The Best 4K Projector

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  2. Home theater

The Best 4K Projector

UpdatedOctober 2, 2024
Photo: Michael Murtaugh
Adrienne Maxwell

By Adrienne Maxwell

Adrienne Maxwell is an editor covering AV gear. Her specialty is video projectors, so she spends a lot of time alone in dark rooms.

If you have the space and budget to re-create a big-screen movie-theater experience at home, a high-performance 4K projector is a worthy investment that can keep you entertained for years to come. Epson’s Home Cinema LS11000 is our favorite 4K projector because its performance and versatility make it suitable for any type of room and content—be it movies, games, or everyday TV watching.

Everything we recommend

Top pick

Epson Home Cinema LS11000

The best 4K projector

This laser 4K projector delivers a big, bright, beautiful image and has almost all the features you need—except 3D support.

Buying Options

$4000$3500 from Best Buy

You save $500 (13%)

$4000$3500 from Amazon

You save $500 (13%)

$23 from Dell

Budget pick

BenQ TK860i

A good smart projector for a brighter room

This 4K projector’s high light output, good-sounding speaker, and Android TV system make it a nice all-in-one option for a brighter room. But its image isn’t as refined or accurate as that of our top pick.

Buying Options

$1,899 from Amazon
$1,550 from Walmart

May be out of stock

Best for

BenQ X500i

Best 4K short-throw projector for smaller spaces

This 4K projector casts a larger image from a shorter distance, so it’s good for smaller spaces. It’s targeted at gamers, but its excellent contrast, color, and detail make it good for all content types—as long as the room has some light control.

Buying Options

$1,499 from Amazon

What you need to know


  • Who this is for

    This guide covers high-performance 4K projectors under $5,000 designed to deliver the most cinematic viewing experience at home.

  • Other options

    We cover cheaper HD projectors in our guides to the best budget projector for a home theater and the best portable mini projector.

  • Flexible setup

    Projectors can be tricky to set up, so we prefer models that offer zoom, lens shifting, and other features to help you position the image.

  • Objective testing

    We measure each projector’s performance using professional calibration equipment, and we do side-by-side comparison testing.

Top pick

Epson Home Cinema LS11000

The best 4K projector

This laser 4K projector delivers a big, bright, beautiful image and has almost all the features you need—except 3D support.

Buying Options

$4000$3500 from Best Buy

You save $500 (13%)

$4000$3500 from Amazon

You save $500 (13%)

$23 from Dell

The Epson Home Cinema LS11000 offers a combination of high-end performance and features that you won’t see in any other 4K projector priced lower than $5,000. These days it isn’t hard to find a bright 4K projector for gaming or sports, but it is much more difficult to find a great 4K movie projector that doesn’t cost a fortune—many land in the five-figure range. It’s even harder to find one projector that excels in both regards.

The LS11000 certainly isn’t cheap, but it delivers a theater-worthy image with great contrast, detail, and color, while also being bright enough for more casual, everyday TV watching. Plus, it has future-friendly HDMI 2.1 inputs and a laser light source that should last through the next decade or longer, with no need for you to pay for replacement bulbs. It’s easy to set up, too, thanks to its motorized focus, zoom, and lens adjustments.

The only things missing are a built-in smart-TV system and support for 3D video.

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Budget pick

BenQ TK860i

A good smart projector for a brighter room

This 4K projector’s high light output, good-sounding speaker, and Android TV system make it a nice all-in-one option for a brighter room. But its image isn’t as refined or accurate as that of our top pick.

Buying Options

$1,899 from Amazon
$1,550 from Walmart

May be out of stock

If you want a more affordable 4K projector for use in a brighter room, we recommend the BenQ TK860i. This projector’s high brightness, rich color, razor-sharp image, and solid HDR performance are well suited for everyday TV and movie watching, though it lacks the higher contrast and precise color accuracy that make the Epson LS11000 such a good choice for a home theater environment.

The TK860i comes with an Android TV dongle that hides in a recessed chamber, and the projector has three additional HDMI 2.0 inputs to connect other video sources. The built-in speakers sound fuller and more balanced than those of many competitors, and the fan noise is not excessively loud. All of that adds up to a convenient, all-in-one projection system—just set it on a coffee table and go.

