N
o longer is a home cinema
strictly the preserve of the
rich. For those who covet that
big-screen experience from the
comfort of their own sofa, the
market is strewn with portable
projectors available for around the
cost of a takeaway dinner.
At the other end of the spectrum,
you could build a pretty decent
entry-level system for a couple of
grand, your very own mini picture
house. But what happens when
you covet a true 4K HDR picture,
with all the functionality of your
smart TV and built-in speakers that
won’t give you tinnitus, all without
sacrificing the convenience of
being able to pack it away in the
broom cupboard after every film?
Well, that’s where the LG
CineBeam comes in. The HU80KSW
will put up a fight against any
dedicated projector at its price, but,
more than that, it is a full home
cinema system cannily distilled into
one portable box you can carry likean elongated briefcase. Even the
power cable is attached and wound
into the base of the unit, so you
really don’t have to plug anything
into it if you don’t want to.Design and features
The basic design of the CineBeam
proves the power of simplicity. Lift
the lens cap and on the underside
of it you’ll find a mirror. By simply
reflecting the image onto whatever
surface you’ve cleared for your film- or shining the projector directly at
it, of course – this means you can
place the unit pretty much
anywhere in the room you like. It
should recognise automatically
how you’re using it, while the Auto
Vertical Keystone will help align the
picture if you haven’t the time or
patience to do so manually.
Focus and zoom are controlled
by dials towards the top of the
CineBeam, which allow for
projection of an image anywhere
between 66 and 150 inches.
Brightness is an impressive 2,500
lumens, while LG claims a
whopping 20,000-hour laser life. To
put that into perspective, you could
watch a two-hour film every day for
28 years before having to find a
replacement.
The CineBeam has a range of
physical connections for tethering a
traditional source such as a Blu-ray
player or the output from a laptop,
but it also comes with LG’s smart
hub. From here you can download
apps such as Netflix, Amazon Prime
and YouTube, as well as those for
catch-up TV. It can also mirror the
screen from your smartphone,
tablet or laptop without cables.
LG has fitted a pair of HDMI ports
and two USB (one 3.0, another 2.0)
to access content from an external
hard drive or USB stick. There is also
an Ethernet connection, which we’d
always recommend using for
greatest speeds and bandwidth
when streaming.
For this to be a true one-boxLG CineBeam HU80KSW
£2,000 | $2,400 http://www.lg.com
A one-box home cinema system you can set up in minutes
Images : LG84 |^ |^ November 2019