Epson Home Cinema 5050UB
Resolution: 4K | Brightness: 2600 lumens | Throw type: Standard | Projection size: Up to 300 inches | Bulb life: 5,000 hours
Best for: Getting the most complete projector package for your home theater.
There is no shortage of great 4K projectors on the market right now, and trying to pick one as the top option for most people was not an easy task. You can find 4K projectors ranging from under $1,000 to well over $5,000, and on the surface they all seem like they would perform quite similarly. The Epson Home Cinema 5050UB inches out the competition by offering one of the best complete packages, without an overly huge price tag.
For most people, the biggest thing to consider in a new 4K projector is the picture quality—and the Home Cinema 5005UB really excels there. It offers 2600 lumens of brightness, but it’s super bright and is perfectly suited to bright rooms. While contrast ratio is often just used as a marketing term, the colors that this projector outputs are incredible, making it great to use for not only movies but also gaming. It has a powered focus adjustment to keep the image looking nice and sharp in all situations.
Unlike some of the other options in this list, the Home Cinema 5050UB doesn’t have any built-in speakers, which is sure to be a bummer for some. Odds are if you’re looking for the best 4K projector, though, you’re going to pair it with a great soundbar, so it’s not really a big loss.
What the reviews say: With nearly 200 perfect 5-star reviews, the people who’ve bought and use the Home Cinema 5050UB can’t stop raving about its image quality. With comments like “All my friends comment on the amazing picture quality,” and “super easy setup and picture is fantastic,” it’s one of the best options on the market for a clear, vibrant picture in your home.
Pros:
- Bright picture
- Great color contrast
Cons:
- A little noisy
- Quite heavy
Best Budget 4K Projector
An Affordable Option That Punches Above Its Weight
Epson Home Cinema 2350
Resolution: 4K | Brightness: 2800 lumens | Throw type: Standard | Projection size: Up to 500 inches | Bulb life: 7,500 hours
Best for: Getting the most features at an affordable price tag.
There’s no denying that 4K projectors are still on the expensive side, which is why our budget pick, the Epson Home Cinema 2350, still comes in at around $1,300. It packs plenty of desirable features into its price tag, and if you can wait for it to go on sale, you can get an even better deal.
The 2350 is a standard throw projector that can be used to create a screen size of up to a massive 500 inches. The projector has a lamp-based light source with a brightness of 2800 lumens and it should last for up to 7,500 hours (in economy mode) before you need to worry about replacing it. It’s not going to be the brightest projector on the market, but also very far from being one of the dullest. You won’t find all the fancy bells and whistles with this model, meaning no 3D support, only 2 HDMI ports and it’s not Energy Star certified.
The Epson Home Cinema 2350 has Android TV built-in and works with Google Assistant. It also has native support for the best streaming services, like Disney+, Apple TV+, YouTube TV and more. You can easily mount this projector in any space thanks to its standard mounting pattern.
What the reviews say: With nearly 200 5-star reviews, those who own the Epson Home Cinema 2350 call it a, “fantastic 4K smart projector for the money,” raving about how easy it is to get set up, how clear the picture is and how user-friendly the smart features are. Picture quality is one of the top features that people enjoy about this model, too.
Pros:
- Large projection screen size
- Often on sale
Cons:
- No 3D support
- No built-in TV tuner
Best Portable 4K Projector
Stands Only One Foot Tall
LG Cinebeam PU700R
Resolution: 4K | Brightness: 1000 lumens | Throw type: Standard | Projection size: Up to 120 inches | Bulb life: 30,000 hours
Best for: Packing your projector for a camping trip or just on the go.
Portability and projectors often aren’t talked about in the same sentences, because most of the time people set them up and leave them alone. Whether you’re looking for something to move around the office, or just don’t have a permanent spot set up at home to use the projector, you don’t have to sacrifice video quality for that portability. The LG Cinebeam PU700R does a great job of putting 4K video output into an easy-to-move piece of hardware.
Since LG focused on portability with the Cinebeam PU700R, there are a few trade-offs. The output brightness is lower than most of the competition, coming in at just 1000 lumens. In most cases, this won’t be a huge issue, but in brighter office spaces and rooms, you may notice. Additionally, the max projection size is 120 inches, which is about 30 inches smaller than most of the others, and it only has a single built-in speaker, so don’t expect cinema quality audio. But for travel purposes, it suits just fine.
