We were overwhelmingly impressed with the AOC Agon Pro AG274QG last year for a plethora of reasons, from its visual performance and quality to build design and on a surface level, the AOC Agon Pro AG274QZM builds on nearly everything that made last years model so well-received.
The change to mini-LED backlighting greatly improves image quality, so1440p gaming at a 240Hz refresh rate on the AG274QZM feels better than it does on the AG274QG. That is if one stays away from HDR; the implementation here just doesn’t look good.
Colors by default look considerably washed out and a bit fuzzy and though this could be improved by changing some of the monitor’s internal settings, there’s still some issues with image quality despite being Vesa DisplayHDR 1000 certification.
This time around, there were special accommodations made toward gamers who stream often and need an extra display, namely KVM and picture-in-picture.
KVM allows individuals to switch keyboards and mouses from one display to another. Since many streamers usually need two PCs and monitors to do so, it’s best for streamlining that process. The inclusion of a USB-C port makes this possible and is one of several overall design improvements to the AG274QZM. Enhancements to the internal speakers would have been nice as well, but maybe next year. Similar to the AG274QG, they lack any real punch or bass so grab one of the best PC gaming headsets, you’ll definitely need it.
Having picture-in-picture means that those who rather use one monitor for everything can do so. Considering its 27-inch screen, there’s enough visual real-estate to game and control streaming software like OBS Studio. On the other hand, anyone who wants to do some general computing task while playing a console at their desk can do so as well through picture-in-picture. It’s a great addition overall.
Holding the AG274QZM back from being the best gaming monitor at this size and refresh rate is its price. At $1,099.99, there are 27-inch 1440p/240Hhz gaming monitors that offer similar image quality and performance for much cheaper. If the extra features don’t matter much, you’ll be better off saving the money with one of those. However, there’s much to appreciate with the AG274QZM for PC gamers with deep pockets who need the built-in extras.
AOC Agon Pro AG274QZM: Price & availability
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
How much does it cost? $1,099 / £999 (about AU$1,600)
When is it available? It is available now.
Where can you get it? Available in the US and UK, Australian availability forthcoming
There are a handful of respectable 27-inch gaming monitors that offer both 1440p resolution and 240Hz refresh rates, like the HyperX Armada 27, Monoprice Dark Matter, and LG UltraGear Ergo 27GN88A. Even the AG274QG is around $300 cheaper. Of course, those aren’t backlit by mini-LEDs like the AG274QZM. Most general consumers looking for great image quality and performance won’t be able to tell the absolute difference unless they’re videophiles.
For those that understand the significance of having a mini-LED display, the price is justifiable to an extent. Let’s not take into account standard features for the gaming monitor including the AOC Agon Pro Quick Switch puck for quicker access to display settings and shield cover which is great for gaming during the day. Add a boatload of features featured on the AG274QZM from KVM to picture-in-picture, there’s some real value here.
Price score: 4 / 5
AOC Agon Pro AG274QZM: Design
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Generous amounts of inputs in addition to having USB-C
Customizable back lights alongside logo projector with bottom LED bar
Internal speakers are lacking
On a surface level, the AOC Agon Pro AG274QZM doesn’t look much different from the AG274QG, design wise. However, there are some small additions that make the display feel fresh enough. The most notable is there is an LED bar at the bottom of the monitor.
This, in addition to the standard back LED lights and bottom logo projector, goes a long way to providing an aggressive look. Of course, these are all customizable from the display menu alongside AOC’s G-Menu app. Many in-display options can be controlled that way as well. Despite being DTS certified, the internal speakers are a bit underpowered and lack powerful volume and bass.
We praised the AG274QG for its liberal amount of ports and this continues through the AG274QZM. The ports include two HDMI 2.1 slots, one DisplayPort 1.4, a USB Hub, four USB-A, one 3.5mm headphone jack and 3.5mm mic jack alongside a new USB-C 3.2 port. Besides upstream and power delivery for up to 65W, this is mainly for the KVM capabilities.
