Projector Reviews

PRICE $3500 (without screen)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Sits close to wall
Very bright
Low input lag
No rainbow effect
Accurate colors
Minus
Limited color gamut
Can't be calibrated
No HDMI 2.1
2-way pixel shift
No 3D

THE VERDICT
Serving up to 150 inches of viewing, Epson's new triple-LCD UST blows away the UST competition with its category-leading high brightness and easy placement. It's a do-it-all display equally happy to serve up TV, streaming shows, live sports, video games, and 4K movies.

The ultra-short-throw projector category is where all the action is these days when it comes to home entertainment projection. You'll find both name-brand TV makers and brands you've never heard of battling it out for a spot in your living room. But here's the thing: A UST can do both TV and home theater projector-like things. And in some ways, it's a whole new animal.

PRICE $7,000

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Deep blacks
Exceptional resolution
Dynamic tone mapping
Minus
So-so remote control
Dense owner's manual

THE VERDICT
With its exceptional overall performance, JVC's DLA-RS1100 projector defines the law of diminishing returns where increasingly subtle improvements command dramatically higher prices.

True native 4K projectors have only been widely available — and reasonably affordable — for the past few years. Prior to that, most home projectors used a process called "pixel shifting" to produce 4K images: A 2K imaging device first presents half of the pixels in each 4K frame, shifts the image by less than the distance of a single pixel, and then displays the other half of the pixels. All of the pixels in the 4K source appear on screen — just not at the same time. The shift takes place so rapidly that it is undetectable to the human eye.

PRICE $2,499

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Impressive contrast
Flexible zoom and lens shift range
Built-in streaming platform with HDMI eARC
Minus
Limited brightness necessitates dark room viewing
Smart interface not for everyone

THE VERDICT
LG’s 4K laser DLP projector delivers impressive picture quality and value, but its limited brightness requires a dark room for best performance.

LG has been at the vanguard in manufacturing "smart" projectors—models that, like more traditional offerings, sit at the back of the room and beam images to a separate screen, but also provide the streaming and voice control features you'd find in any smart OLED or LCD flat-panel TV. In 2021 we reviewed the company's HU810PW ($2,999), a single-chip (0.47-inch) DLP projector that delivered 4K images via pixel-shifting. Now, we have that model's sibling, the HU710PW, a similarly featured projector that arrives with a lower 2,000 ANSI lumens brightness spec, but also a lower price ($2,499 MSRP).

PRICE $3,499

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Ample brightness
Contrast-boosting HDR-Pro feature
Vivid color and detail
Living room-friendly design
Minus
Wide Color Gamut filter dramatically reduces light output
Relatively high fan noise in Normal Light mode
No integrated Netflix streaming

THE VERDICT
BenQ’s first ultra short throw projector is a winner on many fronts, offering compelling brightness, vivid color, and a dynamic presentation of 4K/HDR sources.

Is there a projector maker that hasn't yet come out with an ultra short throw (UST) model aimed at viewers who want a theater-size image in their living room, but without the usual ceiling-mount and dark room baggage that accompanies it? If you asked me that question one year ago, I would have replied "BenQ." But now, with its V7050i 4K DLP Laser TV, BenQ has joined the UST projector fold, adding its name to the ranks of Sony, Epson, Optoma, Vava, Hisense, LG, Samsung, and others.

PRICE $1,699

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Bright, detailed 4K image
Excellent auto-setup features
Potent built-in audio system
LED lamp provides 25,000 hours use
Minus
Limited contrast ratio
Non-backlit remote control
Picture adjustments reset to default after unplugging

THE VERDICT
XGMI's pricey portable delivers crisp, bright 4K images along with auto-setup features that make it incredibly easy to get up and running.

Even as TVs grow ever-larger, the projector category continues to be an active one, with more recent designs like ultra short throw models giving viewers an alternative to room-dominating hang- from-ceiling setups. And while we here at Sound & Vision typically advocate for high-performance, and accordingly high-priced, options, the reality is that much of the action in the global projector scene involves affordable lower- end models, many from brands you may have not heard of before.

PRICE $4,999

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Bright, living room-friendly image
Packaged with easy to assemble screen
Plentiful picture adjustment options
Minus
Limited contrast and color space coverage
High fan noise in Normal Light Output mode
Basic remote control

THE VERDICT
With its powerful brightness and impressive overall picture, Epson's LS500 offers a compelling alternative to pricey oversize flat-panel TVs.

Remember the rear-projection TV (RPTV)? RPTVs were big, boxy contraptions housing a projector that beamed an image at the rear of a screen mounted on the set's front surface. While necessarily inelegant compared with the sleek flat-panel TVs that eventually replaced them, the RPTV in its heyday solved the problem of getting a big image—screen sizes topped out around 80-inches—without having to resort to a room-dominating two-piece system with a ceiling-mounted projector and separate screen.

At the last CEDIA Expo in September 2019, JVC announced a firmware update for its native 4K D-ILA projectors that delivered true frame adaptive HDR tone mapping to the lineup. For CEDIA Expo Virtual 2020, the company’s key announcement is an improved version of that Frame Adapt HDR feature called Theater Optimizer. The firmware also includes a few other tweaks and new features and will be available as a free firmware update in November 2020 for the following models: DLA-NX5, DLA-NX7, DLA-NX9, DLA-RS1000, DLA-RS2000, and DLA-RS3000.