On the downside, this BenQ projector uses a bulb rather than a laser or LED light source, so you will have to replace it over time.

Best for

BenQ X500i

Best 4K short-throw projector for smaller spaces

This 4K projector casts a larger image from a shorter distance, so it’s good for smaller spaces. It’s targeted at gamers, but its excellent contrast, color, and detail make it good for all content types—as long as the room has some light control.

Buying Options

$1,499 from Amazon

If you’re looking for a 4K projector to use in a smaller space, the short-throw BenQ X500i can cast a 100-inch image from a distance of 5 feet. This great little DLP projector rivals our top pick in image contrast, and it delivers brighter, more accurate color than our budget pick—thanks in part to its use of a long-lasting LED light source instead of a bulb.

The X500i is targeted at gamers, with gaming-specific picture modes, a higher refresh rate, and lower input lag. In addition to two HDMI 2.0 inputs, it has a USB-C video port to directly connect a Nintendo Switch. It comes with an Android TV dongle and has respectably robust speakers.

The main downside is that the X500i can’t get as bright overall as our other picks, so it’s best used in a room where you can limit the ambient light.

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The research

  • Why you should trust us
  • Who this is for
  • How we picked and tested
  • Top pick: Epson Home Cinema LS11000
  • Budget pick: BenQ TK860i
  • Best short-throw 4K projector for smaller spaces: BenQ X500i
  • Other 4K projectors worth considering
  • What to look forward to
  • The competition

Why you should trust us

I’m a supervising editor at Wirecutter, overseeing all of our audio and video device coverage and writing our projector guides. I am an Imaging Science Foundation Level III–certified video calibrator, and I have the full complement of objective testing gear to measure and evaluate the performance of these projectors.

For this guide:

  • I have reviewed more than a dozen projectors since I took over this guide in 2022, and I have researched many more.
  • I attend the annual CEDIA Expo and follow other trade shows to get details on new projector models and technologies.
  • In accordance with Wirecutter standards, I return or donate all products I’ve tested once my assessment of them is complete. I never hang on to “freebies” once testing is done, though I do hold on to our official picks (when possible) for future comparison testing.
  • Like all Wirecutter journalists, I review and test products with complete editorial independence. I’m never made aware of any business implications of my editorial recommendations. Read more about our editorial standards.

Who this is for

A 4K projector is designed for the person who has the desire, space, and budget to re-create the big-screen movie-theater experience in their home. These projectors have the necessary detail and brightness to cast a sharp, rich-looking image at a large size (100 inches or more), and they are meant to be paired with a high-quality projection screen.

If you’re willing to sacrifice 4K resolution to save money, check out our guide to the best budget projector for a home theater, where you can find bright, color-accurate, high-contrast 1080p options for $1,000 or less.

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How we picked and tested

We use the following criteria to decide which projectors to test:

  • Price: We limit our search to projectors priced under $5,000 and sold directly through retail channels, as opposed to specialty dealers.
  • 4K HDR support: The projector must show a full 4K resolution on screen. Some high-end projectors have a native 4K resolution, which means the image-creating chip has either a 4096×2160 or 3840×2160 resolution—but those projectors cost more than $5,000. The projectors we consider all use pixel-shifting to show a 4K resolution on screen: The image-creating chip or panels have a 1080p resolution, but by rapidly shifting the pixels four times to show the image, they produce the full 4K resolution. Some videophiles contend that only native 4K projectors should be called 4K projectors, but our testing has shown that the level of detail possible with pixel-shifting is 4K, and we’ve concluded that the results are good enough for most people.
  • Light output: A good 4K projector needs to be bright enough for you to use the projector with a large screen (over 100 inches) and still enjoy a vibrant, well-saturated image, especially with HDR video. The larger the screen, the more brightness you need. We look for 4K projectors with a claimed light output of at least 1,000 ANSI lumens, but preferably much higher.
  • Throw ratio: A projector’s throw ratio indicates the distance it needs to cast a certain image size, and there are three general designations: standard (1 and above), short (under 1), and ultra-short (under 0.4). For this guide we consider only standard and short-throw models. We do not recommend ultra-short-throw projectors for most people, for reasons we explain in this article.
  • Physical lens-adjustment tools: A projector with a good amount of lens zoom and horizontal and vertical lens shifting makes it easier for you to precisely size and place the image on your screen. Motorized focus, zoom, and lens-shifting controls are ideal because they make setup even faster. Projectors that offer only digital image adjustments (such as digital zoom or keystone adjustment) are less desirable because those functions affect image clarity.

