LG Cinebeam Q review: Close, but no HDR

The ultra-portable projector race heated up this 12 months, and the LG Cinebem Q is the LG’s prime contender. The tiny new projector has ultra-sharp 4K image high quality and a compact type issue, however that small measurement does imply it has underpowered audio system and wishes a reasonably noisy fan to maintain it cool. The display screen solely peaks at 500 ANSI lumens, so in comparison with another projectors, it gained’t maintain up that effectively in semi-lit rooms.

This minuscule projector is geared towards being put away, pulled out and brought on the go, however throughout my testing, I’ve been utilizing it full-time in my front room. The vivid color impressed me, however I wanted to tweak the settings closely to get an image high quality I used to be pleased with. As soon as I set it up, it was a deal with to make use of, however an additional 500 ANSI lumens and a bit of extra space for higher followers and extra ports would have made this machine good.

Setting it up

I had to make use of the foot to tile the projector ahead to make it hit my display screen.

I positioned my unit on a shelf behind and to the left of my sofa, and the CineBeam’s software program did a superb job of routinely adjusting the image’s angle and the autofocus. The main target is what shocked me essentially the most and was pin-sharp each time I moved it. The angle of the display screen often wants a bit of software program keystone adjustment, but it surely was all the time very near sq.. This adjustment is simple to do, but it surely’s a bit bizarre that LG’s projector-specific settings are labelled as ‘set up wizard’ as an alternative of one thing extra self-explanatory, like ‘projector settings.’

I additionally love the look of this projector and the built-in deal with, which flips round to be the foot of the unit. It permits you to regulate its peak in a extremely interesting manner. That mentioned, its small type issue limits it in a number of methods, and I’m unsure it’s value it. It will get sizzling and noisy and may’t slot in very nice audio system, which doesn’t make it the right all-in-one projector it guarantees to be.

Out of the field, the image regarded okay however relatively uninteresting, particularly at full brightness. Whereas I often have my shows on the usual settings with a number of tweaks to color accuracy, I ended up utilizing LG’s Vivid mode, which regarded okay however that made it onerous to dial in pores and skin tones. On prime of that, because of the restricted brightness, HDR content material did have a number of moments the place it regarded extra blown out than I’d have appreciated. I additionally needed to preserve the brightness under 75 % to retain a superb distinction ratio. This implies whereas the projector is rated for 500 lumens, you’ll really be getting much less for the reason that image’s distinction degrades rather a lot when you will have it at one hundred pc.

LG’s motion-smoothing know-how (TruMotion) is turned on by default and every app acts as its personal enter. This implies you might want to flip it off after which make certain to decide on the choice to ‘apply this to all inputs’ to verify it’s off for each app. This additionally applies your color settings throughout the board. When you do that, movement smoothing additionally stays off, even if you plug and unplug the projector which is nice because it’s meant to be transportable and moved round.

One of many most important drawbacks I had with the system is that it’s fairly focused at films and TV reveals. Since there is just one HDMI eARC port on the again, you possibly can solely plug in a single factor at a time, which for me was often my sound system. This meant after I wished to play Xbox or Change, I wanted to unplug the sound and use the underwhelming audio system built-in into the projector. You’ll be able to join Bluetooth audio system or trendy soundbars wirelessly to the CineBeam Q, however it might have been much more easy to easily set up a second HDMI and even an AUX on the again. Particularly for the reason that audio system inside are barely satisfactory. They’re 3-watt drivers, they usually wrestle to fill my front room even when maxed out at one hundred pc. It doesn’t matter what, you possibly can nonetheless hear the mild hum of the cooling fan whereas watching content material when utilizing the built-in audio system too.

There’s a USB-C port on the again that you should utilize for a USB-C to C show or to energy the projector with a portable battery. I attempted utilizing a USB-C adapter and an HDMI-to-USB-C cable to make use of the port with HDMI units like my Xbox, however neither labored. Whereas I like the power to energy the projector over USB-C, the machine nonetheless comes with an older-style barrel connector for plugging it into the wall. I believe it might have made extra sense to simply use USB-C for wall and transportable energy, after which add two HDMI ports as an alternative of the present port choice.

Smaller points

Like many TVs’ built-in software program, the CineBeam Q menus have extra lag than you’d like. Whereas it’s often simple to say that you could skip this with one thing like an Apple TV box, you most likely gained’t need to on the CineBeam Q because it solely has one HDMI port.

Past the menu’s slowness, the projector solely has an IR receiver for the distant on the again, so you probably have the projector behind you as I do, the distant is even laggier since you might want to level it straight on the projector for it to work. With my other projectors, the remotes join by way of Bluetooth, they usually’re far more seamless than the IR implementation. In case you have the projector on a desk in entrance of you, it’s higher, however I don’t advocate this since it’s important to have a really secure desk on your projector to not shake as you stroll by it or use the desk to carry snacks and drinks.

The preliminary setup was additionally pretty annoying. Once I tried to create an LG account on the projector so I might obtain apps, it stored failing. Then, I wanted to go to the LG web site on my pc to create one, then return to the projector, and log in. I used to be in a position to get it working on the finish of the day, but it surely was much more of a trouble than it ought to have been and never an excellent first impression.

Lastly, this final gripe is one which I’ve with all LG TVs and projectors apart from the OLED lineup. With all projectors and NanoCell TVs, the display screen savers you get with the TV are 5 fairly common inventory photographs. They’re not horrible images, but it surely’s actually annoying that you could’t change them except you will have an OLED TV. On prime of that, I discover that there’s a variety of bloat within the WebOS software program. It’s usable, however not as clear as Google TV, or Roku. Whereas it hasn’t launched in Canada but, it appears doubtless that LG will pump in additional commercials to its software program over the following few years as effectively.

Conclusion

This 48,000 mAh battery dropped all the way down to 37 % after one two hour film.

On the finish of the day, this projector will get the job carried out, and from wanting round, it seems that it’s typically on sale for between $1,000 and $1,300, which is a reasonably strong value for this image high quality. That being mentioned, it’s not essentially low cost, and consumers ought to concentrate on the constraints a single HDMI port will provide in the event that they plan to make use of a high-quality sound system and an exterior machine like an Xbox or Apple TV.

That mentioned, having the ability to run it off USB-C energy makes it very easy to tackle the go if you would like a projector to make use of when tenting. The truth that the Bluetooth audio system labored with none noticeable sound lag was additionally reassuring. I’d have additionally beloved for LG so as to add a quarter-twenty screw jack on the underside to make this simply mountable on a tripod to make it much more transportable given its small measurement.

General, if you will get this machine for $1,000, you’ll be very happy with it, and its small measurement makes it simple to retailer. Plus, it appears fairly strong. Nonetheless, as I wrote above, be warned that the followers are louder than you’d need in case you’re utilizing it indoors and on a desk in entrance of you. It’s additionally not very brilliant, and if I used to be given a selection, I’d purchase a brighter 1080p projector at this value. The 4K sharpness is sweet, however in comparison with my (costlier) however brighter JMGO projector, you lose a variety of particulars within the shadows just because the brightness and distinction on the CineBeam Q are fairly lacklustre.

The CineBeam Q is $1,274 on Amazon, however solely $999 at Visions and if you will get it for a good $1,000 I believe its pretty strong for that value.