Television or Projector?

[Product Review]

One of the first items we thought about getting right after we completed the merging of our two HDB units into the 'Jumbo' flat we are in right now, was a bigger television for the now enlarged living room area. I had the fleeting thought of getting a projector instead of the convention television, but ultimately decided against it because you know, everyone uses television lor. So we ended up buying a 65" television for almost $3k, which is sitting pretty in our living room now, collecting dust. To be honest, with all the entertainment available on handheld devices these days, add in how often we bring the kiddos out, television time is really quite rare for us these days.  

Very portable, can plug and play anywhere you want!

My experience with any projectors was limited to the big ones we see at the cinema screens, and the ones I use at work for presentations. Trying out the TK800 - Home Entertainment Projector from BenQ was really a first for the family. The kiddos had no idea what the device was when they first laid their eyes on it, but I can still recall their expressions when I connected the set top box to the projector and the ASEAN Football match between Malaysia and Japan came on. They were totally wowed by the HUGE screen and caught the full match in 4K HDR glory! But do not go all technical on me, I only know that output was sharp and beautiful!

The kiddos were totally wowed by the big "screen"!

Because of my existing television in the living room, the projector was actually fixed in my master bedroom instead. The installation was simple and I never had to refer to the instruction manuals because it was essentially plug and play. The usual selecting of source and the connecting of devices to the projector via HDMI cables should be familiar to most. All the buttons can be accessed on the projector itself, or via the remote control. Because there are windows at both ends of the room, with the toilet door on one end as well, I was only able to project the match on the short side of my super long master bedroom. But the output was surprisingly still much bigger than my television screen despite the short distance of only 9 feet! Just curious to see how big the projection can go, I turned it around to face the wall furthest away and the image were still sharp (with adjustments of course) and the colors vivid! It was just like in the cinemas!

Simple control buttons, no need to refer to instructions!

Pardon the mess, but see how big and sharp the image is!

After experiencing for ourselves how the projector performed, I was already toying with the idea of replacing the television in the living room the projector! Maybe I should sell the television on Carousell! If you ask me now, my personal take on the TK800 in the case of my own family situation, would be that it is a very good buy at its price point, and can be a great replacement for the conventional television for the following reasons -

• Television time is really getting lesser these days, it does not make sense to have a big white elephant sitting around collecting dust. The projector can be kept easily if not in use and with the expected lower usage these days, it would probably last a pretty long time too (up to 10,000 hrs in fact)!
• The portability of the 4.2kg projector means we can easily place it in any of the rooms in our house, as long as there are power points nearby. The sound output is quite impressive too, without any needs for external speakers!
• For just the price of a regular 55" television set maybe, the TK800 allows you to watch your shows in as big a screen as your space allows, in awesome HDR no less!

It reads 4K HDR, but I only know the image projected damn sharp and clear!

Go try it out, I am pretty sure you would be impressed by the projector too because we are all loving it! On a side note, it is scary how our devices track us these days that right after I finished the draft for this article, I was already shown advertisements on Instagram! In any case, you can get your projector from their Lazada shop if you wish to.