Home projectors are becoming more popular these days as more cord-cutters want to enjoy the freedom of streaming from almost anywhere in the house, even on the ceiling while lying in bed. Despite the growing number of these devices, however, most of them still have designs that originated from projectors made for professional use in board rooms and conferences. There are, of course, a few that have embraced more stylish aesthetics that try to match your living room’s decor, but these often still retain the boxy shapes of their ancestors. That might be a convenient form for cramming electronics, but they limit the potential of what these home appliances can do. This concept design, for example, eschews that traditional box and embraces an unconventional form that lets you tilt the projector’s angle without having to use stands or tripods.
Boxes are the most convenient shape for most electronic devices because you can easily cram so many components inside and arrange them in an efficient manner. They’re not the most visually interesting, though, no matter how much you cover them in premium materials like glass, leather, or fabric. The most common smart home projectors, however, still have that same basic design, which also puts limits on their functionality. Tilting the projector to the angle you want isn’t easy, and you either have to make do with short, built-in legs or have a tripod or stand nearby.
TRIPO is a concept design for a smart portable theater device that employs an odd shape of a rather thick disc that tapers toward the top. On its back are four flat sections that allow you to stand the projector upright or tilt it back in three angles, including 90 degrees to project your content on a ceiling. Because it operates wirelessly, you can achieve this without even having to get up from your couch or bed, providing the utmost convenience and comfort in any situation.
That’s not the only thing that makes the TRIPO concept special, of course. Every inch of the device was intentionally designed to blend well with other pieces of your home decor, from using fabric to minimalist design elements. Vents are well hidden underneath the fabric-covered discs on both sides, providing heat dissipation that doesn’t ruin the design. It isn’t all just looks either because the portable theater is intended to be a powerful yet convenient smart entertainment system, both at home and even outdoors. An ingenious sliding cover, for example, protects the buttons and the lenses during travel.
TRIPO can also function as a simple Bluetooth speaker for those times when you want to listen but not watch. And when not in use, it can almost stand as a piece of sculptural art, calling attention to itself without being overbearing and perfectly fitting with your lifestyle as well as your aesthetic tastes. There might be some compromises in terms of specs given today’s hardware options, but it will only be a matter of time before designs such as these become the norm rather than the exception.
Android TV 11 brings a wide range of sources and apps
CONS:
A bit bulky and heavy, but compact compared to most 4K projectors
Requires adequate distance from projection surface
RATINGS:
AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
EDITOR'S QUOTE:
With advanced smart features and Dolby Vision, the XGIMI Horizon Ultra not only pushes the envelope of what long throw projectors can do but also how elegant they can look.
With more and more people banishing TV sets from their homes, home projectors have become more popular and also more varied. There are plenty of designs available, differing in throw ratio and performance, to the point that choosing which one to invest in can become an overwhelming and daunting challenge. While short throw projectors are gaining popularity for their space-saving qualities, they’re hardly the perfect solution for all circumstances, especially considering their cost and noise. Long throw projectors, on the other hand, are powerful and convenient but still have plenty of room for growth. Fortunately, brands like XGIMI are continuously challenging the status quo to address those flaws, so we take the new XGIMI Horizon Ultra long throw projector for a spin to see what new experience it is putting in the middle of your home.
Although home projectors are becoming more common these days, many of them haven’t diverged that much from the designs of earlier models used in business and commercial settings. There are some that are finally trying to adapt to home interior designs, but there are still far and few in between. Right out of the box, you can already tell which category the XGIMI Horizon Ultra belongs to, bearing an exquisite and elegant design that reflects the attention to detail that the company paid in making its newest flagship.
The predominantly white box comes taller than your average projector, but that shape works to give it more presence in a room. Not that it needs to do that, given how its predominantly white body will easily make it stand out anywhere. Misty gold accents help further highlight the XGIMI Horizon Ultra’s luxurious character, making sure everyone understands that this is no mere consumer electronics product. To ensure visual consistency, even the adapter and cord that power the projector come in a white hue, unlike the predominantly black motif of most power bricks.
