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The best projector for 2024
Here's a list of the best projectors you can buy at all price points, as well as tips and tricks for shopping for a projector.
'Avatar' sequel's cutting-edge tech crashed some movie projectors in Japan
Multiple theaters reported technical problems with the Avatar sequel with one reportedly forced to reduce the 48 fps frame rate down to 24 fps.
Hitting the Books: Smaller cameras and projectors helped the Allies win WWII
During the war, SMPE meetings regularly hosted participants active in the military who reported about military film use. Before and throughout the war, American captains, lieutenants, majors, and corporals alike presented to the SMPE on military film activities.
The best portable mini projector
By Daniel Varghese and Adrienne Maxwell This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full guide to portable mini projectors. A mini projector combines the portable convenience of a phone or tablet with the big-screen appeal of a TV. Although none of the 16 models we tested rivals the performance of a good TV or full-size projector, we like the Anker Nebula Mars II Pro the best because of its ease of use, great Android OS, solid battery life, and decent image quality. The Anker Nebula Mars II Pro delivers the best combination of features, performance, and ease of use of any mini projector we tested. It offers plenty of connection options, and it features an Android operating system to stream services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu. Its automatic focus and keystoning, its well-laid-out remote, and its intuitive mobile remote app make the Mars II Pro the easiest projector to set up and use, and its three-hour-plus battery life will get you through a long movie. None of the mini projectors we tested delivered a picture as bright, engaging, or accurate as the image from a good-performing traditional projector, but the Mars II Pro offers solid performance that's perfectly acceptable for casual viewing. The Mars II Pro is a bit larger than other mini projectors we tested (measuring 5.43 by 4.8 by 7 inches and weighing 3.94 pounds), but it's still smaller than a traditional projector and has a convenient carrying strap.
The best projectors
By Chris Heinonen This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full guide to projectors. We've watched hundreds of hours of TV, movies, and test patterns, testing dozens of projectors to figure out which model best fits your needs. Whether you're outfitting a small space for an occasional movie night, upgrading your living-room home-entertainment system, or building a dedicated home theater, we've got a projector recommendation for you.
Sony's new 4K projectors are designed for gaming and sports
Sony has unveiled three new 4K projectors with some nice features for gamers, sports fans and cinephiles, if you can afford them. The new models offer true 4K at 60 fps (not pixel-shifted 4K, as with Benq's HT-2550 and other budget models), 10-bit color and HDR capability, perfect for 4K Blu-ray and Netflix streaming. They're also better for gaming, thanks to a new "lag-reduction" feature, though Sony didn't specify exactly how much better. Finally, there's a new 4K "Motionflow" frame-smoothing feature, which is terrible for movies (seriously, turn that off) but better suited for fast-moving sports.
Sony's $30,000 4K short-throw projector hides powerful sound
We've been eying Sony's short-throw projectors for the past few years, but they've always been too obscenely expensive to really take seriously. Well, that's not changing this year. In fact, the new LSPX-A1 is actually more expensive than last year's $25,000 model at $30,000. But, with that extra cost comes a major new feature: six speakers that simulate 360-degree atmospheric sound.
Making your own waves in the 'Vortices' art installation
Technology allows you to experience art in a direct way by physically becoming part of the exhibition, and TeamLab is on the forefront of that movement. The Japanese art collective is at it again with a new exhibition at Melbourne's NGV (National Gallery of Victoria) Triennial called Moving Creates Vortices and Vortices Create Movement. It's a hypnotic melange of art, interactivity and spectacle that shows how humans impact their environment and vice-versa.
You don't need a headset to see these 'no-lograms'
Genuine, Princess Leia-type color holograms are still pretty rare. Most of what we think of as holograms are actually Pepper's Ghost, Tupac-style illusions that trick your brain by using 2D images to simulate 3D. A French artist named Joanie Lemercier has taken the idea and added motion tracking to make it work even better. That way, the "no-logram" can change perspective as you move around it, fooling your brain into thinking the objects are truly 3D.