Image 1 of 4
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Image 2 of 4
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Image 3 of 4
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Image 4 of 4
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Setting up the AG274QZM is a simple process as mentioned previously in the accessibility section. Be mindful that the power brick it uses is pretty big too. Having an added shield cover goes a long way in blocking out a lot of excess light and isn’t difficult to put together. The AG274QZM improves on its predecessor’s already phenomenal design while adding incremental updates that improves the look and functionality of the display in meaningful ways.
Like the AG274QG, putting the monitor together isn't too complicated, though some of the parts are heavy. The base connects to the neck and both to the display lock, it’s really simple and there’s a heaviness to it that definitely brings quality. In terms of accessibility, there are understandable complaints of the weight.
With everything together, users are going to be looking at something in the range of around 17 pounds. The process isn’t difficult but the weight distribution can be a bit tricky to deal with considering how wide the base is. Ports including the power jack point downward which could be a problem for people who have issues bending over and looking up.
Putting the lightweight shield cover together is simple as well. Coming in three parts, both right and left sides connect to the top through a long nail-like bar. One of the best features of the AOC Agon Pro line is the Quick Puck switch that connects to the rear near the display and USB ports. Once connected, it really does help making display changes remarkably easier.
Design score: 4.5 / 5
AOC Agon PRO AG274QZM : Performance
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Mini-LED backlight makes SDR image quality look fantastic
Motion performance is buttery smooth
HDR image quality isn’t the best even with settings tinkering
The addition of mini-LED backlight for the display works wonders for image quality on the AG274QZM. With a brightness that maxes out at 750 nits, images look clear, crisp and vivid where it matters most. It doesn’t matter if one is playing Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p with max settings, creating content on Adobe Suite or watching video content. Considering the competitive gaming lean of the monitor, sessions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Halo Infinite or even racing games like Forza Horizon 5 played phenomenally.
It also helps that the in-display options have pre-made settings for shooters, racing, RTS and the like, too. When it comes to 1440p at 250Hz in SDR, this is one of the best monitors money can buy. Performance during picture-in-picture mode was fantastic too in displaying two different inputs. Switching between two displays through KVM worked as it was supposed to as well.
We couldn’t say the same thing for its HDR image quality. Default image quality in HDR looks a bit too warm even with the brightness turned all the way up. Collaborations for Windows HDR Collaboration app didn’t help much either. There’s a washed out look that simply doesn’t provide a better image over SDR.
Performance: 4 / 5
Should you buy the AOC Agon AG274QZM?
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
You're on a budget Though the AG274QZM may be top tier, there are cheaper gaming monitors that can match image quality and performance.
You require better HDR capabilities SDR is where the AG274QZM shines best as HDR capabilities look a bit muddy and washed.
You need better internal speakers Most PC gamers are going to have headsets but if it matters, the internal speakers on the AG274QZM are fairly weak.
AOC Agon AG274QZM: Also consider
If my AOC Agon AG274QZM review has you considering other options, here are two more 27-inch monitors to consider.
How I tested the AOC Agon AG274QZM
I spent a week testing the AOC Agon AG274QZM
Games played include Cyberpunk 2077, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Shadow Warrior 3 and Forza Horizon 5.
Creative apps used were Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro
The AOC Agon AG274QZM was tested over a week. During that time, various games and creative applications were used in testing. Some of the games tested included Cyberpunk 2077, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Shadow Warrior 3 and Forza Horizon 5. On the creative side, Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro were used as well.
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
The Acer Predator Orion 7000 is an absolute beau of a gaming machine, with gorgeous RGB lighting and exquisite cable management. Of course, its massive size and heavy weight are also nothing to sneeze at, making it difficult to move around or lift without a second person. Once it’s in place, however, the massive chassis will be most likely under your desk meaning that it shouldn’t be an issue. And it’s designed to pull apart easily for tool-less access to the insides.
The internals aren’t just for show, though they make quite the gorgeous one, as the state-of-the-art fans and liquid cooling system ensure that this PC will never overheat even when overclocking it with high-end titles. And if you need a handy way to overclock and ramp up the fans in response, the PredatorSense feature allows for precise control over both.
