BenQ W4000i Review
An outstanding home cinema projector
Verdict
The BenQ W4000i is a revelatory UHD projector that combines a compact design with a blockbuster 4K performance. Reassuringly bright and colour rich, it’s great for streaming, discs and linear TV
Pros
- Vibrant picture performer
- 4K HDR10+ support
- DCI-P3 CinematicColor
- Compact design
Cons
- DLP rainbow fringing evident in areas of high contrast
- Lacklustre sound system
- Relatively high operating noise
Key Features
- LED light engineExtremely long life make this a better bet than a lamp projector; its SmartEco mode lasts 20,000 hours
- Supplied Android TV dongleSlotting inside the projector, this dongle ensures all popular streaming services are ready to stream
- Built-in sound systemDon’t get too excited, it’s 5W mono
Introduction
The W4000i is a high specification 4K HDR DLP projector which uses an LED light source, rather than a traditional lamp or laser light engine. It’s compact enough for living room / media room use, but bright enough for afternoon sports viewing.
Serious home cinema fans will be tempted by full DCI-P3 wide colour, and HDR10+ support, but this model often looks its best with upscaled SDR HD, great news if you have a big Blu-ray collection. It also comes with an Android TV dongle that slots into its undercarriage.
Could this be the UHD beamer you’ve been waiting to upgrade to? I reckon it is.
Availability
Available now and priced at £2,999 in the UK, the BenQ W4000i is the brand’s premium home theatre UHD projector, positioned just above the W2710i model.
In the US, the model is known as the HT4550i and sells for $2999.
Design
- Available in black only
- Dimensions: 420 x 135 x 312mm (w/H/D)
- Weight: 6.6kg
Despite the heavyweight specification, this BenQ is reassuringly lightweight. Tipping the scale at just 6.6kg, you should have no qualms about ceiling mounting.
Not that you’ll want to hide the W4000i out of sight. This nicely designed projector sports fashionable rounded edges and off-centre lens, protected by a clip-on lens cap. Onboard controls include manual zoom and focus wheels, plus adjustable lens shift, ± 30 degrees, should you need to adjust the horizontal or the vertical.
To the left side, there’s more extensive menu control. A touch sensitive circular panel allows you to navigate menus, should the remote control not be to hand.
Features
- Two HDMI inputs
- HDR-Pro technology
- CinematicColor
- Chromecast and AirPlay
Rear connectivity is good enough. The projector offers two HDMI 2.0 inputs, a pair of USB ports (one to power connected devices, the other to play media), an RS232 port for system integration, and a 12v trigger, useful for syncing the projector to an electric screen.
There’s also a 3.5 audio minijack output, as well as a digital optical audio output.
Shipping with the W4000i is a QS02 Google Android TV dongle. This pops into the projector’s underbelly and offers instant access to all the familiar streaming services, as well as supporting a wireless Chromecast and Apple AirPlay.
This Android TV provision is useful, not least because it preserves your HDMI allocation.
Unlike the average 4K TVs, a home cinema projector is not best equipped to deliver a convincing HDR performance. Projectors lack pixel control and basically illuminate with a constant stream of light.
BenQ believes it’s found a way around this conundrum with an upgraded version of its HDR-Pro technology, designed to extract more detail and colour while preserving contrast.
Tone mapping preserves colour and brightness when dealing with HDR encoded video, while Dynamic Black technology, courtesy of a proprietary dark sealed coating optical engine, maximises contrast. The projector can dynamically adjust its light output, according to content. Dynamic contrast is rated at 2,000,000:1.
The W4000i’s other main claim to fame is its wide colour mode, dubbed CinematicColor. This setting is able to deliver 100 per cent Rec. 709 colour gamut and meet the requirements of DCI-P3.
Input lag is rated at 17.9ms (1080/60), which is entirely decent.
I found set-up straightforward enough. 2D keystone correction is available to eliminate distortion if the projected image is off-axis from the lens. There’s also a helpful grid test pattern. Under the Advanced Colour Settings menu, you’ll also find colour temperature tuning for RGB. My advice is to leave the latter well alone – the various image presets are artfully optimised as is.
To enable voice search, you’ll need to pair the Bluetooth remote with the Android dongle during installation.
