly Web form to contact the company's departments. No carbon-copy is sent to a person filling out the form, so users have no record of when they submit a request.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Beautiful but flawed
(1 out of 5) by Catherine G. Soldan on Apr 4, 2005 (USA) Have been able to use mine for about 40 hours. After that it failed to respond to any input from any source. Contacted Benq and they said there was nothing they could do but send it in for repair since they have been having problems with these units. Sent it in and got it back. It worked once during a test preparation for a presentation but once again failed to acknowledge any input when turned on the next day during the actual presentation. Contacted Benq and they said I could have it repaired (wasn't repaired last time) or receive a refurbished unit (someone else's problem). So am working on my third round,maybe I'll be LUCKY this time. It will be my last Benq product. I can not recommend the product or company.
good projector
(5 out of 5) by Peter Bonenberger on Aug 16, 2009The BenQ PB6200 DLP works very well. Good quality, the presentation photos are clear and colorful. No problems to adjust.
no problems
(4 out of 5) by T. L. Armitage on May 16, 2008 (West Coast, USA)We've had this projector just under 3 years, and have had no problems with it. The only thing is that we have it down, so we don't use the remote but the actual buttons on the machine. I find that sometimes we have to re-adjust the focus, etc because we bump it. The focus gets bumped easily when putting the lens cover off and on.
As for the bulb, it just flashed a message up saying we've used over 1980 hours, so I guess it's time to re-order a new one (though i think we've had it on economy, so it should last a while longer). We have a regular bedroom tv we use for general showing, or for the kids cartoons, etc- because the bulbs are so expensive, we generally don't use the projector for everyday watching. And as we're all at work, the tv isn't on all day either. I'm thinking there must have been a bad batch of bulbs for those of you who had problems- ours has worked great.
As for the bulb, it just flashed a message up saying we've used over 1980 hours, so I guess it's time to re-order a new one (though i think we've had it on economy, so it should last a while longer). We have a regular bedroom tv we use for general showing, or for the kids cartoons, etc- because the bulbs are so expensive, we generally don't use the projector for everyday watching. And as we're all at work, the tv isn't on all day either. I'm thinking there must have been a bad batch of bulbs for those of you who had problems- ours has worked great.