Ask-Proxima M3 Projector

ASK may not be the first name that springs to mind when you think of projectors, but it's worth bearing in mind that it and Proxima are both part of the same company. However, if that doesn't give you an idea of this company's size and market share, you should also be aware that it has recently merged with In-Focus - quite possibly the best-known digital projector manufacturer around.

It's not uncommon for manufacturers to herald their products as groundbreaking, but in this case it's actually true. The M3 is without a doubt the most impressive digital projector we have ever seen. It has a lot of excellent features but the first thing that strikes you is its size: 60 x 175 x 210mm (h x w x d). It's also very light, weighing in at around 1.7kg, which is a little heavier than the 1.5kg claimed in the documentation.

This is the type of projector that mobile presenters have been praying for. Even though the dimensions and weight of this unit are enough to convince many potential buyers to part with their cash, it has a lot of other tricks up its sleeve.

The M3 is a DLP-based projector and produces a very bright 1000 ANSI lumen image that's easy to read even with fluorescent lights on. Despite its diminutive size, the M3 can throw an image of up to 230in diagonal.

It's unlikely that you'll need anything that big from a device like this, but it's good to know that you've got the option. The native resolution is 1024 x 768, which makes it an ideal companion for the majority of notebooks. At the rear of the projector are two connectors, one DVI and one USB. The DVI will accept both analog and digital signals, and a cable is provided to connect the M3 to both analog D-SUB ports and digital DVI ports.

The USB connector is the key to one of the M3's best features. When a computer is linked to the M3 via USB, all of the projector's features and menus can be activated and manipulated directly from the computer via supplied software. What makes this feature even better is that any settings you apply to the projector via a specific PC will be remembered the next time that computer is attached to the M3.

As well as manipulating the projector's menus, the software will allow you to lasso areas of the image on the computer's screen that the projector will then zoom in on. While the projector is zoomed in, the computer's screen will display the whole image with the zoomed area outlined. This outline can then be moved around the image changing the zoomed view on the projector.

A lot of thought has gone into the menus embedded in the M3 and anyone familiar with Windows will have no problem navigating them since they look almost identical to nested Windows menus.

Mounted on the top of the unit is a light sensor that will measure the ambient lighting and adjust the brightness settings on start-up. This is only done when the projector is turned on, so if the lighting changes after that point manual adjustment will be needed.

Another great feature is the standard tripod mount located on the underside of the chassis making it easy to mount the projector either on the ceiling or on a photographic tripod.

Of course all these features wouldn't mean very much if the image quality wasn't impressive, but thankfully the M3 puts in a sterling performance.

The image when connected to a PC via analog or digital sources is superb, even in bright lighting conditions. If you want to connect standard AV sources to the M3 you can use the supplied expansion module. This clips onto the rear of the unit and provides inputs for S-Video and composite sources as well as line-in connectors for sound. The image quality via S-Video was also excellent when connected to a DVD player. Even the lightning-fast movements of martial arts film star Jet Li couldn't faze the M3's crystal-clear display.

As with any good DLP projector, the M3 isn't cheap at £4295 ex VAT. That said, this price includes the projector, the AV module, a staggering amount of assorted cabling and the infra-red remote control. The M3 is also being marketed under the guise of the Proxima Ultralight X350, so if you're having trouble finding it, look for one of these as well.

Ultimately, you either need a projector or you don't, but if you do you'd be hard pushed to find a better solution than the ASK M3.

Contact
ASK-Proxima 01628 666 622