XGIMI didn’t just stop at painting the Horizon Ultra white, however. Taking a page from smart home speakers, it also layered fabrics on the projector’s sides, further enhancing its elegance and cementing its place in your home. It gives the projector an almost natural vibe despite its purely artificial construction. XGIMI also aimed for simplicity and minimalism, even hiding the projector lens behind an electrical sliding cover, making the Horizon Ultra a viable piece of decoration for any room. Considering how it will most likely stand in the middle of the room anyway, that’s definitely a much-needed feature.
Ergonomics
Unlike a handheld tool or mobile device, the XGIMI Horizon Ultra is not something that will see a lot of manual operation and holding. In fact, given its 11.5lb (5.2kg) weight, it’s not something you will want to hold a lot. It’s still portable in the sense that you can move it around the house and place it in an optimal position, but chances are, once you’ve found the perfect spot for it, it’s staying there for a very long period of time. That perfect spot would be determined not just by the desired distance from a wall or projection screen but, more importantly, by the availability of a wall socket. Thankfully, the projector’s auto keystone correction and other smart features make it possible to set it up at an angle from that projection target.
Using the XGIMI Horizon Ultra itself is as simple as its appearance would imply. The absence of physical buttons on the device itself presents a streamlined and unbroken appearance, but it also means you will be controlling the projector using a remote. The remote looks as luxurious as the projector, though we would have preferred if it followed the same white color scheme rather than a combination of black and sandblasted gray, almost like some brand’s minimalist remote control. The complete reliance on a remote control also means you have to be careful not to lose the accessory, which is often what happens with this kind of device. But since it does run Android TV 11 and uses Bluetooth, there might also be an option to use other wireless methods of controlling it, not plugging in a mouse and keyboard.
As for plugging in things, all the Horizon Ultra’s ports are at the back, making cable management a lot easier, depending on your setup. You only have one place to go to for connecting external devices, and only one side of the projector to hide from plain sight. All-in-all, XGIMI aimed for a simple and minimalist design that is both easy on the eyes as well as easy to use.
Performance
Of course, the XGIMI Horizon Ultra is more than just a piece of home decoration, and its real test is in its output. Compared to their short throw cousins, long throw projectors are often criticized for being easily affected by ambient light and obscured by objects and people nearby. XGIMI manages to address practically all these flaws, delivering a long throw projector that can deliver bright, color-accurate, and high-quality images under any condition.
The Horizon Ultra’s primary selling point is being the industry’s first 4K long throw projector that proudly bears Dolby Vision support, a feat that’s difficult to achieve on traditional display panels, let alone a long-throw projector. What this means in practice is that the XGIMI Horizon Ultra guarantees ultra-high brightness, an ultra-wide color gamut, ultra-high color accuracy, and ultra-high viewing comfort, in any setting, without compromise.
On a technological level, this is made possible by an innovative Dual Light engine that combines the best of both worlds of Laser and LED sources. Laser light is known for its brightness and color range but is criticized for tiring the eyes. LED, in contrast, is comfortable and power efficient but often lacks the brightness needed by long throw projectors. In the XGIMI Horizon Ultra, these two technologies complement each other and make up for the other’s weaknesses using a novel five-channel laser LED hybrid optical path to seamlessly combine these two sources into one breathtaking image that can reach up to 2300 ISO lumens of brightness, without color fringing, speckles, and other artifacts that ruin the visual immersion.
Image quality, however, won’t matter much if the projected image is distorted, misaligned, washed out by ambient light, or blocked. In the old days, it was up to the operator to make all the adjustments on the projector to have a straight rectangle on a wall or screen. Fortunately, those old days are long gone, and the Horizon Ultra offers the most intelligent automatic adjustment capabilities that let you just sit back and relax while the projector does the precision work. This Intelligent Screen Adaptation or ISA 3.0 can adjust almost all aspects of the projector to deliver the correct image, no matter the external environment.
It can, for example, adjust the brightness depending on the time of day or ambient light by adjusting the Iris and the optical zoom. The Horizon Ultra can even automatically adjust the colors so that your wall’s color doesn’t affect the image quality. Automatic keystone is no sweat either, so you can practically place the projector anywhere that’s convenient. And when it detects someone or something in front of it, Eye Protection kicks in to stop direct light beams from blinding your loved ones. You almost don’t even have to lift a finger except to select the videos you want, truly making it an effortless and enjoyable experience.
