BenQ X3000i: one-minute evaluate
BenQ’s selection of a near-cube for the X3000i offers it a pleasant footprint for a full UHD 4K projector which contains the most recent in DLP projection expertise to ship 3000 lumens of big-screen brightness, together with the corporate’s normal glorious colour supply.
This proves to ship spectacular outcomes for film and TV projection, assisted by the X3000i’s inclusion of a built-in Android dongle to stream almost the entire main providers (although notably not Netflix). This additionally allows simple Chromecast and Apple AirPlay video streaming, though we discovered the most effective and most dependable outcomes to be achieved by plugging in exterior sources to the 2 HDMI exterior inputs.
A kind of inputs can welcome a video games console or PC, and BenQ has loaded the X3000i with preset sport modes for various kinds, whereas the projector achieves enter lags right down to 4.16ms with 1080p/240Hz materials, 16.67ms for 4K/60p.
This isn’t a conveyable projector, however BenQ has however included built-in rear-facing audio system right here to make the X3000i probably a totally standalone resolution. However these audio system are small, and the projector is probably not in an appropriate location for these to meld with the onscreen picture. So we’d suggest attaching an exterior sound system for the full-size expertise.
With qualities of colour, element and brightness above its worth stage, plus the particular gamer options, we discovered this projector to be a formidable and totally Twenty first-century projection resolution.
BenQ X3000i evaluate: Worth and availability
- What does it value? $1,999 / £1,899 / AU$3,299
- When was it launch? Introduced early 2022
- When is it accessible? On cabinets now at main retailers
The BenQ X3000i sells for £1,899 / $1,999 / AU$3,299 / €2,399.
Don’t confuse this mannequin with BenQ’s X1300i; the 2 look comparable and ship the identical 3,000 lumens of brightness, however the X1300i tasks solely at 1,920 x 1,080 decision, not the upper 4K UHD picture high quality of the X3000i reviewed right here.
BenQ X3000i evaluate: Design
- Versatile design for positioning
- Twin HDMI inputs with ARC
- Inside Android TV dongle
BenQ’s X3000i projector owes extra to the design of mini-projectors than it does to the extra normal broad projector housings of true home-cinema fashions. But it’s not as dinky as the images can generally make it seem, measuring 27cm broad by 20cm excessive, and 26cm deep. The entrance edge and curved corners are given a pleasant strip of orangey-red, and the lens window is unusually positioned at prime left of the entrance panel.
This smaller footprint is helpful for tabletop use; the projector’s throw ratio of 1.15 to 1.5 meant that from a distance of three.2 meters we may take pleasure in a display measurement from 98 inches to 133 inches by adjusting the zoom.
However it’s also possible to flip the X3000i the other way up and place it on a excessive shelf behind the room, or connect it by way of its three mounting holes to a ceiling mount, then inverting the picture by the projector’s choices. Whether or not the other way up or right-side up, some tilting is obtainable from the adjustable toes, and that is the preferable method to get an oblong display picture with out invoking any resolution-reducing keystone changes. It’s there in the event you want it, although, and certainly computerized in that case desired. A take a look at display of rectangles is obtainable for guide adjustment and for setting the guide focus precisely.
The X3000i has two HDMI inputs on the rear, each UHD-capable, and one supporting HDMI’s ARC audio out to a bigger sound system. You can even take the audio from an optical audio output or, much less reliably and with out encompass info, from a minijack stereo analog output.
A 3rd HDMI enter is hidden beneath a prime flap, able to take the provided Android dongle; USB energy for the dongle can also be supplied right here, whereas there’s a full-size USB-A slot on the rear for energy and servicing. An RS-232 socket permits system management from afar.
The distant management is superb, a pleasant, half-size, curvy white wand that controls the inner audio quantity in addition to video settings, for which it barely confuses customers by having separate ‘settings’ and ‘menu’ buttons for accessing totally different units of menus.
BenQ X3000i evaluate: Apps and linked options
- Included Android TV dongle
- Numerous streaming choices and voice management
- 60Hz limitation
Because of the provided Android TV dongle with the BenQ X3000i, there’s easy accessibility to limitless apps, each free and paid, and almost all main streaming providers. The specs indicate the dongle makes use of Android 9.0, however ours gave the impression to be operating model 10, and BenQ’s declare of 5,000+ apps appeared borne out, with the Australian choice together with all our terrestrial catch-up providers, plus Disney Plus, Stan, Prime Video (Prime is singled out with a devoted button on the distant), Kayo, Binge, AppleTV Plus, Paramount Plus and plenty of extra.
The nice omission right here is Netflix, which continues to tug its toes on working with projector producers; BenQ shouldn’t be alone right here. So Netflix requires some sort of workaround. The dongle can mirror screens by way of Wi-Fi or can stream by way of Chromecast or AirPlay (the latter uncommon on Android dongles). However by far the most effective reliability is achieved by plugging a media field or stick into one of many HDMI inputs and enjoying Netflix that method.