To evaluate each projector’s performance, we conduct both objective and subjective tests. For objective tests, we use Portrait Displays’s Calman software and C6 HDR2000 colorimeter, along with a Murideo Six-G test-pattern generator, to measure each projector’s contrast ratio, light output, and color and color-temperature accuracy. We measure all the available picture modes and brightness settings to find the best combination of performance attributes. We test all the projectors on a 100-inch Silver Ticket STR Series screen.

Since measurements don’t reveal the whole picture, we also do subjective comparison testing by placing projectors next to one another and sending them the same signal using an HDMI splitter. This arrangement makes it easy for us to see differences in black level, contrast, color, and detail.

For our sources, we use a Microsoft Xbox One X gaming console and a Chromecast with Google TV 4K media streamer, and we watch a variety of Ultra HD and Blu-ray movies, streamed 4K movies, and HDTV content in both darker and brighter room conditions.

Top pick: Epson Home Cinema LS11000

The Epson Home Cinema LS11000, our pick for best 4K projector.
Photo: Michael Murtaugh

Top pick

Epson Home Cinema LS11000

The best 4K projector

This laser 4K projector delivers a big, bright, beautiful image and has almost all the features you need—except 3D support.

Buying Options

$4000$3500 from Best Buy

You save $500 (13%)

$4000$3500 from Amazon

You save $500 (13%)

$23 from Dell

Important specs

Projection tech: LCD Zoom and throw: 2.1x (motorized), 1.35 to 2.84
Light source: laser Lens shift: 96.3% vertical, 47.1% horizontal
Refresh rate: 120 Hz Smart-TV platform: none
HDMI inputs: two HDMI 2.1 3D support: no
HDR formats: HDR10, HDR10+, HLG Size and weight: 20.5 by 7.6 by 17.6 inches, 28 pounds

The Epson Home Cinema LS11000 is the most versatile 4K projector we’ve tested. Most projectors are optimized either for bright-room use or dark-room use, as well as for gaming and sports or for movies. But the LS11000 can excel in any environment, with any type of content, and it should last for years.

It has better image contrast than any 4K projector we’ve tested. It accomplishes that by combining high brightness, a good black level, and a well-designed dynamic iris that automatically fine-tunes the lens to suit the image being displayed.

This model gives you an 11-step brightness control to more precisely tailor the light output to your environment. In the LS11000’s best-looking picture mode, Natural, we measured output between 1,005 and 1,867 lumens, the latter of which is ample for a large screen.

We measured output as high as 2,497 lumens in the LS11000’s Dynamic picture mode, but that mode isn’t especially color-accurate, with an overly green color temperature (or color of white) and oversaturated color points. It’ll do for the occasional daytime sports watching or gaming, though.

The higher light output allows for solid HDR performance, too. Bright highlights in movies on Ultra HD disc such as Dune, Justice League, and Pan had decent pop, even when I set the projector at about half its maximum brightness for dark-room viewing.

On the flip side, the LS11000 delivers deeper, darker black levels than most of the lower-priced 4K projectors we’ve tested, so it allows darker movie scenes to look more saturated and three-dimensional in a dark room. The only 4K projectors we’ve tested that have produced deeper black levels have also been notably dimmer overall.

The color accuracy is superb. The LS11000’s Natural picture mode is wonderfully accurate in color temperature, gamma, and color points, requiring no advanced adjustment or fine-tuning. Just set it to the necessary brightness level, and you’re good to go.

Our measurements showed that the LS11000 can handle 88.9% of the large P3 color gamut used for 4K HDR content. We’ve tested a few projectors that can render an even wider color gamut, but most of them are less accurate overall than this Epson model.

The 4K image is clear and detailed. The LS11000 uses Epson’s most advanced pixel-shifting technology to show a 4K resolution on the screen (our test patterns confirmed this), and with movies on Ultra HD discs such as Dune and Justice League and Netflix shows like Our Planet, the image on our 100-inch screen looked crisp and detailed.

