BenQ SmartEco vs Eco Mode? Maximizes Your Projector’s Power Saving Capabilities

SmartEco is an intelligent energy-saving picture mode that allows the projector to continually adapt to the content of a video by adjusting the amount of lamp power used based on the content of each frame that’s projected. In practice, what this means is that when the projector senses that the video being projected is of a bright scene (maybe a daytime outdoor scene) or the slide in a presentation features a brighter background, it will set its lamp at full power to ensure that the brightness level correlates with the image. Then, when the video switches to a dimmer scene (say one that takes place at night) or a slide in the presentation that prominently displays a dark graphic, the projector will lower the brightness to a more suitable power-saving level. In this way SmartEco mode, with its image sensing technology and smart algorithm, is able to continually fluctuate the lamp’s brightness/power levels between 30 to 100% depending on each scene, thereby ensuring that the projector will use less power – up to 70% less at times – than it would under its normal picture mode while maintaining ideal brightness and contrast levels so as not to sacrifice image quality.

Even with an understanding of how BenQ’s SmartEco picture mode works, many users may still have questions about how it differs from the traditional energy-saving Eco modes that are already built into many projectors on the market. The difference between SmartEco and the traditional power-saving Eco modes seen in the majority of other projectors relates to something hinted at in the beginning of this article: that normal Eco modes tend to save energy by instituting across-the-board cuts to the power levels of the projector’s light source, typically reducing it by 20 to 30%, cuts that stay constant no matter the context. What this means is that with normal Eco modes the lamp will remain at 70 to 80% power in both dark and bright scenes. SmartEco mode, on the other hand, is able to adjust its lamp power to varying levels down to 30% for dark scenes, while boosting the lamp back to full power during bright scenes. This method of power-saving then gives SmartEco two advantages over a normal Eco mode; the first being that by allowing the lamp power to drop to levels way below the 70 to 80% range of normal Eco modes during dark scenes, SmartEco has the ability to affect a higher degree of energy-saving. The second advantage is that by allowing a return to full lamp power during bright scenes, SmartEco ensures that image quality and brightness stay at their optimal levels when needed, which contrasts with Eco modes that have a tendency to cause users to complain about how dark the projected image becomes when enabled.

Despite the advantages SmartEco has over traditional Eco modes, there are still various scenarios where switching the projector to its normal Eco mode is more preferable from an energy-saving perspective. This is because with the blanket decrease in lamp power that a normal Eco mode entails, the user is guaranteed a 20 to 30% decrease in power consumption (with an equivalent increase in the bulb’s lifespan), while with SmartEco the amount of energy-saving varies since the power consumption of the lamp floats between 30 to 100% depending on the content of the projected image. Thus, in extreme cases where the projector needs to consistently project bright images, the use of SmartEco might result in negligible, or possibly zero, energy-saving benefits. With this in mind, there are a couple general guidelines that the user should consider in regards to which type of power-saving mode suits them. For content that features brighter images and/or video, Eco mode will produce dimmer images than SmartEco but will save more energy, for content that features darker images and/or video, SmartEco will produce dimmer images than Eco mode but save more energy. The user can then weigh the tradeoffs for each scenario and make the decision that works best for them.

In terms of which power-saving mode is the right one to choose, there is one final point to mention: that the space in which the projector is used will also play a role in which picture mode is ideal. For businesses and organizations this means conference rooms that feature bright lighting and/or large exterior-facing windows are suitable settings for SmartEco use since it allows for maximum brightness when needed while also retaining the energy-saving capabilities of picture dimming. Conversely, conference rooms with softer lighting and/or no windows are recommended to stick with a normal Eco mode whose steady brightness levels ensures that the image never gets too dark and that lower power-consumption is maintained.

There’s another power-saving feature embedded in many BenQ business projectors that organizations will find useful in their quest to conserve energy: Eco Blank. Eco Blank is a feature that allows the projector to automatically switch to a blank (black) screen after 3 minutes of idle video (imagery with no movement) or no input signal. During the time in which the blank screen is shown, the projector will reduce its power consumption by 70% while still keeping itself ready to resume projection once content is ready/available. Not only is this a way to reduce power consumption during sessions in which the projector is needed, but it’s also an energy-saving failsafe in cases where the projector is accidentally left on after use.