Utilizing an exterior enter for media streaming additionally bypasses the issue that the Android dongle gives solely a 60Hz output to the projector, which might due to this fact endure some judder on materials recorded at 50Hz (e.g. Australian catch-up providers and content material from different 50Hz areas such because the UK). After we performed the identical materials on an AppleTV 4K linked to the HDMI enter, every thing was silky clean, proving that the X3000i projector itself can deal with 24, 50 and 60Hz content material simply fantastic; the dongle is the limitation.
Then again, the Android TV dongle allows Google Assistant for management and looking out, for which there’s a microphone and voice button on the distant.
BenQ X3000i evaluate: Image high quality
- DLP projection
- 4LED gentle engine
- Eco settings
What’s hidden contained in the BenQ X3000i is, in fact, simply as necessary to image high quality because the enter indicators it receives.
The X3000i is a DLP projector, utilizing one of many digital micromirror gadgets (DMDs) from Texas Devices, that are one of many miracles of contemporary projection – a tool right here simply 17mm (0.66-inch) lengthy but becoming in thousands and thousands of tiny mirrors that flip and pivot to direct particular person pixels to totally different positions on the display. This pivoting redirects 4 separate units of pixels to be shone onto the display for every body, and the declare for this pivoting expertise is that 4 such ‘flashes’ of 1920 x 1080 decision will ship a closing UHD (shopper 4K) decision of 3840 x 2160.
Whereas our view is that this technique can not ship the identical single-pixel decision accessible to (way more costly) projectors utilizing native 4K panels, the X3000i reveals the pixel-flipping DLP system at its finest, particularly as this projector was one of many first to undertake the most recent DLP650TE, a bigger DMD system than most, with the 0.66-inch system permitting bigger pixels and so decrease noise than the extra widespread 0.47-inch DMDs.
That is backed by a brand new 4LED gentle engine that provides a bonus blue ‘pump’ LED to the same old RGB, which BenQ claims raises brightness by round 10% general, whereas widening the accessible colour gamut to not solely 100% Rec.709 however 100% of the broader gamut of DCI-P3.
Key specs
Supported display sizes: 60 to 200 inches
Optical expertise: 4LED 4K DLP
Ports: 3x HDMI 2.0b, 1x digital optical out, 1x USB 2.0, 1x 3.5mm audio out, 1x RS-232, 1x 12V set off
Good TV: Sure (Android TV by way of included dongle)
Dimensions: 210 x 270 x 260mm
Weight: 6.4kg
Coloration has lengthy been a energy for BenQ, and the robust however pure onscreen palette is likely one of the first issues to impress from the X3000i. With a UHD Blu-ray participant connected to one of many HDMI inputs we revelled in its punchy presentation of the 4K remastered My Honest Girl, with the shining opera clothes and blazing Covent Backyard floral arrangements of its opening scenes trying extra like fashionable demo materials than near-60-year-old celluloid. The mix of colour and high-resolution element was dazzling, and was accompanied by a energy of impression to the picture, and a smoothness of supply which will profit from that bigger DMD pixel measurement.
Coloration ought to be maintained over the long run as properly, because of embedded colour sensors that ought to calibrate and proper any fading over time, properly past the same old declare of 20,000 hours, says BenQ. And 20,000 hours is sufficient for 10 hours of film watching per week for 38 years, so which may be one thing in your grandchildren to fret about.
The brand new gentle engine achieves a quoted 3,000 lumens brightness, which proved sufficient to benefit from the projected picture even with some ambient gentle within the room, although clearly the much less the higher, and the complete distinction and darkish element is barely totally loved in as near darkness as attainable.
The X3000i is appropriate with HDR10 content material, and has an HDR10 mode that autoselects when HDR content material is detected. Whereas the advantage of HDR stays doubtful at projection gentle ranges, the BenQ projector not less than takes it into consideration (although not the extra metadata accessible from Dolby Imaginative and prescient and HDR10+). Actually once we watched Apple TV Plus’ almost-entirely-monochrome Dolby Imaginative and prescient manufacturing of Macbeth, the sharp contrasts and full blacks had been properly offered for a projector at this worth stage. Once more, a lot of this might be misplaced in a room the place lighting is raised too far above darkness however, given the most effective surroundings, we loved not solely particulars and shading seen all through the blacks but additionally delicate shading within the vivid sheets of white mist that present the distinction to this manufacturing’s darkness.