Sustainability
Like many consumer electronics, home projectors are filled with a combination of materials ranging from metal to glass to plastic. The XGIMI Horizon Ultra is not that different from the rest of the herd, but, to its credit, it does do a few things differently that deserve some applause, both in terms of aesthetics as well as sustainability.
While it doesn’t exactly exclude the use of plastics, using fabric masks at least reduced the reliance on synthetic materials to give the product a sense of style. More importantly, using eco-friendly PU leather gives the projector a sustainability angle that few of its peers can boast of. It doesn’t hurt that it also delivers a pleasant tactile experience by putting something that feels organic and soft to the touch on the surface of the projector, almost making you want to caress the device as often as you can.
Value
There are plenty of home projectors popping left and right these days, and even XGIMI has a roster of choices from both sides of the throw ratio fence. Choosing the right combination of performance and price is already difficult, but if you add requirements for aesthetics and convenience, the choice becomes even more difficult to make. Fortunately, the XGIMI Horizon Ultra seems to check all the right boxes, at least for people who don’t mind having a projector take up space somewhere in the room away from a wall. For those who prefer a tighter placement and can live with the cost and generated heat, a short throw projector might still be a better solution.
Compared to other long throw projectors, the Horizon Ultra manages to address some of the biggest complaints, particularly with how environmental factors can affect performance. Bearing the Dolby Vision badge is no small feat, and it brings with it the promise of excellent picture quality, no matter the lighting situation. The projector looks incredible as well, clearly fitting the home rather than standing out like a sore thumb. It also comes with optical zoom for lossless scaling and sensory brightness enhancement, a feature that is usually only found in projectors costing $2,000 or more. But with a price tag of $1,699, it significantly undercuts other brands that promise the same performance with a higher figure and wrapped in a lackluster design.
Verdict
People’s lifestyles have changed drastically in the past several years alone. The Internet and streaming have replaced traditional cable subscriptions, and people have become more glued to their mobile devices to the point that large TVs have become less used and less practical to own. At the same time, however, people are also rediscovering the lost art of enjoying content together, whether it’s a film or a video game, gathering in a single physical location to share the energy and as well as the feels.
Home projectors try to bring the best of both worlds, providing freedom without completely locking people out from those social activities. As they become more common in homes, these entertainment devices also start to take on smarter designs that blend better with their surroundings. With its latest long throw projector, XGIMI is raising the bar not just in performance but also in design, acknowledging that projectors are no longer just a machine just for tech-savvy users but also for homeowners with aesthetic tastes and requirements. With Dolby Vision image quality, super-intelligent features that remove the grunt work from setting up the projector, and a wide variety of content sources from devices and the Internet, the XGIMI Horizon Ultra takes long throw projectors to the next level in providing an immersive entertainment experience, without the cord or even a TV.
In addition to cutting the cord, some people have even banished TVs from their living rooms. No, that doesn’t mean that they’ve given up on watching videos on a larger screen completely. Instead, they have embraced the flexibility and freedom offered by the modern generation of home projectors, some of them even promising a more portable way to enjoy visual content. The latter, unfortunately, make many compromises for the sake of cramming hardware into a small package, resulting in an underwhelming experience that leaves owners wishing they had gone big instead. It’s almost as if people are cursed to forever be confined to small screens on the go and big TVs at home. Fortunately, the dream of a truly portable and high-performance laser projector is finally coming true, with the NOMVDIC L500, perhaps the world’s smallest Triple Laser Projector, that breaks free not only from cables but also from the limits of a compact and portable device.
In order to keep their chassis compact, portable laser projectors settle for small and low-power lamps or LEDs that can’t match the quality of a bulkier machine. The NOMVDIC L500, however, solves that problem by employing not one, not even two, but three RGB lasers, one for each of the three primary colors to deliver a wider spectrum of vibrant colors that’s three times more than your typical laser projector. By supporting 100% of the BT.2020 color gamut, the NOMVDIC L500 brings life-like visuals and more, whether you’re in a dark room at night or in the living room during the day.
