Ultra-short-throw projectors are often discussed as TV replacements because of the brilliant image it can produce from a very short distance. Trading in a big-screen TV for a small box that can project, say, a 100-inch image sounds good. But remember, such projectors are not inexpensive, so buy a good one, like the Viewsonic X1000-4K+ (4K HDR ultra short throw smart LED soundbar projector), which is not only easy to set-up, the quality of images as well as the gaming experience are quite good. As for replacing a TV, are you willing to have the curtains drawn most of the time?
Placement and design
The projector is designed to sit on a tabletop, so you don’t have to mount them on the ceiling. A traditional projector is something that fits at the back of a room while a UST projector sits almost in front of the screen while a short-throw projector sits halfway between them.
While setting up the review unit, I realised how crucial is placement. The distance from the projection wall or screen has be to exact. To help, Viewsonic has packed a simple guide, which you should use. To create, say, a 100-inch image, the projector needs to be 38cm from the wall or screen and below the height of the bottom of the screen.
X1000-4K+ is an example of how far the design and quality of projectors have improved. Manufacturers have moved away from cheap-looking plastic-y things. This is an ultra-short throw smart LED soundbar projector. So, it’s going to be in the view all the time, near the wall. Viewsonic has given it a fantastic design, so no matter the angle you look at it from, it’s stunning.
The projector is also a soundbar offering sonic vibes that easily fill a big room
Connectivity and remote control
Onboard, there are plenty of connections. On the side there is USB 3.0, one USB 2.0, USB-C, HDMI port, audio in and out. On the back –— subwoofer out, two more HDMI ports, LAN and optical audio port. There is a dial on either side to adjust the legs to different heights.
The light source is LED and you will get up to 30,000 hours. Putting that into perspective, you can watch eight hours a day for 10 years. Each time you boot up the projector, it will take around 20 seconds to fire up. As with any projector of any type, the darker the room, the better the image on the screen will be. You can do a couple of things to help this — have blinds or have an Ambient Light Rejecting (ALR) screen (that holds the light better).
If you are serious about home entertainment on a projector, it’s best that you get a screen. The idea behind a screen is to provide a uniformly smooth surface to reflect the light of a projector. The better screens in the market are coated with materials that can focus more of this light back to where you sit.
Coming to the remote control, it has enough smarts. The remote control comes with backlighting and a G sensor (or gyro sensor) on it, so when pick it up, it recognises the movement and the light will come on automatically.
The lamp is strong enough to last at least 10 years even if you use the projector eight hours a day
Picture and sound quality
When the projector boots up, you are presented a screen containing file management system, apps centre, settings, screen mirroring, and so on. It’s a typical homescreen with access to everything. In case the picture is slightly out of focus you have the ability to use the automatic focus on the remote control. The software is good and has nice touches, like screen mirroring (it looks clearer than on many rival projectors).
Personally, I plugged in a Fire TV Stick for ease of use over the Aptoide Store. What the projector does have is a great menu system for tweaking different settings. Turn on the PlayStation, and in the image settings there are so many options. You can change colour saturation, light source level, colour temperature and so on. You can definitely get the picture that you want. There is also an audio equalizer.
Speaking of gaming on this projector, the input lag is very low. Here it’s just 66ms which is on the lower side compared to many projectors that offer 100ms input lag.
Projectors are for the entire family to enjoy, so picture quality matters. The X1000-4K+ is brilliant when you are watching pictures that have deep blacks. The brightness of the projector is 2400 LED lumens and you have a contrast ratio of three million to one. When it comes to HDR, no complains. There is also support for 3D. I couldn’t test it but in case you have a wide range of 3D movies in your library, this is a good choice. The projector uses a pixel-shifting technology to create 3840x2160 pixels. The resolution support is from VGA through to 4K.
The noise of the fan is very low — around 20 decibels in eco and slightly more in normal mode.
The backlighting on the remote comes on as soon as you pick it up
Should you buy it?
Though I didn’t face any problem, it’s worth highlighting that there is no horizontal keystone (only +/- 14 degree vertical). But once it’s in the right place, and you don’t have to move it around, there will not be any issues.
You may wonder who the projector is for. Anyone who doesn’t want to stretch the budget to accommodate laser technology. The projector offers incredible pictures and sound. This is, in fact, called a soundbar projector. Even without the subwoofer, the sound is magical. The sound is provided via two 15W drivers, all Harmon/Kardon speakers. And there are two 5W tweeters. If you want, you can put a subwoofer, giving you 2.1 sound.
There is a dongle in the box to provide Wi-Fi connectivity to your soundbar projector if you want to use for smart app purposes.
Viewsonic X1000-4K+ is one of the most exciting projectors in the market. Being an ultra-short throw projector, you can achieve a big picture by keeping the projector near the wall, like a few centimeters away. It’s a cost effective way to get a big picture, anything from 80 inches to 120 inches.
At a glance
Device: Viewsonic X1000-4K+
Price: Rs 395,000
High notes
- Crisp picture quality and colour range
- Excellent audio output
- Low latency while gaming
- It’s a well-designed projector
- Enough ports
Muffled note
- No horizontal keystone