Does anyone have recommendations for the best 4k projector bellw $1500 price point? I am open to refurbished options.
I am considering a Nebula Cosmos 4k but would prefer to ceiling mount my projector, and it isn’t really built for that.
I am installing in an open floorplan livingroom projecting on a drop-down screen in the middle of the room approximately 10 ft from the wall, with couches up against the wall.
Any first hand opinions would be greatly appreciated.
I have a Benq HT3560, which I’ve seen on sale as cheap as 1500 before, but not super recently. Mainly I got it for its color accuracy and low latency when running in 120 or 240Hz mode, which I use for gaming. That’s very much a home theater projector though, only really ideal if you have a dark room. I just use it in my basement, but fortunately it’s pretty easy to block out the light from the window and back door down there.
If I were in your position I would probably go for the NexiGo Trivision Ultra for $1300. It’s 4K, has intense, accurate colors due to its RGB triple laser light source, and does a good job at auto-setup, so you don’t need to set it back up exactly the same way every time or permanently mount it. My mom has one of these in her home theater and it honestly dazzles me every time I see it in action.
Thanks, yeah the Trivision Ultra is currently top of my list, the only downside is it’s fixed focal length. I’d much rather be able to mount the projector at the wall and have my screen be ~100 inches at 9ft throw, but it seems like I would have to bump up to a higher price point to get that or go with a Nebula projector which isn’t made for ceiling mount.
For what it’s worth, with the fixed focal length it has, you get a 100" screen at 9.22 feet away as it is.
Yeah, I actually went ahead and bought the Trivision and a 100" dropdown this morning, I’m just not sure whether the 9’2" is from the lens (probably) or the back of the projector. the 100" will probably be oversized. I can return it but I don’t want to out holes in my ceiling too many times
Throw distance is always measured from lens to screen. Even if the screen is a bit oversized, you’ll still be filling well over 90" of screen since that’s the size at 8’6.5" or so throw distance
Not first hand experience, but I saw this earlier from SlickDeals and figured I’d post it here anyways:
That’s a good deal, but I can’t really make ultra-short throw work for my setup
- Not sure if you mean USD or not…
- Not going to get anything true 4K at that price point
I had a Hisense C2 Ultra that I was EXTREMELY impressed with. It’s a 1080p chip that achieves 4k with “pixel shift”, and I think in USD it was in around there (I’m not a USDian and didn’t pay in USD).
I held off on projectors entirely for 10+ years after my last BenQ for how far behind direct view sets they were on features - especially HDR. That thing has DV AND HDR10+ though - something nearly impossible to find even on a direct view set. Also had a high refresh rate which made it super awesome for gaming. HIGHLY recommended.
Only got rid of it to hand-me-down to my son as I’ll have a VisionMaster Max coming some time Soon™. I’d purchased him something else (Black Warrior) and it was so bad I couldn’t in good conscious give it as a gift, so we did the upgrade/hand-me-down shuffle.
I think a VisionMaster Pro 2 is around the same price - there’s a pretty good (I’ve heard) Xgimi in around that price point too. They all trade various pros and cons and average out to around the same quality, so you can really dial in on what matters to you. I’d seriously give that segment (‘lifestyle projectors’ I believe they call them) thorough research and consideration.
Yes, VisionMaster Max was definitely my top pick but I need to keep the budget down. I went with the NexiGo TriVision Ultra for $1299 on sale right now, which as far as I can tell is true 4k and tests well.
Yeah I wasn’t proposing the Max … it’s way beyond the price you mentioned …
At that price point there is a 0% chance it’s native 4k, it’s this - https://www.projectorjunkies.com/4k-dlp-projectors-is-it-real-4k-xpr-technology-explanation
It looks like the only native 4K DLP projectors out are by Barco and Christie and are five figures for sure, USD. The pixel shifting is amazing though … that unit looks a lot like that C2 Ultra and the VisionMaster Pro 2 too. They look very, VERY good for the price! Congrats on the new projector! :-)
Edit: Took a LOT of digging to find what chip is in it, but I finally did - https://www.avsforum.com/threads/nexigo-trivision-ultra-4k-projector-a-sign-of-what’s-to-come.3322705
It’s the Ti 0.47", which is 1920x1080 native.
OK, weird, it clearly accepts 4k input. So it is downsampling the 4k input then upscaling it before projection? How does that make sense?
Ah, I get kt, Pixel Shift means that it is actually sequentially projecting 4 different grids of 1080 pixels shifted from eachother to achieve the 4k resolution, which is why it can achieve 240hz in 1080, because it’s effectively projecting 4x60hz 1080p images composited to get 4k. There must be some cost benefit to CPU speed vs GPU bandwidth making this work on paper. Hey, also long as the clarity is good I’m happy, and it seems like I will still need to stream 4k for best clarity.
Hey, also long as the clarity is good I’m happy, and it seems like I will still need to stream 4k for best clarity.
Yep! Same here! SUPER, SUPER happy with these projectors! HDR is WAY more important to overall visual effect/quality imo anyway - and the fact that these can do DV, HDR10+ and HLG they’re an absolute slam dunk to me!