NOMVDIC RGB Laser Technology – The L500 performs an excellent JBMA 95% uniformity and high contrast, and has been optimized to reduce speckle, all of which contribute to ultimate viewing quality.
Rich Colors Bright and Dark – Guarantees not only vivid images but also exceptional high brightness equivalent to a TV which provides you consistent viewing experience regardless of the time of day.
Impeccable Images from Any Angle – With the Time of Flight (ToF) sensor, the L500 achieves automatic and instant focus 2 times faster than traditional auto focus, allowing you to enjoy sharp and crystal-clear images in just a second.
Capture Every Moment of Excitement – Incredibly smooth and fluid motion on your screen. Experience sports, racing, and action games like never before with the L500’s MEMC frame interpolation technique.
With a brightness of 650 ANSI lumens, the NOMVDIC L500 can stand head-to-head with bulkier and more expensive projectors, letting you enjoy the same lush colors even with the lights on. A laundry list of smart, automatic features also takes the drudgery out of setting up the projector. Automatic and instant focus takes only a second or so to adjust to a new location, while auto H/V keystone and four-corner adjustment make sure you’ll be viewing the correct angle, no matter where you place the projector. And with MEMC frame interpolation, you are guaranteed smooth and fluid motions no matter how fast the action is on screen.
Of course, the perfect movie binge isn’t just about the visuals, and the NOMVDIC L500 has all your bases covered here as well. Built-in 7W Harman Kardon speakers immerse you in quality audio to match the visuals, and an easy-to-use interface lets you breeze through content and settings without getting lost in the options. A backlit Bluetooth remote control saves you from fumbling in the dark, while a plethora of connection options, including lightning-fast 5GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HDMI, and USB lets you bring any kind of content source, from phones to hard drives to gaming consoles. Even better, you can also connect your favorite Bluetooth headphones for a more private moment with your favorite flicks.
Just as the Internet and streaming services have freed us from cables and expensive subscription bundles, we no longer have to be tethered to a single large screen in the house whenever we want to escape into a world of action, drama, or fantasy. With the NOMVDIC L500’s innovative triple RGB lasers, you can now enjoy life-like visuals, high-quality audio, and hundreds of content, in any room, whatever the time of day.
The Epson Pro EX11000 is a versatile wireless laser projector that redefines collaboration in hybrid workplaces with vibrant, immersive images up to 300 inches.
Unveiled at CES 2023, XGIMI’s MoGo 2 and MoGo 2 Pro are finally hitting the shelves. While the MoGo 2 outputs 720p and boasts an incredibly reasonable $399 price tag, the MoGo 2 Pro takes the cake with a 1080p output, two 8W speakers built-in, uninterrupted automatic keystone and focusing, and the ability to output an impressive 120-inch screen for a commendably budget-friendly price tag of $599. Both projectors are hyper-portable, support being connected to power banks, and come with Android TV 11.0 built-in, making them perhaps the best picks for people on a budget, looking to own projectors.
Designed to deliver an absolute bang for its buck, the MoGo 2 and MoGo 2 Pro let you take your movie nights and sports nights out of the living room and anywhere you want. The projectors are perfect for homes as well as the outdoors, with a 400 ISO lumens brightness, and Hollywood standard visual features including D65 color temperature standard, a 90% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, and an ability to cast images as wide as 120 inches for a truly cinematic experience.
Your home theater begins here.
Childlike and whimsical fun.
XGIMI’s new ISA 2.0 technology ensures you never miss a moment of your favorite movies, TV shows, or games. The MoGo 2 Pro can achieve uninterrupted automatic keystone correction and autofocus, providing users with a smoother and more immersive viewing experience. After adjusting the projector’s position, ISA 2.0 can achieve multi-angle automatic keystone correction and focus adjustment without the user’s attention, whether it’s horizontal or vertical projection, ensuring users see the clearest and most suitable projected image. Along with other intelligent features like Intelligent Eye Protection that automatically regulates the brightness, both projectors have ISA 1.0 technology which includes auto-keystone and auto-focus that kicks in the minute you switch them on, Intelligent Screen Alignment that matches the display to your projector screen, and if you’re casting on a wall, Intelligent Obstacle Avoidance so that it doesn’t shine onto your cabinet, a painting, window, or any other obstacle that isn’t your wall.