The LS11000’s use of an all-glass lens also helps with image clarity, and the Picture menu has an Image Enhancement tool, which allows you to precisely tweak the picture clarity and sharpness to your liking.

The Epson Home Cinema LS11000’s connection panel includes two high-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 inputs, a rare feature for most projectors.Photo: Michael Murtaugh

It uses a laser light source. This brings several benefits, the most important of which is a long lifespan of 20,000 hours. In bulb-based projectors, the bulbs dim over time, and you need to replace them roughly every 4,000 to 6,000 hours (if you run them at maximum brightness), which adds to the total cost of ownership.

The use of a laser light source also enables this projector to turn on and off much more quickly. It produces rich color, too, and it allows for nearly silent lens adjustments when the projector is employing its dynamic iris.

The 120 Hz refresh rate improves motion clarity for sports and gaming. You can also turn on motion smoothing, if you’re into that kind of thing, though we don’t recommend doing so with movies because it changes the look of film motion, creating the soap opera effect.

This projector’s higher refresh rate and lower input lag (under 20 milliseconds), mated with its two HDMI 2.1 inputs, which can accept a 4K 120 Hz signal, make it a good match for the latest Xbox and PlayStation gaming consoles. The inclusion of HDMI 2.1 is quite rare on projectors.

Epson is more generous with its setup tools than other projector manufacturers. Thanks to the LS11000’s 2.1x zoom, 96.3% vertical lens shift, and 47.1% horizontal lens shift, you can easily place the image precisely on your screen, without having to rely on automatic digital adjustments like keystone correction that degrade the quality of the image.

Plus, all the lens controls are motorized, so you can adjust them via the remote and set up different lens memories for different video aspect ratios, such as 16:9 for HDTV or 21:9 for some movies.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

The LS11000 uses manual HDR tone mapping. Projectors must adjust the HDR signal to show the content properly in the brightness range they’re capable of. Some high-end projectors have advanced automatic tone mapping that intelligently adjusts the signal to avoid cutting off or incorrectly displaying bright highlights. The LS11000 lacks such technology—on this model, you have to manually adjust the HDR brightness using a 16-step slider control.

The better option is to mate this projector with our favorite Ultra HD Blu-ray player, the Panasonic DP-UB820, which handles the automatic tone mapping on its end.

It offers no support for 3D video playback. Though 3D is dead in the world of TVs, it still has a fan base in the projector world. Epson is not the only manufacturer of higher-end 4K projectors that abandoned 3D support (Sony did too), and new 3D content is rare. But if you have a large collection of 3D discs and still want to watch them, this omission could be a dealbreaker.

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Budget pick: BenQ TK860i

A BenQ TK860i projector.
Photo: Michael Hession

Budget pick

BenQ TK860i

A good smart projector for a brighter room

This 4K projector’s high light output, good-sounding speaker, and Android TV system make it a nice all-in-one option for a brighter room. But its image isn’t as refined or accurate as that of our top pick.

Buying Options

$1,899 from Amazon
$1,550 from Walmart

May be out of stock

Important specs

Projection tech: DLP Zoom and throw: 1.3x (manual), 1.13 to 1.47
Light source: bulb Lens shift: 10% vertical, 0% horizontal
Refresh rate: 120 Hz Smart-TV platform: Android TV
HDMI inputs: three HDMI 2.0 3D support: yes
HDR formats: HDR10, HDR10+, HLG Size and weight: 14.96 by 4.99 by 10.35 inches, 9.25 pounds

If you mostly watch movies and TV shows with some room lights on, you may not need all the higher-end performance benefits that our top pick, the Epson Home Cinema LS11000, has to offer. The BenQ TK860i delivers a bright, sharp, colorful image, and its smaller form, smart-TV capabilities, and dynamic speakers make it easy to use in a casual, everyday space such as a family room.

It offers more light output than our top pick. The TK860i is designed for use in a room with more ambient light, within reason—you should still limit window and lamp lighting near the screen. We measured between 1,750 and 3,100 lumens of maximum light output depending on the picture mode.

