Resembling nothing so much as an oversize white brick, the LG Portable LED Projector with Smart TV and Magic Remote PF1500 ($899.99) is indeed a projector. However, it's just as much a small, light, big-screen TV, complete with a tuner and LG's Smart TV features. As a TV, it's unusually small and light, because it uses a projector for its display. Add in the near-excellent image quality, and the PF1500 stands out as a big-screen HDTV you can carry in one hand.

LG actually offers several products that marry TV to projector. Many share a family resemblance with each other, but the PF1500 invites comparisons, in particular, to the less-expensive LG Compact Pebble Design Smart Minibeam Projector PW800, which is also portable, and the pricier LG Minibeam Ultra Short Throw Projector with Smart TV (PF1000U), which is our Editors' Choice premium home-entertainment projector.

Compared with the LG PW800, the PF1500 is bigger and about two pounds heavier, making it a little less portable. It's also brighter and offers higher resolution, at 1080p instead of the LG PW800's 720p. Compared with the LG PF1000U, which is not particularly portable, it delivers the same resolution, but lacks some features, including 3D and the ultra-short throw that lets the LG PF1000U project a large image from close to the screen. In most other ways, the two offer substantially the same features, making the PF1500 nearly as capable at a lower price.

Basics and Brightness
The PF1500 is built around a 1080p (1,920-by-1,080) DLP chip paired with red, green, and blue LEDs as a light source. Unfortunately, its brightness level isn't clear. LG rates it as "up to" 1,400 lumens, but adds the hedge that the rating is based on "perceived brightness equivalent to brightness of...[a]...lamp projector," which is to say, it's not really 1,400 lumens in an objective, measureable sense. I asked LG what the 1,400-lumen equivalent claim is based on, but have not received an answer as of this writing.

My subjective sense of the brightness is consistent with what I would expect with about 600 lumens—which is also what I got with a quick and dirty reality-check measurement. According to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) recommendations, 1,400 lumens should be bright enough in theater-dark lighting for a 146- to 198-inch image (measured diagonally), using a 1.0-gain screen. It would be too bright for extended viewing with the 90-inch image I used. However, a slightly lower brightness than 600 lumens would be in the right range for that image size.

With the light level typical for a living room at night with lights on, 600 lumens would be appropriate for roughly a 63-inch image (measured diagonally), which also matches the size I settled on with ambient light. You can use larger sizes as well, but the image looks a little washed out.

The TV Part
As with the LG PF1000U, the PF1500's built-in TV tuner and LG Smart TV are defining features that help set it apart from most projectors. Connect a coaxial cable from an antenna or other RF-video source, and you can use the PF1500 to surf TV channels. Connect it to a network using an Ethernet cable or the built-in Wi-Fi, and—assuming your network is connected to the Web—you can stream video from an assortment of providers, including Netflix, Vudu, and YouTube. You can also use Google Maps, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as use the built-in browser to download more apps from LG SmartWorld.

If you connect the projector to a network, you can stream video or audio from any network-connected DLNA device. And, of course, as with any TV or projector, if you connect it to a cable box or the equivalent, you can watch anything you can choose on the cable box.

Setup
The PF1500 weighs 3 pounds 5 ounces and measures 3.3 by 5.2 by 8.7 inches (HWD). Physical setup is standard fare, with a manual focus and a 1.1x zoom.

In addition to the Ethernet and coaxial connectors, the PF1500 offers two HDMI ports, one of which is MHL enabled; two USB Type A ports; and both mini jack and optical audio outputs. The USB ports let you read files directly from a USB memory key, as well as connect a mouse and keyboard to control the projector menus or interact with the smart TV features.

There's also an AV-in port for either of two supplied adapters. Each offers three RCA phono plugs on its other end, with one wired for component video, and the other for composite video and stereo audio. For wireless connections, the choices include both Wi-Fi for connecting to a network and Wi-Fi Direct, plus support for both Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) and Miracast.

Image Quality
The PW1500's image quality for video is near excellent overall. In my tests, color balance in particular was excellent in all predefined modes, with suitably neutral grays at all levels from black to white. I didn't see any posterization (shading changing suddenly where it should change gradually), and the projector did a fantastic job with color quality and shadow detail (details based on shading in dark areas). The noise-reduction feature also did a good job of eliminating noise on screen, although at high settings it also made the image look a little soft.

See How We Test Projectors

It helps a lot that the PW1500 shows relatively few rainbow artifacts (red-green-blue flashes), which are always a concern for single-chip DLP projectors. I saw them infrequently enough in my tests that few people are likely to find them bothersome even if they see them easily, as I do.

The menus also offer a wealth of settings you can tweak as needed. The default setting for frame interpolation is too high for my taste, for example, creating a distracting digital-video effect. Turning it off leaves obvious judder (the jerkiness inherent in material filmed at 24 frames per second). However, it didn't take me long to find a setting that smoothes the judder without making a movie or filmed TV show look like a soap opera.

Unfortunately, it takes more steps to get to the menu options than with most projectors. And with most settings, the menu is hiding more than half of the screen, so you can't see the effect of each change as you make it. However, these are only minor annoyances, and they only matter when you're actually adjusting settings.

Audio, Lag Time, and the Magic Remote
The PW1500's stereo sound system is another plus, with its pair of 3-watt speakers offering reasonably good sound quality and enough volume to fill a typical family room. If you would rather use an external audio system, you can connect it to either of the audio outputs or via Bluetooth.

I measured the lag time, using a Leo Bodnar Video Signal Input Lag Tester at 70 milliseconds (ms), which works out to a little more than 4 frames at 60 frames per second. If you want to play games that depend on reaction time, that's long enough to matter. Otherwise, this won't be an issue.

Also worth mention is the Magic Remote, which is actually an air mouse. If you've never used an air mouse, it can take some getting used to, since controlling the mouse pointer on screen is a little tricky, but I've found that the more I use products with an air mouse, the easier it is to use.

Conclusion
Unless you need a projector that's also a TV, take a look at the Epson Home Cinema 2040 3D 1080p 3LCD Projector, our Editors' Choice 1080p, 3D home-entertainment projector. If having built-in TV features are a key requirement, consider the LG PW800 or the PF1000. The former is more portable. Compared with those two, however, the LG Portable LED Projector with Smart TV and Magic Remote PF1500 is a strong contender. It's almost as portable as the LG PW800, but more capable, and almost as good as the LG PF1000, but less expensive.