Acer Predator Orion 7000 Key Specs
Here is the Acer Predator Orion 7000 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: Intel Core i7-12700H Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 RAM: 32 GB DDR5 Storage: 1TB M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD and 2TB 7200RPM SATA III hard drive Optical drive: 2.5-inch USB 3.2 Gen2 Type C hotswap drive bay Ports: 6 USB 3.2 Type-A, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 2 USB 2.0 Type-A, 1 Universal Audio Jack, 1 HDMI 2.1 port, 3 DisplayPorts 1.4a Connectivity: Intel Wireless WiFi 6E AX211, Bluetooth 5.2
In terms of pure performance, the Predator Orion 7000 is a top contender for the best gaming PC you can buy off the shelf out there, with some truly solid benchmark performances. For instance, it completely blows away the Maingear Turbo in both the Geekbench5 and CinebenchR23 benchmarks thanks to its more powerful processor, and it more or less matches the Turbo across the 3DMark suite of GPU tests.
However, those same impressive scores don’t translate to improved gaming performance, since even though the general performance is excellent it doesn’t reach the standards of the Turbo’s extremely high framerates playing the best PC games. But gaming is still effortlessly smooth on the Orion 7000, even when pushing it to the max, so only those running endless benchmarks will notice any nuances in the performance
For all these premium specs and features built into the PC, you’re sure to pay a premium price for them. The setup we were sent will set you back $3000 and includes an Intel Core i7-12700H, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, 32GB DDR5 RAM, and 1TB of storage.
The configurations being offered in Australia and UK are quite different from the US ones, with the former offering an Intel Core i9-12900K, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, 16GB DDR5 RAM, and 512GB of storage. The latter has an Intel Core i9-12900K, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090, 32 GB DDR5 RAM, and 1TB of storage. This means that the configurations outside the US are more powerful and expensive machines at the cost of more choices in the configuration.
But considering what’s under the hood, the starting prices are mostly a steal. As, despite falling prices for the best GPUs and best CPUs, these prebuilt and customizable PCs are the best value ways to get your hands on some top-tier specs.
Acer Predator Orion 7000: Price and availability
(Image credit: Future)
How much does it cost? $3,000 (£3,300 / AU$5,500)
When is it out? It is available now
Where can you get it? You can get it in the US, UK, and Australia, though it's difficult due to low stock
As expected from a high-end gaming PC, the Acer Predator Orion 7000 fetches a pretty penny on the market. In the US, the one we received is $3,000, while the cheapest ones in the UK and Australia respectively are priced at £3,300 and AU$5,500, with prices going as high as AU$7,200 for the latter region.
However, considering the chips, cooling system, and aesthetics we would argue that this is a PC worth investing in if you want to essentially future-proof it.
Value: 4.5 / 5
Acer Predator Orion 7000: Design
(Image credit: Future)
Stunning RGB lighting and see-through chassis
Great port selection and cable management
Too heavy
Watching the glow of the RGB lighting illuminate the RTX 3080, fans, and beautifully managed cables never gets old. Then there’s also the fact that said chassis is built for practicality as well, as it can be pulled apart without the use of tools.
It’s a well-made machine, with a sturdy chassis that houses an excellent port selection. It includes six USB 3.2 Type-A ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports, two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, one headphone jack, one microphone jack, one HDMI 2.1 port, and three DisplayPort 1.4a. Even better, three of the Type-A, one of the Type-C, the disc drive, and the headphone/microphone jack are located at the top front of the chassis for convenience.
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: Future)
Image 2 of 2
(Image credit: Future)
The only real complaint against the Orion 7000 is its size and weight. This is a gamer’s gaming PC and as such all that hardware, including the state-of-the-art fans and liquid cooling system, plus the size of the casing itself makes it bulky and hard to transport. We found it requires at least two people to safely move the PC around.
With the powerful combination of fans and liquid cooling, near-perfect circulation is all but guaranteed. We didn’t notice as much as a whisper of heat coming from the PC, and this was on the standard settings without using the PredatorSense tool to further modify the fan speeds. The sound while wearing headphones is phenomenal, crisp and sharp audio that’s perfect for picking up subtle cues or for feeling dropped right in the middle of all the action.
