Question Mini 4k projector

[gta1216]

My friend is looking to get a mini projector for her living room. She's looking for something small, mountable, prefer to support 4k. Initially she thought about the Kodak Luma 150 bc of the color and style but it doesn't support 4k. Does anyone have other suggestions?

 

[Nighthawk117]

My friend is looking to get a mini projector for her living room. She's looking for something small, mountable, prefer to support 4k. Initially she thought about the Kodak Luma 150 bc of the color and style but it doesn't support 4k. Does anyone have other suggestions?

My advice would be look at 1080p projectors instead. She will struggle to find a true 4k projector that fit's her needs, and even if she did it will be extremely expensive.

As with TV's and computer monitors, not all projectors are created equal. I would look at well known brands like Epson, Optoma, Viewsonic, BenQ ect..

I own a couple of compact projectors myself as I've been using a projector as an alternative to a TV for almost 10 years. I completely understand the benefit of having something small. However they do come with some compromises, the most obvious being brightness. I would not recommend the Kodak Luma 150 if this is to be used for watching TV and movies, 150 lumens is nowhere near enough and the resolution is too low. I would look at 500 ANSI lumens as a starting point for a compact projector based on a LED or Laser source. Bare in mind what brightness will be required is highly influenced by the distance from the projection surface and ambient light.

I've been using the Epson EF-11 for the past year or so. Below is the higher end version that comes with the built in speaker, the projector component is identical:

Amazon.co.uk

That has a brightness of up to 1000 lumens and uses a laser light source which is expected to last the lifetime of the unit. I would say the picture quality is very good, I watch on a 100" screen size. My only criticism is that contrast can suffer on scenes with a lot of white light. It would be better used on a darker screen, something like grey projector paint for example.

It is however one of the better compact projectors and is mountable if required. The Epson is an LCD projector, an alternative DLP I would look at is the Viewsonic M2.

There are pro's and con's to each technology, LCD will give a crisper better quality image and doesn't suffer from a rainbow effect like DLP. DLP on the other hand tends to have better contrast, which can be useful when projecting on lighter surfaces. In terms of the rainbow effect, I've only ever noticed it on credits to movies and never found it noticeable in any other scenes.