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. The Filmmaker Mode plays so nicely with the W1800’s home cinema-tuned capabilities, in fact, that we don’t actually mind not having the option to switch to a different preset with HDR content. 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. This BenQ W1800i UHD-4K projector is not equipped with an LED lamp or laser, but with a conventional lamp that provides a brightness of 2000 lumens, allowing it to be used in a semi-dark or dark room. During the day or in a bright room, however, its brightness is a bit too low to achieve a sufficiently vivid and contrasted image. The lamp’s lifespan reaches 4000 hours in normal mode and 10,000 hours in eco mode. The lifespan of the BenQ W1800i’s lamp ranges from 4000 hours (normal mode) to 10,000 hours (eco mode) depending on the mode of use, which is equivalent to between 5 and 13 years at a rate of 2 hours of daily use. BenQ W1800i: zoom and keystone correction

Notice: Netflix only supports specific authorized devices and is not natively available on projectors. Please follow these recommended viewing methods. Suitable for living room projection, the BenQ W1800i UHD 4K projector has a 1.3 manual zoom that gives the user some freedom when it comes to placement. The BenQ W1800i’s zoom and focus are adjusted manually using two rings on the top of the projector. The picture settings of the BenQ W2700 aren’t as straightforward as the initial set-up, but it’s easy if you’re watching HDR content. With HDR set to Auto, this 2,000 lumens projector does all the work for you, automatically switching the major picture settings to optimum. This is crucial, as it means that you don’t feel like you’ve suddenly had your connection with what you’re watching broken every time a film shifts from a bright scene to a dark one. Such consistency is massively important for any projector that’s serious about home cinema. But even with the W2700’s CinematicColor tech boost, it doesn’t match the Award-winning Optoma UHD40 for colour. Some parts of the spectrum lag behind – blues and reds are good, but the middle colours aren’t quite as vibrant.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.

Rivals have the W1800 beaten when it comes to HDR, brightness and contrast, then, but you’ll struggle to find another 4K projector at this price that delivers a more natural, cinematic image. I’m trying to choose between the new BenQ W1800i and the TK700STi. Room will be 3m x 5m. Projector hitting the long wall (under 3m throw distance).

BenQ W1800 4K DLP home cinema projector review

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. The claimed 4K support is controversial in the sense that, as with all such affordable ‘4K’ projectors that use DLP optical technology, the BenQ W1800 doesn’t actually carry a native 3840x2160 number of digital mirror devices (DMDs) on its 0.47-inch chip. Instead it draws on the amazing speed with which DLP’s mirrors can respond to get them to deliver essentially multiple pixels of picture information within a single frame. If you’re mad about movies, you’ll love Filmmaker Mode on this BenQ projector. Designed in collaboration with filmmakers and Hollywood studios, Filmmaker Mode lets you experience the cinematic vision, exactly as the director intended. Overriding the TV’s own motion and picture processing, Filmmaker Mode presents the correct aspect ratio, colour and frame rate – just as the filmmakers intended. BenQ’s decision to focus with the W1800 on what we guess could be considered good old-fashioned home cinema values has paid off handsomely. Its pictures might not be the showiest around, but they’re refined, natural, authentic and, to use that word again, cinematic. A further unwanted issue is that using the motion processing throws the syncing of the picture and the sound out when watching in 4K. It happens more than we’d expect, even when using the projector’s internal speakers, but can be resolved by switching the motion processing off. However, most home cinema amps will have an audio delay feature that can remedy the syncing.

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. Images live up to BenQ's home cinema promises, achieving a cinematic feel that humbles a good number of more expensive projectors. Digital rotation adjustment improves projection flexibility even on uneven platforms. More placement options help free up valuable space.The W1800 also seems to take great care about the way it maps HDR sources to its inherent capabilities. There’s precious little clipping of detail in bright peaks, for instance, and colours look authentic rather than strained (even when it comes to notoriously difficult skin tones). The projector also sensibly uses HDR’s expanded light range more to deliver subtler light differences than to push the extremes. 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. 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. The only other note to consider is the noise of the projector fan, which is noticeable, but nothing beyond what we’d expect. If you’re sitting right next to the W2700, you’ll hear it, but otherwise it’s not a problem. Verdict

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. Things start to go slightly awry for the BenQ W2700 when we start watching non-HDR films, which should still be a large portion of your viewing. You can still get a good balanced projection, but it takes a lot more work to get the best possible picture.

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

BenQ describes its approach as ‘true’ 4K, though, and crucially the independent Consumer Technology Association (CTA) in the US agrees. The sharpness remains strikingly high during camera pans and over moving objects, too. Judder without motion processing in play doesn’t look excessive – in fact, if anything it feels natural enough to simply add to the W1800’s key cinematic feel. Nor is there much trouble from the sort of fizzing and double edging around the edges of moving objects that affordable DLP projectors often struggle with. Unfortunately, it is not possible to access Netflix from the BenQ W1800i, which is not compatible with this streaming service. Even when enabling wireless screen sharing from an Android smartphone, we couldn’t access it. So those who want to enjoy Netflix with this projector will have to do so from a Netflix-compatible computer or AV network player connected to the W1800i via HDMI, or via a Chromecast Video. BenQ W1800i: 4000h, 2000 lumen lamp