BenQ’s $2499 HT5550 4K UHD projector is really the BenQ that I’ve been waiting for (2-3 years?) No, it isn’t a 2-year-old projector, it has just started shipping about a month or so ago, relative to this HT5550 review going live. It certainly fits into the BenQ line-up as a potential star performer. The HT5550 is a serious home theater, not home entertainment!

Some Background leading up to the new BenQ HT5550 

BenQ has long done well in the home entertainment projector space, but perhaps their best success in terms of home projectors has been a long-running sequence of models that started about a decade ago with the W1070, (and several since) a low cost 1080p projector that simply handled color and picture quality better than any of the other DLPs near the price. We long recommended that series as the best “entry-level” home theater choice.

Going about that far back though, BenQ also had their W6000 a favorite of mine. The W6000 and its successors, the W7000, W7500, etc. were in my book the best home theater choices for more serious than entry-level – they had a good dynamic iris, so were the projectors that could best compete with the Epson UB projectors of their day.

Well, folks, the W6000 series successor is here in the form of the HT5550.  It gets a W designation overseas where it is the BenQ W5700. The similarities to the older series are obvious: Dynamic iris for improved dark scene/black level performance), a zoom with a good amount of range (1.6:1 zoom), and a moderate amount of lens shift. This new HT5550 also has a 1.6:1 zoom and a healthy amount of lens shift for placement flexibility. Unlike those predecessors, though the HT5550 is a 4K UHD projector, not a basic 1080p. True, it uses 1920x1080px4 pixel shifting, but that’s what we call 4K UHD – not to be confused with real, native 4K – which costs a whole lot more.

And the HT5550 serves up some pretty darn good color, an area BenQ has long emphasized. The HT5550 is part of their Cinematic series.

The BenQ HT5550 is a definite step up from their HT3550 and the 3550's brighter twin - the TK800M. Both of those are 4K UHD projectors that sell for well under $1500. By comparison, the HT5550 is going to cost you something over $2000. This is a completely different projector than those lower-cost ones. A better lens with more range, better black levels, and it even seems to be a fair amount quieter.

This BenQ is most about performance. It excels there, even if, it is a bit thin, when it comes to features. Consider:

While it has good placement flexibility it lacks motorized lens features and lens memory, so you’ll be choosing a 16:9 HDTV shaped screen to match up with it, unlike some alternatives like Epson’s HC4010 and HC5050UB, or even JVC’s much more expensive ($3999 list) DLA-RS540. Those guys have all motorized features making them great for choosing a Cinemascope type widescreen. Movie fanatics will typically prefer a widescreen setup because most movies are widescreen. (True, a lot of for TV streaming movies are 16:9) but almost all Hollywood releases are widescreen, except for some animation.

If you don’t want/need features like that, this BenQ is a top candidate for the best bang for the bucks in terms of picture quality. You can find great color elsewhere too (Epson, Sony, others) for $2000 or under, but not combined with impressive black level performance.

And let me also say, that the BenQ HT5550’s 4K with HDR performance was a bit of a surprise (a pretty good surprise). But I won’t spoil that here – only in the Picture Quality and Summary pages.

Keep on reading!  Next are our Special Features pages which go over some unique and some not so unique abilities.  Then find two Hardware pages, covering the physical projector and the menus.  We look at the lens placement, inputs and more.

Two Picture Quality pages follow - discussing how good the HT5550 is  "right out of the box," how it handles skin tones, and how it performs in terms of black levels, shadow detail, handling HDR content, 1080p movies and the usual HDTV and Sports.  Performance talks about how bright the projector measured (vs claim), how brightness is effected by power mode, and projector placement (lens zoom).

Almost done:  Eric serves up two calibration pages with the settings he came up with, and that is followed by my usual Summary with a brief section on the competition.