As with the LS11000, the TK860i’s brightest picture mode, Bright, has an overly green color temperature, but the result is not too exaggerated and will suffice for the occasional daytime sporting event or gaming session. The Cinema and Game modes were our preferred choices, as they combined excellent brightness with a much more neutral, natural-looking color temperature.

The high brightness is helpful for HDR video playback, and the TK860i’s HDR brightness is more accurate than that of many similarly priced projectors—though you have to manually adjust the HDR brightness control here, just as you do with our top pick from Epson.

The contrast ratio is good for a DLP projector but nowhere near that of our top pick. The TK860i uses single-chip DLP projection technology, which excels at producing razor-sharp, detailed images but generally can’t rival LCD projection tech like that of the LS11000 in overall contrast. In our tests, the TK860i looked exceptionally sharp, but its native contrast measured roughly half that of the LS11000, and its dynamic (automatic) iris caused too many noticeable brightness fluctuations for us to recommend using that feature.

The TK860i’s lower contrast and higher black level produce an image that doesn’t look as rich and three-dimensional as what you can get from the LS11000 in a dim room or (especially) a dark room. In our tests, darker scenes from Dune, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, and Stranger Things looked flatter and more washed out on this projector.

That said, the TK860i’s contrast is comparable to or better than that of a lot of DLP projectors that cost more, and this projector doesn’t have the light-spill problems we see in the majority of small, lifestyle-oriented 4K projectors from companies such as Dangbei, JMGO, Nebula, and Xgimi. Light spill occurs when the projector lens scatters stray light around the screen, which can be extremely distracting when you’re watching video in a dark room.

The TK860i covers 100% of the HD color gamut and 91.57% of the P3 gamut used for 4K HDR video. Its colors look rich and lush, though not entirely accurate (see below).

The BenQ TK860i’s connection panel includes three HDMI 2.0 inputs, two USB ports, analog and digital audio outputs, an RS-232 control port, and a 12-volt trigger.Photo: Michael Hession

The design is more living-room friendly. The TK860i isn’t small, per se, but it is smaller than the Epson LS11000 and other high-performance home theater projectors. You can easily move it around and set it on a coffee table or TV tray.

It comes with a 4K, HDR-capable Android TV dongle that hides in a recessed chamber on the projector’s top, which you inconveniently have to unscrew to access (though you have to do it only once).

The built-in speakers sound fuller and more balanced than those of many competitors, so you don’t have to connect an external speaker, though the TK860i has analog, digital, and HDMI-ARC ports if you wish to. We used this projector for several outdoor movie nights and did not feel the need to connect another speaker.

The fan is very quiet in the Eco lamp mode; it’s somewhat louder in the Standard lamp mode but still easily masked by the built-in speakers.

It’s good for 3D and more casual gaming. Unlike the Epson LS11000, the BenQ TK860i still supports 3D video playback, though you have to buy active 3D glasses separately, and BenQ no longer sells its own branded pair.

As for gaming performance, we measured the input lag at a fairly low 18.1 milliseconds for a 1080p 60 Hz signal (in the Game picture mode), and BenQ claims 17.9 ms for 4K 60 Hz and 8.7 ms for 1080p 240 Hz. The HDMI inputs are 2.0, however, so they don’t have the bandwidth to accept a 4K 120 Hz signal.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

The color accuracy could be better. The TK860i’s Movie picture mode has a very accurate color temperature (or color of white), but the individual colors are a lot darker by default than they should be.

You can get more color brightness by turning down the BrilliantColor control in the Picture menu, but doing so also cuts the overall image brightness and contrast—so you’d have to experiment to find a happy medium.

This projector uses a bulb rather than a laser or LED light source. It lacks instant on/off capability, and you’ll have to replace the bulb down the line. BenQ estimates a lifespan between 4,000 and 15,000 hours per bulb, depending on the brightness mode you use.

The TK860i also has a zoom of just 1.3x and 10% vertical lens shifting, and the controls are manual rather than motorized. But those adjustments are better than what you get from lots of newer, lifestyle-oriented DLP projectors, which tend to offer only digital keystone correction and other digital adjustments that can hurt picture quality.