The projected media is supplemented by the MoGo 2 series’s powerful speaker system. Both the MoGo 2 and MoGo 2 Pro have two 8W speakers that deliver well-rounded audio to complement your video. There’s a 3.5mm aux out too, for connecting your projector to a much more capable audio system, and Bluetooth 5.0 if the thought of aux cables and wires irks you.
Both the MoGo 2 and MoGo 2 Pro come with dual-band WiFi and Android TV 11.0 built right into the projector, along with Chromecast for being able to mirror stuff from your Android devices onto the screen. On the rear, you’ve got a Type-C and Type-A USB port, and an HDMI 2.0 port for hooking your laptop, PlayStation, Xbox, or even your Roku or Fire Stick. There’s even support for 3D playback, with Top&Bottom, Frame Packing, and SideBySide styles (you’ll need a pair of active 3D glasses). The MoGo 2 and MoGo 2 Pro don’t have built-in batteries, and run on a power supply – however, they have support for power banks, allowing you to turn your wired projector into a wireless one, long enough to watch an entire movie.
The entire projector weighs all of 1.1 kilograms (roughly 2.4 lbs), making it simply perfect for traveling around with. There’s no handle built on the top, which I’d personally appreciate, but instead, a tripod mount on the base lets you either hook your projector to a tripod for a literally elevated experience, or a ceiling bracket for a more minimalist setup. The MoGo 2 and MoGo 2 Pro both ship with remote controls too. Use the link below to pre-book your XGIMI projector and get $50 off on the retail price!
Modern life has become surrounded and dependent on consumer electronics, from the appliances we use day in and day out to the smartphone that almost never leave our hands. While these products bring convenience to our lives, they often come at the cost of the planet’s health, especially when we buy them left and right without considering where and how they are made. Fortunately, manufacturers are taking note and have started producing more eco-friendly options for consumers. In the midst of a new batch of computers and accessories, Acer is expanding its green Vero family with a 15-inch laptop and a brand-new laser projector to offer a more sustainable way to work, play, and enjoy life.
Designer: Acer
Acer Aspire Vero 15 Laptop
Although desktop computers still have a spot in the market, especially in gaming, most people prefer to have a laptop that they can bring with them outside or even just around the house. There is an almost overwhelming amount of models available across dozens of brands, making it difficult to pick one to buy. If you’re the type to be conscious of the impact of your purchases on the environment, then the new Acer Aspire Vero 15 AV15-53P is something you should look into.
Although it still has the conventional parts found in all laptops, the Aspire Vero 15 boasts a more eco-conscious design that brings the amount of post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastics used in the chassis from 30% to 40%. This chassis is also made with 30% fewer carbon emissions and doesn’t use paint for its eye-catching appearance. The laptop is also made to have an extended life thanks to standardized screws that simplify repairs and recycling when the inevitable happens.
Breaking misconceptions about products that use recycled materials, the Aspire Vero 15 doesn’t skimp on performance with a 13th-gen Intel Core i7 processor, a spacious 15.6-inch Full HD screen, up to 16GB of memory, and up to 1TB of M.2 SSD storage. The Acer Aspire Vero 15 AV15-53P launches in June with a starting price of just $699.99.
Acer Vero Projector
There are many people these days who have replaced their TVs with home projectors for ultimate flexibility. This growing segment of consumer electronics represents an opportunity to start on the right foot with more sustainable practices from the get-go. There are plenty of areas where things can be improved, and Acer’s newest laser projector focuses on not only reducing energy consumption but also reducing your electricity bill.
The Acer Vero PL3510ATV projector touts an advanced laser-light projection system that promises 48% less power consumption thanks to the use of super laser phosphor illumination technology. Despite that lower figure, it still manages to put out a bright 4,800 ANSI lumens projection and sharp Full HD resolution. The mercury-free projector also uses 50% PCR plastic in its chassis to further reduce its overall impact on the environment.
In addition to its sustainability bragging rights, the Vero PL3510ATV projector also has some smart chops with 2D keystone and four-corner correction that automatically adjusts the projection to any viewing surface. In addition to directly connecting video sources, the projector also comes with an Android TV dongle for an even wider selection of things to watch or play. The Acer Vero PL3510ATV projector will be available only in EMEA markets starting in September for 1,399 EUR ($1,540).
