VAVA Laser TV Review- Special Features 2

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Art Feierman

VAVA Laser TV Review - Special Features 2: Networking and Casting, Gaming Input Lag, Media Player, Warranty.

Networking and “Casting”

The VAVA Laser TV has both wired networking, it and wireless (Wi-Fi) networking. It was very quick and easy configuring the projector to my house Wifi. I did not test the hardwired networking. The greatest challenge was, of course, putting in my long email using an on-screen keyboard.

networking menus — Main Networking menu, with Wireless and Wired (Ethernet) sub-menus

The wireless networking is obviously critical to being a smart projector – ok, smart Laser TV. For example, you will have one heck of a time trying to stream, when you have no access to the internet. And controlling your projector from your Google Assistant etc. isn’t going to work either.

I was pleased to also see the wired networking (LAN), as well, although that’s not a critical feature for most users. Still, great to have it.

The wireless network setup also gives you access to downloading streaming and other apps for the VAVA projector.

If you would like to quickly “cast” from your smartphones, tablets, etc. to the projector, you can download the VAVA app. I just learned that there is supposed to be an iOS app available now as well. I will test that when I return from vacation, once I find that app, and update. I don’t own any Windows computers or Android phones or tablets to test, but if the Apple version works, that’s a good sign.

VAVA Gaming Input Lag

After disabling the motion sensor to protect mere humans from the laser light if we get to close, I was able to get an input lag reading using my Leo Bodner device. (It measures only 1080p, not 4K, but on 4K UHD projectors either could be faster than the other, but both should be close to each other in lag.

Bad news folks, this VAVA Laser TV - Ain't got no game! I played around but couldn't find anyway to get the input lag below 107 ms. That's pretty bleak - fine for playing Risk or Chutes and Ladders, but definitely not for fast action - be it first person shooters, auto racing, sports, etc. If you really like your Call Of Duty, Doom, Halo, hey, add to that Madden, Fortnight, Grand Theft Auto, and perhaps even Angry Birds 2, you won't be happy.

Bottom line on gaming - if you are a hard core gamer, there are better alternatives, in other UST projectors as well as short and standard throw ones.

If you are a serious gamer, high-speed sports, team FPS, etc., we find the input lag speeds translate this way:

Over 60ms – too slow for most serious gamers
50ms range – just acceptable
33ms range – good speed
25ms range – very good speed
16ms range – excellent
0ms -- perfect, but I’m not aware of any doing less than 16 at this time.

gaming image — Although the VAVA looks good with a game on the screen, it's just too slow for high speed gamers.

There will be speed differences in the input lag depending on the resolution. My hardware, for example only measures 1080p. A 4K projector may have 4K input lag, lower than it’s 1080p input lag.

Media Player on Board

Plugin a USB to the VAVA projector’s input and use the media player to play photos, videos, and more. The media player comes with a very respectable 2 Gig of storage and 32 Meg of memory. The projector supports a healthy selection of the popular image and video formats.

If you are also a big music fan (I am), You can play music on the VAVA Laser TV without a picture, to save a lot on electric bills. That’s a nice touch.

I successfully ran a few stills and a video clip. Voila,’ it works. I think there could be a couple more options though, it's rather basic. Also it would be nice if the media player did Microsoft Office products. I for one do cast my laptop to my projectors, when working some of the time. Would be great if I could feed it a word document... But that's rare on home theater/home entertainment projectors (or smart TVs for that matter!)

VAVA Laser TV Warranty

VAVA provides a 1 year warranty, depot service is in California. I consider a 1 year warranty on an over $2000 projector to be underwhelming. Most of the competition offers two years or three years warranty. VAVA doesn't at this time offer an additional year of extended warranty, but I do see that a 3rd party extended warranty is available on Amazon for about $160 for the extra year.

Good Eye Protection From Laser Light

Since the VAVA 4K UHD Laser TV has a laser light engine, UST laser projectors lasers pose a risk if you look into the light source. For this reason, VAVA and others use sensors to detect and then react. The VAVA immediately dims way down and puts up a message with a warning and says press any key to resume. It works very well.

Possibly it works too well, in that I think I am tripping it by being close to the light, but not directly in it. In other words, it may be overprotective. That’s fine with me.

It can be turned off in the menus, so if you have children, please don't turn that feature off. I did have to turn it off though, briefly for the review, so I could measure input lag. Otherwise soon as I stuck my hand and measuring device into the picture area, the image would shut off. Voila' it works!