2017 Holiday Guide to Four Great Home Theater Projectors Over $2000 - Part 3

On this page, we have an awesome ultra short throw bright room projector, and a true 4K projector to rival your local theater's quality!

The ViewSonic LS820 ultra short throw projector can go right from under your Christmas tree to under your screen in your living room or family room. UST simply means that the projector sits directly below (or above) your screen, so it connects to your gear as easily as any LCDTV (rather than being further back in the room, or ceiling mounted). An added bonus is that unlike most projectors, no one walks between the projector and the screen to block the picture.

ViewSonic’s LS820 is one of a new breed of UST home entertainment and home theater projectors designed to work at your place, in typical rooms, and not dedicated home theaters and basement caves.

With a street price of about $2,999 (Minimum Advertised Price), and a list price of $3,439, the LS820 packs a wallop with 3,500 lumens under the hood.

The LS820’s claims to fame not only include being exceptionally bright, but using a laser light engine, which will hold brightness for years with little loss (compared to lamps which start losing brightness on day one, with brightness dropping noticeably in a matter of months of frequent use). The LS820, I should mention, claims 15,000 hours on their laser engine, and that’s at full power – 20,000 hours in Eco mode. Technology will be much further advanced before you get near wearing out this projector’s laser (15,000 hours – 7.5 years at 40 hours a week!).

As we always recommend, if you are going to take a projector like this LS820 into a room with a fair amount of ambient light, your best results will be to pair it with what’s called an ALR – or ambient light rejecting – screen. There are a number of manufacturers offering them these days, however, for simplicity, ViewSonic itself offers two – choose either a 100” or a 120” diagonal. We wrote a little about their 100” version, the BCP100 screen, in our other Holiday Guide. Should you need a different size, companies like Screen Innovations, Elite, and Da-Lite all make that type of screen.

ViewSonic projectors have won numerous awards in reviews and reports over the years.  Most of those relate to value. ViewSonic are the folks that brought out the first under-$1000 1080p projector for the home, when most of the competition was just bringing out models for twice that. Part of that value proposition that I fully expect to apply to this LS820, is a great warranty – better than just about all the competition – three year parts and labor, with a 1^st year rapid replacement program (you must register your projector for the replacement program aspect – a reasonable request by ViewSonic).

The ViewSonic LS820 may well be the best performing and value UST projector for the home, combining the laser engine, which provides superior color, with tons of brightness, and the promise of respectable black level performance.

I can’t wait to set one up here and put it through its paces, of course, by then, you’ll probably already be watching football, TV and movies on yours. I trust that Santa would be proud to have one of these in his family room up at the Pole.

The Sony VPL-VW885ES lives for 4K HDR content and BT.2020 expanded color. Oh, it looks great and really sharp on normal 1080i and 1080p content, but pops in Passengers, or Ghostbusters 2016, or Hunger Games: MockingJay Part 1, and it will blow you away.  I’m talking the great color and the highly dynamic picture with excellent black level performance. A.K.A: This Sony is the whole package!

So, if you are lucky, you’ll find that package under your Christmas tree or Hanukah bush.

I must confess, in the past two years, there has only been one projector to set foot in my home theater that surpassed this Sony. And that, of course, was the visit from Sony’s VW5000ES – their $60,000 flagship home theater projector. It, too, is a laser projector, but with twice the VW885ES’s 2500 lumens.

Think of the VW885ES as a bargain. Better than movie theater picture quality, yet you can own it for five years for less than fully featured Toyota Camry.

I certainly would much rather have the VW885ES under my tree and a BMW 3 series in my garage, than a BMW 5 series in the garage and some tiny 50 or 70 inch LCDTV in my home. If you agree, you might point that out to your partner before they make the wrong shopping decision when the big holiday car sales promotions start showing up!

‘Tis the season to be immersed – in amazing movies, in your home, thanks to the Sony VPL-VW885ES laser projector.

That’s a wrap for our 2017 Holiday Guide to Four Great Home Theater Projectors Over $2000! With four excellent choices, ranging from the affordable to the ultra-high-end, you’re sure to find the right fit for your home theater this holiday season! No more watching on a sub-par projector or worse, an LCD TV.

Give yourself, or a loved one, the gift of home theater! Nothing says “I love you” more than excellent black levels…

If you found these projectors to be a bit above your budget, or are simply, a curious person, check out our 2017 Holiday Guide to Six Home Theater Projectors Under $2000. This guide features six projectors that can handle rooms with less than ideal conditions, ranging from the low price of $499 to $1,999 for a 4K capable projector!

Happy Holidays from Projector Reviews!