Pros & Cons
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- 4K resolution (3,840 by 2,160) using TI's XPR fast-switch pixel shifting
- With Anti-RBE feature activated, virtually rainbow-free
- Supports Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG, Filmmaker mode, IMAX Enhanced, and Full HD 3D
- Triple laser technology delivers a wide color gamut (range of colors)
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- Anti-RBE feature raises the projector's noise level slightly
- Somewhat expensive
Valerion VisionMaster Max Specs
| Dimensions (HWD) | 7.3 by 10.2 by 9.2 inches |
| Engine Type | DLP |
| Inputs and Interfaces | Bluetooth |
| Inputs and Interfaces | eARC |
| Inputs and Interfaces | HDMI 2.0b |
| Inputs and Interfaces | HDMI 2.1 |
| Inputs and Interfaces | USB 2.0 |
| Inputs and Interfaces | USB 3.0 |
| Inputs and Interfaces | Wi-Fi |
| Maximum Resolution | 3840 by 2160 @ 120Hz, 1920 by 1080 @ 240Hz; HDR; Full HD 3D |
| Native Resolution | 3840 by 2160 using 1920 by 1080 DLP chip with XPR fast-switch pixel shifting |
| Rated Brightness | 2500 |
| Warranty | 2 |
| Weight | 17.6 |
The Valerion VisionMaster Max, the company's flagship model, delivers a combination of brightness and image quality that earns it our Editors' Choice award for a home-theater projector in its price class. But it stands out even more for what's missing, namely: the rainbow artifacts that most DLP-based projectors tend to show.
Until now, the only sure way to avoid these red/green/blue flashes was to choose a three-chip LCD model like the Epson LS12000, which is also one of our top picks for 4K home theater. The VisionMaster Max is directly competitive on this score, making it particularly interesting to those who can't stand looking at those flashes. Note also that although the Valerion technically lists for $4,999, its effective list price is $3,999, barring new tariffs or similar issues that might prompt a change. And while the brightness, image quality, and price make the VisionMaster Max a no-brainer for an Editors' Choice spot, the leap to a nearly rainbow-free image for a DLP projector earns it a rare five-star rating as a genuinely outstanding pick.
Engine Tech: A High-Quality Image, Virtually Rainbow-Free
As with most 4K projectors—and definitively unlike the LCD-based LS12000—the VisionMaster Max generates its 3,840-by-2,160-pixel image using a single 1080p DLP chip and TI's XPR fast-switch pixel-shifting. As with any single-DLP-chip model, it works in concert with a light source that rotates through the color primaries—red, green, and blue—that reflect off the chip's mirrors in sequence, one color at a time. Rainbow artifacts appear when different primaries fall on different parts of the retina—either because your eyes move or an object moves on screen—so instead of your brain integrating the three primaries into the color you're supposed to see, you wind up seeing the red, green, and blue components separately.
(Credit: M. David Stone)Some people are more sensitive than others to seeing these color breakups, but variables can make rainbows more or less likely to show for anyone. Increase the speed of the color rotation, for example—so each color is on screen for less time—and fewer people will see any red/green/blue flashes, while those prone to seeing them will see fewer (and they won't last as long). Valerion leverages these and other variables in its Anti-Rainbow Effect (Anti-RBE) technology, which the company claims eliminates "up to 99.99%" of rainbow artifacts.
In my tests, the Anti-RBE feature worked phenomenally well. I'm so sensitive to rainbow flashes that I've sometimes seen enough of them to find them annoying in projectors that other people consider rainbow-free. With the VisionMaster Max set to its factory default, which keeps the feature off, I saw them as well. But as soon as I turned Anti-RBE on, the flashes essentially stopped. In formal testing, which includes scenes we view because they tend to produce rainbows, I saw only two. In informal tests in my family room, I didn't see any.
It's possible you're more sensitive to these flashes than I am, and will see more. It's more likely, though, that you're less sensitive and will never see any. One thing's for sure, though: You'll see fewer with the VisionMaster Max than with any other DLP-based home theater projector I've tested. (Keep in mind that the company recently added its Anti-RBE feature to all of its other models, as well.)
(Credit: M. David Stone)One other note on the feature. Under the category of "there's no such thing as a free lunch," turning on Anti-RBE increases the projector's operating-noise level by just a touch. The difference is so slight that I don't think I would have noticed it if the menu hadn't warned about it, but I was raised near a highway with constant traffic noise and then lived for years in New York City street-facing apartments. For those who are far more sensitive to projector noise than I am, the higher noise level could conceivably be an issue in a home-theater setting. If so, you can usually address the problem by positioning the projector farther from the seating area.
More common strong points for the VisionMaster Max include its high brightness, rated at 3,500 ISO lumens, and its three-color laser-light source, rated at 110% the gamut of BT.2020 (aka Rec.2020)—the standard for 4K UHD projectors and TVs. The rated lifetime for the light source is 25,000 hours.
(Credit: M. David Stone)Design and Setup: All's Fair and Square
The 17.6-pound weight (about a pound more than the spec sheet shows) makes the VisionMaster Max best suited for permanent installation. (That's despite its near-cube shape, which it shares with typical room-to-room portable projectors.) I measured it at 7.5 by 10.25 by 9.1 inches (HWD), a few tenths of an inch different from the specs.
