Your own wonderwall

FULL HD AND 4K PROJECTORS ARE A SUREFIRE WAY TO SUPERSIZE YOUR ENTERTAINMENT.

AT ITS HEART, the modern projector differs little from film-based cinema projectors of old. There’s a light source that illuminates an image that passes through a series of lenses to make it bigger. The difference is that the modern projector uses brighter, more efficient light sources and replaces the film-based image with either a translucent LCD or a DLP chip. A third technology, LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon), is a hybrid of LCD and DLP technologies and has many benefits — not least of which is superb contrast levels for richer colours and blacks — but is uncommon and expensive. Only the Sony in this roundup uses a variant of LCoS, a proprietary tech called SXRD.

Here, we’ve tested five projectors for all budgets, from below $1,000 to more than $5,000. Some are full HD, others can splash a 4K picture across your wall. A pure white matte surface or — even better — a dedicated screen will be best to really show off the potential of your projector. All can project an image far larger than that of your standard OLED or LCD TV — usually up to 300 inches — which is a great benefit, offering an all-encompassing picture.

You’ll most likely encounter an LCD or DLP projector when browsing the shelves. An LCD projector uses three liquid crystal panels, each tasked with creating a red, green or blue image, which are then combined so you see a full colour image. LCD projectors generally feature excellent black levels, but can suffer from panel decay over time, resulting in weaker colour reproduction.

DLP works differently. Colour comes from a spinning Red, Blue and Green colour wheel, which sits in front of the light source. This gives DLP projectors a much higher pixel ‘fill factor’ than transmissive LCD, resulting in better colour reproduction and sharper images. The use of a colour wheel means some DLP projectors suffer from the ‘rainbow effect’, where brief flashes of red, blue, or green shadows accompany moving objects, but modern projectors perform far better in this regard.

Optoma HD39Darbee BRIGHT, BOLD AND BRILLIANT.

THE SINGLE-CHIP DLP Optoma HD39Darbee is a transportable option. With a matte-white chassis and lens slightly off set to the right, it looks almost swish. Connections include two v1.4a HDMI inputs (one MHL capable), plus an audio minijack output. There’s also a USB-A port able to power a streaming media player dongle. While the projector is 3D capable, there are no 3D goggles provided in the box.

You need 3m to throw a seriously big image with the Optoma HD39Darbee. In addition to a 1.6x zoom, there’s a generous amount of vertical lens shift and keystone correction, while a test pattern grid helps lock focus. Its non-fussy, tabbed menus offer straightforward image presets. Just line up the image, keeping the projector square to your wall or screen, and you’ll minimise any potential distortion. Optoma quotes a native contrast of 32,000:1, and its sharpness is impressive. To prevent edge-ringing, it’s best to keep the Sharpness setting at around 10 on the sliding scale.

Image modes comprise Cinema, Vivid, Game, Bright and User. It’s also bright at 3,500 ANSI lumens, and can be used in a room with moderate lighting. This projector is adept at sports, because motion handling is deliciously smooth. The picture doesn’t suffer artefacts as players run hither and thither.

In the audio department, The HD39Darbee comes with an integrated 10w speaker system on board, although it’s advisable to rope in some form of external sound system to really complement the big images. Operational noise on the Eco lamp setting is around 29dB, but this increases dramatically if you opt for the Bright lamp setting.

Optoma UHD65 GREAT ALL-ROUND 4K AND FULL HD PERFORMER.

AT A PORTLY 7.8kg, the UHD65 is something of a beast. Twin HDMI ports live on the rear, one of them rated HDCP 2.2-compliant, which guarantees that 4K intake. Rather disappointingly, the USB slot nearby doesn’t support 4K video files stored on a USB drive. However, it does accept dongles like the Chromecast.

The UHD65 is very simple to set up. That’s partly down to its lens shift feature, which will easily align it to a screen. Oddly, this top trick is hidden from view under a rather awkward plastic hood that stretches the length of the projector. It also allows only vertical lens shift. However, it’s easy enough to manually aim the UHD65; its throw ratio is 2.22:1 and there’s a simple image shift system, a digital zoom, and a test pattern grid so you know your geometry is OK. You can change the tint of the projection to blackboard, light yellow, light green, light blue, pink and grey, to compensate for — and hopefully come as close as you can to matching — the colour of your wall.

