Review: Epson BrightLink Pro 1460Ui Revamps Classroom Collaboration

Many K–12 classrooms have retained their rudimentary designs for the past several decades, with the only real interactive tool being a chalkboard or whiteboard. But maximizing learning today requires more, and the Epson BrightLink Pro 1460Ui projector can provide it.

The large, nearly 20-pound unit is designed to be mounted just above the area that will display images. It’s too big and heavy to use on a rolling cart or as a shared device, but its short-throw technology means that when mounted over a whiteboard, screen or above any flat surface like a wall, it can totally transform the space.

Just used as a projector, the BrightLink Pro is impressive. With an adjustable viewing area, presentations can get quite large. For our testing, we created a massive 100-inch display, the maximum size, along an eight-foot stretch of bare wall that was every bit as detailed as a movie theater screen.

But the BrightLink Pro goes beyond just a display tool. It also performs what almost seems like a magic trick, transforming the new presentation surface into a touchscreen. The unit comes with two “pens” that can be used to draw on the screen, only they don’t really write anything. Instead, the projector adds lines in whatever color you choose as you draw on the projected image or blank screen. You can even toss the pens and draw with your fingers, thanks to motion-capture lenses on the projector.

Once finished, created images can be saved and emailed or sent to a printer with the touch of a button.

Epson uses advanced 3LCD technology to drive the BrightLink Pro. In our visual benchmark testing, images were displayed within one percent of their true colors.

With projectors, larger display sizes generally equate to lower brightness, but the BrightLink Pro, with its short-throw image technology, avoids this common pitfall. We recorded maximum lumens over 4,000 for both blank white screens and those splashed with color. That means the BrightLink Pro works well even in classrooms not designed for it, such as areas that can’t be dimmed.

Creative teachers could probably come up with a million uses for a BrightLink Pro 1460Ui in their classrooms. And students will likely be fully engaged, and can even participate, in the upgraded lessons.

App Links a Variety of Devices to the Projector

Used as an interactive whiteboard, the Epson BrightLink Pro 1460Ui projector is a great tool for classroom learning. And used as a projector with a 100-inch display, it will make any lesson stand out. But the BrightLink Pro is designed to do even more, seamlessly interacting with many other devices. We give them a try in our online extra.

Most educators are going to have a smartphone, and many schools also have at least a few tablets. The BrightLink Pro can interface with any iOS or Android device. You just need to install the app, which can be found at www.epson.com/iprojection or by searching for Epson iProjection on either app stores.

We installed iProjection on our Android phone in a few seconds. From there, we simply selected our test projector unit and began sharing content from the phone. The app allows wireless streaming directly from the phone — it was a real treat to enlarge movies and presentations by about 50 times their size. We could also draw on our phone’s screen to annotate presentations, which would then stream to the larger screen.

As with local presentations, those that run through the projector from a phone can be saved, sent to a printer or shared using email once complete, offering an easy way to keep absent students up to date on class material.

Connecting a laptop is even easier, as Epson includes a USB port and several other connection options on the remote control pad. We plugged a flash drive in to the port and led presentations from there, drawing on our stored pictures during a meeting and resaving them with the collaborative edits once finished.

Finally, the BrightLink Pro 1460Ui projector allows users to split the screen with the touch of a button. We could then designate different inputs for the two halves. Pointing one to a videoconferencing setup with the other displaying images from a laptop turned our wall into a collaborative workspace that was perfect for distance learning or allowing special guests to enter the classroom virtually.

The Epson BrightLink Pro 1460Ui not only acts as a cutting-edge presentation tool and large-display projector, it also has a lot of built-in flexibility that should enable it to tackle multiple classroom roles. Being able to transform any wall into an interactive learning environment means that any classroom, regardless of size, can start making use of the latest technology and learning tools.