Best short-throw 4K projector for smaller spaces: BenQ X500i

The BenQ X500i projector.
Photo: Connie Park

Best for

BenQ X500i

Best 4K short-throw projector for smaller spaces

This 4K projector casts a larger image from a shorter distance, so it’s good for smaller spaces. It’s targeted at gamers, but its excellent contrast, color, and detail make it good for all content types—as long as the room has some light control.

Buying Options

$1,499 from Amazon

Important specs

Projection tech: DLP Zoom and throw: 1.2x (manual), 0.69 to 0.83
Light source: LED Lens shift: none
Refresh rate: 120 Hz Smart-TV platform: Android TV
HDMI inputs: two HDMI 2.0 3D support: yes
HDR formats: HDR10, HDR10+, HLG Size and weight: 14.4 by 4.6 by 9.6 inches,
7.9 pounds

The short-throw BenQ X500i is an excellent choice for smaller spaces because it can produce a larger image from a shorter distance. We filled our 100-inch reference screen from a distance of 5 feet. This full-featured projector delivers surprisingly good performance that will appeal to both movie lovers and gamers, but it isn’t the best fit for every room.

It offers impressive contrast and color accuracy but has less light output. In our measurements, this under-$2,000 projector actually bested our top pick in native contrast ratio, but its dynamic contrast function doesn’t work as well as the Epson model’s to automatically adjust the image’s black level and brightness on the fly to improve contrast.

Black levels were impressively deep in our tests, and this projector did a good job of revealing fine details in darker scenes; it also suffered from none of the light-spill problems that plague a lot of similarly priced lifestyle projectors. Darker movies and games looked rich and well saturated when the lights were low.

The X500i delivers brighter, more accurate color than our budget pick, which is also from BenQ, thanks in part to its use of a long-lasting LED light source instead of a bulb. And with the LED, you have instant on/off capability, plus no need to change a bulb down the road.

But the X500i delivers less light output overall than our other picks, so it isn’t ideal for a room with a lot of ambient light, and its HDR peak brightness isn’t as impressive. We measured about 1,050 lumens in the most accurate picture mode (Cinema), and it maxed out at about 1,750 lumens in the less-accurate Bright mode. By comparison, the Bright mode on our budget pick, BenQ TK860i, reached up to 3,100 lumens.

The connection panel on the BenQ X500i includes two HDMI 2.0 ports and a USB-C video port. Photo: Connie Park

It’s targeted at gamers. Compared with other models, the X500i has a higher, 120 Hz refresh rate to produce smoother motion, as well as lower input lag: We measured 17.2 ms of lag with a 1080p/60 signal. Although the dual HDMI inputs are limited to the 2.0 spec, not the 2.1 spec that you get with the Epson LS11000, you can feed this projector a 1440p signal at 120 Hz (which, according to BenQ, has 8.3 ms of lag) or a 1080p signal at 240 Hz (with a claimed 4.2 ms of lag).

This model also has a USB-C video port for you to directly connect a Nintendo Switch, with no need to add Nintendo’s optional HDMI dock.

The projector’s Picture menu includes three gaming-specific picture modes that primarily adjust the gamma and black level to suit different types of games, such as role-playing games or first-person shooters. All of them have color accuracy similar to that of the Cinema mode.

Despite the gaming emphasis, this projector is also great for watching movies and TV shows. It comes with the same Android TV dongle you get with the TK860i (which hides in a recessed chamber on the top panel), and it supports 3D video, though you have to provide your own glasses. We found that the built-in speakers sounded respectably robust and balanced.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

The X500i offers limited lens adjustments. The amount of zoom is just 1.2x, and this model has no vertical or horizontal lens shifting. This is actually a common limitation in short-throw projectors, which tend to require more complicated optical manipulation—and it’s still better than what you get from a lot of value-oriented lifestyle projectors, which usually offer only digital adjustments like keystone correction.

It lacks a powered USB-A port. If you want to use a different streaming stick than the supplied Android TV dongle, you have to plug it into a power outlet.

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Other 4K projectors worth considering

If you need a 3D-capable home theater projector: The BenQ HT4550i is a very good 4K projector for home theater use. It has no major performance flaws, and it adds the 3D playback that the Epson LS11000 lacks. You also get a long-lasting LED light source, an Android TV dongle, a generous connection panel, and some physical lens controls to properly position the image.