Brief in this case, because I plan to do a full comparison between the HT5550 and it's toughest but a bit more expensive, competitor, the HC5050UB.  This BenQ, and that Epson are my two fav under $3000 projectors!  It's that simple.  (If you have the budget for either, we'll help you figure out which will work best in your world!  -art

Scott managed to get his hands on –the new BenQ HT5550, even before I could.  That's a bit unusual, that one of my reviewers gets a crack at a home theater projector before I do.  -art

We will be publishing our full HT5550 review in the upcoming two weeks or so.  In the meantime, I asked for Scott's feedback since he's been playing with his for a bit.  I'll let Scott tell you his impressions with me throwing in my two cents, to add a second perspective – not from reviewing the HT5550, but from having seen it previously.  Take it away, Scott:

A little background: I recently reviewed the BenQ HT3550 and I gave that model very high marks on its ability to create a bright and vibrant HDR image. While I enjoyed 4K HDR on last year's TK800 (among other models) because of its brute force handling of HDR with high brightness, the HT3550's handling of HDR actually made me turn into a 4K HDR snob. I called it the "among the best projectors I've seen at handling 4K HDR material". This was due in large part to it's auto-tone-mapping, or in other words, "making HDR look good on any scene". As a result, I've spent hundreds since then on updating my libraries to 4K HDR. After taking delivery of all that 4K content, then spending a fair amount of time with the HT5550, I'm sad to report that the future is bleak on my wallet as it relates to the money I spend on movies…simply because HDR is even better on the BenQ HT5550.

Compared to its little brother, the HT3550, the HT5550 offers a larger and more refined black chassis (handsome), an upgraded 11-element 6-group lens (focus uniformity!), and an upgraded RGBRGB color wheel that sports their ‘Precision Pure-Color Coating'.

The main benefit of this color coating is its ability to help the projector reach up to a claimed 95% coverage of the very good DCI-P3 color space WITHOUT the need for a filter! Sure, folks will enjoy the 100% P3 color coverage the ‘Wide Color Gamut' filter provides, but that extra 5% of color performance comes at the cost of 40% of the light output. The true feat of this projector is its PHENOMENAL factory calibrated color right out of the box, no filter required. 

The BenQ HT5550's placement flexibility is very good. It has a generous 1.36 ~ 2.18 throw ratio, which works out to a 1.6x zoom, and a near-best-in-DLP-class 60% +/- vertical and +/- 23% horizontal lens shift. There won't be many setups the HT5550 won't be able to accommodate.  

Art's note:  There are some limitations in terms of placement, despite offering far more flexibility than any other 4K capable DLP projector near the price.  Consider:  The 1.6:1 manual zoom lens provides a lot of placement range, but, it is very unlikely that you will be able to place the BenQ far enough back to sit high on a rear shelf, a feat many 3LCD and LCoS projectors have no trouble doing because o 2.0:1 or greater zoom lenses.  A couple of those do cost less than the HT5550, but most cost from a little to a lot more expensive.  

The other limitation is that the lens and shift are manual, not zoom.  That means no Lens Memory.  This is a projector likely to be ceiling mounted, and that means no option to own/use a  Cinemascope "widescreen" (like I have in my theater). To switch back and forth from Cinemascope to HDTV's 16:9, you would have to get up, manually adjust the zoom, manually adjust the vertical lens shift (and maybe refocus).  Now that might work if you are 6 foot 6 inches and have this projector mounted to an 8-foot ceiling, but, at 5 foot 8 inches tall, I need a step ladder to reach the controls of my ceiling mounted projectors (8-foot ceiling).  Definitely not practical to go widescreen. 

The HT5550 sports TI's newer .47" 4K DLP chip. This eliminates the dreaded gray border of last year's .47" DLP crop. This chip has a native 1920x1080 micromirror array that uses a 1080x4 ‘wobulation' to put a 4K image with 8.3 million uniquely represented pixels on the screen. The result is impressive and among the sharpest, I've seen from these 1080p ‘shifters'. It also carries on the HT3550 tradition of natively handling 24hz content. No 3:2 pulldown here through a bit of ingenuity on BenQ's engineering team. Motion is very smooth. 

