Welcome to our pick of the best projectors you can buy in 2020. We’ve put in the hours to try, test and stare at the top projectors on the market right now and we’ve selected the very best of the best for you to consider.
Projectors are a great idea for many of us. More than anything, they’re a high impact workaround for those who don’t want a television screen to dominate your living room when not in use.
What’s more, the best projectors in this guide all offer some level of portability. This means it’s relatively easy to project your favorite movies and TV shows onto a wall and get the true cinema experience and then hide it in a closet when you’re not using it. Although many have great-looking designs, so there’s no problem with leaving them on display.
If you’re concerned about the hassle of setting up or installing a projector – over, say, one of the best TVs – you needn’t worry. Set-up is rarely more hassle than putting the projector up against a wall, and the benefits – truly massive, bright images being the main one – make them well worth your time and effort.
The real challenge comes when you have to decide which projector is right for you. That’s because not all projectors are created equal. This is why we’ve brought together the best projectors we’ve tested from across the best names in this space, including Optoma, BenQ, Anker, and more. We’ve included them all in a list below for you.
If you’re looking for the best projector on a budget or the best beamer that allows you to use voice commands and a range of the very latest features, then we have exactly the models you need to make a decision.
We’ll this list as more projectors become available this year, though for now, these are the best projectors to consider buying today.
An ultra short-throw projector that knows its worth
Really need a projector that can sit right up to the wall? This ultra short-throw CineBeam projector from LG is able to project a massive display from only inches away.
You’re paying a lot, with a $6,000 (around £4,860, AU$8,750) price tag befitting the increased convenience and advance technology required to project at such a short distance.
The projector itself is also brilliantly sharp in its construction, with a sleek rectangular profile that can hub your living room carpet or coffee table without obstructing any of the image it’s throwing up on the wall – and you can install it from the ceiling as well if preferred.
At 2.2 inches away, the projector will deliver a 90-inch screen size, while at 7.2 inches, you’ll get a 120-inch projection. The sound quality maybe isn’t as impressive as the projection, though, with a lack of detail in high frequencies, and not much power on the low end either.
Read our full review: LG HU85LA CineBeam Projector
A 4K HDR projector with a whole home cinema system thrown in
After a five-star projector? The LG CineBeam HU80KSW offers a crisp 4K HDR picture, with the benefit of a truly all-in-one system you’ll find a lot more compact than your average smart TV. It may have more of a neutral pallet than some more vivid projectors out there, but for the all-round package and quality, you can’t do much better.
Everything from the speakers to the power plug is built into the projector itself, making for a tidy and well-designed product that’s wonderfully easy to move around the room or house. While there are physical ports for external media players, too, the on-board LG smart platform can get you streaming from any of your catch-up apps with ease.
This CineBeam model boasts and impressive 2,500 lumens, and should last you 20,000 hours before the image starts to degrade – while the Harman Kardon speakers ensure you’re getting a base quality for the audio (even if it will pale compared to a dedicated soundbar).
Prices hover around £2,000 / $2,400 / AU$3,600, depending which LG home cinema stockist you purchase it from, but this is a projector that’s absolutely worth the price.
Read the full review: LG CineBeam HU80KSW 4K projector
A crowdfunded projector that won’t disappoint
Projection system: Laser | Resolution: 4K | Brightness: 2,500 lumens | Video inputs: 3x HDMI, 1x SPDIF, 1x AUX In, 1x AUX Out, 1x USB | Dimensions: 533 x 368 x 107mm
The Vava 4K projector is something of a marvel, with a sharp 4K picture and impactful HDR despite its 8-bit color limitations.
As an ultra-short throw laser projector, you’re getting a massive picture (up to 150 inches) while only having to place it a few inches away from a wall or screen. The 2,500 lumens brightness is more than enough to make its images look vibrant, too – while a sleek design and soft fabric covering ensure the projector is aesthetically satisfying even when it’s turned off.
The smart platform is somewhat secondary here, with an old iteration of Android TV and a couple of big-name apps (Netflix, Hulu) nowhere to be seen. But with Vava’s mix of bright 4K images, impactful color, and ultra short-throw picture – all packaged in a gorgeously sleek design – it’s a brilliant choice for a new home projector.
This Vava UST projector retails at $2,799 in the US, making it decently cheaper than our top pick in this guide, even if there are other, more budget models to consider too.
As a crowdfunded model, the odds may have been against this laser projector, but the result is certainly one of the best projectors on the market today.
Read more: Vava 4K projector review
An incredibly bright HDR projector
Projection system: DLP | Resolution: 4K | Brightness: 3,000 lumens | Video inputs: 2x HDMI, 1x SPDIF, 1x AUX In, 2x USB | Dimensions: 380 x 127 x 263mm
The BenQ TK850 is a 4K projector for your living room, with boosted audio, intense 3,000 lumens brightness, and a focus on sports broadcasts to help it stand out from the piles of other projectors out there.
