First Foray into Digital Projectors for the PC

I read this review on Notebookcheck which said mostly good things about the cheap and portable projector HY-300:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/HY300-cheaper-portable-projector-now-available-globally.707993.0.html

Also was amazed by this video showing in action the auto keystone correction feature of the projector:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vqJ8Oi0JCXw

Also read good reviews by verified purchasers on Aliexpress.

Also liked that it doesn't need a tripod to adjust the tilt angle.

So, I am giving the projector a try and will let you all know how it goes. It's my first projector so want to start with 720p to figure out the quirks of projector vs computer monitor. Then will get more expensive 1080p+ projectors with better quality later...

 

It wasn't too long ago, if you wanted a budget projector you had to put up with the really crappy resolution of 320x200 (same as the old school VGA games). Then all of a sudden technology makes a quantum leap to 720p for the budget segment...

Anyways, my projector is on it's way from China, I ordered it last week...

here are some actual images I pulled from Aliexpress buyer reviews -- the pictures look actually impressive for el cheapo LCD projector:





My ONLY concern the projector might not be able to handle 4:3 aspect ratio properly. Most of my nostalgia DOS/WinXP-based games are in the 4:3 format!

 

Very nice for sub USD $100 projector:

 

With a brightness of only 120 lumens you are going to have a dark room with the room lights turned off.

Compare that to a projector I bought 7 years ago:

Epson EX7240 (1280x800)
Date: 02/16/2016 $600
Brightness: 3200 Lumens

 

I've had this projector for 1 week now. Took only 2 weeks delivered from China to North America. I'll write a more in depth review in a few weeks...

120 lumens is plenty brightness. After sunset my wall becomes plenty of fun. Don't need complete pitch black only the sun needs to go down below the horizon.

For comparison, my desktop monitor has max 250 nits brightness and I usually need to dim it down to 27-33% to stop it from hurting my eyes. Basically my desktop monitor only needs to output 70-80 lumens to serve my needs. But because a projector covers a larger area, 120 lumens sounds about right.

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Now the quick short review:

1. Projector is amazing for watching movies and anime. Projector also amazing for reading news websites. I never want to go back to a desktop monitor/tablet to read the news.
2. Projector doesn't work for old school gaming (I still need to find a way to display 800x600 natively without having up-scaling and aspect ratio issues. Of course it would become a 1280x1024 issue if we're dealing with a 1080p projector, but the max 4:3 image 720p can accommodate is 800x600).
3. Before I got this projector I was using a tiny 23.8 inch PC monitor as a TV from across the bed. I was debating whether I should upgrade to a 27-inch or even 34-inch gaming monitor. LOL. I can easily get a sharp 48 inch (diagonal) image on the wall for media consumption with this projector. I'm never going back/downgrading to anything less than 50 inches!
4. Projector gets blurry around the edges. Projecting a flat image thru spherical lenses will do this compounded by the use of cheap lenses. This is the only major negative with the budget projector.
5. Projector only works from straight dead on and no more than 30 degrees incline. To achieve such optimal condition, I had to stack a pile of books on top of a tall stool and place the projector atop!
6. It's the year 2023! I'm sorry y are we still dealing with archaic 720p resolution? I watch a lot of English-subtitled contents from WeTV, the streaming service of China's largest entertainment company Tencent, the owner of League of Legends, King of Glory, etc. Now get this, they're actually struggling to stream 1080p to millions of viewers at the same time. During peak hours, good luck trying to view 1080p seamlessly without lag. 720p is still pretty modern by WeTV standards!

Tentative overall rating: 4.5/5. Recommendation value: Very High!

 

One of the biggest drawback of the HY300 projector is setting it up in the middle of the room (or near the bed if you want to project to the opposite wall of the bedroom) with the unsightly wires. In the future, I'd probably skip this kind of projector and opt instead for ultra-short throw. Like the quantum jump from 320x200 resolution to 1280x720 in the budget projector segment, I hope they make the quantum jump to ultra-short throw next so I can place the damn thing on a table next to the wall:



(Roborock smart projector R1)

 

Blackout curtains are kool. I never had one prior to today. I never knew a simple piece of thin cloth could block out so much sunlight!

 

Final review for HY300 720p projector (I got mine for about $80 USD shipped from Aliexpress):

1. I'm never going back to PC monitor to watch movies/dramas/anime. I had a 34-inch PC monitor that I bought from Amazon (but quickly returned it). That monitor cost me about $500 USD. The enjoyment factor I got out of briefly using that monitor (before returning it) not even a fifth of the enjoyment I get out of HY300 cheap 720p projector!

2. You'll need blackout curtains (not any kind of curtain but ones specifically designed to block out the sunlight) to make it work. Otherwise the projector is useless until the sun dips below the horizon. I used removable 3M wall hooks to hang the curtain without destroying the wall or needing to install a curtain rod. Total cost was $20-$25 inclusive of blackout curtain fabric + wall hooks (BTW I used mini safety pins chained together to "tie" the curtain to the wall hooks). Now I can use the projector even at noon where the sunlight is the brightest!

3. Don't need to use remote control. I hate dealing with AA/AAA batteries for the remote. Can just plug in USB mouse to select HDMI input.

4. It's a cheap projector, so image will be clear but bad/blurry away from the center. When watching motion videos, the blurriness don't even matter/not noticeable.

5. The longest I used the projector without wiping dust from the lens was about 2 weeks. The dust don't even interfere with picture quality/not noticeable so it's not really an issue with the projector accumulating dust over time.

6. Projector accepts 1080p input then downscales to 720p. Most games you have to set the display resolution to 1080p or you get image artifacts. Not a deal breaker but games look worse downscaled to 720p than native 720p.


Rating: 4.5/5