Best projectors Buying Guide: Welcome to What Hi-Fi?'s round-up of the best projectors - Full HD, 4K, portable and short throw - that you can buy in 2020.
You love the cinema and you might think a 65in TV is great for watching films. You'd be right. But, with picture sizes routinely north of 100in, the best projectors are in a different league. Throw in whisper-quiet operation, a decent AV amp and surround speaker package and you've got yourself a bonafide home movie night.
We've rounded up our favourite projectors, including Full HD and native 4K models, which also support HDR, and some short throw projector action too for those with smaller spaces. The only question is how much do you have to spend?
Naturally, a great 4K projector will cost more than a Full HD one, and real, actual native 4K costs even more than those which use pixel shifting to spoof that top-end resolution. Fear not, though, we've got something for all budgets in our best projector list below. Just remember to save some money for the popcorn!
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If you want top tech and a fantastic picture on a low budget – this is one projector to watch out for. It's offer an excellent 4K image with HDR capabilities for under a grand, now way down from its original price. If that's not good value, we don't know what is.
Colours are vivid, yet realistic; there’s lashings of detail; and motion remains silky smooth. There’s no other way to say it: the Optoma UHD40 is a simply outstanding budget projector, and a worthy Award winner year after year,
Read the full review: Optoma UHD40
If you want one of the best 4K projectors available and a truly immersive picture, then it's hard to look past the VPL-VW270ES. Like many Sony 4K projectors it uses the brand’s proprietary 4K SXRD panels to achieve its true DCI 4K 4096 x 2160 resolution. The VPL-VW270ES’s amazing sense of insight and fantastically solid and smooth picture raises its calibre above that of cheaper rivals. If you want 'true' 4K and have a hefty budget at your disposal, this is the projector to go for.
Read the full review: Sony VPL-VW270ES
This big, brassy projector is as good as you'll get before forking out for the beauty of native 4K projection. The detail may not be as stunning as its brethren in those upper echelons but for colour accuracy, subtlety of contrast and HDR handling, its a real corker. The result is a picture more involving than you'll find anywhere else at this price point.
It's also a dream in terms of practicality. Its 50-300in image size can be thrown from a good range of distances and the motorised lens means you can set it all up from the comfort of your sofa using its superb, backlit remote. Just sit back and enjoy some cinematic greats.
Read the full review: Epson EH-TW9400
Budget projectors haven’t always won us over, but this talented and compact Epson model shows that you can get an excellent big screen picture for a very low price if you shop around. This LCD projector has short throw capabilities of between 1.35 - 1.64m, so it's perfect for those with small rooms and an even tighter budget.
The handling of brightness, colour and detail levels is skillful and indicative of a level-headed restraint we wish all budget products would adhere to. It might be 'only' Full HD and not 4K, but the EH-TW650 brings a bit of the magic of cinema into your living room for not a lot of money.
Read the full review: Epson EH-TW650
Despite only having a Full HD chip, the Epson still supports 4K and HDR content thanks to its clever '4K-enhancement' tech. It can't quite match the best native 4K projectors, but they tend to cost a lot more and it still delivers an exceptional picture for the money. There's sharpness and colour in spades and the Epson also does a great job delivering punch and dynamism. It digs out plenty of detail in dark scenes too. If you want something bigger than a flatscreen TV but more affordable than a native 4K projector, this is a great middle-ground solution.
Read the full review: EH-TW7400
This is a sophisticated, 4K-capable, HDR projector is competitively priced. Considering there are more expensive models on the market that are neither 4K nor HDR-compatible, those looking for a top-notch home cinema projector should give the Optoma UHD65 serious consideration.
It may not have all the bells and whistles of a high-end 4K projector, but it is future-proof and should keep you happy for years. At this price, the Optoma is the one to beat.
Read the full review: Optoma UHD65
Sony has supplied the market with a fair few native 4K projectors over the last few years – all high-end, all highly commendable.
While in many ways this particular Sony is an irrefutable showboat, its colour palette is, to its credit, more focused on realism and accuracy than eye-catching saturation - and that's as we like it.
Set up is relatively straightforward, and once you have it up and running you'll be rewarded with pictures that will keep your eyes glued to the screen.
Read the full review: Sony VPL-VW550ES
One of the most feature-complete projectors you'll ever find, the LG CineBeam is a fascinating box of tricks. It may not be the finest on this list for pure performance but it presents a very decent 4K HDR image from a larger array of sources - both smart and local - than any other here.
It's blessed with the excellent webOS platform, which means direct access to all your video apps over Wi-Fi, and its Miracasting and Bluetooth abilities make for easy and intuitive ad-hoc connections to whatever mobile device you'd like to play back from, and external sound too.
Expensive? Maybe, but for those who want the flexibility to throw a film up on their wall whenever and however they choose, it's just the ticket; decent sound and a very solid picture to boot.
Read the full review: LG CineBeam HU80KSW
Like the LG above and the other Nebula below, the Mars 2 is a smartbox style portable projector which offers both convenience and a good dollop of fun. It's an excellent pick up and put down mini-movie night in which ever room in the house you happen to be.
It offers a picture size of up to 150in (you'll need very low lighting to appreciate it) and it'll run for four hours on its internal battery before it needs plugging in again - not bad for a summer evening's outdoor cinema, then. It also has a 2 x 10W speaker system built in.
Obviously, it's not the last word in picture quality but it delivers enough of the goods to be worth your while.
Read the full review: Nebula Mars 2
Don't be put off by the star rating: this tiny, tin-shaped projector has a big picture and bigger ambitions. It's an ingenious piece of tech - a portable projector with built-in Android-esque app store. The Capsule can also be used as a dedicated Bluetooth speaker.
Whether streaming from Netflix, Amazon Prime or YouTube, the Capsule presents a decent picture that rivals other pico projectors. It's not perfect, but those looking for something a little bit different, portable and easy to use, and who don’t mind missing out in absolute picture quality terms, will enjoy it very much.
Read the full review: Nebula Capsule