Effective auto keystone correction, focus, and obstacle detection
Impressive image quality and brightness
Wallet-friendly price tag compared to equivalent 4K projectors
CONS:
Tall box design requires more vertical space allowance
No USB-C port
No Google Play Support
RATINGS:
AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
EDITOR'S QUOTE:
Packing high-end features in an attractive box with an alluring price tag, the Dangbei Mars Pro easily outshines its rivals in the 4K laser projector space.
While many people had cut the cord when it came to TV subscriptions, some have even completely cut out TVs from their living rooms. Of course, that doesn’t mean they no longer watch things on screens larger than their phones and laptops, just that they have chosen to embrace the more flexible and liberating setup of having a home projector instead. There are some compromises to be made, particularly when it comes to the projected image’s brightness and price. As you might expect, the better the performance, the higher the price tag. There are, however, exceptions to that rule, but it isn’t easy to spot them at a glance. The Dangbei Mars Pro easily catches your attention, though, so we took it for a test drive to check if it’s really worth more than what its price tag would seem to suggest.
Right off the bat, you could already tell that the Dangbei Mars Pro isn’t your run-of-the-mill laser projector. Where even the most stylish of its kind come in short rectangular boxes, the Mars Pro arrives in a more cubical shape. This does mean you will have to take into account its height when setting it up, but that shouldn’t be too much of an issue since it isn’t a short-throw projector. You will most likely set it up somewhere in the middle of the room, whether on a table or hanging from the ceiling.
Despite its budget price tag, the Mars Pro immediately impresses with its design and build quality. The box is mostly made from metal, with a serving of black piano glass on the top and on the front. Dangbei covers these surfaces with a plastic sheet for protection, but there are holes for the laser light and front sensors to have an unobscured path. The sides and back of the projector are littered with holes, both for ventilation and speaker output. The ports are all lined up neatly on the back for easy access, leaving no unnecessary visual breaks on other sides.
All-in-all, the Dangbei Mars Pro definitely stands up there with more expensive projectors when it comes to visual charm. The glossy surfaces and small ventilation holes give it a more refined flair compared to the typical slats and obviously plastic chassis of more expensive options. The Mars Pro already wins in this department, but, fortunately, it isn’t just a pretty face either.
Ergonomics
Unlike a mobile device or laptop, you won’t be handling projectors directly that often. In fact, you might not want to do that with the Mars Pro anyway, at least not regularly. Coming at around 10 lbs, it isn’t exactly the lightest in its group, so you’ll seldom want to carry it around the room. Its weight is also something critical to consider if you plan to hang it from the ceiling or place it on top of a tripod mount.
As mentioned, you won’t be interacting directly with the projector anyway. Aside from the ports on the back, the only other interactive element is the touch-sensitive power button on the top. This isn’t a typical push button, so there’s no need to press hard on it. The area is clearly indicated by a light halo that gives it a futuristic vibe. The center of this circle also has a sensor that detects the amount of ambient light in the room to automatically adjust the projector’s brightness.
All other controls for the projector will be done through the included remote control, which is a bit of a mixed bag. It is simple enough to use with very few buttons, though there are additional buttons for mouse mode and a quick menu on the side. The build quality, however, is so-so. While the projector is mostly made of metal and glass, its remote is a completely plastic affair. That might be for the best, considering how often you’re likely to drop it, but it does sharply contrast with the premium quality of the Mars Pro.
Performance
Where this Dangbei projector really shines, almost literally, is in its projected image. Using ALPD or Advanced Laser Phosphor Display technology, the projector boasts a brightness of 3200 ANSI lumens, which is a maximum brightness that only more expensive projectors can even promise. It also supports native 4K UHD resolution and HDR10+ as well as HLG, putting it on par with many TVs. The question is whether it can rival a 4K TV in practice. The answer is a resounding yes and then some.
