LG PH450UG Minibeam UST
This portable Bluetooth Ultra-Short Throw LED projector can cast a big image virtually anywhere
There’s nothing very new about pocket-sized LED projectors. But Pico models have had limited appeal, thanks to low brightness and poor contrast.
LG’s Minibeam UST (Ultra Short Throw) rethink is something altogether different. The PH450UG may have a resolution of just 720p, but this DLP LED projector boasts a contrast of 10,000:1 and a brightness of 1,450 ANSI lumens – hugely impressive for such a compact (132 x 200 x 80.5mm) beamer. LED lamp life is said to be 30,000 hours.
Connections include a single HDMI (MHL-enabled for smartphone use), USB for media playback and a mini headphone jack.
There’s an onboard stereo sound system (note the diddy speaker grilles), but with a power output of just 2x1w it’s pretty token. This doesn’t actually matter, though, because the projector can also stream to Bluetooth speakers.
The PH450UG, which weighs just 1.1kg, is properly portable. Fully charged, the onboard battery runs for around 2.5 hours.
The thing is also a doddle to set up. Unlike a traditional long throw projector, the PH450UG needs only be parked a few centimetres from a wall in order to throw a large image.
Focus is manual, via an on-body wheel. At 7.5cm, you can create a 40-inch display. Shuffle the projector back to 16cm and the image grows to around 50 inches.
If you want to go full bore home cinema, position the projector just 60cm from a white wall or screen – from that distance, it’ll produce a giant 130-inch image.
Of course, given that the resolution of this model is just 720p, you can expect to see severe picture break-up at larger screen sizes. But if you simply want supersize sports, gargantuan gaming or immense Iron Fist on Netflix, it’s more than up to the job.
Usability is fine. In many ways the projector functions like a regular TV. Picture presets include Standard, Vivid, Cinema, Sport, Game and two Expert modes. In addition to individual controls for brightness, contrast, sharpness and colour, you can also tweak dynamic contrast, gamma, black level control, as well as specific skin, sky and grass hues.
Not that you need to tweak. Out of the box, the LED light engine gives bright, vibrant pictures. Contrast is good and black level performance adequate. It looks particularly nice with animation (where fine detail often isn’t really an issue). The fact that the PH450UG runs cool also makes this a proposition for use in an older kids bedroom. Operational noise is low.
The integrated media player has no problem with all the usual file codecs and wrappers – AVI, MPEG, MKV, WMV and MOVs all play without issue.
In addition to HDMI and USB, you can also mirror a compatible Android mobile using Screen Share. Trying to Miracast video content didn’t work out too well – sync issues between audio and video – but for sharing JPEGs or playing casual games it works well enough.
Overall, the PH450UG is enormous fun. Sure, old-school 720p resolution is a limiting factor, but this Minibeamer offers functionality conventional higherspec projectors just can’t match.