The Anker Nebula Capsule 3 ($549.99) is a little brother to the Anker Nebula Capsule 3 Laser, an Editors' Choice pick for 1080p mini projectors. Both share some key features, including a soda-can shape, a 1080p native resolution, and an onboard battery. But the Capsule 3 uses an LED light source rather than lasers, and it offers two-thirds the brightness rating for a bit more than two-thirds the list price. It also replaces Android TV with Google TV for streaming, and adds a licensed Netflix app. We still prefer the Capsule 3 Laser for its brighter image and better overall image quality, but the better streaming experience at a lower price will win over many people.

Design: Pop-Top Projector

The 1.9-pound Capsule 3 comes close to matching a 16-ounce soda can in height, at 4.7 inches, though it has a slightly larger volume at 2.7 inches in diameter. The lens and autofocus sensor that define the front, as well as the Power and Bluetooth speaker mode buttons in back, are all essentially flush with the surface, maintaining the cylindrical look.

Inside the case is the four-channel (red, green, and two blues) light source, rated at 30,000 hours, along with a 1080p DLP chip and an 8-watt speaker. As with most newer 1080p projectors, the Capsule 3 behaves like a 4K model in many ways, accepting up to 4K (3,840-by-2,160-pixel) 60Hz input, offering HDR10 support, and negotiating a 4K HDR connection by default in my tests. After downconverting the 4K HDR input to 1080p HDR, the image necessarily loses the fine detail that 4K offers, but it retains at least some of the advantages of HDR. (More on that later.)

(Credit: M. David Stone)

Setup involves optionally connecting an image source to the one HDMI port, turning the power on, and running through the standard Google TV setup, using Wi-Fi as the only choice for connecting to your internet-connected network. A big plus if you use Netflix is that the licensed app is already installed and worked without problems in my tests.

Note that in addition to controlling the projector through the remote, you can also use a control panel on the top surface, which lights up when you touch the top and turns off when you're not using it, so the light won't be distracting. You can also download an app to your mobile device for projector control, which is always worth doing when one is available in case you lose the remote.

The projector's autofocus and automatic horizontal and vertical keystone features all worked swimmingly in my tests, which means that after moving the projector, you can quickly go from turning on the power to viewing. As tempting as the automatic setup is to use, however, it's always best to turn off the keystone adjustments and also avoid using the manual keystone and digital zoom if you can. Digital adjustments can introduce artifacts and—more important for a projector that claims a maximum brightness of only 200 lumens—lower image brightness.

(Credit: M. David Stone)

The only automatic setup feature I left on for my tests was autofocus. I was able to improve it just a bit by focusing manually, but not by enough to notice from a normal viewing distance. With either auto or manual focus, the image was just a bit soft for the 1080p resolution, which was obvious with text but not really a problem for casual movie and TV viewing.

The 8-watt speaker delivers robust audio for the size and weight class, with good sound quality for a portable projector and high enough volume to fill a medium or large family room. For higher quality and higher volume, you can connect an external sound system using the 3.5mm stereo output, the HDMI port's ARC support, or Bluetooth. You can also put the projector in Bluetooth speaker mode to use it as a speaker for other devices.

Testing the Nebula Capsule 3: Decent SDR, Better HDR

The Capsule 3 offers three predefined picture modes that can't be adjusted, plus a Custom mode with settings for contrast, color saturation, sharpness, color temp, wall color, and gamma. A standard brightness setting for adjusting the black level is missing. (The Capsule 3 does have a setting labeled Brightness, but that's for changing the brightness of the LEDs by adjusting power.)

As is common, the brightest picture mode has a noticeable green tint. However, most people will consider the colors tolerable if they need the extra brightness to make the image viewable in higher ambient light. I chose Movie mode for my viewing tests, which offered the best color accuracy.

(Credit: M. David Stone)

In my 1080p SDR viewing tests with lights off, the Capsule 3 offered reasonable image quality for its price and brightness. Color accuracy was good enough for most people to consider acceptable, and most brightly lit scenes offered solid contrast. However, the image lost enough shadow detail to make it hard to see what was happening in the darkest scenes in our test suite. Most movies and videos have few or no scenes dark enough for this to be an issue, but it would make the night-battle episode of Game of Thrones almost unwatchable.

Very much on the plus side, the Capsule 3 did a much better job with the HDR versions of the same movies on disc, which also translates to handling HDR better than most 1080p projectors that claim HDR support. Rather than making brighter scenes noticeably dimmer in the HDR versions—which much of its competition tends to do—the Capsule 3 maintained the overall brightness of the image, so color accuracy and contrast in those scenes were similar in both SDR and HDR versions.

(Credit: M. David Stone)

More important, unlike many projectors in this price range, the Capsule 3 delivers on HDR's promise of maintaining shadow detail well, making it easy to see what was happening in the HDR versions of our darkest scenes. In short, where much of the competition that offers HDR support is best suited for SDR only, the Capsule 3 actually takes advantage of HDR to improve the picture quality. This projector offers no 3D support.

(Credit: M. David Stone)

As with any single-chip DLP projector, the Capsule 3 may exhibit the red/green/blue flashes known as rainbow artifacts. I saw a few in my testing, but they were infrequent enough that you may not see any if you're not sensitive to them. If you're concerned about the issue, you'll appreciate that the Capsule 3 comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee when bought from authorized resellers and distributors, so you can test it for yourself.

The input lag is easily short enough for casual gaming, at least for 4K/60Hz input, which I measured with my Bodnar meter at 28.8 milliseconds (ms). The Capsule 3 didn't sync with the meter at 1080p/60Hz in my tests (although it had no problem syncing with any other source), so I couldn't measure it. However, the lag for 1080p at any given refresh rate is usually equal to or shorter than the lag at 4K, so it's likely at least as short at 1080p.

(Credit: M. David Stone)

According to the Society for Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), 200 ANSI lumens should deliver a comfortably bright image in a dark room for a 55-to-74-inch, 1.0-gain screen. I tend to prefer the brighter image at the smaller size of the range and settled on 54 inches as my preferred image size with the settings I used. At that size, the image also stood up to a low level of ambient light when I turned on a floor lamp in the room. In a room with windows on a moderately bright day, I settled on a 30-inch image in full power mode for movies with moderately dark scenes, though you can easily choose a bigger size for brightly lit material, like a football game.

Verdict: A Solid Choice for its Size and Brightness Class

The Capsule 3 is a top contender if you're looking for a portable projector that can give you a bigger image wherever you set it down than any TV you can conveniently carry. We'd like it even better if it were brighter, but then it would be its big brother, the Capsule Laser 3—slightly heavier, more expensive, and our Editors' Choice pick for best image quality for a portable streaming projector in its weight class. If you're considering either, also take a look at the Xgimi Halo+, our Editors' Choice pick for high brightness in the same category.

When comparing these choices, keep in mind that although either alternative to the Capsule 3 will give you a brighter picture at any given image size, they both use Android TV rather than the newer Google TV, and neither offers a licensed Netflix app, which is a major issue if Netflix is one of your go-to streaming sources. The Capsule 3 offers both. If it's bright enough for your needs, that could be enough to make it your preferred choice, and, as a bonus, it's the least expensive of the three models as well.