And the fact that it comes with a decent gaming keyboard and mouse is just icing on the cake.
Design: 5 / 5
Acer Predator Orion 7000: Performance
(Image credit: Future)
No game can stand against it
No overheating issues
Has ray-tracing, HDR, and more
Benchmarks
Here's how the Acer Predator Orion 7000 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
The Acer Predator Orion 7000 is a beast when it comes to playing PC games, no matter how demanding the task is. For instance, we completely maxed out every option in Final Fantasy VII Remake including 4k resolution, HDR, ray-tracing, and 120FPS.
To our extreme surprise, the Orion 7000 exceeded all of our expectations, performing at max 256FPS with all those settings turned on. Meanwhile, it runs Hitman 3 butter smooth, at 84FPS on average for the Dartmoor benchmark, and a whopping 103FPS on average for the Dubai benchmark.
Then there’s the PredatorSense tool, which allows you to both overclock your PC and increase fan speeds to overcompensate for it, to your exact specifications. It’s a great feature that’s incredibly easy to use and customize.
The Orion 7000’s configuration, which is equipped with the RTX 3080 and Core i7, churned out some phenomenal benchmark scores. Not even the Maingear Turbo, which uses a stronger graphics card, could beat this computer.
It’s interesting how the mostly tied or superior scores didn’t translate into superior framerates for the suite of PC games we benchmarked with, compared to the Turbo. Though considering the slight improvement in the chips department it makes sense.
That said, the Orion 7000 is still a high-quality, high-end gaming PC that eats demanding and poorly optimized games for breakfast. And thanks to the well-constructed cooling system, it keeps running smoothly without turning into a furnace under your desk.
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
The Samsung Q60B QLED TV starts from a much cheaper price than Samsung's other QLED sets, but its spec sheet includes Quantum Dot colors, a comprehensive smart system, and so-called Object Tracking Sound technology.
The Samsung Q60B looks like it should have what it takes to steal a march over its similarly priced competition. It backs its on-paper appeal up with a gorgeous super-slim design, crisp finish, and good build quality that help it look and feel much more premium than you’d expect for its money.
And aside from being a bit unintuitive to navigate, the Samsung Q60B’s Tizen smart system impresses by delivering pretty much every streaming app known to humankind, and ensuring that there’s always HDR and 4K streaming support from any app that carries these features.
Picture quality starts well, with the Q60B producing more brightness and Quantum Dot-inspired color punch than the vast majority of cheap TV rivals. Its playback of native 4K sources is also impressively crisp most of the time, too – especially welcome on the 55-inch size that we tested for this Samsung Q60B review. It doesn't miss out compared to the best 4K TVs for Ultra HD content.
However, you don’t have to watch for too long before you notice that the pleasing brightness has a cost in the shape of relatively flat, gray dark scenes. Motion doesn’t look as clean and natural as it usually does on Samsung TVs either – even accounting for its price, it's not up there with the best TVs available today. Meanwhile, the Q60B’s audio system copes with day-to-day TV viewing quite nicely but comes up short of power with any good action film soundtrack.
In the US, the same kind of price at 55 inches will get you the TCL 6-Series Roku TV (2022), which provides mini-LED backlighting for its QLED panel, plus 120Hz support for better motion handling. We'd suggest that for most people. In the UK, the competition is tougher, and the Samsung Q60B is still one of the best TVs under £1000.
We tested the 55-inch Samsung 55Q60B for this review.
Samsung Q60B review: Price and release date
Released in May 2022
Starts from $549 / £499 for 43-inch model (not available in Australia)
Costs $699 / £699 / AU$1,299 for the 55-inch model we tested
The Q60B is the cheapest Samsung TV series in its Quantum Dot ‘QLED’ category, and it comes in smaller sizes than most of Samsung's other QLED TVs – at least, it does in some countries. It has a different range of sizes in the US, the UK and Australia.
