Not flipping projectors AGAIN!
When I bought this budget projector to feature in a review I didn’t consider that it would result in too many projector themed videos in quick succession. Regardless I’ve ploughed on and made this video about something almost no one will care about. I suppose that’s the theme of my channel though.
I have a couple more unrelated things that I might be able to make shorter videos about. If I manage to get one of these completed during the week I could bump this projector video on by a week, to space them out a bit more. We’ll see, I can’t remember the last time anything worked out how I'd planned.
Another slight issue is that my new projector screen turned up this week and I’d really like to talk about that, but then I’d be straight back to square one on the lack of video topic variety.
Anyway, have a good week and take care.
UPDATED: There was a lumens calculation that was incorrect in the original video so I’ve re-uploaded a new version above.
Comments (45)
I gotta say, even though you garden office doesn't seem that big at first glance, you're taking as much advantage of all that space as possible, tons of angles and a very dynamic presentation. Must be very freeing being able to experiment so much with a space like this when you said in your house office you were pretty much right against a wall full of stuff.
It's a relief to be able to shoot things from any angle without worrying about what's in the background.
Projecting a planar image from a curved lens requires a complex multi element lens, the generally aren't cheap. So I would expect all cheap projectors would have this problem.
I'm really enjoying the projector stuff. It's inspired me to set something up in my living room that I can pull up on the rare occasion when there's folks here who want to watch something together.
Maybe the end of the URL is hinting at how many people will watch the video! (The original upload, before you updated it.)
My own brother-in-law (ironic I know) has a different branded projector but the exact same interface. We bought him a Roku streaming stick because of the same concerns over the apps. It also has the same focusing issue, so apparently this is a common issue with these budget projectors.
Good/bad to know. I’ll still get told that mine is faulty…but so are all the others.
MKV as well as MP4 are just media container types. They describe how to store the data in files but the media (video / audio) can use different codecs. Both can store H264, H265, AV1, VP8, VP9 etc. It's hard to say why It cannot play one or another without checking what's inside. Some codecs need more CPU power than others. In many cases GPUs have encoders and decoders built in the chips and this determines if a specific codec can be played or not (software decoders usually perform worse than the hardware ones). Saying "supports MKV" is really meaningless since it's hard to say what's inside. It less likely related to the bitrate IMHO. MOV is slightly different since it's defined by Apple and they enforce what can be inside those.
"Dolby Certified Audio". I believe it works like this: "We at Dolby certify that we have received a cheque from IWIMIUS and that IWIMIUS may now put our name on their devices." That really is terrible audio, but if the audio can be output to another device then that issue can be worked around. But those focusing issues are an absolute deal-breaker. It doesn't matter how cheap it is, how competent it may be in other areas, how full-featured it is, how bright it is or how accurate the colour reproduction is (and I could put up with sub-optimal performance in any of those areas), but if it's not in uniform focus then it's more or less useless. Rather a pity. You replied to another comment with a remark about WIMIUS/IWIMIUS, and I was wondering the same thing myself. There's an official store page on AliExpress (I know AliExpress is a bit of a crapshoot, but I feel that "Official Store" tag may have some credence), and interestingly they list some products as "Wimius", but ALSO use IWIMIUS in the description and images, and both variants use the same typeface. (Your projector isn't shown, though, curiously). But they also use another, entirely different, typeface for some of their projectors, and use both typefaces on their website with no obvious mention of "IWIMIUS" (though, as an aside, do seem to use mostly ANSI Lumens there). At least they do seem to have existed for a number of years, unlike so many rebadged products that just use some sort of randomly-generated name and disappear when the negative reviews stack up. But rather than trying to profit from consumer confusion I think they're more just quite incompetent and don't have a cohesive brand and marketing strategy. Anyway, that was a boring screed, but I've written it now so I'm damn well going to post it. Thanks as always for the video, Mat.
This is literally this video I need in my life right now! I dug out my 10 year old 720p projector the other day and it feels like it’s time to go to a 1080p, but I don’t want to break the bank. Looking forward to this one! Thanks.
“I We Me Us”.
I didn’t spot that. Oddly there’s another projector manufacturer called Wimius and I’m not sure they’re connected. It could be that iwimius is trying to profit from customer confusion similar to the old Panatronic, Soni days.
• Nice video, as always. I like how your new space actually looks like a theater due to its long rectangular shape. • The small projector screen is very handy - although the flourish of music during the big screen rising is very majestic. • The sound quality of this thing is truly horrendous and the Bluetooth delay is even worse. • What's the link to the LIP SYNCH TEST video (just kidding). • Orange shirt 🧡 • You (and all of us) were robbed because there's no flippin' protective film to be found. 🫤 • Although it's 'cheapo' it is nicely compact and miles away from the projectors of the recent past. • It's odd that Canada and America have split regions - why don't they split for Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England, then? • It needs a firmware update that adds underlying VLC for universal video playback. • I can't help wanting to press the blue button on the remote and thoroughly confuse the relatives on how to fix it, while I giggle in the corner. You take care. 🤍
This makes me want to buy a projector. I've always wanted one - I just have absolutely no use for one
I feel like that about everything Techmoan has ever shown us! I have no fewer than 3 digital clocks in my home office thanks to Mat!
