Onoayo LED Mini Projector: FirstUse
Screen, Projector, ACTION!!!
The World Cup is upon us once again, and this time we wanted to be able to watch it while comfortably sitting on the couch. We wanted the “stadium experience,” but don’t have a place to put a giant LCD TV, so we thought having a projector-based setup might be the way to go.
It has been a while since we last looked at the state of projector technology, and are delighted to see how far it has come since we reviewed the LumenLab unit way back when.
100″ Screen
Despite the marketing blurbs out there, there aren’t a lot of differences between makes of projection screens. The main difference is the size of the screen, and whether it is manual or motorized.
We went with a 100″ screen, which is the largest we can fit in our space. The decision to find a used one or buy a new one was more due to what was available on Facebook Marketplace than anything else. Fortunately, we were able to find someone selling a brand-new one locally, so we went with that 🙂
The seller bought one that turned out to be too long for where he wanted to mount it. Bummer for him, but great for us! Mounting the screen was a breeze…a few hooks and we were in business! BTW, the one we got is non-motorized. The advantage is that it does not need to be placed close to a power outlet, and we can easily move it somewhere else.
Projector
Setting up the Onoayo projector was a breeze. It only needs about 7′ to project a 100″ image. The focus can be controlled by buttons on the remote. Options for keystone, color, and other parameters are also available via on-screen menus.
- Display resolution: 1920 x 1080
- Size: 100″ @ 8 ft, 120″@ 9 ft, 220″ @14 ft
- Lumens: 500
Due to HDCP copyright limitations, this mini projector cannot play videos from Netflix or Amazon Prime directly from smartphones. However, this is not a problem as it can be connected to a laptop or desktop computer via HDMI.
Even though the screen blocks a lot of light, the room is still quite bright from the south-facing windows. The image and colors are a bit washed out during the day, and the sharpness is nowhere close to even a cheap LCD TV screen, but it is acceptable from a distance, even in the middle of the afternoon. Yes, the sharpness leaves a lot to be desired, but hey…did we mention that it cost us less than $100???
Action
When the room is dark enough, the colors are so much brighter, and the contrast is so much better. At 1080p, the motion blur is more noticeable than on the TV, but the sharpness is acceptable.
Images without a lot of movement are tack sharp, especially with the improved contrast. Football and tennis should be OK, but we probably wouldn’t want to watch basketball or hockey 🙂
This projector performs best in a completely dark room. Even a little bit of ambient light will still wash out the details, so keeping the room as dark as possible is important. We’ve started telling ourselves that we’re at the cinema 😉
FirstThoughts
The Onoayo LED Mini Projector is a real bargain, but it needs a dark room for it to shine. Any ambient light will wash out the projected image. For the price, though, the limitation is a perfectly acceptable compromise.
We’ll have an InTheWild update on this projector after the World Cup. Look for it after the Summer.
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