The Mars Pro’s output is bright, crisp, and vibrant, especially in dark settings. Admittedly, it will struggle when there’s direct sunlight, but that’s also on par with pricier projectors. The projector supports a plethora of technologies and features that can be used for different types of content, like MEMC smoothing or even 3D, though the latter is a hit-or-miss kind of thing. It also has a Game Mode that reduces latency down to 20ms, but more discerning gamers might not be too satisfied with actual performance. Bottom line, the projector performs admirably, especially under controlled lighting, which might come as a shock if you consider how much more affordable it is compared to equivalent 4K projectors.
The premium experience doesn’t stop at image quality, though. The Dangbei Mars Pro has a couple of intelligent features that almost make it work like magic, automatically adjusting its settings depending on the situation. Autofocus is pretty much a given these days, but automatic keystone correction definitely upgrades the experience so that you don’t have to worry about the angle of the projector against a wall or screen. There’s also obstacle avoidance, where it shrinks the projected display to avoid lamps, vases, or other furniture. If it detects that there’s something directly in front of or near the lens, it will reduce the brightness to avoid hurting your eyes. All of these work automatically like magic, though you might have to do some fine-tuning if the focus or keystone is still a bit off for your tastes.
Like any projector, the Mars Pro generates heat, so it has both vents and fans to keep things cool. Cool air is sucked into the right side of the box while the hot air is pushed out from the left, something you might want to keep in mind when considering where to place the projector. Fortunately, the Mars Pro’s fans never get loud during its operation, and it definitely doesn’t overpower the built-in speakers. The only time the fans become very audible is when you turn on Auto Dust Cleaning mode, where it runs at full blast to get those particles out.
The Mars Pro boasts two 10W speakers with Dolby Digital Plus and DTS Studio Surround. That’s enough power to fill a small room, and the audio quality doesn’t get distorted even at higher volumes. While the speakers are good enough for most cases, it does lack a bit of substance that audiophiles will be looking for. Fortunately, you can remedy that by connecting your favorite sound system, but the built-in speakers will do well in a pinch.
Things get a bit less ideal when it comes to the system running on the projector, which is a very old, customized Android 9 version. The Mars Pro definitely has the hardware to run more sophisticated software with its quad-core MT9669 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of internal storage, but Dangbei opted to favor a more simplified user experience. It does have the basic apps and streaming services pre-installed, but you’ll have to scour the Internet for anything that’s not available on Dangbei’s app store. There’s no Google Play, of course, though it might be possible to install it manually. Of course, you can plug in any other content source, including a Google TV dongle, if you so wish. The only limitation in its selection of ports is USB-C, which is a little bit disappointing in this time and age.
Sustainability
The Dangbei Mars Pro projector is your typical consumer electronics product, which basically means it has your typical components that hurt the environment in the long run. It does score a little better thanks to its use of a metal chassis rather instead of plastic. There are glass parts as well, but the plastic covering on these nullifies that advantage.
In terms of longevity, Dangbei only gives a one-year warranty off the bat, but you might have options to buy additional years depending on where you’re buying it from. Laser projectors are admittedly short-lived products, even with the advertised 25,000 hours of lamp life. Sadly, they aren’t trivial to repair either, especially if the product is coming from another region of the world. Parts and services will be a big consideration for those who are a bit more conscious of how much use they want to squeeze out of a projector.
Value
If it hasn’t been that clear yet, the Dangbei Mars Pro 4K projector is right up there with other 4K projectors. The 3200 lumens brightness, intelligent correction and configuration options, and overall performance all mark it as a premium product. The kicker is that it isn’t priced like one, selling for only $1,699 (or $1,799 from Amazon).
Admittedly, that’s a large figure, but only if you take it in isolation. A “regular” 4K laser projector with the same feature set or performance easily costs almost double that amount. Conversely, projectors with that price tag often have too many compromises, especially in terms of picture quality. You’ll also have to consider that 4K UHD TVs cost just as much, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find one that will be able to cover the same 100-inch maximum space as this projector can.
Verdict
Choosing consumer electronics is often a case of choosing compromises, whether it’s in performance, quality, or price. Rarely will you find a gem that hits all three with very little compromise. When one does pop up, it’s not hard to understand why the Internet would be abuzz about something so rare and almost unbelievable. The Dangbei Mars Pro 4 Laser Projector is definitely one such rare creature. Not only does it deliver on its promises, it actually looks good doing so, making that price tag so much sweeter for anyone planning a TV-free entertainment setup at home.