The best $1,000 projector
By Chris Heinonen This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer's guide to the best technology. Read the full article here. The BenQ HT2050 is the best $1,000 projector for those who want a bright, colorful, detailed image—better than what's possible with cheap projectors—but don't want to spend more than twice as much for the next serious upgrade. We've based this on over 50 hours of research and 110 hours of directly testing seven competing models (and considering six others) with the objective measurements of $20,000-worth of testing gear. The HT2050 has the best contrast ratios in its class and light output that's brighter than some projectors that cost three times as much. What really sets the HT2050 apart, though, is accurate color, which produces a more realistic image than the rest of the field.
Sony shows off its first set of weird and wild Future Labs prototypes
Last week, Sony took the wraps off its Future Lab initiative -- an R&D arm of the company showing off early prototypes of products and gathering feedback to help shape their development process. Today at SXSW, Sony showed off some of those prototypes to the press. As expected, the company had a new type of wearable to show off. It's called "Concept N," and its arc-like design reminded me of some Bluetooth headphone sets out there -- but the device is quite a bit different from a simple pair of headphones.
ZTE's Android projector/tablet combo is crazy like a fox
Even more intriguing than new mid-range phones is ZTE's Spro Plus, which might just be the craziest projector design I've seen yet. The company basically managed to fit an 8.4-inch Android tablet right on top of a projector. And while that may sound a tad useless, it's actually a convenient way to access video content without relying on another device. It's like the inverse of Lenovo's Yoga Tab 3 Pro, an Android tablet with a built-in pico projector.
The best pico projector
By Chris HeinonenThis post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer's guide to the best technology. Read the full article here.After 45 hours of research and hands-on testing with five models, we found the best pico projector is the AAXA P300. It's bright enough for both dark rooms and those with some light, and it's easier to position for a large image than its competitors. Plus, it has better contrast ratios, more inputs than other models, and an optional battery for use on the go. Other models might be more portable, but they won't be as useful as the AAXA P300.
ICYMI: Pocket 3D scanner, light show record and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-440441{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-440441, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-440441{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-440441").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Russia set a world record for the largest projected light show that took 140 Panasonic projectors to display. A Kickstarter project for Ulo the security camera is truly one of the most adorable pieces of tech we've seen for quite some time. And the EORA 3D scanner attaches to a smartphone and can upload scans to 3D compatible printing services right from the app.
Lenovo's Yoga Tab 3 Pro can project a 70-inch image on your wall
Lenovo is doubling down on pico-projector-equipped tablets with the new Yoga Tab 3 Pro, which can spit out a 70-inch image. That's a pretty decent step up from its predecessor's 50-inch projector. Otherwise, though, the new Android tablet is just a further refinement of Lenovo's unique tablet design. It has a rotating hinge that serves as a kickstand and also gives you something to grip onto when holding the Yoga Tab 3 Pro with one hand. While that hinge makes it a bit bulkier than most other tablets, it also packs in a huge 10,200mAh battery, which Lenovo says will last for around 18 hours of typical usage. Curiously, Lenovo chose to step down from the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro's 13-inch screen: The new model sports a 10-inch Quad HD display. The tablet market is rough, especially for the Android arena, so it seems like Lenovo is experimenting to see what consumers like best.
How I fit a 100-inch projector setup in my NYC apartment
You could call me a bit of a movie fan. I own hundreds of Blu-rays and DVDs, see an obscene amount of movies in theaters and have been podcasting about my obsessive media habits for the past eight years. Movies aren't just mindless fun for me; they're a way of life, a religion. So it was only a matter of time until my 50-inch plasma HDTV started to feel too small and the siren song of an in-home projector came calling. My only problem? I live in Brooklyn. And while my apartment isn't the shoebox you'd normally associate with NYC, it's still a tough space to visualize fitting a projector and a giant screen. This is the story of how I made that happen.
Feedback Loop: Breaking down fitness trackers, Magic Mouse alternatives, 4K projectors and more!