Good brightness and better than most contrast are key abilities. I was pleasantly surprised to get 1,400 lumens in a mode you can leave it in 100% of the time. Contrast is also decent for a DLP with help from the onboard dynamic Iris. While not inky blacks like a JVC or even the recently launched Epson 5050UB, contrast, and black levels are well above average for the 4K DLP crop

Other bits you should know the HT5550 include full 3D support, USB firmware upgradability, CFI capability in both 1080p and 4K and HLG support for streaming HDR online. (Art's note:  Epson's major competition, the HC5050UB does CFI on 1080 content but not 4K content)

Gamers will also be pleased to know that the HDMI 2.0 chipset supports a fun 18gbps bitrate for 4K HDR gaming at 60 frames per second.  However, although the 58ms input lag will be fine for many casual gamers, it may deter the more discerning FPS gamer from this unit. We would have liked to see input lag of half of that, which would have made the HT5550 a serious gaming projector that would have satisfied most hardcore players.  Under 30ms is very good.  Under 18 is great.  At 58ms, that's borderline for many serious players.  For perspective, 58ms was about the speed of older Epson UB projectors but Epson's latest models are hitting the market with under 30ms times.   BenQ will no doubt lose some potential buyers who hardcore gamers, but the average gamer should be satisfied, even if they notice it is a touch slow.   This is unlike projectors pushing 80+ ms or higher, (BenQ has some slower projectors) which most gamers should avoid.

Scott’s Bottom Line:  Priced at $2,499 at launch, BenQ's new HT5550 is a bold entry into the $2k-$3.5k projector market. It is a niche that BenQ has not had an entry for a very long time.  That itself is interesting.  Projector Reviews has long been impressed with BenQ's HT projectors.  The true predecessors to the HT5550 included the W6000, W7000 and W7500, three projectors that we have always liked.  Most of them have received one of our Best In Class awards in the $2000 - $3500 range over the years.   That thanks to very good color, placement flexibility, and respectable black levels – with the black level performance thanks to a good dynamic iris.

I love the fact that we have another player in the 'affordable luxury space for 4K projection. BenQ is claiming 1,800 lumens from this projector, and in a DLP first; 100% DCI-P3 color space coverage. Impressive, if they can fully reach P3 without a "cinema" filter 

We are looking forward to properly put this projector through its paces. So far, it seems to be a strong performer, especially when it comes to color and HDR reproduction.  

Art's bottom line:  BenQ, welcome back to the "serious, but affordable" home theater space.  True BenQ has HT projectors up near $10,000 list, but the HT5550 will be their volume projector for those looking for a serious projector with good black level performance.  The HT5550 does have some real competition, and some of it looks like this:  For a little more, you can choose an LG HU80KA.  That LG is a laser projector, but it is strictly home entertainment, it cannot match the BenQ in terms of color and its black levels are pure entry level.  Then there are the Epson HC4010 and PC4050 – costly less, more flexibility, just as 4K capable but a 1080p pixel shifter with 3LCD, so not quite as sharp (but excellent image processing might fool you).   I am very curious to see of the HT5550 bests the HC4010 in black level performance.

Then, up at $3000, find that Epson H5050UB, which still should prove to be a step up in black level performance, and have all that placement flexibility advantage (using widescreens, or placing in the back of your room, but the HT5550 should be a bit brighter with 4K HDR content, be a touch sharper, and save you some money.  Optoma, Viewsonic and others have 4K UHD DLPs around or below this price point, but none offer a lamp based projector really designed to rival the HT5550.

In many past year's Best Home Theater Projector Reports, the Epson UB model of the day, and the older BenQ W6000/W7000/W7500 of the time have slugged it out for the top award in the Class.  I typically favored the Epsons for the extra price for the better black levels, but have always liked the BenQ's "look and feel" to the picture as well.

We are really looking forward t the full HT5550 review, to put it through all the paces.  The addition of the HT5550 to the market should really give folks shopping in the $2000 - $3500 range another really solid choice to consider.  Stay tuned for our full review!  -art

The Dell Advanced Projector P519HL is a full 1080p resolution (1920 x 1080), 4,000 lumen projector for business and education applications. It has DLP technology and a laser light engine, which means the projector’s lifespan is far longer than its lamp-based counterparts. The Dell P519HL is well suited for higher education and large venues, with its impressive projection size of up to 300”. It would also be at home in high school classroom environments, as well as conference rooms, meeting rooms, boardrooms, houses of worship, and smaller entertainment venues.

