To be honest I am hating this thing

Look, it has a lot of good qualities, but the fact that it shipped without a user manual is beyond frustrating. I don’t use it often, so I need a refresher every time I turn it on. I have to hunt through forums and the 30+ emails they’ve sent me to find basic information on how to set it up. It’s like reading the phonebook.

On top of that, even when I do find the information I need, I still struggle to get decent results. I bought this to project images onto canvases for painting, so I need it to be very well keystoned. I’m finding that I can’t get the distance from the wall I need, the tripod is useless, and the keystone doesn’t work. Like, both auto and manual keystone are almost useless for me. I can’t get a decent picture to save my life.

I’m also dealing with a lot of blur, auto-focus not working well, and not being able to throw a very large picture before the whole image just goes blurry. The remote often doesn’t work either. This entire thing is just so freaking crappy and hard to use.

I know it’s in beta and I hope it improves. I just thought that they would have BASIC stuff like a user manual ready to go with it.

At this point I would give it 0 stars if I could. I hate using it, mostly because there is no clear guide, so every time I go to use it it is just a world of frustration.

Not sure if anyone else is in the same boat, but I’ve had it and had to share. At this point I would recommend this thing to NO ONE.

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It’s unfortunate that a device with so much potential is suffering from these issues. A lot of it can be chalked up to the lack of good research and user experience design that makes a product effortless and intuitive to use. There have also been other business, technical and logistics issues at play but despite all that I would ask you not to write off the device just yet. It has its gimmicks and quirks, sure, but it’s compact, powerful, flexible and once you set up specific workflows, you won’t have to go digging up manuals each time.

Give it a chance, read the forums, try to understand the device you have so you can get a good bang for your buck and utilize it for what it’s worth. Despite its flaws, and every device has flaws, most of the feedback and reviews for the projector are largely positive.

Your use case for projecting images onto canvases is quite interesting. What’s the biggest issue that is affecting your experience?

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Unfortunate that you’re unable to use it for your intended purpose. Very interesting use, I must say. Perhaps your use case is unique and quite different from some of us.

For me, I am loving this little projector. It works really well for my use case which is basically to watch movies and YouTube videos on a large screen.

Yes, it does have its flaws but the positive far outweighs the negative for my use case. I hope future software updates will make it even better.

All the best.

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Hi Kirsten, welcome to the forum!

This projector was launched as a crowdfunding project to gain input and feedback from the people who would buy it before it actually launched, to fine tune its capabilities and software for instance. This has lead to many changes and improvements being achieved between the first few units delivered and the ones coming out now, mostly on the software front.

The software has evolved so quickly, that even the manual that’s out now might already need an update soon. As part of the crowdfunding campaign backer community part of the “job” would be to help point out what is needed and unclear so that the engineering teams can fix these things and the marketing (?) teams can have the manuals created and updated to reflect these changes.

Regarding your use and your issues:

Can you take a few pictures from various angles perhaps of one such setup where you say you can’t get it to work? I think with the work you do you can’t have your own body blocking the image cast on the wall, so I’m guessing you’re using the PPX on the floor close to where you’re projecting, and possibly off to one side also? If you can depict how you’re setting it down in the room perhaps we can give you tips on how to beat achieve the results you’re looking for.

This does not sound good, do you experience this only when casting images on the wall for painting or also if you try other moving content like movies and such? Again, a picture would be worth a thousand words.

When I read this, the first thing that comes to mind is: that remote is not paidred via BT, meaning it’s only sending out an IR signal, which needs line of sight to the IR receiver on the back of the projector. Please check and follow these steps: FAQ: How to pair the AirMote?

The overall user experience will always vary from person to person. I found it quite intuitive, and given that I got mine on February 1st, when there were not so many people using one yet and posting their issues and asking their questions, I got by without needing a manual. My kids also just use it without any instruction from me whatsoever. So the mileage will vary but a user manual is indeed not a luxury with an electronic device these days (although a lot of smartphones for instance come without one).

If you go to the Philips.com website and go to the product support page, type in PPX620 as your model number or just the name PicoPix Max, you’ll get the manuals in PDF format listed in a variety of languages, one being the QuickStart guide that was included with the projector, and the other being the User Manual.

Download the User Manual to your phone and keep it handy.

I hope this all helps you a bit, and please do get back to us on the questions I asked above, I’d really hope to help you love your PPX as much as I do mine.

Ivo

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Yeah. I know what your mean my ‘feel good’ friend :sweat_smile:

I fall in love for the 2nd time with my ppm (it’s a replacement and it is working very well).

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mine is flawless. i have mine set up on a floating shelf in the spare room beaming straight to a white wall at around 80" and can move it to the garden weather depending at night. Inside i have it plugged in with a 4k android box doing all the donkey work. We really like it, Starwars 4k looked amazing on it (i appreciate it will be 1080p but still) sound is a bit naff but as expected and ive invested in some decent 2.1 speakers

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