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Seeing Epson’s MegaPlex iOS device projector at tradeshows and in still pictures doesn’t do it justice. Set up in a small, awkward booth and surrounded by bright lights, the projector doesn’t usually inspire a second look. It wasn’t until I got a private screening at Macworld that I really saw what this thing could do.
The MegaPlex MG-850HD is an incredibly bright, 2800 lumen 720P projector with some mighty 10 watt stereo speakers built-in. But it adds something that you won’t find in many other high end consumer projectors: a 30-pin iOS device dock. The dock will accomodate anything from an iPod touch, iPhone or even any iPad.
Amazon has the MegaPlex MG-850HD for $612, Buy.com has it for $620.
This thing is a Portable. Home. Movie Theater – and I mean that in every sense of the word “portable.” At under 8 pounds and with a sturdy handle, it is easy to pack up and take it to the parents’ house or move it from the basement to the bedroom. Because your iOS device is usually the “brains” of this thing and it just starts working immediately upon plugging in, it takes only seconds to set up. You can be watching your iTunes, Hulu, or Netflix videos in under a minute after choosing a destination.
Similar to most high end projectors, this one has manual movable feet to adjust projection angles as well as focus, zoom and horizontal keystone. The Megaplex does auto-vertical keystone and iris controls making setting it up at angles surprisingly easy.
This thing has some range as well. With the early spring weather this year, we turned an evening birthday party into an impromptu outdoor movie showing on the backside of our house (with a sheet over a window). The Megaplex is rated for an over 25-foot diagonal screen and I can attest that it looks fantastic even before it is fully dark outside.
However, with the release of the new iPad and 1080P Apple TV, something even better happened…
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No, this thing doesn’t do 1080P, so there is no additional benefit from having 1080P devices – though I have to say watching bright 10-foot 720P movies on my wall usually beats my 46″ 1080P display pretty handily.
But my old Apple TV with its 720P Airplay went up for grabs, and connecting this to the Megaplex makes everything easier and more portable. Now, the Apple TV 720P is permanently connected via HDMI and those few seconds that it took to plop down the iOS device are now used to beam video to the Apple TV over Wifi.
There are a few problems with this set up of course. Apps like Hulu and Netflix don’t let me use Airplay for “some reason.” Also, it is a pain to set up the Apple TV if we are outside of our home wifi network and we usually just end up plopping down the iOS device.
One other nit-pick I have with the MegaPlex is that the VGA/USB ports are behind a strange rubber housing that is hard to find and replace. The easy solution to Mac/PC connectivity is buying an inexpensive Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter, which works great. The MegaPlex becomes either a 1280
