# BenQ Smart Eco Confusion



## nickakin (Jul 4, 2013)

Hey Everyone,
Hope you all are have had a wonderful holiday season! 

I have a question for any BenQ Projector owners with Smart Eco technology. I'm trying to figure out exactly how it works. I have the BenQ W1080ST. It is the short throw version of the W1070. 

Here is a quote from Projector Central's review of the W1080ST. They also say the same thing about the W1070. 



> SmartEco mode can reduce light output even more drastically than Eco mode, but there's a catch. In order to really bring down light output, you can't just select a setting from a menu or slider. Instead, you need to find content that has the desired brightness level, then activate SmartEco mode while that content is on screen. The projector will determine, based on the content on screen, what brightness level is appropriate. It will then lock the projector's output at that level until the lamp mode is changed.
> 
> If you really want to take down light output, the easy way to do it is to put up a pure black image and then activate SmartEco. That nets you a reduction of about 70% from the projector's maximum. You can fine-tune the setting by using test patterns of differing brightness, but it would be much easier if the projector just included some kind of manual control.


This is the only place I have read this. I have read through other reviews that simply said they just selected "smart eco" and that was that. I even called BenQ and the tech person I spoke with seemed confused when I read him what the Projector Central review said about Smart Eco. He said he had never heard that. The way he understood it was that it was supposed to automatically work when selected regardless of what was on screen. He said he would try to find out more and email me. 

All this to ask, do any of you guys use Smart Eco on your BenQ projector? If so, have you tried selecting it while on a dark scene compared to selecting it on a bright scene and taken measurements to see if the screen changes in overall brightness. I have family in town this week, so I have not had much time to play with it yet, but I plan to more after they head back home. But, I don't own a light meter, so it hard for me to judge with just my eyes. Sometimes it's hard to tell if what I'm seeing is just my eyes playing tricks on me. 

I'd love to know if any of you guys have perfected how to use Smart Eco, or if Projector Central is just mistaken, and Smart Eco works the same regardless of what is on screen when it is selected.

Thanks so much for your time and input!


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## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

I tend to rely more on projectorreviews.com more than PJ Central and here's what they have to say:



> W1070 Smart-Eco mode
> 
> BenQ is apparently using some smarts in their Smart-Eco mode. I never had to leave it. On really bright scenes it seems every bit as bright as full power, but on dark scenes it will save you lamp and power consumption. Think sort of light a dynamic iris, but lamp dimming. Not a new technology – lamp dimming, but a fine implementation. They indicate that switching to a darker scene can drop power consumption 40% or more. They mention up to 70% energy savings, but they fail to specify how to get that much (a pitch black image?) Seriously though. I’d recommend starting in Smart-Eco. Fool with the other two if you wish.



Here's the link to it.


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