Projectors are usually not the first choice when it comes to home entertainment. People prefer television sets instead. That perception is changing as some consumers are gradually letting their gaze fall on devices that let them use one of the walls at home as a display screen.
ViewSonic’s X-Series X1000 4K is one of those projectors that can transform your living room, or if you wish, your master bedroom, into a mini-theatre. This unit takes the home entertainment experience to a new level. It boasts of 4K UHD visuals and a 0.25 ultra-short throw ratio, making it project a 100-inch image from just 38 cm away. That means you can simply remove your TV from the tabletop and replace it with this unit for a theatre-like movie experience.
A measuring card included in the box lets you place the projector at the right distance to get the optimal throw ratio. Getting a blur-free image is quite easy as the zoom can be manually adjusted by using the joystick-like button on the remote control to make necessary changes. For some, this may not be ideal as they prefer digital zoom. For me, this worked, as a digital zoom can sometimes cause a blur due to pixelation issues.
This projector is elegant, modern, and minimalistic. The metallic paint gives it a neat finish, and the soundbar’s dark grille mesh complements the frame perfectly. Overall, the unit can give a lift to the living room. And when it is not in use, it doubles as a soundbar. The 40W Harman Kardon soundbar can be a perfect speaker in the room. And if you need a little more thump, there is an option to plug in a subwoofer to the soundbar.
Specifications
- Resolution: 3840x2160 (4K)
- Brightness: 2400 (LED Lumens)
- Light Source Type: LED
- Life Span with Normal Mode: up to 30,000 hours
- Throw Ratio: 0.25
- Storage: Total 16GB (12GB available storage)
- Input: HDMI: 3; USB Type C: 1 (5V/ 2A); Audio-in (3.5mm): 1; USB Type A: 3 (USB3.0 Reader x1, USB2.0 Reader x1,Wifi dongle x1)
- Speaker: 20W Cube x2
Clockwise from top left: Front view shows 40 W Harman Kardon soundbar; Rear view reveals HDMI, audio jack and dongle slots; side view shows USB slots and height adjuster; Top view shows the minimalistic design with only the power on and off button | Photo Credit: John Xavier
Setting up the projector is easy. It comes with a power cord, a remote control, and a dongle to connect to the Internet. There are three cords to choose, and you can pick the cord that suits the switch board in your living room. Once connected, the power button softly glows red. A gentle press on the button turns it green, and within a few seconds ViewSonic’s logo against a white background hits the wall.
The projector boots up within 30 seconds, and displays half a dozen options, including one to access files stored locally. Yes, it comes with 16 GB storage space, and videos can be projected using open source Kodi software or an in-built app. I tried a few videos, and the output was good. But controlling seek functions was a pain.
Once powered on, for casting from a phone, the device needs to be connected to same home WiFi Internet. That’s where the dongle comes in. The projector has a neatly designed dongle slot at the back, right next to the power cord input slot. It has a cover to close it once plugged in. After establishing the connection, the dongle can be used to cast videos stored in the phone or from the YouTube app. PrimeVideo and the Netflix app, however, did not work for me.
An underwater 4K image that was cast from YouTube using the dongle that came with the ViewSonic X1000 4K Projector | Photo Credit: John Xavier
ViewSonic has provided a built-in app centre to download streaming apps. It runs on Android that allows you install APKs on it. With the Aptoide store, several apps can be installed. But the interface was terrible for me. I did not use the Amazon Prime Video app I downloaded as the projector could not deliver quality output due to poor streaming bandwidth. A fire stick may have helped, but I did not have one to test the quality.
I connected my laptop to the projector to screen movies from almost all popular streaming apps. I projected most of the movies on a white wall. And even when I projected the movies onto a pale pink wall, the image quality was outstanding. If I had cast it on a projector screen, the output doubtlessly would have been far better.
Image of a 4K video projected from ViewSonic X1000 4K Projector | Photo Credit: John Xavier
While casting 4K-resolution deep sea footage, the images were life like. The high dynamic range (HDR) feature worked superbly by highlighting hidden details. When watching war sequences or low-light footage, the Dynamic Black feature unveiled several dark spots. While watching action sequences, the Harman Kardon soundbar does a fine job of reproducing theatre-level audio output in a living room. The projector is priced at ₹4,50,000, and was launched early last year.
Verdict
The ViewSonic X1000 4K project is a worthy contender that could potentially replace the huge television set in your living room. The product’s lifespan, as measured by its light source, is 30,000 hours, which is quite a lot of hours for some serious movie aficionados. The only thing that this equipment lacks is a smart app ecosystem. But, if one were to look past the smart factor, this device could be an elegant looking TV replacement that occupies very little space in your living room.
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