Everything we watched on the UHD65 was highly detailed. No matter the resolution, the pixel grid is never visible, even when blown-up to 100 inches. It’s bright, but quiet — an impressive feat — but in a blackout, the UHD65 doesn’t offer class-leading black levels or shadow detail. A couple of settings inside the UHD65’s PureEngine suite of picture tweaks — PureContrast and PureColour — don’t appear to make much difference, and nor does Dynamic Black have much of an effect.

BenQ W1090 YOUR BARGAIN PICK FOR FULL HD.

WITH ITS COMPACT size, short throw ratio and big picture (100 inches from 2.5m away, says BenQ), this DLP projector is perfect for those with small rooms and on a restricted budget. Crisp edges, glossy detail and an exuberant way with colours are just the start. While the BenQ’s black depth is commendable, it doesn’t make the punchy areas go any brighter than its rivals. It’s obvious when you look at any scene containing a bright light source, a lens flare or natural sunlight through a windowpane. The way the light falls upon characters’ faces should vary in intensity and brightness — here it looks subdued and uniform. There’s a hint of noise creeping into the Full HD picture, too. And while some projectors have trouble with smooth motion in long panning scenes, the W1090 struggles when characters move their heads or walk around a table.

Elsewhere, the W1090’s build quality is solid, and we like the smart matte-white finish. The compact and lightweight build means you can position the W1090 anywhere in the room or ceiling-mount it. The lens light bleeds through the side vents of the projector, which can be distracting if it’s placed in front of you. Manual focus and zoom adjustments are easy to use and we have a perfectly centred, large image in mere seconds. There are no lens-shift controls, but you can correct the vertical keystone using the included remote control, which is compact, works responsively with the menu and is backlit — handy in a dark room. Despite its wobbles, this is an exciting, engaging picture that’s easy on the eyes, and the price is right.

Sony VPL-HW45ES CINEMATIC WUNDERKIND.

THIS SONY UNIT looks unassuming enough — a tidy, turtle-like box, available in light grey or black, which won’t dominate your living room or home cinema — but its clean facade belies somewhat its capabilities when you turn it on. Even though it’s been on shelves for a while now, it’s still worth looking at.

Setup is simple, taking just a few twists of the lens to get the image to fit and a whiz through a THX disc before we were enjoying a Blu-ray of The Imitation Game.

Sony says the projector’s 1,800 lumens brightness means you get a clear, crisp picture even in a well-lit room, but we’d suggest cutting all the lights to feel the full force of what this piece of kit can do. The picture is undeniably crisp and detailed, shirt creases showing as clearly as the outlines of the figures wearing them.

Colours are pleasantly natural as well; many projectors are prone to over-egging the pudding in that respect, over-compensating for the medium with brash, excessively lucid tones.

The VPL-HW45ES, however, can pride itself on a subtle palette without forgoing any of that vividness. We played around a little with colour and brightness, but found the original settings — post-THX Optimizer disc — to be pretty accurate. When it comes to motion processing, we find the highest setting looks a little glitchy and overly processed, while turning it off leaves the action juddering a little too much for our eyes. Fortunately, there’s a middle ground that suits the combination of slow-moving drama and action scenes.

Epson EH-TW6700 CRISP AND SHARP.

EPSON’S WELL ESTABLISHED projector offers a brightness of 3,000 lumens, and a claimed contrast ratio of 70,000:1. It’s good enough for an 100-inch image from 3m away, whether that is in 2D or 3D, with a maximum image size of 300 inches.

The EH-TW6700 is certainly easy to use. The remote control is simply laid out, with easily identifiable buttons for changing inputs, although we would prefer it to be backlit, too.

On the top of the projector, you have a couple of dials to control the height and direction of the image, as well as navigational and power buttons, while on the back are the inputs: two HDMI ports, one USB, one VGA, as well as a 3.5mm output to connect some speakers.

That 3.5mm output is probably going to be useful, as more often than not, you’re going to want some extra audio working in combination with the projector.

Picture results are pretty satisfying once it’s been calibrated, conveying a crisp, sharp picture without exaggeration. There is more that could be done, as the EH-TW6700 does lack a level of subtlety at the ends of the spectrum, and can struggle with nuances in CGI. Similarly, it’s tougher making out the outlines of objects, or differentiating between a black outfit and the background, during dark scenes.

The EH-TW6700 is rich, relatively detailed, and happy to handle even motion-heavy movies. If you’re looking to get a cinema experience into your living room, this projector is a good place to start.

PICTURE RESULTS ARE PRETTY SATISFYING ONCE IT’S BEEN CALIBRATED, CONVEYING A CRISP, SHARP PICTURE WITHOUT EXAGGERATION.