Forget 4K TVs — this 150-inch laser projector is my favorite gadget of 2023
With a slew of incredible features that make it stand out well against conventional TVs, the aptly named Formovie Theater is and may well always will be my daily driver for everything from 20-minute YouTube video consumption to blistering-fast 4K/60fps gaming.
That’s right, even with all of the incredible offerings this year among best 4K OLED TVs, like the Samsung S95C or the Sony Bravia XR A95L, the Formovie Theater stands as a shining beacon of at-home entertainment. It’s genuinely hard for me to put down, what with its Android TV 11 OS, incredible 150-inch screen size potential, and Dolby Vision/Atmos support.
I couldn’t ask for a better TV solution. Despite the long list of alternatives, what makes Formovie’s Theater so unbelievably special to me?
A cinema in your living room
Projectors have only slowly started becoming more accessible to the wider populace, as they can be quite expensive even by 4K OLED TV standards. Plus, the added benefit of better pricing in tandem with better space management via improved UST projection definitely helps forward its continued adoption.
The Formovie Theater is a testament to this continued innovation. It leverages sophisticated lasers for the most optimal picture and color quality possible on a projector. Formovie injected its Theater with the powerful ALPD 4.0 RGB+ technology, which gifts it remarkable color accuracy despite being a projector, which typically doesn't have great colors.
In fact, its color profile is one of the reasons why I can’t recommend the Theater enough. As an avid anime enjoyer, it’s proven to be one of the best ways to experience animated films and shows. The Theater also allows me to experience anime on the widest and fullest possible screen, as if I had my very own IMAX theater in my living room.
Using its 2,800 lumens, the Theater can also very easily be watched in lighter, more ambient-rich settings. For the most part, projectors lack in this regard, with darker settings on the screen being much harder to see in sun-drenched rooms. While it’s not the most perfect system and you will most certainly get better mileage on a conventional TV, the Formovie Theater still provides ample ambient light dissipation for clearer pictures in sunlight.
Video games at the Megaplex
Gaming has never been more fun thanks to the inclusion of features like ALLM and MEMC, both of which help the Theater smooth experiences by automatically switching latency modes. Thanks to the Formovie Theater, I can now game on a screen twice the size of a normal TV at breakneck speeds.
It’s genuinely difficult to go back to a TV that’s 55-inch or even 65-inch when you’re now accustomed to a screen fit for an AMC cinema
Cyberpunk’s newest DLC, Phantom Liberty, and Alan Wake 2 both looked phenomenal on the screen at sizes well over 100-inch. It’s genuinely difficult to go back to a TV that’s 55-inch or even 65-inch when you’re now accustomed to a screen fit for an AMC cinema. It’s no OLED, that’s for sure, but at least I didn’t have to cough up $63,000 for a screen over 90-inch as seen with LG’s G2.
The Formovie Theater has a built-in speaker designed by the likes of Bowers and Wilkins, one of the leaders in sound and audio solutions. You’ll definitely get better quality sound from a more powerful speaker, like the McIntosh RS150, but with the Theater I don’t have to shell out an extra $1,200 on top of the projector’s already high $3,500 price tag.
The inclusion of both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos is an added bonus. According to Formovie, its Theater is the first projector to leverage both technologies, ensuring you get powerful immersive qualities in both audio and visuals.
Thanks to its Android TV 11 OS, I can also easily watch all of my most treasured content without needing to connect a specific device to the screen. Everything is right there available at my fingertips and I don’t have to contend with an avalanche of varied remotes.
Room for improvement
There is still room for improvement, though, as the Formovie Theater does come with some setbacks. One of its biggest issues is the lack of on-OS Netflix support, which requires a streaming device or gaming console to play, which is a bit annoying but a major deal breaker.
Additionally, the Theater only comes with three HDMI ports and only one of them is 2.1 compatible. Again, this isn't necessarily a gamebreaker, but it would be nice to have 2.1 support on multiple HDMI inputs so I don't have to change cables when necessary.
Last but not least, with some more popular new projectors auto-keystone correction makes for a fine addition, as any bump or accidental movement of the projector could be easily amended. As it stands now, I must do it on the fly, which doesn't take too much time but is definitely annoying.
Despite these limited flaws, there’s no question that the Theater has delivered unforgettable experiences to me and my friends. It’s why I can’t recommend it enough and earmark it as one of my favorite devices of 2023.
As Ridley Scott said, "the only way to see a film remains the way the filmmaker intended: inside a large movie theater with great sound and pristine picture" With the Formovie Theater, you'll be bringing the cinema home with you.