Once you’re beyond those (minor) sacrifices, there’s a lot to like about the Cinebeam PU700R. It runs LG’s webOS smart operating system, supports Apple’s AirPlay 2 and even has a dedicated mode to optimize it for playing games. While the built-in speakers may be lacking, you can easily connect up to two third-party Bluetooth speakers (or headphones). It has an expected lamp life of 30,000 hours.
Pros:
- Super portable
- Long-lasting bulb
Cons:
- Limited app compatibility
- Auto Screen Adjustment doesn’t always work
Best Laser 4K Projector
A Feature-Loaded Model That’s Still Affordable
Xgimi Horizon Aura
Resolution: 4K | Brightness: 1800 lumens | Throw type: Short | Projection size: Up to 150 inches | Bulb life: 20,000 hours
Best for: Short-throwing a great laser picture in your home.
Laser projectors offer some great benefits over traditional bulb-powered models that you may not realize, and some of them may be what makes it the perfect projector for your space. From the longer-lasting brightness to improved color contrast, less maintenance and the fact that it generates no heat, the appeal of a laser-based projector is real. The Xgimi Aura is a short-throw laser projector that is packed full of features—and isn’t astronomically expensive.
One of the biggest advantages to a laser projector is the lifespan. This model lasts for up to 20,000 hours, which equates to 13 years if you watched it for four hours per day. Being a short-throw projector, it requires far less distance from the wall to create a big screen for your home entertainment. Being just four inches away from the wall will allow you to make a screen of up to 80 inches. The Aura has an 8-point keystone correction, which allows you to quickly and easily adjust the picture size and quality to your preference.
Accessing all of your favorite content is super simple, as the Aura has integrated Android TV with Google Assistant and Chromecast. You can quickly launch apps like Disney+, HBO Max and cast your own videos directly from your phone. It doesn’t lack in the audio department, either. Xgimi has included four Harman Kardon speakers (two tweeters and two woofers), each of which is 15W to help fill your space with immersive audio.
Pros
- Great sound quality
- Limited space required for large screen
Cons
- Large size
- Limited image customization options
Best Short Throw 4K Projector
When Space Is A Concern This Saves The Day
Vava Chroma
Resolution: 4K | Brightness: 2400 lumens | Throw type: Short | Projection size: Up to 150 inches | Bulb life: 25,000 hours
Best for:
When you think of setting up a projector, you probably think you need a large room so that there can be plenty of space between the projector and the wall. Short-throw projectors change the need for all that space and still allow you to get a nice big screen on your wall. The Vava Chroma is the best short-throw projector for most people.
The Chroma is Vava’s second crowd-funded projector, which succeeds the well-reviewed Vava 4K Laser TV that was released in 2020. It’s a bit brighter than some of the other short-throw projectors, with an output of up to 2400 lumens (depending on the environment and settings used) and has a projection size of up to 150 inches. Vava has included two 30W Harman Kardon speakers to give you, “cinema-level sound,” though if you wanted to add more you could easily connect a Bluetooth speaker to the Chroma.
In addition to running Android TV, the Chroma also has Alexa Voice Control support to help connect it to your smart home ecosystem.
Pros:
- Great audio quality
- Stylish design
Cons:
- Runs an older version of Android
- Unit has a large footprint
How We Chose The Best 4K Projectors
When selecting the best 4K projectors, we took plenty of factors into consideration. Some of the key features we were looking for included long-lasting bulbs, large display sizes and ease of use. We didn’t focus on features like contrast ratio and some of the other specs that are mostly used for marketing purposes.
In addition, we factored in how the various features like throw distance, display sizes and more worked in most people’s regular lives, from stationary home entertainment systems like the Epson Home Cinema 5050UB to the portable LG Cinebeam PU700R. We also checked for compatibility with streaming services, quality built-in speakers and an intuitive remote
Why Trust Forbes Vetted
We’ve spent hours researching the best 4K projectors on the market to combing through reviews to learn what real life customers had to say about them. From countless Amazon reviews to seeing what people on the manufacturers’ websites had to say about projectors, we read all the good and bad to get a proper feeling of which options to include.
Our experiences with the best 4K projectors on this list are not only based on outside opinions. Many tech writers and editors part of the Forbes Vetted family have hands-on experiences with many of the projectors on this list.
We know tech tends to become quickly outdated. To keep this piece fresh and accurate, it’s regularly updated; its current iteration was published in February 2024.
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