It’s not the first BenQ projector that’s caught our eye: we gave a glowing review to the BenQ HT3550 last year, even if that model is more angled towards die-hard cinephiles than the TK850.
But with its similar pricing, exceptional HDR, and the addition of a motion-smoothing and contrast-heightening Sports mode for those wanting to watch the football on a large projection, the TK850 make a strong argument as the best BenQ projector we’ve seen – especially as it amends HT3550’s biggest flaws by drastically upping the brightness, and adding a lens shift tool to elevate or lower the height of the projection
The BenQ TK850 can output 3,000 lumens of brightness, making for vividly-realized colors and immediately visible detail, even in daytime or with some level of ambient light in the room. For that, it get a thumbs up from us.
There’s some video noise in gray shadows or dark scenes, and the lack of streaming apps may disappoint some, but overall the TK850 is a fantastic projector for your home.
Read the full review: BenQ TK850 projector
A tiny, quality home cinema projector
Some projector were meant to be portable – and few do it better than the Anker Nebula Capsule II Mini Projector.
About the size and shape of a can of Coca Cola, the tiny projector looks more like a battery pack for a piece of AV equipment than an all-out projector, but those looks are deceiving. The Capsule II is very capable for its size, offering a 720p (HD) resolution and strong audio output – and a noticeable improvement on 2018’s Anker Nebula Mars II – even if it can’t compete with the more premium 4K HDR models listed in this guide.
Given its size, we were pleasantly surprised to find a fully-sized HMDI port, too, rather than the mini-HDMI alternative – as well as a USB port and USB-C charging port, allowing you to power the projector while connecting to a streaming stick like the Roku Express or Amazon Fire TV Stick.
There’s also 3,600 apps to make use of, all pre-built into the Android TV smart platform. However, given some tricky certification issues around Netflix, you won’t get the biggest TV streaming service on there unless you connect and external device to do it for you.
Read the full review: Anker Nebula Capsule II Mini Projector
A super-bright 4K/HDR projector with serious audio credentials
Projection system: Laser | Resolutions: 3840 x 2160 | Brightness: 3,500 lumens | Video inputs: HDMI x 3 | Dimensions: 576 x 383 x 130mm
Optoma’s UHZ65UST is certainly impressive at the outset: a 4K/HDR laser projector, with ultra short-throw technology, a built-in soundbar and massive 120-inch display? Count us in!
The projection itself is brilliant, when handling 4K/HDR sources. There’s a great amount of detail, and enough HDR color coming through to make the upgrade from an SDR projector seem worthwhile. The NuForce soundbar, too, offers a wide soundstage and an incredible amount of audio detail to help those movies sound their best.
But this is expensive kit, with a hefty £3,299 price tag for this UK / EU model, and around $3,799 for its equivalent in the US (the Optoma CinemaX P1). Despite that cost, this is a projector that struggles with HD sources, and doesn’t support 4K streaming for Netflix or similar services.
It’s also stuck with a hugely outdated smart platform based on the smartphone Android OS (rather than more suitable smart TV software).
This will no doubt prove an exceptional projector for your home if you’re only using it for 4K Blu-ray movies on disc, but for anything less than that you’re better off elsewhere.
Read the full review: Optoma UHZ65UST
An Alexa-compatible beamer that does decent 4K
Projection system: DLP | Resolutions: 1920×1080 (x4) | Brightness: 3,500 lumens | Video inputs: 2x HDMI (1x MHL) | Dimensions: 498(w) x 141(h) x 331(d)mm
Smart, voice activated controls for a home cinema projector may sound like the kitchen-sink approach to feature lists at first glance, jumping on the buzz-word (or should that be ‘wake word’?) bandwagon of Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri or Google’s Assistant. But think about the environment and scenario that your average projector viewing session takes place in, and it starts to make a lot of sense – you’re in a dark room where seeing buttons isn’t always easy, possibly with your hands loaded up with popcorn and other treats.
Being able to shout “play the movie!” at a voice activated projector, potentially installed in a bracket high above your head, seems like a sound move.
Ultimately, while the Alexa features are fun (if a little perfunctory) everything about this the Optoma UHD51A performs exceptionally. At this price you’re going to be hard pressed to find a projector that can deliver this level of picture quality and this feature set more confidently.
The Optoma UHD51A represents a great shift in 4K projecting quality if you find yourself on a tighter budget. What’s on offer here allows even those with smaller living spaces and more modest bank balances a taste of the home cinema high life.
Read the full review: Optoma UHD51A
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