Philips Bsure 2

The Philips Bsure 2 is a 1,500 lumens LCD projector that's neither small, nor particularly beautiful, but lays claim to being one of the quietest projectors around. It certainly has the lowest noise rating of any projector we've tested, at just 29dB. A 3in fan keeps the lamp housing cool at a whisper.

The Bsure 2 has plenty of connection options including S-Video and component video sockets and a Scart to component video converter, making everything from TVs, VCRs, DVD players and camcorders suitable sources. There's also a VGA connector combined with a USB cable providing mouse operation with the remote unit as well as obviating the need to connect an audio cable from the PC sound card or headphones socket to the projector.

Ordinarily, this would be no big deal, as projector speakers are no better than those found on a notebook, but the Bsure 2 has a 6w mono speaker.

This will ensure that audio is well received in small rooms. However, despite having separate bass and treble menu controls, this internal unit is prone to painful distortion at the upper volume range and is no substitute for separate speakers.

In tests, the image was sharp, stable and bright, and perfectly viewable in less than perfect conditions - such as when daylight enters through an unblinded window - at a projection distance of around five metres.

This along with the 1.2x zoom lens gives a maximum picture size of just over two and a half metres.

This projector won't appeal to everyone, it's neither glamorous, nor portable, but it's easy to set up, very quiet, provides ample connections and the picture quality is good.

Contact: Philips
www.philips.co.uk

Specifications:

• LCD technology
• 1,500 lumens
• 150w lamp power
• contrast ratio 300:1
• Native resolution XGA (1,024 x 768)
• aspect ratio 4:3
• connections (in and out) VGA, Audio L/R, composite video, component video, S-Video, USB, PS/2
• remote
• 3.7kg
• 235 x 335 x 108mm (w x d x h)