AIPTEK PocketCinema V20 Pico Projector

The PocketCinema V20 is a miniature LED projector from AIPTEK. The manufacturer claims that this projector can project a screen of up to 65 inches. Unlike its older sibling, which uses the conventional white LED as the light source, this one uses the newer RGB LED technology.

The projector is bright enough to give you a decent 40–inch projection, but any larger would require a pitch dark room. The projector features a video player, MP3 player and a photo slideshow. It includes 2 GB of built-in memory, which can be further expanded up to 32 GB by using an SD or MMC card. The V20 can accept audio and video signals via a DVD player, media player or a camcorder using the composite AV input, while the VGA interface can connect to a computer or laptop. The VGA interface is not a standard D-sub, but actually quite similar to a mini-HDMI connector. So if the cable is lost or damaged, getting a replacement cable would be next to impossible.

The device is battery-operated using a 3.7 V 1700mAH battery, which lasts barely half an hour. It can also be powered via the bundled power adapter. Movies, photos and music can be transferred to the projector using the mini-USB port, which also charges the unit. File formats supported are JPG, MP3, MPEG4 and AVI, but video files have to be converted before transferring by using the ArcSoft MediaConverter software, which is bundled along with the product. The files take quite long for transcoding and the size of the files increases to almost four times the original size. For example, a 42 MB short film was converted to the required format for the projector and the final output size was 143 MB large. A single 700 MB DivX movie would fill up the built-in memory at 1.7 GB. Transferring the videos to the projector takes ages, with data transfer speeds that barely reach 3.3 MB/s.

The build quality of the PocketCinema V20 is way below average. The shell is rugged, but the overall feel of the product is of a typical “Chinese” product. The case is a black-brown plastic shell with a chrome plated layer around the body. The top face is glossy black and can be scratched very easily while handling and transportation. The top panel features a touch control panel, which is backlit using white LEDs. These consist of the menu, back and a D-Pad arrow keys. The interface is very sluggish and navigating the menu is very cumbersome.