Laser TV Showdown 2023

I was honored once again to return as one of the six judges for a competition that featured nine ultra-short-throw, and five lifestyle projectors. These displays cater to buyers looking to put a jumbo image in their media room without the expense of a giant flat panel or the installation challenges of a traditional projector.

Ultra-short-throw means the projector sits just below the screen, or wall, on a stand or cabinet, and throws its image upwards rather than outwards. The market has become competitive in the past five years with units ranging in price from $1,800 and up. Lifestyle projectors are what I usually term “compact” and are just that, small and portable displays that don’t need a lot of fuss to set up and use.

The judges were Andy Grimm (Home Theater Review), John Higgins (Reviewed at USA Today), Mark Henninger (EIC of Sound & Vision magazine), M. David Stone (PC Magazine), Chris Majestic, (YouTube), and me.

The UST projectors were BenQ’s V5000i, Epson’s LS800, Formovie’s Cinema 3 & Theater, Hisense’s PL1 & PX2-Pro, Leica’s Cine 1, Nexigo’s Aurora Pro and Ultimea’s Thor T60. The Formovie Theater is indeed last year’s model and as you’ll soon see, newer is not necessarily better. The most expensive display was (no surprise), the Leica Cine 1 which currently sells for $8,995. The least expensive was the Hisense PL1 which can be had for $1,800. I currently have that one in for review so stay tuned to Secrets for my full battery of tests and viewing impressions. The lifestyle displays were BenQ’s X3100i, Formovie’s X5, Hisense’s C1, JMGO’s N1 Ultra and XGIMI’s Horizon Ultra. There were no prototypes here, all units were retail samples. They were set up and calibrated by Sammie Prescott, Jr., ISF Level III Calibrator at AV ChromaCal.

The event was hosted by Brian Gluck and Rob Sabin at the ProjectorScreen.com facility in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey where we were able to judge the projectors side by side showing the same content at the same time. The source components were provided by Kaleidescape, Oppo, and Murideo. For the UST displays, a Spectra Projection Vantage ALR 0.5-gain prismatic screen was used. This type of screen is made specifically for USTs because it rejects light coming from any direction but below. The lifestyle projectors were paired with Spectra Projection white screens with a 1.0 gain.

We watched several clips, mostly torture tests to grade the displays in different elements of picture quality – contrast, color accuracy/skin tone, black level/shadow detail, sharpness, and motion processing. We also looked at artifacts like the rainbow effect and laser speckle.

The opportunity to judge projectors side by side is a rare one. The equipment and space requirements are prodigious. Just displaying the same content on nine projectors is a feat. A complex HDMI matrix box was used and with only a few minor hiccups, it worked extremely well. The material came from Samsung’s impossible-to-find Ultra HD Reference disc as well as movie content stored on a Kaleidescape server. Test patterns were generated by Murideo 6G and 8G units.

Without further ado, here are the results:

There is a lot to digest here. First off, we didn’t create an overall ranking because we thought it better to let buyers decide which aspects of performance were more important to them. Some might want the projector with the best contrast while others might gravitate to the sharpest display. The Judges’ Top 3 is largely based on scoring but is also subjective. Also, some projectors perform better in SDR mode or HDR mode so that is something the user must consider.

The big takeaway is the Formovie Theater which was last year’s winner. It truly surprised all of us, most notably in the contrast test where it rendered more shadow detail than the other displays. It also showed the most stars in the many space scenes we viewed. The film Gravity was great for this. Its color was just average in SDR mode but with HDR content, it shone taking three of the five scored categories.

Another interesting note was the Epson LS800 and Hisense PX2-PRO. They didn’t win in any category except for Hisense’s victory in the motion test but were the judge’s second overall pick. The Leica Cine 1 came in third mainly for its superb lens which was clearly better than the others.

The Ultimea Thor T60 was an interesting display in that it had incredibly saturated color in SDR mode. This was mainly due to its use of the extended gamut rather than the correct Rec.709 spec. There is much debate about this among videophiles but in my experience as a display reviewer, buyers gravitate to the more colorful display. It isn’t necessarily an unnatural look. I thought the Thor worked extremely well with the lights on. And I have tested literally hundreds of computer monitors that exhibit this behavior. The bottom line is that few users will opt for the smaller gamut. Most people prefer to see all the colors a display is capable of.

Here are the lifestyle projector results:

Formovie takes the top spot again with its X5, tying with the BenQ X3100i. The BenQ won the sharpness category and was close behind the X5 in contrast and shadow detail. Color went to the XGMI, again thanks to its use of a wider gamut for SDR content.

Speaking about the artifacts, they are completely a matter of personal perception. I do not see DLP rainbows nor is laser speckle visible to me unless it’s extreme. But other judges saw things differently. I am often asked about this in my own reviews and as I am only one person, I cannot predict the perceptions of others. This is why events like this are important, and why there are six judges.

The day after we judged video, the projectors were evaluated by Chris Boylan and Rob Sabin for their audio quality. All of them include some kind of integrated sound and that too is a factor in the buying decision. Here are the results:

Again, the Formovie! I guess newer is not better in the UST projector market. At least in the audio test, their new model comes closer to the top. And kudos to XGIMI and Hisense for their win in the lifestyle audio test.

The 2023 Laser TV Showdown was a resounding success, again. Thanks to a lot of hard work by Rob Sabin, Brian Gluck, and Sammie Prescott, Jr., I got the unique opportunity to compare a lot of displays in a true side-by-side format. My takeaway was that there are certainly strengths and weaknesses to all the products but by and large, they are close in performance. None of them had a bad image, all were enjoyable to watch. They were all capable of accurate and natural color once calibrated. They all delivered decent performance with the lights on. And they all make a compelling choice for users looking for a jumbo screen experience that is also convenient.

If you’re considering one of these, I have a few notes. Prices of UST projectors cover a wide range but even if you go with the least expensive model, you’ll want to factor in the price of a prismatic screen which will be at least $1,000. Yes, you can use a traditional screen or the wall but then you won’t see the display’s full potential. Of course, a 100-inch flat panel will cost much more than $2,800, so, there’s that. You should also seriously consider hiring a pro to calibrate it. Not only will they optimize the picture controls, but they’ll also tweak the installation to give you the sharpest and squareest image. Lastly, audio should not be shortchanged. The built-in sound of these units is OK but for the best experience, an external system with traditional speakers and a subwoofer is a must.

But I digress. The 2023 Laser TV Showdown clearly demonstrated that the industry is working hard to create excellent products for a wide variety of users and environments. It’s a great time to buy a projector and any one of these will satisfy.

Many thanks to Rob Sabin of ProjectorCentral.com, Brian Gluck of ProjectorScreen.com, and all the sponsors of the 2022 Laser TV Showdown for a well-run and enjoyable event.