Welcome to Feedback Loop, a weekly roundup of the most interesting discussions happening within the Engadget community. There's so much technology to talk about and so little time to enjoy it, but you have a lot of great ideas and opinions that need to be shared! Join us every Saturday as we highlight some of the most interesting discussions that happened during the past week. This week, we compared wearable fitness trackers and discussed which ones are the best for you. We also looked for some viable alternatives to the Magic Mouse on a PC, asked about 4K projectors for our home theater, shared the best cameras for recording sporting events and posted about our favorite apps that make a game out of being productive. Click past the break and read what fellow Engadget users like you have to say.
Keecker is an Android-powered robot that projects video onto your walls
Sure, you could buy a projector for your apartment, or maybe even a TV; people still use those, we're told. Or, you could get an Android-powered projector instead. Solving a problem that not many people seem to have, Keecker is a smartphone-controllable robot that moves around your home, projecting video onto the walls. In particular, it runs Android with Google Play access, allowing you to stream from built-in apps like Netflix or YouTube. (Fun fact: the company's founder, Pierre Lebeau, is a former product manager at Google.) As you can imagine, Keecker also has a built-in speaker, meaning you could use this as a giant music player if you were so inclined. Some might be disappointed by the 1,280 x 800 resolution (especially with a target price of $4,000 to $5,000), but the 1,000-lumen light is at least bright enough that you can watch even with the lights on. (See our hands-on photos from the company's CES booth to see what we mean.) The thing is, even with clear picture quality, the robot is kinda big. At 16 inches wide and 25 inches tall it has a relatively large footprint, so it'd be a stretch to argue that this offers any space-saving benefits, per se. If you buy this, it's going to be because you want the freedom to watch TV on any wall in the house, or because you like the idea of having a projector with streaming apps built in (a better reason to splurge, if you ask us). At any rate, this won't ship until Q4, so you have plenty of time to think on that -- and start saving your pennies.
Sony's new 4K, HD projectors unveiled with prices all the way up to $28,000
Here at CEDIA 2013, Sony has just announced three new SXRD projectors, including two 4K models and one for the 1080p crowd. If you must have the highest res video output, only the new VPL-VW1100ES and VPL-VW600ES will do, with both tossing a DCI-approved 4,096 x 2,160 pixel count at the nearest display surface. The VPL-VW1100ES (pictured above) updates the VPL-VW1000ES introduced two years ago and remains at the top of Sony's projector line, bringing a bundled 4K player for a tidy $28,000. The VPL-VW600ES arrives with similar specs to the model introduced in Europe last month, offering that high pixel count with lower brightness and contrast levels in a smaller frame. As a result its $15,000 pricetag is lower too, although an option to bundle the FMP-X1 4K player and tablet controller will add an extra grand on top of that. The old VPL-VW1000ES is getting some love to, with a "premium service activation" program that brings HDMI 2.0, the new media player, a Sony tablet and a replacement lamp. If your display space or budget aren't 4K ready yet the VPL-HW55ES continues Sony's 1080p line with "enhanced optical efficiency" and an improved cooling system that should make the lamp last longer, all for a price of $4,000. All three projectors are going on sale through custom installers, with the VPL-HW55ES due in October and the VPL-VW600ES in November. If you're looking to upgrade the VPL-VW1000ES however, you're encouraged to check back in October to set up that service appointment. Check after the break for the complete specs, and check out the gallery for an in-person look.
DLP's IntelliBright tech promises brighter pico projection at no extra power
Most portable projectors are tasked with striking a delicate balance between power consumption and picture quality. With this in mind, Texas Instruments' DLP arm has unveiled a new system at MWC known as IntelliBright, which is intended to improve the brightness of pico projectors without making hardware hungrier. It's no fancy set of circuits, though, but a pair of algorithms which tinker with image brightness and contrast to produce a more radiant picture. What's more, the algorithms can be tweaked separately by hardware manufacturers for any desired result, and can incorporate data from ambient light sensors to increase projector efficiency. DLP recently introduced its new Tilt & Roll Pixel chip architecture at CES, which is also designed to make pictures brighter and batteries happier in the next generation of pico products. All we hope is the developments inspire Samsung to create a Galaxy Beam II, just with more focus on the phone part this time