Like always, I’ll begin this review of the Dell P519HL with a brief overview, followed by the projector’s highlights before moving on to a list of its special features. We will also tour the hardware, discuss picture quality, and talk about performance before summing it all up for you on the last page. By the end of this review, you should know if the Dell Advanced Projector P519HL is the right projector for your business or education applications. Let’s get started!

We wish to thank Epson America for sponsoring this year’s Best Classroom Projectors report.  

The Dell Advanced Projector P519HL is a $2,499 laser projector with 1080p (1920 x 1080) resolution projector claiming 4,000 lumens. The projector can produce an image of up to 300” diagonal, making it a perfect fit for larger venues like higher education classrooms, lecture halls, museums, auditoriums, houses of worship, and smaller entertainment venues. Just be aware that, the larger the projected image, the more lumens you need.

This is a DLP projector, meaning it uses a color wheel to reproduce the entire color spectrum. There are always trade offs between the different types of projector technologies, but DLPs do have some real strengths. DLP technology yields to manufacturing smaller projectors. This allows for more portable, lighter weight projectors than, say, their 3LCD competition. This makes installation easier, especially when mounting the projector to a high ceiling.

In poor lighting conditions, where there is some degree of uncontrollable ambient light, you’ll get more white lumens dollar-for-dollar than a 3LCD projector, though a 3LCD projector will perform better in terms of color when faced with ambient light. This is because 3LCD projectors have as many color lumens as they do white ones, while DLP projectors do not. That 4,000 lumen count only refers to white lumens in the case of the Dell P519HL. Again, trade-offs. In controlled conditions, both technologies perform well.

DLP projectors have sealed light paths, which prevents dust particles from settling on the inside of the light path and causing “dust blobs” on your projected image. This saves time and money, as to get the dust removed is a major maintenance call. With a sealed light path, you get protection of the DMD chip, color wheel sensor, laser bank, and other optical components. 3LCD manufacturers are starting to seal their light paths as well, though they do it in a different way.

Laser light engines are amazing for business and education environments. These types of light engines generally last three times as long as their lamp based competition, sometimes more. In the cast of the Dell P519HL, the light engine is rated at up to 20,000 hours. That’s about 10 years of heavy use. Most lamp based projectors fall between 3,000 hours and 8,000 hours, so that 20,000 hours is a pretty sweet deal.

The Dell Advanced Projector has good, if not simple, connectivity. It has all of the inputs and connectors you need for a basic setup in a business or education environment. That is, no advanced networking like HDBaseT, which is used for running A/V signals over extremely long distances. If your applications require you to do that, look elsewhere. If not, keep reading. Next up, let’s take a look at the projector’s highlights before getting into its features and performance.

The ViewSonic LS620X is a 3,200 lumen DLP projector with XGA (1024x768) resolution, intended for applications in business and education such as K-12 classrooms, retail settings and conference rooms.  This projector has a short throw, with a throw ratio of 0.61:1, to produce a large image (between 60 and 150 inches) from only a few feet away from the screen; a much cheaper alternative than a comparably sized LCD or LED display.

The laser light engine means this projector will run virtually maintenance free for up to 25,000 hours in Eco mode.  Twin 10 Watt speakers are built-in for respectable sound, filling all but the largest classrooms.  There’s a decent amount of connectors and inputs to handle the vast majority of sources found in business and educational settings.  The LS620X has a list price of $1,216 – not bad for a laser projector!

Now, back to that XGA resolution – some of you are undoubtedly asking why we are still dealing with such low resolution in late 2018.  The answer is relatively simple: the primary use for new XGA projectors is as replacements for the antiquated projectors that were installed in classrooms and offices in years past, who just want to replace their old technology with something newer, but without breaking the bank.