There’s also support for Control4, should you want to integrate the W4000i into a smarter home automation system.
Performance
- 3,200 lumens brightness
- Wide Colour mode
- 4K DLP image delivery
Straight from the box, I was impressed by the W4000i’s vibrancy. My previous experience with LED powered projectors is that they require a dark environment to really shine, but you’ll get away with using this BenQ in even a moderately lit room. It’s rated at 3,200 lumens, and there’s genuine luminosity to its pictures.
To experience its wide colour P3 talents, you’ll need to select the Wide Colour filter, selectable with a loud clunk. I was expecting this to significantly impact overall brightness and contrast, but subjectively there’s only a mild penalty. Even black levels remain largely unaffected.
Specular highlights have a convincing glow. HDR brightness is manually adjustable on a sliding scale between -2 and +2, but for this audition I left the projector in its default setting. That said, for most streaming or linear content there is no obvious benefit in selecting the Wide Color mode. Blu-ray is a different matter.
Images are exceptionally sharp, with superb detail and texture reproduction. I’ve always found this level of pin sharp clarity a characteristic of single chip DLP projectors, and here the image really bites. The projector uses a 0.65inch TI DMD chip. It’s not native 4K but uses pixel shifting to provide a dense image.
Unfortunately, DLP’s rainbow fringing trait, usually seen in areas of high contrast, is also evident, although susceptibility is very much an individual thing. For me, it didn’t detract overly from the overall impact of the image.
Picture modes comprise Bright, Bright Cinema, Cinema, Filmmaker mode, HLG, ISF Day, ISF Night, and user.
Filmmaker mode is at its best when viewed in a fully dark room, while Bright Cinema is akin to a Vivid setting, and a little more of an acquired taste. Generally I preferred Cinema mode, which is bright and punchy with most content, but never overwrought.
Dynamics are top notch. The W4000i does a top job finding detail in both dark shadows as well as bright highlights, as evidenced by Oscar nominated drama Society of the Snow (Netflix, 4K). The icy landscape enjoys plenty of subtle shading, the projector finding copious detail in skin tones and landscapes alike. There’s filmic depth to its images and letterbox bars are reassuringly black.
Similarly, Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes (4K Blu-ray), has quite a sepia colour palette and copious shadows, but scenes with glowing lamps and candle lights seem to benefit from the projector’s canny light management.
Not that the W4000i needs 4K HDR content to shine. Wonder Woman, in HD Blu-ray, delivered to the projector in 2160p SDR by my Panasonic Blu-ray player, looks equally fine. This is a projector for all sources.
Early scenes of the Amazons on Themyscira are bright, dynamic and extremely detailed. Their gold headdresses have a realistic lustre, while their leather and fur outfits are alive with detail and texture.
The W4000i’s audio performance is best described as functional. Under the hood there’s a monophonic 5W speaker that serves a purpose, but for most home theatre users, cinematic sound will come from an external multichannel sound system.
The speaker system itself is a BenQ trevVolo design. Sound mode options include Cinema, Music, Game, and Sports.
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Should you buy it?
A very bright image
Projectors struggle with HDR images but the BenQ is capable of proudcing better than expected luminance with HDR content
You’re hoping you won’t have to buy a sound system
Functional and not all that powerful, the BenQ needs assistance from a external sound system
Final Thoughts
The W4000i is an outstanding home cinema projector that impresses by dint of its LED-powered brightness and ultra-sharp image quality. It’s well built, as I’d expect from BenQ, and easy enough to use (I like the Android TV implementation).
Although a headline attraction, I’m not sure that its wide colour mode would be my default viewing choice, I prefer the rather punchier Rec. 709 presentation, but it shows HDR projection is heading in the right direction, and BenQ is leading the way.
On the debit side, operational noise is consistently high. I was always aware of the projector’s hum, which registers between 28 and 32dB. You’ll want to mask it with a sound system.
The W4000i is expensive, but it comes highly recommended.
How we test
We test every projector we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Tested for more than a week
Tested with real world use
Input lag measured
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FAQs
In normal mode, the BenQ W4000i’s lamp can last for at least 20,000 hours.
Full specs
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
