BenQ projectors often focus on features of particular interest to video enthusiasts, so it's no surprise that the $3,499 BenQ V7050i, the company's first ultra-short-throw (UST) 4K laser-phosphor model, delivers good color accuracy straight out of the box. It also delivers on HDR's promise of offering more realistic color and generally improved visual impact than SDR, which isn't always true for projectors that support HDR. During tests, however, more-frequent rainbow artifacts were evident than typical with this type of projector. Some people won't care about that, but it could be a deal-breaker for those who see these artifacts easily and find them bothersome.

Android TV, But Not Integrated

Like many laser-based 4K UST projectors, the BenQ V7050i includes support for Android TV. But unlike the $2,699 Wemax Nova or the $2,499 Xgimi Aura, which is our Editors' Choice winner for entry-level 4K UST laser projectors, the feature comes as an HDMI dongle rather than being fully integrated. The dongle requires its own remote, which can get a little cumbersome, and has Android TV 9, rather than the newer 10.

The V7050i measures 6.2 by 19 by 15.2 inches (HWD)  and weighs 22 pounds. It's built around a laser-phosphor light source and a single 1,920-by-1,080 DLP chip that uses TI's fast-switch pixel shifting to put 3,840 by 2,160 pixels on screen. The UST lens is designed to throw an image as large as 123 inches diagonally, without distortion, from a distance that ranges from 4.3 inches for an 80-inch screen to 13.1 inches for a 123-inch screen. BenQ rates the life of the light source at 20,000 hours in the projector's SmartEco power mode.

One unusual, and welcome, touch is a panel that serves as a dust cover for the lens. It automatically slides out of the way when you turn the projector on and slides back over the lens when you turn it off.

Setup requires little more than connecting the power cord, plugging in the Android TV dongle, and optionally connecting a video device to the one remaining HDMI port. The manual powered focus is easy to control for a crisp, sharp image. As is typical for UST models, there's no optical zoom. The Android TV setup is standard, with the dongle supporting only Wi-Fi for connection to your network.

BenQ recommends a diagonal image size for the V7050i of 80 to 123 inches, but the price advantage over a flat-screen TV doesn't really kick in at sizes below much below 100 inches. I used a 110-inch screen in my tests, putting the projector not quite 11 inches from the screen. Using the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) recommendations, 2,500 lumens is more than enough to light up the largest recommended screen in a dark room. In moderate ambient light, it's suitable for a 120-inch diagonal, 16:9 image on a 1.0 gain screen.

The two 5-watt virtual surround sound speakers deliver usable sound quality and volume, but if you're investing this much in a projector and more in a large screen, you'll definitely want to take advantage of the S/PDIF audio output to connect a far more robust external audio system.

1080p SDR Looks Good; 4K HDR Looks Better

Straight out of the box, the V7050i delivered strong color accuracy by all but the highest standards. In our formal tests, I noticed some colors were a little off, but none was obvious enough to notice unless you're as familiar with the images you're viewing as I am with our test suite. I didn't notice any color errors when viewing content from streaming sources. For those who insist on truly excellent accuracy, however, the V7050i has a color-management system for full-fledged calibration. There's also a frame-interpolation option for smoothing motion, which can improve the look of live or recorded video. However, most people prefer the way filmed material looks with the feature turned off.

For 1080p SDR input, the V7050i offers four predefined color modes, plus a User mode. All can be customized. For my viewing tests, I used Bright Cinema, which had the most constantly accurate color and the best shadow detail in my preliminary tests using default settings.

In addition to impressive color accuracy, dark scenes projected by the V7050i had good contrast and a sense of three-dimensionality. With a fair amount of ambient light, it lost some shadow detail, and black wasn't as dark as it should be in a dark room, but that will be the case with any projector. More important is that the dark scenes maintained their dramatic visual impact in the dark and with low light levels, while also being bright enough for me to make out what was going on even in brighter ambient light.

For HDR10 input, the V7050i has two predefined modes. In my tests, using the HDR10 mode, it delivered nicely on HDR's promise. In a comparison to the same movies on 1080p SDR discs, the 4K HDR versions delivered even more natural, nicely saturated color; darker blacks; better contrast; more shadow detail; and a more dramatic visual impact. For HLG HDR, the projector has a single mode.

The V7050i supports Full HD 3D, using DLP-Link glasses. In my tests I didn't see any crosstalk, but 3D-related motion artifacts were more obvious than I've seen with many current-generation projectors. The one 3D mode was also far dimmer than the 2D modes.

Gamers should keep in mind that BenQ didn't design the projector for gaming. It wouldn't sync with my Bodnar meter to let me measure lag time, but BenQ rates the lag at 83ms at 1080p 60Hz, and 70ms at 4K 60Hz.

As already mentioned, I saw rainbow artifacts (flashes of red, green, and blue) more frequently with the V7050i than with most 4K UST laser projectors. If you don't see these artifacts easily or don't find them annoying, this won't be an issue, but for those who find them bothersome, this could make the difference between putting the projector high on your shortlist and ruling it out entirely. Even more than with most DLP projectors, if you have any concerns about rainbow artifacts, buy the V7050i from a dealer that accepts returns without a restocking fee so you can test it out for yourself.

I also ran into a problem with the projector sometimes refusing to turn off, forcing me to unplug it, and another problem with repeatedly losing sync with my Blu-ray player, blanking the screen for several seconds before it resynced. The sync problem disappeared when I removed the Android TV dongle or disconnected the USB cable that powered it, and it may be limited to my specific model of Blu-ray player (a Samsung UBD-K8500), since it did not show up with other video devices in my tests. At this writing, BenQ has not been able to replicate either issue and is still looking into both.

One for Your Short List, if You're Over the Rainbow

If image quality were the only criterion that mattered, the V7050i would be a strong contender for our Editors' Choice award. However, it's a little short on ease of use, with only a single free HDMI port after plugging in the Android TV dongle, no Ethernet port for those who prefer wired connections to Wi-Fi, and two remotes to juggle.

For tighter budgets, the Wemax Nova, the Xgimi Aura (our Editors' Choice winner for casual viewing), and the $2,999.99 JMGO U2 all deliver image quality that's noticeably lower, but still good enough by most people's standards, with the hedge that the Wemax Nova is best reserved for streaming and live video. Both it and the Xgimi Aura offer fully integrated Android TV, Ethernet ports, and more free HDMI ports than the V7050i. Note also that the JMGO U2 has a particularly impressive sound system for a projector.

That said, the BenQ V7050i's higher cost is well worth it for those with a more demanding eye. Its image quality out of box is a big step up from any of these less-expensive choices, and you can calibrate it to make it even better. If you're in the market for a  4K UST laser projector and are happy to pay a little extra for a more beautifully rendered image, the BenQ V7050i is a must-see.