Our main concern here is price. Although this projector is less expensive than our top pick, it doesn’t significantly outperform other DLP projectors we’ve tested that cost a lot less. The Filmmaker mode produced wonderfully accurate color during our tests, but in measured contrast and brightness this projector failed to stand out over our other DLP recommendations that cost less than $2,000. But if you’re building a modest home theater with a screen size around 100 inches, the HT4550i is a worthy contender—especially if you find it on sale.

If you primarily watch HDR movies and TV shows: The JMGO N1S Ultra is so close to being a great all-around projector, but for a couple of problems. In our tests, this 4K laser projector measured very well in contrast, brightness, black level, and detail, and the 4K image looked great in both dark and bright rooms. The built-in Google TV platform makes the projector easy to set up and use, and it comes with a preattached, swiveling gimbal that helps to aim the image at your screen.

Unfortunately, like many similarly designed lifestyle projectors, this model throws significant light spill around the screen, which distracts in a dark room, and it has only digital image-placement tools, such as keystone correction. But more concerning is that all of its picture modes are locked into the wide color gamut used for HDR, so with SDR content like regular Blu-ray discs and live HDTV and sports broadcasts, the color is way off. This projector supports almost 100% of the full Rec2020 color gamut, so colors definitely look vivid—but they come out wrong. You could hire a professional calibrator to dial in an accurate SDR mode, but you shouldn’t have to for a $2,500 projector. We recommend this projector only if you primarily watch HDR content from streaming services and Ultra HD discs, or if you really like vibrant color and don’t care as much about accuracy.

If you primarily watch SDR movies and TV shows in a brighter space: The Dangbei DBOX02 (aka Mars Pro 2) is sort of the inverse of the JMGO projector described above. It offers a similar design and features package, with Google TV built in, for a lower price. This laser projector is also similarly bright, though not as bright overall as our bulb-based budget pick. The DBOX02 is set up correctly to switch between SDR and HDR color, and in our tests it produced above-average SDR color accuracy in the Movie picture mode. So it’s a good choice for more casual viewing of HDTV, sports, and games in a brighter room.

However, it also has light-spill problems, and its measured contrast is less than half that of the JMGO model, not to mention our top pick, so it isn’t as good for movie-watching in a totally dark space. And it simply doesn’t handle HDR video as well as our picks, offering less brightness and a smaller color gamut.

But if you always leave some room lights on when watching TV and movies, you may like this compact, quiet, user-friendly projector.

What to look forward to

Hisense, Nebula, and Xgimi have all announced new 4K smart projectors that support Dolby Vision HDR. Hisense’s new C2 Series includes three laser projectors that have similar features but different claimed brightness ratings: the C2 Ultra (3,100 ANSI lumens, $3,000), the C2 Pro (2,600 ANSI lumens, $2,500), and the C2 (2,000 ANSI lumens, $2,300). All of them run Hisense’s own Vidaa smart-TV platform.

Nebula’s Cosmos 4K SE ($1,300) runs Google TV and uses a hybrid laser/LED light source, with a claimed brightness of 1,800 ANSI lumens. Xgimi’s Horizon S Pro ($1,300) and Horizon S Max ($1,900) also run Google TV and use a laser/LED light source, with claimed brightness ratings of 1,800 ISO lumens and 3,100 ISO lumens, respectively.

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The competition

Companies such as JVC and Sony make excellent native-4K home theater projectors, but even the lowest-priced models of this type cost more than $5,000, so we chose not to test them. But if you’re willing to pay more than $5,000 to get the best black levels and contrast for a premium home theater setup, we recommend reading this Sound & Vision article, which details the results of a high-end projector shootout at Value Electronics in New York.

Here are some of the more recent 4K projectors we’ve tested or dismissed from consideration:

Anker’s Nebula Cosmos Laser 4K is a smaller, more affordable 4K HDR laser projector that comes with an Android TV dongle. Though the picture quality was decent in our tests, it was not the caliber that we expect from a roughly $2,000 projector. The image brightness and detail were good, but the contrast and color accuracy were just average, and this model gives you none of the advanced picture adjustments or zoom and lens-shifting features that you get with our picks.

