Do you know that 85% of digital projections include DLP technology?
“The BenQ TK800M projector is a Full HD 1080p DLP home cinema projector with 3LCD technology and a brightness of up to 3000 ANSI lumens. It also comes with up to 2200 hours of color life; The image size can be set at 50″ – 300″.
This BenQ projector has a vertical lens shift of 30% and a horizontal keystone correction of 20%. Other than this, the TK800M comes with 2 HDMI ports, 1 D-Sub port, one composite video input. It has a 12V trigger in and out for connection to electrical components like lamps etc.”
Table of Contents
What makes BenQ TK 800m 4K UHD a Powerful Projector?
The BenQ TK800M 4k UHD projector has a contrast ratio of 10000:1, 3LCD technology, and low input lag. It makes the image quality on this projector excellent when viewed in well-lit rooms. The colors are vivid, blacks are deep, and whites are crisp.
Image quality is quite good even in lower light conditions as it features Dynamic Black technology. This feature automatically eliminates the black level without compromising picture quality and brightness. The Native aspect ratio is 16:9 with a lamp light source wattage of 240W.
It supports High Dynamic Range to offer immersive gaming and watch sports on sports mode. The picture mode offers warm tones with lifelike skin tones. If you are looking for the best projectors under $2000, this is a considerable deal.
BenQ TK 800M 4K UHD- an Overview
The BenQ TK800M 4k projector is one of the brightest home cinema projectors, around 3000 ANSI lumens, with a high contrast ratio, 3 LCD panels, Vivid TV, and a sharp XGA resolution of 1280×800 pixels. This single-chip dlp projector has smooth gradation and excellent color reproduction. It is a 3D-capable Projector.
It is user-friendly and has many settings to play with, including the OSD (On Screen Display) menu, which can be accessed from the front panel or remote control. It is one of the best lamp based dlp projectors.
The projector remembers its last settings even if it is switched off and turned on after some time. The BenQ TK800M includes a manual focus slider which is helpful for quick adjustment of the image.
It comes with BenQ SmartEco technology to adjust the lamp brightness automatically by increasing or decreasing the contrast ratio in parity with the surroundings.
Overall, the BenQ TK800M 4k projector is compact with good image clarity. It is sleek in design with a nice matte black finish. The build quality seems good; although the plastic used on the keypad feels a little cheap, this does not affect functionality.
The BenQ TK800M 4k has a native resolution of 1920*1080p Full HD (1080p) and a high resolution for any home theatre projector.
The native 1080p provides the best possible picture quality from this projector, but as we all know, not everyone uses 1920*1080p sources. So it is important to note that it does have an upscaling engine (HD video processor).
It means that even if your source is 720p or 480p, the picture quality will be beautiful. You can also use HDMI 1 to connect your gaming console (like PS3 or X-Box 360), which supports 1080p, and thus get a perfect image from that as well.
To explore each spec of BenQ TK800M separately, Read on!
Contrast Ratio
The BenQ TK800M 4k has a contrast ratio of 10000:1. It is an excellent contrast ratio and makes the colors extremely vivid and bright. It means that you will find the images very realistic in terms of color and sharpness. The ultra-refresh rate of 120Hz eliminates image blur.
Gaming Performance
With its low input lag, I found it a casual gaming projector. I tried my hand with Assassin’s Creed and Sea of Thieves, and the projector gave a smooth performance for both of them. The fan noise is unobstructed under the normal light mode, whether playing games or watching a movie.
Brightness/Lumens ANSI
You can easily adjust the brightness of the BenQ TK800M from 0 to 3000 lumens (ANSI). It is quite a lot, although not all of this light reaches your eyes, and the final brightness you see is about a quarter of that. I recommend not going for 3000 lumens, as watching the projected image in a completely darkened room can be quite tricky.
Brightness depends upon various factors such as the source type (film material or video game), color settings, contrast range, resolution, etc. A film pixel has 2000-5000 individual pixels and thus requires ambient light to project the image than a video game (which has around 200 million pixels).
Also, a film will have much darker scenes than a video game. So naturally, for films, I recommend using a brightness of about 3000 lumens, but when watching videos or playing games, you can use less brightness as well. However, you should use the projector in a completely dark room to get the most out of it and avoid eye strain.