Think of it like this – a school district has 500 classrooms with ceiling mounted XGA projectors.  They want to replace their old, worn out units with something new.  It only makes sense that they would want something similar to avoid the expense of purchasing (and installing!) a new ceiling mount, and new, wide screen.  By using a replacement similar to the original unit, most of the existing hardware can be utilized without too much adjustment.

This review of the ViewSonic LS620X will start with a short overview, followed by some highlights.  We’ll then take a look at its special features, followed by a tour of the LS620X’s hardware.  We’ll discuss picture quality and performance before we summarized it all up on the – you guessed it – summary page.  By the time we’re done with this ViewSonic, you should have a pretty good handle on whether or not it will meet your needs.  Let’s go!

We wish to thank Epson America for sponsoring this year’s Best Classroom Projectors report.  

The ViewSonic LS620X is a 3,200 lumen projector with a resolution of XGA (1024x768).  The list price for the LS620X is $1,216.  The LS620X does not currently have any siblings, but it does have a WXGA cousin, the LS625W, which is also a laser short throw projector and has a list price of $1,327.  The LS620X claims a lamp life of 20,000 hours at full brightness, and 25,000 in Eco mode.

This is a DLP projector with a six segment, RYGCBW color wheel.  ViewSonic advertises this projector has having “SuperColor” technology, so it will be interesting to see just how accurate color is.  Especially given the fact that this isn’t necessarily a strength among business and education DLP projectors.  DLP technology allows for a smaller projector, making it lighter in weight for portability and ease of installation.  DLP projectors have a sealed light path to protect the internal mechanisms of the projector, including the color wheel, which means a brighter image – longer.

When you factor in that this projector runs off a laser phosphor light source, we’re talking even less maintenance than the already low-maintenance DLP.  The last light engine the LS620X has to offer is advertised as having a lifespan of up to 25,000 hours.  Assuming a classroom use schedule of 18 hours a week, 10 months a year – that’s an astounding 32 years of use!  Now, obviously no one is going to keep a projector around for 32 years, but it’s nice to know that this projector should be virtually maintenance free until it is replaced by some super-cool-new-tech some years down the road.  That’s massive savings across large business and school districts.

Back to the DLP thing.  They make the claim of accurate color for the LS620X.  In the business and education category of projectors, I usually find accurate color with 3LCD projectors, and not so much with DLP.  DLP projectors tend to do better in rooms with less control over ambient light, offering better white lumens but considerably less color lumens.  3LCD projectors maintain better brightness across the color spectrum, but the cost per lumen is significantly higher – and the cost per lumen in this case, where we’re talking about a 3,200 lumen laser projector, even more so.  With a laser powered DLP, we should expect some pretty good text readability, but we’ll get to that later.

As I mentioned above, the ViewSonic LS620X is a short throw projector.  The projected image can be anywhere from 60 inches all the way up to 150 inches.  With a throw ratio of 0.61:1, throw distances are just 2.4ft to 6.1ft.  This means large images even in tight spaces.  This projector supports table top front projection, ceiling mounted front projection, and rear projection both table top and ceiling mounted, though front ceiling mounted projection will likely be the most common installation choice for the ViewSonic LS620X.  It’s also worth mentioning that ViewSonic offers a compatible wall mount for this projector with an adjustable arm for $320; the arm is adjustable between 26 inches and 50 inches.

There are a decent amount of connectors and inputs for business and classroom applications, offering LAN, twin HDMI, twin VGA, composite AV, S-Video and USB types A and B.  Crestron e-Control and RoomView Express are supported, for remote control and monitoring.

The BenQ LU950 is a WUXGA (1920x1200) laser projector claiming 5,000 lumens – enough to shine through the uncontrollable ambient light found in some museums, conference and boardrooms, retail spaces, and higher education classrooms. This DLP projector has plenty of special features that make it a good fit for such spaces, in addition to its high brightness claim. That it is a laser projector is a definite plus, as the lifespan of a laser light engine lasts over the better part of a decade, making it a great investment for installations where the projector will be in use daily.

