4.0 out of 5 stars
An Impressive Product But Not Without Some Issues
Reviewed in the United States on 27 December 2019
I'm going to start this review by saying that I am just a normal guy that wanted a 120" screen for movies and games in his basement. I have never owned a projector before, I did not have what I thought were the proper room dimensions to accommodate a ceiling-mount traditional bulb projector. I have been researching UST projectors for over a month and this VAVA kept coming up, but nothing ever made me feel "good" about buying it. The reviews on here all seem to be either competitors trying to throw negative reviews around that get removed, or they are positive reviews that seem to have no merit or detail to them. I wanted a large screen, I wanted 4K with HDR, I wanted to spend less than $3k and I wanted an easy setup. Other similar options are $1k-3k more expensive, so, after much deliberation, I chose to just bite the bullet and buy this thing.
First thing's first: I am pretty sure I received a returned and "gently-used" unit from Amazon via VAVA-US. The box looked a bit "used," the remote had the batteries in it already, and after the first power-on, I did not get a setup wizard, the image was flipped, and the remote was paired. I was about to flip a table, but I calmed down because the image staring back at me was quite impressive. This item has only been out for less than a year, and everything is working, so I will just have to assume that there is not many, if any, hours on the laser and try to stay positive. However, I think that's a bit of a shame if they are just repackaging returned units and sending them back out. This is my most major concern with the purchase, because, from other reviewers, it seems VAVA's US "support" is an auto-forward to a random answering machine sitting somewhere in China.
Either way, on to why I bought this thing in the first place; this thing produces a gorgeous picture. I am projecting about a 120" diagonal image onto a white/cream painted little-to-no textured wall with no proper screen (yet). The room has no windows, and with the door closed it is pitch black. The room lights up from the brightness of this thing and the image is just incredibly detailed. Right now, the image gets slightly washed out when it gets very bright, but I am sure that will be fixed with a proper screen and some blacking-out of the room.
I did not buy this for its "smart" properties, and honestly I would only connect to your network via a wired ethernet connection and only when checking for firmware updates (which there was one after turning on). It's clearly running Android, and it is quite sloppily put together. Changing the image settings in the normal main screen settings menu does not seem to do anything. Makes total sense right? You have to go to the input source and hold down the menu button on the remote and a side menu comes up and changing those values actually alter the image. I haven't touched the "App store" or anything. Use a Roku, Apple TV, Xbox, whatever. I would avoid the built-in stuff.
With proper calibration (you can find some help on reviews for this thing on some websites) you can definitely squeeze some very accurate color out of this thing. I actually used episodes of The Simpsons to help tune in the color accuracy I was looking for, based on my LG OLED that is my daily driver TV. Once I did that, everything else looks great now. I am using a Denon AVR which has 4K and HDR capabilities at 60Hz, and it works just fine with this projector. The Xbox One X is set to 4K HDR, and the projector gets a 4K HDR signal. When you hold down the menu button and there is an option to ensure HDMI 2.0 is enabled. Also, in the picture settings, you can turn HDR on, off, or to auto mode. Auto seems to detect HDR signals correctly from my minimal testing.
If you are considering this for gaming, IGNORE anyone who is saying the input lag on this makes games unplayable. Literally all I have been doing is playing Xbox One X on this thing, and I experience no issues with regards to input lag. Is it as quick as my LG OLED? No. But I'll give it a pass for giving me an additional 65" of viewing pleasure. This was a major concern of mine based on other reviewers, and I am happy to report that they are making mountains out of molehills.
So, everything has been positive (mostly) so far. Here are some negatives. When there is fast motion on the X-axis, there is a very noticeable "wavy" look to the top center part of image. This is very obvious in gaming, when you can control the camera and you make it move left or right quickly. I assume this is an artifact of the laser projection in some way, and it does not stand-out, meaning, I notice it only when I think about noticing it and focus on the top-center of the image.
The eye protection mode doesn't seem to be as good as I hoped. It definitely notices when I walk up to it, but usually not quickly enough to turn the laser off before it would have gotten into my eyes. Also, this thing has to sit low to the ground to get a full 120" projection on an 8 foot high wall, and my dog will walk up to it sometimes and it does not detect her, so I have to keep trying to get her away from it.
Do I think this thing has 6000 lumen output? No. But it doesn't seem any projector actually has the output that they advertise. Go look this up on projector review sites/forums/youtube videos. That being said, this projector is definitely bright in a dark room. No issues there. In a bright room, I could definitely see the quality and brightness lacking and it was difficult to watch. It wasn't unwatchable, however.
So, the conclusion. This is difficult because I really do love the image this thing produces. I have been enjoying the hell out of playing games on my Xbox again. And a lot of the new content on streaming platforms that are 4K and have HDR are just gorgeous. But as some other reviews have stated, this definitely feels like a beta product. If you will be breaking your budget to get this thing-- don't. I do not have a warm fuzzy about this thing ever getting replaced properly under warranty if anything on it goes kaput. The build quality feels solid, and the technology in it is definitely impressive. I definitely think this technology is the future of projectors. And if you were to go buy an 85"+ TV right now from the top brands, you'd probably get just about the same black levels for the same price (obviously a giant OLED or QLED option would be better, but definitely aren't under $3k at that size). And this projector can get way larger than 85". The best part about all this is I unboxed the thing, and within 20 minutes I was set up and watching a movie. No cables running through the ceiling, no calibrating a ceiling mount, etc. That alone, to me, was worth the extra money over a comparable non-UST option. Don't blowout your budget for this thing, but if you can afford it and it ticks all the boxes, buy it. The pictures I attached don't do it justice, but you can at least get the sense of color and detail of 4K gaming and HD sources.
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