The W1800i maximizes available space with a range of throw distances enabling 4K big-screen entertainment in tight quarters. The projector also has a relatively short throw of 1.3:1 with the zoom control at full, giving you a 100in picture at a distance of only 2.5m. The only worrying spec is a maximum brightness of just 2,000 ANSI lumens. BenQ W1800 review: Price and competition Once this module is connected to the projector, all that’s left to do is to connect to your Google account to take advantage of the online application catalog and to rent movies. You can also enjoy your subscription to Disney+, YouTube or Prime Video, as well as stream content wirelessly from a smartphone or tablet (iOS and Android). These are the standard cut-off times below, however if you require an urgent shipment after these times, please call on +44 (0)1924 589 589

The BenQ W1800i projector is HDR10 and HLG compatible to display images with an extended dynamic range. In other words, the dark and light areas of the image are more nuanced with more visible details. This BenQ W1800i projector also features the FilmMaker mode, which disables all digital image enhancement processes to ensure that the color, dynamic range and brightness chosen by directors for movie theaters are maintained. This ensures that you can enjoy scenes from your favorite movies without compromising the vision of their creators. BenQ W1800i: Android TV How so? Well, firstly it sports BenQ's CinematicColor technology, where RGBRGB colour wheels are dressed in 'rigorously tested' coatings to deliver more accurate colours, and, most strikingly of all, factory calibration reports (to Delta E errors below three) are supplied with each projector that leaves the factory. There's then 'Zero Light Overflow' technology to prevent light being lost on its journey through the projector's optics, helped by heat resistant matte paint finishes to the internal 'opto-mechanical' structure. Lenses are also 'meticulously polished' in pursuit of picture purity. It’s the colours that swing it for the W1800, though. Not only did this projector slightly exceed Rec.709 in testing but colour accuracy is fantastic by projector standards, with an average Delta E of 2.89. Its only serious rival here is the Viewsonic X10-4K and that’s slightly more expensive.

Rivals win on brightness and HDR, but this is a superb-value home cinema projector

Enjoy 5000+ of the latest Android apps movies TV shows live sports news games music and more. Anytime anywhere across your devices there’s something here for everyone to love. The BenQ W1800’s built-in audio support consists of a single speaker driven by five watts of amplification. Unsurprisingly, this only provides pretty rudimentary audio support for the projector’s images. There’s neither enough projection of the sound nor enough raw volume for it to feel like an adequate audio partner for the massive pictures the projector can produce.

Digital rotation adjustment improves projection flexibility even on uneven platforms. More placement options help free up valuable space. While many BenQ projectors sport CinematicColor technology, the W1800 adds another video-facing feature that we haven’t seen from a BenQ projector before: Filmmaker Mode. Developed by the Ultra HD Alliance, an industry body comprising a broad church of content creators and consumer electronics companies, the Filmmaker Mode picture preset is designed to deliver images that resemble as closely as a device can manage the video standards used by the creative industries when they master their content. Filmmaker mode is quite common on TVs now, but it’s still rare in the projector world. What’s more, potentially controversially, the W1800 actually defaults to the Filmmaker Mode whenever it receives an HDR image, and then won’t let you switch to any other preset. The BenQ W1800 can do up to 15,000 hours in its lamp save mode, but only 8,000 in the most balanced Smart Eco mode and just 4,000 when it’s set to normal. After that, you’re looking at a pricey lamp replacement. Supercharged by HDR10 and HLG support with BenQ exclusive projector-optimized HDR the W1800i’s high dynamic range performance offers greater brightness contrast range and image optimization in a single step bringing out every detail in 4K video content for superior cinema enjoyment. Whether we are watching the 4K vintage world of The Prestige or the starker setting of Die Hard’s Nakatomi Plaza, the W2700 has the colours, the contrast and the brightness bang on, and that’s no mean feat.

It is, though, hardly unusual for audio systems built into home cinema-focused projectors to be at best sound solutions of last resort, so the W1800 sounds in truth no worse than many of its rivals. Verdict The BenQ W1800 sets out its home cinema stall in a number of key ways. For starters, it claims to be a 4K projector, and can support both of the HDR10 and HLG HDR formats. There’s no Dolby Vision or HDR10+ ‘active’ HDR support, but projectors that support those premium HDR flavours are currently as rare as the proverbial hen’s teeth. keystone eliminates trapezoid effects when projecting from various room locations for ease and convenience. Picture detail is generally good and it’s worth noting how impressive that is given that this projector doesn’t actually have the 3840 x 2160 micro-mirrors on its DLP chip as you might expect. Instead it uses Texas Instruments’ lens shifting DLP XPR technology to effectively quadruple the number of pixels produced by its 0.47in chip, with only 1920 x 1080 micro-mirrors.

So I bought the W1800 (minus the i). And I am thoroughly impressed with the picture quality and the brightness. The only complaint that I have is with the choice of fans. They run at a low RPM and there is an inconsistency in speed, and the combination with the type of bearings in the fan makes it produce a whirring noise. The entire PJ is rather quiet so anything that is off, is noticeable, especially if it's right above your head. I tried two PJ's and the second one had a much louder noise coming from the pixelshifter, so I kept the first one. It's something you need to get used to I guess. As a shortcut, with non-HDR, we recommend choosing the Vivid TV preset. We watch Thor in Full HD and the colour palette is well balanced. The gold of Asgard’s palace is as prominent as the green of the planet’s trees and the blues of its oceans in the opening sweeps of the film.

Once the projector is turned on, the welcome menu prompts you to choose the interface language, to specify the position of the projector and to choose whether or not to activate the automatic keystone correction. The image can then be adjusted within the limits of the screen by using the test pattern in the Installation menu. Once the ideal projection distance has been found, you simply have to adjust the zoom and the height of the feet to achieve the desired result. Thanks to the test pattern available in the BenQ W1800i projector’s installation menu, it is easy to adjust the image within the limits of the screen. We reserve the right to charge for any postal surcharges levied by the courier eg for non mainland UK, Highlands and Islands. As noted earlier, the W1800 supports an optional extra Android TV dongle if you want it to go ‘smart’, and finally lamp life is claimed at an impressively long 15,000 hours. This will greatly reduce, though, if you watch a lot of HDR. All this, for our money, makes the W1800’s HDR images more consistent, even handed and therefore immersive than gaudier, brasher approaches. Don’t forget that HDR movie sources automatically trigger the projector to go into its Filmmaker Mode, which has been carefully designed, essentially by committee, to deliver a natural, even look that's intended to draw you into whatever you’re watching rather than drawing attention to any ‘showy’ qualities the projector might want to exhibit. Whether it's movies shows sports or live TV the BenQ Smart TV wireless Projector powered by Android has the most extensive entertainment library available. Access Google Play through the user-friendly interface for hassle-free entertainment.