For these upgrading from a full-HD projector, the element accessible right here from 4K sources will delight. The rendering of the Gandalf/Balrog battle scene opening The Two Towers was magnificent, and that breathtaking CGI shot of them tumbling down into water by an enormous canyon (deep into the prolonged lower) was merely magnificent: each clean in its movement (from UHD Blu-ray) and so gobsmacking in its element that we paused and rewound so we may stand up near the display and peer extra intently.
Picture changes are just a little wanting the complete vary accessible on higher-level projectors, though the vary of colour changes is superb. Notably there aren’t any movement settings accessible to de-judder, although we didn’t appear to want them typically, except for the Android dongle’s 60Hz supply of 50Hz content material the place we noticed common judder, some horizontal frame-ripping when streaming Apple TV Plus’ Severance, and a few blurring of close-up pans over the bottom once we had been evaluating its stream of The Two Towers to our UHD Blu-ray. After we seen by way of HDMI, there have been no such issues.
Do attempt the Eco settings, which might save power. The primary, ‘Eco’, merely drops the brightness stage a bit, which can be fantastic in smaller rooms. The second, ‘Good Eco’, adjusts brightness in response to the content material, and has a ‘Dynamic Black’ algorithm that notably averted any of the ‘pumping’ that some such techniques can add. Given its success and the power saving, we’d be fantastic leaving this selection in place for basic use.
- Image high quality rating: 4 / 5
BenQ X3000i evaluate: Audio efficiency
- Small built-in audio system
- HDMI, optical and analog audio out
There’s a basic downside with placing built-in audio system in a projector: the place will your projector be positioned? Given the minimal distance for a 100-inch display is 2.5 meters, the BenQ’s sound will come at finest from someplace close to the place you’re sitting, and at worst from the again of the room, the precise reverse of the place you need it. Nor are you more likely to get something remotely stereo from this positioning.
The BenQ’s pair of 5W audio system is in any case not going to rock your world within the method {that a} display picture of 100 inches or extra deserves. The sound from these rear-facing audio system doesn’t offend as such, it’s simply too small and barely boxy, with some bloom to male dialogue. Issues aren’t within the least assisted by the inclusion of sound modes that embody a first-person shooter audio mode “which emphasizes digital encompass sound”. Not usefully so, nevertheless.
To benefit from the full stage of leisure accessible, we’d very a lot suggest enjoying audio out of your supply into a correct audio system (or for players, a headset linked direct to the console), or utilizing one of many accessible methods to extract an audio sign from the X3000i, that are HDMI ARC, optical digital, or analog minijack.
What you need is a giant display with a giant sound. The X3000i does the primary admirably. Look elsewhere for the second.
- Audio efficiency rating: 3 / 5
BenQ X3000i evaluate: Gaming efficiency
- Low latency for projector
- Devoted sport modes
BenQ specifies this as a gaming projector although, as we’ve seen, it’s nice with films too. The high-resolution wide-color projection advantages gaming imagery in the identical method as films, and presents open-world environments specifically as huge cinematic areas by which to wander.
In the meantime the projector’s gaming credentials embody varied ‘sport modes’, with a devoted button for these on the distant management. All three sport modes invoke a ‘Quick’ mode that bypasses any pointless processing to make sure the projector’s minimal lag occasions, that are quoted right down to 4.16ms for 1080p at 240Hz, although extra sensible for console gaming would be the figures of 16.67ms for both 4K/60 or 1080p/120 – glorious for projectors, although a great distance over the 1ms or much less {that a} linked monitor may ship.
Past this the sport modes have some differentiation, similar to FPS mode lightening darker shadow areas so it’s more durable for opponents to cover, whereas RPG and SPG (sports activities) goal to optimize colours and extra basic presentation. The guide’s enthusiasm will get out of hand when it claims the FPS mode gives “surrounding sound to listen to the distant footsteps and gun shot and acknowledge their instructions”. Given the BenQ X3000i’s two built-in audio system that might be positioned someplace odd within the room, such a declare is apparent daft.
- Gaming efficiency rating: 4 / 5
Ought to I purchase the BenQ X3000i?
| Attribute | Notes | Ranking |
|---|---|---|
| Design | Handsome and versatile for positioning, BenQ’s X3000i reveals that not all projector wants look the identical. | 4 / 5 |
| Apps | The Android dongle with the X3000i gives nearly every thing you want, besides Netflix. Be aware the 60Hz limitation. | 4 / 5 |
| Image | Nice color supply and 3000 lumens of brightness makes BenQ’s X3000i a fantastic big-screen projector on the worth for each films and gaming. | 4.5 / 5 |
| Audio | Small built-in audio system are OK for informal use, however a big-screen picture deserves a giant exterior sound system. | 3 / 5 |
| Gaming | Low latency and devoted modes justify BenQ’s advertising and marketing of the X3000i as a ‘gaming projector’ | 4 / 5 |
Purchase it if…
Do not buy it if…
Additionally contemplate
- First reviewed December 2022
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