The Epson Home Cinema 3800 and Epson Home Cinema 5050UB offer a step up in picture quality over budget 1080p projectors, but these models use an older version of Epson’s pixel-shifting technology that technically produces half the resolution of 4K, so the image is not as detailed as what our picks deliver. The 3800 is extremely bright for use in a living room, and the 5050UB employs Epson’s UltraBlack technology to produce better black levels for a home theater. Both projectors offer respectably accurate color, but they use a bulb instead of a laser or LED light source.

The Epson Home Cinema 2350 is the company’s most affordable “4K” projector, but like the Home Cinema 3800 and 5050UB, it is actually a 2K projector. Also, other reviewers we trust have said that its contrast represents a big step down from the 3800, so we chose not to review this model.

The Hisense C1 is a solid 4K laser projector that supports Dolby Vision HDR, a rare feature in projectors. However, this model can’t compete with our picks or with the similarly designed Dangbei DBOX02 and JMGO N1S Ultra laser projectors in its light output, so it’s best for use in a dim to dark room.

LG’s CineBeam Q HU710PB falls in a weird middle ground between a dedicated 4K projector and a portable mini projector. Its tiny chassis and lower light output line up with those of mini models, but its 4K resolution and laser light source—and the resulting price increase—pit it against projectors in this guide. Unfortunately, while the picture quality was decent in a completely dark room on a modest-size screen, this projector was simply too dim to compete with larger 4K models in its price range, and we found the user experience to be sorely lacking. The connections are limited, the speaker is dreadful, and the user interface seems clunky and dated.

Optoma’s UHZ55 4K laser projector appears to be virtually identical to the previous Optoma UHZ50, which we tested and dismissed as a good performer that didn’t really justify its higher price over the BenQ TK860i unless you strongly prefer a laser light source over an LED light source. So we decided not to test it.

We also chose not to test Optoma’s UHZ35ST short-throw laser projector (which replaces the bulb-based UHD35STx) because reviewers we trust have determined that it’s too pricey for the performance and features it offers.

Viewsonic’s X2-4K is our former recommendation for a 4K short-throw projector. It’s still a very good choice that’s extremely similar to the newer BenQ X500i in design, features, and performance, but the BenQ model slightly outdoes it in color accuracy and image sharpness. If you plan to add your own HDMI streaming stick, this projector might be the better choice because it has a 5-volt/1-amp USB-A port to power such devices, whereas the X500i lacks that feature.

Xgimi’s Horizon Ultra is loaded with features, including Dolby Vision support, and has an attractive, almost Apple-esque design, but its picture quality is lacking. The preset picture modes were respectably bright in our tests, but they had very low measured contrast and poor color accuracy. If you know what you’re doing with the picture controls, you can dial in a solidly accurate, albeit much dimmer, image—but the projector offers only one custom mode to make those adjustments, so you can’t store separate SDR and HDR settings—which this projector desperately needs because the color space does not change automatically the way it should.

This article was edited by Grant Clauser.

Meet your guide

Adrienne Maxwell

What I Cover

I oversee all of Wirecutter’s coverage of AV gear, including headphones, TVs, speakers, and more. I also write all of Wirecutter’s projector guides, and I test peripheral AV equipment such as screens, remotes, and HDMI transmitters.

Further reading

  • Our two picks for best home projector for a living room, side by side with a vertical stack of DVDs in between.

    The Best Projectors

    by Adrienne Maxwell

    We reviewed every type of projector to find the best projector to fit your needs, whether it’s for a home theater or a home office.

  • A movie projector with a bowl of popcorn next to it.

    The Best Budget Projector for a Home Theater

    by Adrienne Maxwell

    The BenQ HT2060’s good contrast, bright output, and impressive color accuracy make it our pick for the best budget home theater projector.

  • A JVC home projector.

    How to Pick the Right Projector for Your Viewing Needs

    by Adrienne Maxwell

    Choosing the right projector for your needs can be daunting. Here are some questions to ask before you begin your search.

  • Two ultra-short-throw (UST) projectors, (from left to right) the Epson LS500 and the Vava VA-LT002.

    Is an Ultra-Short-Throw Projector a Good Substitute for a Big-Screen TV?

    by Geoffrey Morrison

    Ultra-short-throw projectors can deliver a big, bright image in your living room, but for most people a big-screen TV is a better choice.

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