The setup process is mostly standard. The Android TV OS provides streaming, using either Wi-Fi or Ethernet for hooking up to your internet-connected network. There are also three HDMI ports, two USB ports, and support for mirroring phones, tablets, and PCs using AirPlay, Miracast, or Chromecast.
One particularly nice setup touch is the powered optical zoom and lens shift. Both offer a substantial enough range that you should be able to skip using any digital adjustments—notably digital zoom and keystone correction—that can introduce artifacts in some images. The optical zoom dips into short-throw territory at 0.9:1, and it goes as high as 1.5:1. The lens shift, in the vertical direction only, offers similar flexibility for adjusting the projector's height relative to the screen without tilting the projector and distorting the image. I measured the total shift at 105% of the image height, meaning that from the center position, I could move the image up or down by a bit more than 50%. That's enough flexibility in most setups to keep the projector pointed straight ahead.
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(Credit: M. David Stone)The usual assumption for home-theater models in this price range is that you'll have or get an external sound system that's far better than anything you can shoehorn into a projector case. Connection options for that include 3.5mm and S/PDIF ports, eARC support on one of the HDMI ports, and Bluetooth.
That said, the Max does offer an onboard sound system built around two 12-watt speakers and support for Dolby Audio, DTS:X, and DTS Virtual:X. In my tests, it delivered quite usable sound at high enough volume to fill a large family room.
Performance Testing: A Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow
The Max menus offer a wealth of settings, including seven SDR picture modes, seven HDR modes shared by HDR10 and HLG, and three Dolby Vision modes, letting you choose among only the three or seven modes that are appropriate for the current input. Both SDR and HDR menus include a Filmmaker preset, while the HDR list also includes one for IMAX. In addition, the 3D mode works with any SDR picture mode. Valerion says there's also a separate menu for HDR10+, but I wasn't able to find an HDR10+ source to connect to. (Most online sources support more than one version of HDR, and different projectors negotiate using different HDR versions with the same source.)
For those who want the best possible picture, there are more options than I can count for customizing each picture mode. You can even choose whether the settings you change apply to all sources or just the current source. That could enable you to customize a single picture mode differently for, say, your streaming input versus your cable box.
You also get a color-management system that allows a full calibration if you know how to do one, or are willing to pay someone to do it for you. However, there's little reason to bother with that. Depending on the picture mode, the color accuracy with default settings ranged from more than acceptable by most people's standards to definitively good.
(Credit: M. David Stone)Based on my preliminary tests, Theater and Filmmaker modes offered the best color accuracy for SDR, with little to no difference between them. The same was true for the two equivalent HDR modes. For both kinds of input, I chose Filmmaker for my formal tests, set frame interpolation (the Motion Enhancement menu choice) to Film, and adjusted black level correctly. (The default setting for both was just a touch high.) I also made some further adjustments to HDR, because the overall brightness was a little too low with default settings in scenes dominated by midtones. Setting Dark Detail to On, Active Contrast to Medium, and Dynamic tone mapping to High largely solved that problem.
After my adjustments, the Max offered excellent image quality across the board, and only minor differences between SDR and HDR versions of the same scenes on disc. Scenes dominated by midtones were still a little brighter overall with SDR, but they weren't enough darker for HDR to be an issue. Shadow detail may have held a touch better in HDR, but even the SDR version showed all the details that I know to look for in the dark scenes in our tests, and it would take a side-by-side comparison to be sure there was any difference.
(Credit: M. David Stone)The image for 3D input, using DLP-Link glasses, also earned high marks. I didn't see any crosstalk in my tests, and 3D-related motion artifacts were at the low end of the range for today's 3D projectors.
Image brightness is yet another strong point. Based on the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) recommendations for a dark room, 3,500 ANSI lumens is bright enough to light up a roughly 230-to-310-inch (diagonal), 1.0-gain, 16:9 screen in a dark room. For the notably lower-brightness picture mode I used, the Max was easily bright enough to light up my 135-inch screen. And in informal tests in my family room using the largest patch of blank painted wall I have available, it delivered a 115-inch image that stood up nicely at low to moderate levels of ambient light (meaning at night with lights on, and daytime on an overcast day). Spring for an ambient-light-rejection (ALR) screen, and the picture will stand up even better in daytime. (For more on ALR screens, see How to Choose the Right Screen for Your Projector.)
(Credit: M. David Stone)If you're concerned about rainbow artifacts despite the Anti-RBE feature, or about the laser speckle that tri-color laser projectors can show, keep in mind that how easily you see either varies from one person to the next, so our standard advice still applies. Buy from a source that allows free returns, so you can check out the projector for yourself.
Two final extras for gamers are support for Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), and a short input lag. My Bodnar 4K Lag Tester measured the lag at 17.6 milliseconds (ms) at 60Hz for both 1080p and 4K, 11.9ms for 1080p/120Hz, and 4.6ms for 1080p/240Hz.
Final Thoughts
(M. David Stone)
Valerion VisionMaster Max
File the Valerion VisionMaster Max under "Pricey, and worth it," thanks to its high brightness, its excellent image quality, and the fact that you'll rarely—if ever—see the rainbow artifacts that most other DLP-based projectors tend to show.