Month: May 2019

Crenova XPE498 Projector

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Today I’m taking a look at the Crenova XPE498 projector. I’ve been a bit obsessed with projectors for a while, but I’ve never had the budget to get a “proper” digital projector and all of the sub $100 models I’ve looked at in the past have been huge letdowns.

In the case of the XPE498, the image is bright and crisp as long as you make sure the projector is within the optimum projection range (between 1.12 and 6 meters). If you’re outside of that range you’re not going to be able to get a clear picture (unless you use external optics), but that’s more than enough room to work with.

Unlike many of the lower cost projectors I’ve used in the past, the XPE498 had very few problems with ambient light. I was able to see the display well from between 1 and 3 meters with basic room lighting, and I didn’t even need complete darkness at the 6 meter range. Keep in mind that this was just done using my off white wall and not a specialized projection screen, which would have improved the display efficiency significantly.

Also, the fact that the native resolution of the LCD in this projector is 800 x 480 (which is common for projectors in this price range) made no real difference in the image quality. I didn’t even start to notice the difference in pixel density until the screen was around 100 inches across.

If you’re wondering about how loud the fan is, it’s about on par with some desktop PC case fans. Since the XPE498 uses an LED as opposed to a halogen lamp like other projectors I’ve used, it puts off way less heat and eats through bulbs at a much slower rate. I still don’t know if the 50,000 hour lamp life is true, but maybe I should leave it running non-stop for 6 years to find out.

Now I just need to make a mount of some kind so that I can suspend this projector over my gaming table. I will never need to waste ink on DnD maps again!

UHURU UM-900 Podcasting Set

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Today I’m taking a look at the UHURU UM-900 Podcasting Set. It’s a kit for up and coming podcasters that includes a boom arm, pop filter, wind puff, shock mount, USB cable, and the UM-900 microphone itself. Even better, the mic has a maximum recording resolution of 192kHz/24bit.

I tried recording at 44.1kHz/16bit (CD quality), 48kHz/16bit (DVD quality), 96kHz/24bit (studio quality), as well as 192kHz/24bit (also studio quality, but higher res), and I had no issue telling the individual recordings apart. Well, I did have a little trouble telling 96/24 from 192/24, but so do most hardcore audiophiles. Either way, the added resolution and flat signal give me a lot of freedom to play with post processing.

I should also point out that this mic really does a great job blocking out background noise. The fans on my desktop PC aren’t the quietest, but they were almost inaudible in the background of any of my recordings so far. In fact, I was able to scrub the sound from the fans entirely from my recording without leaving any weird sound artifacts behind. I’ll try using a noise gate next time.

As for the other items in the kit, they’re all great. The boom arm is sturdy enough to hold my old Blue Yeti, the pop filter and wind puff do their jobs perfectly, and the USB cable is not only extra long (about 2 meters) but it also comes with a ferrite core to filter out interference.

One last thing I want to mention is just the look of the mic itself. The UM-900 uses a satin black finish on the chassis with a brushed nickel finish on the grill, and I love that aesthetic. Also, the fact that the UHURU logo looks like a square wave on an oscilloscope makes my inner tech geek happy.