We’ll start this review of the BenQ LU950 with a brief overview, followed by some highlights before moving on to that list of special features. We will also tour the hardware, as well as discuss picture quality and performance before summing it all up for you on the last page. By the end of this review, you should have a pretty good idea about whether or not the BenQ LU950 is the right projector for your business or education applications. Let’s get started!

We wish to thank Epson America for sponsoring this year’s Best Classroom Projectors report.  

The BenQ LU950 is a 5,000 lumen, WUXGA resolution (1920x1200) projector, with a list price of $2,799 – what a great price for a laser projector with WUXGA resolution! That laser light engine has a claim of 20,000 hours, which translates to the projector lasting many years without losing brightness. That’s a major plus for commercial environments where the LU950 may experience heavy use. This BenQ is a DLP projector, so it has a color wheel, but it’s not the one found in most DLPs I’ve reviewed – this one has an RGBY, with a yellow slice.

An RGBY color wheel is not the most usual – typically you’d find an RGBRGB or an RGBW (RGB + clear slice). RGBW color wheels have an advantage over RGBY color wheels, as that clear slice boosts white lumens, making a brighter overall image. Adding a secondary color, such as yellow, gives some of the benefits of an RGBW color wheel, but not as much. The benefit to having an RGBY color wheel is that it gives the manufacturers more opportunity to “get the color right.” Generally speaking, though, the more slices, the less lumens per slice.

The real strengths of DLP are threefold. DLP technology allows for smaller projectors – that’s more portability, and generally lighter-weight projectors, making installation easier. In situations with ambient light, you’ll get more white lumens dollar-for-dollar than a 3LCD projector, but a 3LCD projector will perform better than DLPs in terms of color, when faced with ambient light. So, "all else being equal," when you need good color in the face of ambient light, you’ll want a 3LCD, DLP if you want more brightness and don’t need as good of color – like we say, there are always trade-offs. In controlled conditions, both technologies perform well.

Bu all else isn't equal.  Typically DLP projectors deliver more white lumens per dollar - a similarly featured DLP might offer 5000 lumens while the competing 3LCD selling for the same price might only offer 4000 lumens.  When you factor that in, then you realize that a good DLP projector like this one (which costs less than 3LCD competition), can not only deliver a good deal more white lumens, but may well have similar good quality color lumen output.

These are all things we consider in our reviews.  And with that, we concluded that the LU950 is an impressive laser projector that earns one of our Hot Product Awards.

DLP projectors also have sealed light paths. This means that no dust particles will settle on the inside of the light path and cause a “dust blob” on your projected image. This is a big plus because having to get that dust removed is a major maintenance call, costing time and money. With a sealed light path, you get protection of the DMD chip, color wheel sensor, laser bank, and other optical components. 3LCD manufacturers are starting to seal their light paths as well, though they do it in a different way.

Back to that laser light engine and its lifetime claim of up to 20,000 hours. That is typical of laser projectors, and translates to about a decade of use before that light engine needs to be replaced. That’s a clear advantage over lamp based projectors, whose lamps generally last from about 3,000 to 8,000 hours and will need to be replaced several times. But, as a plus – lamp replacements are quite affordable these days.

Lamp based projectors will have a lower up-front cost, but maintenance over its lifetime, while laser based projectors will have a higher up-front cost and low maintenance over its lifetime – and, the LU950 being a DLP, it doesn’t have any filters to clean, translating to even less maintenance. Lamp based projectors also have a shift in color and lose some of their brightness within the first several thousand hours, whereas lasers will lose brightness and shift color slowly over its lifetime – by that 20,000 hours, you can expect to lose maybe half the brightness.

The BenQ LU950 has a host of special features for business and education applications, including maintenance-free installation (thanks to the laser light engine and no filters to clean), advanced networking, and wireless capabilities using an optional plug-and-play device. The LU950 also has all of the inputs and connectors necessary for the usual purposes, including two HDMIs, some old-school video inputs, and HDBaseT. There are more, of course, but that’s a discussion saved for the Hardware Tour.