The projector world is moving away from boxy designs and toward sleek systems that have soft corners. The metallic-silver V-332 is no exception, but I like its features and performance even more than its looks. If you present on the road and need a light-duty DLP display, read on.

Weighing in at 2.8 pounds and measuring 1.8 inches high x 7.3 inches wide x 6.9 inches deep, the V-332 is extremely light and small. You'll appreciate the slim footprint when you pull it out of the included carry case and put it on the table with one hand. Set up is a breeze, thanks to two adjustable front feet and a flip-up back foot. All three feet have no-slip rubber pads and the front feet have buttons that let you make flash adjustments. You can also spin the feet to fine-tune the system's height, but those buttons are the time-savers.

The base has two manual focus dials and a responsive, easy-to-use directional pad that navigates a thorough menu, but you'll rarely use the pad, thanks to the quality remote control. The remote has the same directional pad and plenty of extra buttons (including Keystone, Volume, and Zoom adjustment). And infrared ports on the front and back of the system mean you can stand (or move) just about anywhere without losing contact. The remote also controls two important features: Mute, which stops projection instantly; and Timer, which enables the handy Presentation Timer feature.

All four sides of the V-332 boast vents. The fans aren't silent, but they won't interrupt a presentation. If you really need lower noise level and you're willing to sacrifice brightness, you can switch it to Eco-Mode (the remote has an Eco-Mode toggle button). The input ports include composite video, S-Video, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a 15-pin D-Sub. However, the system doesn't have a DVI connector.

The V-332 offers 1,200 ANSI lumens, so I expected the display to produce weak images. As it turned out, the system was reasonably bright, even when I opened the windowless testing room's door. The device offers a 1,024x768 resolution, 2000:1 contrast ratio, and aspect ratios from 4:3.

I ran DisplayMate Multimedia Edition which tests the projector's ability to produce clear, colorful, bright images. The V-332 dove into black on the dark ends Gray-Scale tests, but the contrast ratio option evened the scale to a near-balance. (I don't think you'll run into any trouble with dark images or video—it handled the dark "The Matrix" DVD without losing much detail to the shadows.) The projector handled the other tests well, including Ghosting and Defocusing tests.

Although the V-332 isn't the most powerful projector in town, it's certainly bright enough for most meetings and will serve mobile presenters well. It powered on (from a cold start) in 38 seconds and powered off (after running for 30 minutes) in 1:39 (min:sec). Of course, you won't need to wait for the projector to power down—its batteries let it finish off the shutdown process after you unplug it. Thus, you can finish the presentation, put the V-332 into its bag, and leave with the crowd. PLUS Vision wraps up the package with a three-year warranty.

by Joshua Gulick

V-332
$1,995
PLUS Vision
(800) 211-9001
(503) 748-8700
www.buyplusdirect.com