Over the years, home cinema display technology has evolved from old cathode ray tube big-screens to plasmas, LCDs, projectors, and beyond. BenQ has unleashed the W2700 True 4K UHD HDR-Pro Projector onto the market, a mid-range dynamo of a unit, with an optical performance is nothing short of astounding.
We’ll come on to the features and performance of the product soon, but first I always like to look at how easy and quickly this level of tech unit can be set up out of the box, so we’ll start there. The W2700 comes in a relatively compact delivery box, complete with remote control, batteries, disc, quick set-up guide, and obviously the power cable. Without looking in the instruction book, it is evident that one can essentially plug and play. You will need to locate an HDMI cable to come from your chosen HD device because, as is pretty much the norm, there isn’t one supplied. We hooked the W2700 up to our trusty Sony 4K Blu-ray player and we were off and going within minutes with our first chosen movie ready to play, menu screen loaded.
Image supplied by BenQ
The W2700 guides you through things easily finding the input device automatically. There are two HDMI ports on the back of the unit (below) and both can obviously be manually selected. Also included is a USB 3.0 media reader, SPDIF optical output, and also a 3.5 audio output. There is a USB interface to charge external devices.
Our set-up for the first test was against a projector screen with the unit about 2.4 meters away, though options are available to have the W2700 project from the rear or be suspended upside down from a ceiling. Our positioning gave us approximately 190cm of projection screen size with the 1.3 zoom on full, which was impressive. We had the projector positioned on a coffee table approximately 50cm from the floor. With the manual tilt adjustment located under the chassis of the unit on full, the W2700 more than coped with the angle of hitting the screen in front of us and the lens auto-keystone almost immediately to give us a perfectly flat image (the projector also has a manual adjustment). We moved the unit several times to test it, and the image always corrected the angle of the image automatically. No need to get into any of the menus for the first use at all, and although the W2700 does have a motion-smoothing setting buried in the menu, it is turned off by default. This is the correct setting if you want to watch the movie as the director intended.
Our first test was with a recent release, Bad Boys For Life which gave us a crystal clear image on the disc’s menu screen. The W2700 comes with 95% DCI-P3 CinematicColor and HDR-PRO. In layman’s terms, it has been designed with the cinephile in mind; to reproduce precise cinematic colour up to 4K. Using its DLP UHD technology, it can produce 8.3 million pixels.
We picked Bad Boys For Life as it is a brand new release, one that features a ton of action, fast camera movements throughout and a palette of colours though the franchise’s trademark saturated cinematography to test out the aforementioned technology. For this test, we ensured our surroundings were pitch-black for the true cinema experience. Bad Boys For Life features a sun-drenched first scene as Will Smith and Martin Lawrence motor through the streets (and beaches) of downtown Miami Beach as Lawrence’s character, Marcus Burnett, races to make it to the hospital to witness the birth of his first grandchild. What hits you immediately is the brightness of the projected image. The colours are rich, the tones near-perfect. The second scene is darker, and the W2700 handles that well also. The areas of the frame as the camera tracks through the dulled corridors of a Mexican prison really highlight how the projector handles the more muted scenes, particularly contrasting shadows and darker backgrounds furthur away. The unit uses its Dynamic Iris with Dynamic Black technology to increase the dynamic range and reproduces black areas of the screen perfectly. This was backed up by a sweeping drone shot of the Miami skyline shortly afterward, one met with bright neon colours against the darker backdrop.
We played the movie using the speakers built within the unit itself. The W2700 comes with two 5W speakers built into the sides of the unit. The projector handled the loud sounds of this explosive action film well, though I had the volume turned three-quarters up to get the true cinema experience. They did not distort and were more than loud enough for the lounge in which we tested the unit. I was sitting directly behind the W2700 and got some impressive stereo sound during the more high-octane scenes as well. During the quieter scenes, which were more dialogue-driven, the fan could be heard but again, I was sitting virtually on top of the unit with the fan about three feet away. While audible at that distance, it was never distracting – this is above average performance for two small speakers in a projector and most will be happy with using these as the W2700 can essentially be portable and plug and play, though serious home cinema users will be keen to hook it up to a soundbar or surround set-up which can easily be done via the ports at the rear.
We changed things up for the second movie test, opting to plug a Sky Q box into the unit, boosting the projection up to Ultra HD, Sky’s higher resolution format which gives 3840×2160 pixels at 50 frames per second. We tested two movies on this – Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw and Rocketman, two more movies boasting rich colours, and a varied palette. Again, the W2700 delivered. The projected image was the same size as the Bad Boys For Life test, but we moved the projector back and the brightness was maintained, as were the colours, particularly throughout the flamboyant Rocketman. The colours were vivid and rich during the whole film but particularly in the wonderful, very colourful and varied costumes throughout the film. Away from those rich prime colours, the flesh tones are also accurately represented. ‘Hobbs and Shaw’, another high-octane action film, also performed well – another good test was the opening pre-title set-up as we are reintroduced to Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs – in the sun-drenched settings of Los Angeles, alongside Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw in the more muted tones of a rainy London.
We had the projector HDR set up on Auto mode for those two plays with the DCI-P3 colour gamut switched to on – perfect for our pitch-black environment. There is also the cinema mode which is for more ambient settings – like a living room with curtains pulled, positively during the daytime. However, the projector will select the best setting for the HDR input through that ‘Auto’ setting, which I saw as a huge positive.
For our last test, we opted for an Ultra HD playback of a pre-recorded football match, again through the Sky Q box at night (pitch black). If there was a time to turn on motion smoothing then this would be it, but even without it, the W2700 delivered a crystal-clear image with zero jitter, perfectly balanced colours – again without tinkering with any settings – to serve and satisfy any fan. Again, the projector switched everything up to give us the best viewing experience.
Away from the projector, there is a remote control that illuminates for use in the dark which was a nice little plus. Shutdown time was relatively quick also, a double-tap of the power button putting the unit to sleep immediately and the fan cooling the W2700 in just a matter of minutes. The unit itself is aesthetically pleasing, white across the top and sides with elegant speaker vents on the left and right. The back and front are dark grey, again pleasing to look at.
The W2700 retails for around £1400 but make no mistake, this is a quality product that is excellent value for money, actually very difficult to fault. You can spend more and you can obviously spend less, but the image quality and technology contained this tested unit massively impresses. Its ease of use is also a major benefit and the fact that it sets everything up to give the user the best possible experience directly out of the box is a huge plus, particularly for those who are looking for a quality bit of kit without getting into the technical details that are buried in the menus. I loved tinkering with the many settings and fine adjustments as I moved it around the house – from the lounge to bedroom to larger open space – and I’m sure that those who are even savvier will doubt lap that up, too.
It seems to be aimed at those leaning towards 4K and HD movie viewing because of the investment into the tech to give perfect reproduction of the cinema experience – one that can be installed in a very short-throw environment – but will also in no way disappoint those looking for something to watch the big game, or play video games through with their friends too. A very impressive piece of home cinema kit.
