Projectors will be a distinct segment possibility on your front room, if solely as a result of they usually require loads of particular care that typical TVs don’t—like a separate reflective display screen, darkish curtains or rooms with no home windows, and complex ceiling mount methods. The AWOL LTV-3500 Pro doesn’t get rid of these issues fully, however it considerably shifts the steadiness of these trade-offs. That comes at a value, although.
The AWOL LTV 3500 Pro is a small improve over the LTV-3500 (7/10, WIRED Review), which I favored once I reviewed it in 2022. The newer model provides help for Dolby Vision and Control4 sensible dwelling integration, however is in any other case largely the identical because the older mannequin. (If you store used, you would possibly be capable to discover the unique LTV-3500, however the Pro is what most retailers are promoting now.)
Like its predecessor, the LTV-3500 Pro makes an attempt to justify its value level by being the perfect it may be at completely every thing. Since it is a short-throw projector, it is easy to arrange by simply placing it on an leisure unit (though it may be mounted to a ceiling). It offers wonderful, excessive distinction HDR image high quality, and it might probably challenge as much as a 150-inch display screen in full 4K readability. If you are going to spend this a lot on a projector, chances are you’ll as properly get your cash’s price.
Clarity in Broad Daylight
The most notable facet of the LTV-3500 Pro is how impressively vivid it’s. The projector is rated at 3,500 ANSI lumens—for comparability, our high-end pick in our projector guide clocks in at solely 2,700 lumens. In sensible phrases, meaning I used to be capable of see the picture clearly even on the bottom brightness setting, and with ambient lights turned on.
In my testing, I’d watch films and play video games in my front room, which has a big, sliding glass door that faces the dawn. With the blinds totally open, the image can be just a little washed out, which is to be anticipated. However, with the blinds closed, even with vital gentle bleed from the home windows spilling in across the sides of the blinds, I might comfortably watch reveals or play video games and virtually neglect that I wasn’t watching on a typical panel TV.
If something, the brightness was virtually too overwhelming. Once, whereas having a visitor over, we sat speaking on the sofa within the night. We paused the present we might began watching on Netflix to speak and let it sit for some time. Then Netflix began to cycle via a slideshow of promos for its different reveals, and when one with a predominantly white background appeared, it felt like an angel from heaven confirmed up, blasting our eyes with blinding gentle and telling us to be not afraid. Eventually, my visitor requested me to easily flip the projector off.
I ought to notice that I doubt this shall be a lot of an issue for most individuals. I used to be utilizing the projector in a fairly small front room, and as such was seemingly sitting approach too near the display screen for its dimension. Imagine sitting within the entrance row of a movie show, for instance. If you intend to place this in a small house, you would possibly need to use the bottom brightness setting or place the projector to make the display screen as small as potential. That leads us to the second most notable facet of this projector.
Massive Screen, Minimal Space
Every time I had visitors over, they’d instantly ask the identical query upon seeing the display screen: “Where’s the projector?” Most projectors require mounting behind the sofa or on the ceiling, however the LTV-3500 Pro sits instantly on a typical TV stand—a feat that just one different projector in our Best Projectors guide can pull off—and tasks a picture straight up onto the wall.
How massive the display screen shall be relies upon closely on how far you may put the projector away from the wall—which, in my testing, was tougher than it sounds. To get a 120-inch display screen (the utmost is 150 inches), I needed to put my leisure unit a couple of foot away from the wall and then place the projector as far to the very fringe of my leisure unit as I might whereas nonetheless balancing it safely.