I noticed a dim light border of around 2-inches when the image is adjusted at 100-inch screen size as a shadow border.
As far as the rainbow effect is concerned, it is common in single-chip DLP projectors.
Light Modes
The BenQ TK800M has highly usable light modes such as Cinema and Bright Cinema. The former provides higher color saturation (deep black) and lower brightness settings (500 lumens). At the same time, the latter provides better brightness and lower color saturation (greyish blacks). You can adjust these modes to suit your needs/tastes.
LampSave mode saves up to 15000 hours of lamp life to defer the lamp replacement requirements. While the Cinema mode presents an outstanding cinematic experience, the music mode offers immersive live music and concert experience.
3D Compatibility
The TK800M has a 3D-compatible active shutter glasses (ASG) mode for viewing 3D material (3D Blu-rays or 3D DVDs etc.). The BenQ TK800M supports 3D playback at 1080p resolution. It comes with a wireless remote control which has an extremely easy-to-use interface for navigating the menu.
Sound Quality
The projector also has two 10W speakers, which are average speakers and thus can be replaced with external ones if you want better audio quality and volume. The sensual sound quality at game mode is enjoyable. This BenQ projector is compatible with many other media streaming devices like Roku, Apple TV, and WDTV. It has a Kensington security slot for theft protection.
If you are looking for precise acoustic details, turn on the sport sound mode.
Design
The BenQ TK800M is a large projector. It is approximately 26.5 x 42.6 x 14 cm (height, width and depth). Its larger size has an extra optical zoom lens, which can help you get a huge screen out of this projector even if the wall or ceiling is not very large.
However, for a good viewing experience, I still recommend a minimum screen size of 13 feet wide and 9 feet high.
Also, this projector is made up of plastic which keeps the final price quite low so that even people with lower budgets can afford it. However, its design is very minimalistic, sleek, and professional-looking.
Set Up with Ease
Setting up this projector is relatively easy. You need to take it out of the box and plug in the power source (AC adapter). Then you need to plug in all HDMI sources, audio, and video cables. The initial setup is also straightforward; you need to follow the on-screen instruction from your PC/laptop.
It can easily align the images from various locations with its vertical keystone correction. You get a perfectly squared image elevating your movie-viewing experience.
Scale
The scale of the BenQ TK800M is perfect. The picture is sharp and clear, even from a distance of about 9 feet away. It makes it perfect for home theatre setups. Moreover, the best thing about this particular projector is that if you want to use it as a PC monitor for playing games or watching movies, you can move it right next to your PC monitor and still have a large screen size in front of you.
Portability
The BenQ TK800M weighs about 8.2lbs and thus is relatively lightweight. For carrying it around, you can buy a separate projector case to keep the unit in or use the heavy-duty handheld bag that comes with this projector (which I found pretty good).
However, I don’t mind carrying that extra load to get a high-performance projector like this one. It is also expensive, but it is worth every penny you spend on it if you are looking for top-notch picture quality and brightness settings (the best in its price range).
Connectivity
I like that it has an HDMI port for connecting gaming consoles (which have a resolution of 1080p) to project their images. There are also three input ports on the projector that can connect your computer, camera, or any other electronic device to project it.
It comes with a wireless remote control with different navigation buttons, changing sources, etc. The projector supports 3D video playback at 1080p resolution, and thus you can connect your 3D TV or 3D Blu-ray player to the projector and watch some 3D films on it.
Compatibility
The BenQ TK800M supports many different image formats, including MP4, AVI, MKV, MPEG2/4, etc. It is also compatible with many other media streaming devices like Roku, Apple TV, and WDTV; thus, you can connect these devices to the projector to watch media content on it.
It has a D-Sub port for connecting computers, but I found that not all computers had a compatible video card, which can put off some users looking for this feature in the projector.
Final Verdict
In conclusion, the BenQ TK800M is overall a great projector. Touted as a sports projector, it has incredible brightness and contrast ratios for watching movies compared to other projectors in this price range. It can be used in ambient light and dark rooms (depending on the setting) to offer exceptional big-screen entertainment.
The picture quality is crisp, and you would not need to adjust color settings manually unless you are viewing odd media content. I recommend you to buy it if you are looking for a high-quality video projector within your budget.
