Popular Mechanics - USA (2021-03)

80 March/April 2021

BEST CINEMA

EPSON HOME

CINEMA 4010

Price: $2,000 / Projection

engine: Three-chip LCD /

Light source: Bulb / Reso-

lution: 4K-capable, HDR10

/ ANSI lumens: 1,704 /

Speakers: N/A

While DLP projectors

deliver remarkable ver-

satility, LCD projectors

like this are still the best

option for dedicated the-

aters, due to their high

contrast and deep blacks.

The Epson 4010 (and sim-

ilar 4050, which comes

with installation accesso-

ries) produces a gorgeous

image rich in detail and

crackling with color. This

is an old-school projec-

tor, hulking and heavy, that

you’ll want to mount to a

ceiling. When you do, the

2.1x zoom makes find-

ing the right spot easier,

and the mechanical focus

helps you zero in a crisp

image quickly. There are

no smart features, and the

massive remote looks like

one of those giant univer-

sal controllers you used to

dig out from Papa’s couch.

Minor trade-offs, though,

for a cinema-quality expe-

rience at a good price.

Home

13

// BY LOUIS M A ZZ A NTE //

Your Next

Big-Screen

TV May Be

a Projector

BEST ULTRA-SHORT-THROW

SAMSUNG THE

PREMIERE LSP9T

Price: $6,500 / Style:

Ultra-short-throw / Pro-

jection engine: Single-chip

DLP / Light source: Three

lasers / Resolution: 4K-

capable, HDR10+ / ANSI

lumens: 2,891 / Speakers:

Four 10-watt, 4.2 channel

It didn’t take Samsung long

to muscle its way back into

the projector game. Its first

product in 10 years, called

The Premiere, is the best

premium model we tested.

It has excellent image qual-

ity, even in ambient light.

Its triple lasers—one each

for red, blue, and green—

produce crisp, detailed,

and rich images. It has sur-

prisingly good 40-watt

speakers and an intuitive

and smart operating sys-

tem that makes it easy

to stream or project an

image from your Samsung

phone. It’s also the bright-

est projector we tested.

With a supertight throw

ratio, it needs to sit only

4 inches from the wall to

project a 100-inch image.

And at a lower-resolution

setting, The Premiere has

a 60hz refresh rate, which

gamers will like.

T

H E MA S S I V E WI D E - SCREEN

images created by home

projectors have always

awed. Yet for all their cin-

ematic glory, the devices

were cumbersome and only

worked well in dark, subter-

ranean home theaters.

Te c h c h a n g e s r a p i d l y, h o w e v e r,

and advances in digital light pro-

jection (DLP) have led to smaller

projectors that shine more light than

older LCD models, even in well-lit

rooms. Many integrate with smart

streaming systems and sit right on

a media console or coffee table, pro-

ducing 4K images that rival the best

TVs (see Pixel Tricks sidebar).

They’re not perfect, but the

excitement is real. Look at Sam-

sung, the world’s largest TV maker.

After walking away from projectors

a decade ago, the brand returns with

The Premiere, an ultra-short-throw

projector that’s as thrilling as the

company’s most capable televisions.

We tested 10 projectors across a

range of uses—from premium ultra-

short-throw models to soda can–size

portable units. We measured their

brightness in ANSI lumens, a mea-

sure of luminance across the screen,

using each projector’s standard

viewing setting, then evaluated

their features and tested image

quality. We projected the image in a

lightless theater room on a 100-inch

screen, and again with about 10 lux

of ambient light. These are our five

favorites.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY TREVOR RAAB