LG ThinQ Cinebeam ‘HU810PW’ 4K projector review: Feature-packed

South Korean technology company LG recently launched its ThinQ Cinebeam 4K projector in the Indian market. The projector comes at a MOP of Rs 2,80,000. We spent some time with the device and here are our key takeaways from it.

LG ThinQ Cinebeam ‘HU810PW’ 4K projector: DesignThe LG ThinQ Cinebeam is a single, heavy unit, weighing around 11kg, with half a metre long cable. It has a quite solid build but the unit needs to be handled very carefully and you should take care where you put it. You would want to put it in a place where you can move around freely while the projector is in use if you plan to use it for home entertainment; an area in your house where there is a wall section, clean of any wall hangings, decorations, photos and the like. This is a 4K UHD projector with a display resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels and a 16:9 aspect ratio.

The size of the display can be adjusted with the help of the physical knob which LG calls the Zoom Knob. To adjust the focus, there is the Focus Knob.

There is a rotatable knob on the side of the projector to adjust the height of the screen; it makes a soft click when you turn it. With the size of the screen and its height under your control, you don’t have to stress about what height you should put the projector at to view. Besides, there is an angle adjustment leg at the bottom of the projector to shift the screen up and down.

The projector offers connectivity options like 2 HDMI ports, one HDMI port that supports eARC/arc, 2 USB ports, one LAN port, etc. The projector unit comes with a remote and a pair of batteries for it too. All the ports are at the back of the projector.

LG ThinQ Cinebeam ‘HU810PW’ 4K projector: Performance

First, you need to put the batteries in the remote and plug in the projector unit to an AC source. Once you have switched on both, have adjusted the size and the height of the screen, and adjusted the focus to make everything appear clear enough, you can go to the Settings to make the desired changes. If you wish to change the input mode of the device, go to the button with the adapter logo. The projector can be connected either through a wireless network using WiFi which is the easiest but it also supports wired connection (ethernet).

The Home button gets you to the home dashboard through which the video streaming services can be accessed. Also, there are options to choose photos, videos, music and web browser (Google), Twitter, Facebook, etc.

There are several picture modes you can choose from like Standard, Cinema cricket game, Vivid, HDR effect, Filmmaker mode, Brightest, Expert (bright room) and Expert (dark room).

The Vivid mode does as it is advertised, brings out the colours in the image on the screen; green, blue, violet and yellow have a richer tint and appear brighter too. It’s great for playing a slideshow of photos or watching nature videos.

Cinema mode is meant to specifically watch movies. We state the obvious because if you use any other mode, like for example, Standard or Vivid mode, the visuals may appear crisper and clearer but the cinema-like quality as it appears on celluloid in theatres is gone. You’ll feel like watching something happening in real-time, without the feel of watching a film. So, stick to Cinema mode if you want to enjoy a film.

The Expert mode brightens or dims the projected screen as per the lighting environment, but not drastically. It works for dark environments if you feel like the brightness is a bit high. On the other hand, there is the Brightest mode also, that infuses the brightest possible setting into the picture or the video you are watching; in our view, you won’t need to use that setting much.

You can use the Sleep Timer setting for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes and so on. While in the Edit mode, you can add icons to the screen.

Scrolling through the icons showing on the projected screen via the remote is not that smooth and takes a bit to get used to. But the operation gets done, whichever mode you want to access, in one go. There were no glitches at all while using the remote to select options on the projected screen

The projector comes with an inbuilt speaker unit that is loud for a big room (5W+5W) and feels adequate if you are trying to watch some sports match or a film. We used the projector at 4K @50fps for some football matches and had a pleasant experience; there was nothing that botched the stream. There are different sound modes also: Standard, Cinema, Cricket, Music, etc. Here is how a projected football match in 4K looks on a wall.

And yes, you can avail the services of Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa too on this device. To use Google’s AI assistant, press and hold the button with the microphone icon at the top of the remote which will display a screen prompt for you to speak. Keep holding the button while you speak and then when you are done, release it to see how Google Assistant processes your requested query. For Alexa, you’d have to press and hold the “prime video” button which would then download and install the Alexa app. After the setup, the Amazon Alexa logo will appear on the bottom right corner of the projected screen. Now, you are ready to use Amazon’s AI assistant. Hold the “prime video” button”, speak and then release the button.

If you plan to keep the projector close to where you will sit while using it, we advise you to keep it at least some feet away as it expels hot air from the side vents while in use. The best would be to install it in such a way that it is more than a metre away from your sitting position.

Verdict

LG has bundled a lot of features into this projector and almost every feature has been well thought of and works well. The price is certainly steep, at around Rs 3 lakh, so we just cannot recommend this for casual buyers, though it is more than capable of home entertainment. For more serious purposes though, like office work, video presentations and where you need internet connectivity to supplement your presentations, this would work. Despite the strong build quality, a projector is a delicate piece of hardware in that it wouldn’t hurt much if your phone falls off the table but something like that is unthinkable when it comes to a 4K projector. So, if you think you will be able to make the optimum use of the features the LG ThinQ Cinebeam comes with, can handle the unit well and are willing to fork over that much amount of cash, it promises a pleasant experience overall.

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