AWOL LTV-3500 Pro Review: So Bright, So Expensive

Projectors could be a distinct segment possibility to your lounge, if solely as a result of they usually require plenty of particular care that typical TVs don’t—like a separate reflective display, darkish curtains or rooms with no home windows, and complex ceiling mount methods. The AWOL LTV-3500 Professional doesn’t remove these issues completely, however it considerably shifts the steadiness of these trade-offs. That comes at a value, although.

The AWOL LTV 3500 Professional is a small improve over the LTV-3500 (7/10, WIRED Review), which I appreciated once I reviewed it in 2022. The newer model provides help for Dolby Imaginative and prescient and Control4 good residence integration, however is in any other case largely the identical because the older mannequin. (In the event you store used, you would possibly be capable of discover the unique LTV-3500, however the Professional is what most retailers are promoting now.)

Like its predecessor, the LTV-3500 Professional makes an attempt to justify its value level by being the very best it may be at completely every little thing. Since it is a short-throw projector, it is easy to arrange by simply placing it on an leisure unit (though it may be mounted to a ceiling). It offers glorious, excessive distinction HDR image high quality, and it might venture as much as a 150-inch display in full 4K readability. If you are going to spend this a lot on a projector, chances are you’ll as properly get your cash’s price.

Readability in Broad Daylight

Probably the most notable facet of the LTV-3500 Professional is how impressively brilliant it’s. The projector is rated at 3,500 ANSI lumens—for comparability, our high-end pick in our projector guide clocks in at solely 2,700 lumens. In sensible phrases, which means I used to be capable of see the picture clearly even on the bottom brightness setting, and with ambient lights turned on.

In my testing, I’d watch films and play video games in my lounge, which has a big, sliding glass door that faces the dawn. With the blinds absolutely open, the image can be slightly washed out, which is to be anticipated. Nevertheless, with the blinds closed, even with important gentle bleed from the home windows spilling in across the sides of the blinds, I may comfortably watch reveals or play video games and nearly overlook that I wasn’t watching on a typical panel TV.

If something, the brightness was nearly too overwhelming. As soon as, whereas having a visitor over, we sat speaking on the sofa within the night. We paused the present we might began watching on Netflix to speak and let it sit for some time. Then Netflix began to cycle by a slideshow of promos for its different reveals, and when one with a predominantly white background appeared, it felt like an angel from heaven confirmed up, blasting our eyes with blinding gentle and telling us to be not afraid. Ultimately, my visitor requested me to easily flip the projector off.

I ought to be aware that I doubt this shall be a lot of an issue for most individuals. I used to be utilizing the projector in a somewhat small lounge, and as such was probably sitting means too near the display for its dimension. Think about sitting within the entrance row of a movie show, for instance. In the event you plan to place this in a small house, you would possibly need to use the bottom brightness setting or place the projector to make the display as small as attainable. That leads us to the second most notable facet of this projector.

Large Display, Minimal House

Each time I had company over, they’d instantly ask the identical query upon seeing the display: “The place’s the projector?” Most projectors require mounting behind the sofa or on the ceiling, however the LTV-3500 Professional sits straight on a typical TV stand—a feat that just one different projector in our Best Projectors guide can pull off—and tasks a picture straight up onto the wall.

How giant the display shall be relies upon closely on how far you may put the projector away from the wall—which, in my testing, was more durable than it sounds. To get a 120-inch display (the utmost is 150 inches), I needed to put my leisure unit a couple of foot away from the wall and then place the projector as far to the very fringe of my leisure unit as I may whereas nonetheless balancing it safely.