Humans have never been busier or more distracted than ever. While technology affords us many conveniences, it also generates some negative effects on our psyches. One of the favorite examples of this phenomenon is smartphones, whose power sometimes comes at the cost of burdening our minds with incessant notifications and the lure of instant gratification. Sometimes, these devices even completely erase the already blurry line between work and personal time. Sometimes we just need to kick back and relax without our smartphones, but that’s almost impossible if we consume our entertainment from those small screens. It’s in that vein that this attractive yet eccentric device tries to make that happen and does so in an effective yet admittedly unconventional way.
Designers: Gabin Park, janchi
Many people these days use their phones for entertainment, whether it’s for music, gaming, or even videos. In fact, most entertainment services these days have a mobile-first policy in attempts to target a much wider market than TV or PC owners. That said, even those who binge on Netflix will probably want to see those videos on a larger screen at home, but only if it were convenient and painless. That leaves out having to buy a smart TV just to access those streaming services or using the rather complicated process of “casting” your content from phone to TV.
The SILO design concept tries to offer a solution by using a laser beam projector for that purpose. Granted, there are plenty of portable home projectors these days that can wireless connect to smartphones. What this concept does differently is that it actually takes the phone out of your hand as well. A slot for a smartphone functions as a wireless charger, leaving you really free to give not just your mind but also your body a break.
Think about it. Streaming videos from your phone to a projector will eat up your battery quickly, and most people will plug their phone into a charger anyway. With SILO, the same device is both the projector and the charger, simplifying the process. At the same time, it forces people to actually detach from their phones, which is the point of enjoying videos away from the phone’s small screen in the first place.
SILO is both a place for storing and charging a phone as well as a way to isolate it from your life. It also looks quite attractive to boot, with a simple shape that doesn’t call too much attention to itself. There are, of course, some technical details that need to be ironed out, such as thermal management for two types of devices that are known to generate a lot of heat, but it’s an interesting concept nonetheless and one we wish would become a real product someday.
Although the hype around the buzzword seems to have dialed down a bit, it’s hard to deny that the metaverse or something like it will eventually become our reality. The merging of the physical and the digital is something that will happen eventually, pending the development of hardware and people’s mindsets. Most of the rhetoric around the metaverse involves placing ourselves in the digital realm through avatars. It can, however, also involve placing digital assets into our physical spaces. That could become possible with holograms of the future, but until then, this stylish home projector system could bridge the gap by transporting some parts of the metaverse into your living room or bedroom.
Designer: Gyung Min Lee
Home projectors have become trendy these days, especially for people pressed for space or simply want to have flexibility. Naturally, these projectors prioritize displaying videos and sometimes photos on a rectangular space that recreates a TV screen. Their primary target, after all, is entertainment, so their designs and hardware are geared toward that purpose. The Light House projector concept might be capable of that as well, but its raison d’être is really to set the mood in a room with different visuals and, if needed, different worlds.
Rather than a typical box-type projector, Light House is made of one or two cylindrical projectors hanging from a pole stand. It has a typical projector lens in the middle, surrounded by an array of six bright LED lights. Together, these pieces can project not only images but also different colors that match a specific theme or mood.
While Light House can probably function as a normal projector for watching videos, it really shines in transforming a room into a lively party or a calming space. The ambient lights can set the mood, flooding the area with vibrant colors or soothing hues as desired. It can even try to recreate natural light, giving you a proper wake-up call while mimicking the sunrise.
The metaverse comes into play when you start projecting virtual objects onto walls, ceilings, and floors. Rather than having your avatar go to a beach or into space, you can bring those scenes right into your bedroom. Of course, you can also project screens and other pieces of UI that show information, though you won’t be able to interact with them directly except through a smartphone or a computer.
Although it’s not the most efficient use of a projector, Light House makes an interesting proposition on how we can build a bridge between the real and the virtual without having to wear headsets or touch screens. We’re still a long way from creating convincing room-wide holograms, so until then, we’ll have to make do with projectors like these, though hopefully with some form of hand gesture control in the near future.
