Needless to say, budget is a factor. As a rule of thumb, the more you spend, the brighter the image and the higher the resolution, giving you a better experience overall. What else should you look out for? Prices valid in stores (all including VAT) until close of business on 28th November 2023. (Some of these web prices are cheaper than in-store, so please mention that you've seen these offers online.) Higher-end long throw projectors are generally “dumb” displays, with no built-in smart TV interface or ability to stream video directly. That’s because they’re usually the main video component in an AV system that uses a receiver and separate speakers for audio, with the receiver sending video directly to the projector, and audio to the speakers.

Ultra short-throw projectorsare becoming much more frequent within the projector market at large, and for good reason. Designed as a TV alternative that can reach up to 100 inches without costing nearly as much as a super-large TV would, as well as having the added benefit of being practically plug-and-play (obviously with some fiddling required), a UST projector strikes a nice balance between practicality and theatricality. Hisense isn’t selling the L9G as a basic projector, but rather as a laser TV with an included ambient-light-rejecting projector screen that’s meant to be permanently installed on your wall. This 100- or 120-inch (varies depending on the model selected) screen will appeal to those who are fussy about image quality, as it will reduce the impact of ambient room lighting on the picture. The best portable projectors you can buy in 2023 1. Viewsonic M1 Mini Plus: Best ultraportable projectorResolution is limited to 854 x 480, and the brightness is a low-ish 150 lumens, so you’ll need a dark room to enjoy the projected image; nevertheless, the colour performance isn’t bad at all. Its speaker does a decent job of providing emergency audio that isn’t too thin and tinny, plus, if you want to boost audio output, you can hook up a Bluetooth speaker. The Horizon Pro is a projector that fares best with the best sources. 4K HDR content looks great here, with a detailed, cinematic picture to really elevate those late-night movie sessions. To the untrained eye, one projector usually looks much like another. However, there’s a whole world of technology inside these often plain-looking boxes. The slim remote is a masterclass in sleek design, with a metal casing that stays cold to the touch and has the good sense to limit things to a handful of buttons (power, Google Assistant, settings, home screen, return, and volume controls). The pull-out mechanism for the batteries is a bit flimsy, mind, and you’ll have to be careful to reinsert it correctly. If space is really tight, you might want to consider a short throw or ultra-short throw projector, which can create big images on your screen or wall from incredibly short distances – as little as 10cm for a 50in image in some cases. The downside is the projected image tends to suffer more from geometric distortion. Other things to consider:

And this projector’s talents don’t end there. It has built-in Android TV 11.0 streaming, plus a built-on 2 x 12W Harmon/Kardon speaker system that does a surprisingly good job of dishing out immersive sound. What’s more, XGIMI’s ISA 3.0 auto-setup system can get you a good, well-focused, correctly aligned image in seconds; all you need to do is point the projector at the screen. There are other projectors such as the Sony VPL-XW5000ES above that can give you even better, true 4K video in a custom-built setup, but you won’t find anything else that delivers this kind of image quality, this easily, and for such a comparatively reasonable price. Optical zoom allows you to enlarge or reduce the screen without moving the projector, while lens shift lets you move it up, down, left and right without losing quality – or moving the projector physically. The cheaper the projector, the more limited these options will be.

Let there be light: 4K projector bulb technologies

The LS12000 is a beefy (we’re talking 50 pounds) projector with a 3LCD system inside. It provides powerful color and white light output, strong contrast, and no artifacts we could detect during our testing. Its immaculate picture doesn’t struggle to overcome bright lighting conditions, but when we turn out all the ambient light, it steps up to simply blow us away. Anker Nebula Solar Portable: We didn't like the Solar Portable as much as the BenQ GS50, Xgimi Halo Plus or even its sibling, the Mars II Pro. Its main disadvantage compared to others on this list is its relatively dim image, which means it can't project as large a picture and still look good. If you want a sleek, budget-friendly portable with 1080p and plan on keeping the image on the small side, however, this is a solid choice. Read our Anker Nebula Solar Portable review. Projectors tend to be pricier for comparative resolutions or HDR support, especially dynamic HDR – with Samsung The Premiere and the JVC DLA-NZ8 being the only existing beamers with HDR10+. Within the mix are also some ultra short throw projectors. These can project a big, clear image onto a wall from a very short distance away, making them ideal for space saving set ups or for those wanting to avoid wall- or ceiling-mounting their projector. First, resolution. If you’re looking for a projector to watch movies, then make sure the model you buy is Full HD (with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080). You will come across plenty of cheaper office or portable projectors, but they’ll have limited resolutions of 800 x 600, 800 x 480, 1,280 x 720 or 1,024 x 768. As such, they might be fine for showing PowerPoint slides or streaming Netflix in the garden, but for sports, games and home cinema use, you really need to be able to watch 1080p content at the native resolution. Make Full HD your minimum spec.

When you stream, you're usually streaming video and audio simultaneously – which is fine if your projector has speakers that you want to use. If not, your projector or your streaming device may enable you to send audio to wireless Bluetooth speakers or a soundbar at the same time as you watch the video. At the forefront of this UST revolution is Hisense, which has been developing ultra short-throw models for over six years now. The PL1 that we have before us today is the latest model in Hisense’s line of Ultra Short-Throw Laser Cinema Projectors, not to be confused with its separate line of Laser TVs, which act in a similar fashion but specifically come with a dedicated screen. Things aren’t quite as rosy when it comes to upscaling from low-res sources, though. HD sources will often come with a layer of grain – and which comes and goes pretty inconsistently, proving more distracting than if it was there all of the time. The upscaling from SDR fares similarly, often adding a harsh reddish tinge, especially in low-lit scenes or those showing the light of a campfire. It can be difficult to stand out in the crowded 4K projector market, so many manufacturers have begun to include innovative new features to help differentiate their best models. If you’re looking for a 4K projector that can go the extra mile, keep an eye out for models with these features.A 4K pixel shifting projector uses imagers that contain are less than 8.3 megapixels, but every pixel’s image is rapidly shifted allowing each one to do the job of multiple pixels. When it comes to pixel shifting, faster is better. The pixel wobbling is done so fast that it fools your eyes into seeing up to four times the projector’s native resolution. BenQ’s decision to focus with the W1800 on what we guess could be considered good old-fashioned home cinema values has paid off handsomely. Its pictures might not be the showiest around, but they’re refined, natural, authentic and, to use that word again, cinematic.

BenQ divides its consumer projector range into quite specific categories these days. There's premium ‘CinePro’, mid-range ‘CinePrime’ and entry level ‘CineHome’ home cinema models, as well as more general purpose (usually brighter and more affordable) home entertainment models, laser TV models, and dedicated gaming projectors. Setting up your viewing area for a projector will require a few essential add-ons, so make sure to look for these when shopping for a 4K projector. Projector screen or projector screen paintThis time around, the resolution has been bumped up to 720p from 480p and the brightness has been doubled from 100 to 200 ANSI lumens. Colour reproduction remains a weakness, with slightly unrealistic tones in places, but the picture is bright, steady and sharp, while autofocus ensures you never have to fiddle with a focus dial.