Feels like you're really getting there with the new 'taking head' shot - Knowing you I bet you'll keep fiddling with it for a while longer, but it's really looing good!
You’re right, I’ve been trying out different lenses, lighting and cameras today to get a version that’s good enough to use straight out of camera with no alterations.
You're not paranoid because you're worried about protecting your personal data. We live in times where even something as unsuspicious as a Toniebox collects a lot of data (including the WIFI SSIDs it sees [1]) and sends it to the manufacturer. The least I would do is put devices like this on their own wifi network. These things really don't need to see what's going on in your private home network. [1] https://media.ccc.de/v/37c3-11993-toniebox_reverse_engineering#l=eng&t=2324
I had an old PowerBook for many years that I named WOPR, so it always makes me double take when I see your wifi router name.
War Operation Plan and Response?
So is this "good enough" for your brother-in-law?!
I'll be passing it onto him the next time I'm over there. I suspect it won't get a massive amount of use, but that's fine with me. It's better than being in a box in a storage locker.
Thanks for making a bad day better. Woke up with no water. The pipe going from the well pump to the house burst. And, of course, it had to happen on a weekend, (grrr.) Actually, considering how inexpensive that projector was, I’m just amazed that the quality and features are as good as it is. If I was your brother-in-law, it’d be good enough for a caravan. Just counter any lag issues with libations; you’re good to go.
Someone using a similar looking projector for a ceiling https://www.reddit.com/r/projectors/s/qRJB1hJ25O
I bought a similar cheapo projector for around 100€ last year (also native 1080p). Looks to have a very similar feature set - and OS that looks almost identical as well. It also shares the focus issue on the edges. But I bought it for when I go on a vacation every year. And for some video watching on holidays it's actually been good enough. But yeah, I would love it with a bit better optics that would have uniform focus everywhere. I do wonder how much more expensive you need to get before you reach better optics.
Yes there’s got to be a value-for-money sweet spot.
I get the feeling in watching you in your new studio that you are really in your element and that you're having a good time doing these videos and it's all due to having a better space to work in. I hope that's the case anyway. Also appreciate/enjoy your quick-cut editing technique when doing the unboxing and initial display of the gear. We've seen you unbox stuff for years and I'm sure you realize this and make these segments short and to-the-point. Videos with long, drawn-out exposition segments remind me in a humorous way of medieval scenes of "showing us the instruments of torture" --you remember the scene from Braveheart😉). Anyway, I'm not in the market for a projector system, but enjoy these informative videos just the same.
I like having this space to shoot in, it makes framing shots a lot easier as there’s nothing I need to hide. In the house there’s all the normal stuff that comes from living there but they’re things people are oddly shocked to see in the background of a video…a tea towel drying on a radiator for example.
Those ones are the only vids from you I have to force myself to watch because some time ago I bought a really expensive projector and I don't like to be reminded that I overpaid. Haven't bought a screen yet tho
Just pretend that June is Projector month. or moan... Meh.. Nevermind.. That will be public in July.. Anyway - It's still keep me interested ! Also, at this price, it could get more views..? Maybe? Humans are weird eh.
Exactly - if only they’d all turned up a few months later, it could have been “Projectober”!
Regarding Bluetooth delay, the settings you seek are likely inside the Chromecast dongle rather than the projector itself.
Hmm...with this one you get what you pay for. Next is to compare this to a sub-$100/£72 projector lol
Doubt the playback issues are due to too high bitrate - that usually ends up as broken playback. I consider it much more likely it's due missing codec support. Note when they say "contact us for additional support" on that - I consider that pretty much a dead giveaway that they know they're missing one or more commonly used video and/or audio codecs. MOV/MP4/MKV are just containers - it's all about what kind of video and audio codecs it supports INSIDE them and the fact that this isn't on the package is a massive red flag - they probably went with an older and thus cheaper SOC. I don't believe the (corrected) 1600+ lumen, projector-database/HCinema.de rates it at 600 ANSI lumen which sounds plausible for that formfactor.
Yes, I could multiplex a Sorenson video stream with a RealAudio G2 audio stream into an MKV container, maybe even add subtitles for good measure. But while the result might be a valid Matroska file, it likely won't be playable on most devices.
From a psychological point of view, I would say that you're projecting
Oh, you do have me LED on
What you need to do is find a 1970s projection TV with a curved screen to use it with. Optics must have moved on but all the early projection TVs seemed to have screens with a notable curvature. Look at the one on the right in this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73WFmAG78oI
Perhaps it’s made for eskimos to project on the igloo wall.
I found this really interesting, as my partner has often mentioned getting a projector, especially one of these cheaper ones. I always assumed there was a catch, and made discouraging noises. So it's great to see an actually reasonable look at one of these in detail - and to get an idea of the overall quality and niggles. But I'd absolutely agree with you: that focus issue is a killer. I could not watch that projector for anything I cared about - shame.
Maybe the lens is designed for a curved screen.
Or a crushed caravan.
Yes!
I've had a project in mind for many years. I'm just waiting for the technology to catch up and the price to come down. It's never anything simple with me. It has to be focus free since the screen is convex in both directions, short throw as I don't have much room to set it back and has to be able to do all this with a fairly extreme offset to the not-very-flat screen.
Something almost no-one will care about? You spend too much time projecting. Can’t wait to watch it.