In the US, it comes in 43-inch ($549), 50-inch ($649), 55-inch ($699), 60-inch ($799), 65-inch ($949), 70-inch ($999), 75-inch ($1,199) and 85-inch ($1,799) sizes.
In the UK, it comes in 43-inch (£499), 50-inch (£599), 55-inch (£649), 65-inch (£1,099), 75-inch (£1,599) and 85-inch (£1,999) sizes.
In Australia, is starts with the 55-inch model (AU$1,299), and you've also got 65-inch (AU$1,499), 75-inch (AU$2,499) and 85-inch (AU$3,999) sizes.
Being Samsung’s cheapest QLED range does mean that the Q60Bs’ screen specifications are limited in some other ways, as we’ll see in the next section, and there are models from the likes of Hisense and TCL that also feature Quantum Dots, but are able to pack in some more advanced image tech elsewhere too.
The existence of these rivals does not, though, make the Samsung Q60B any less of a potential hit, provided its performance is up to Samsung’s usual mid-range LCD standards.
The step-up model from the Q60B, the Q70B, provides you a slightly more powerful picture processor – including more advanced motion handling. Going up again to the Samsung Q80B gets you a more advanced backlight with better contrast. If you can live without Quantum Dots, the step-down Samsung BU8500 saves you a little more money, but features the same processing and smart TV tech.
Samsung Q60B review: Specs
This Samsung panel uses relatively inaccurate edge-based lighting rather than putting its LEDs directly behind the screen. (Image credit: Future/TechRadar)
Samsung Q60B review: Features
QLED TV with edge LED lighting
Native 4K resolution and HDR support
Uses Samsung's Dual-LED backlight technology
The Samsung Q60B’s key screen specifications make for interesting reading, thanks to their unusual mix of premium and basic features. On the basic front, the panel uses relatively inaccurate edge-based lighting rather than putting its LEDs directly behind the screen, and doesn’t feature any local dimming (where different parts of the backlight can be made to output different levels of light, so darker areas can appear dimmer darker than light areas).
On the premium side, the Quantum Dot color system will hopefully reach color tones, and subtleties regular color filter technology cannot match. In fact, Samsung claims more than a billion shades and 100% coverage of the key DCI-P3 color standard in its Q60B marketing.
While it doesn’t carry local dimming, it does benefit from a Dual-LED lighting system, that finds the LEDs ranged around the screen producing alternating cool and warm tones in a bid to increase color accuracy and richness.
The Q60B’s on-paper strengths raise real hopes of superior performance with high dynamic range content – though the potential lack of light control is something we’ll have to keep an eye on.
The HDR potential is bolstered, too, by support for the HDR10+ format as well as the more basic HDR10 and HLG formats. The HDR10+ format adds extra scene-by-scene image data to the video feed that compatible TVs can use to produce more dynamic and accurate images. In fact, the Q60B even provides the Adaptive version of HDR10+, where the picture settings can automatically compensate for ambient light conditions.
As ever with Samsung TVs, though, the support for HDR10+ is not partnered with support for the Dolby Vision format, which also carries extra scene-by-scene image data but is available on a broader range of sources than HDR10+, including Disney Plus and Netflix.
Another premium image touch is the Quantum Processor Lite 4K brain at the Q60B’s heart. This is not as potent as the processor found in Samsung’s step-up models and doesn’t draw on any AI ‘neural network’ learning like the processors inside Samsung’s high-end TVs. But it still works across a range of picture quality areas to deliver better-looking results - especially regarding the upscaling of sub-4K sources.
The Quantum Processor extends its tendrils into the Q60B’s audio, offering the option to automatically adjust the TV’s audio profile to suit different types of content.
Although it’s only equipped with a down-firing 2x10W speaker system, the Q60B still delivers a ‘Lite’ version of Samsung’s Object Tracking Sound system whereby sound effects appear to be coming from precisely the correct place on the screen. Thanks to Samsung's Q-Symphony feature, you can also partner the Q60B’s speakers with those of a recent Samsung soundbar and they'll combine together for a bigger sound, instead of the soundbar simply replacing the built-in speakers.
On the back, you'll find three HDMI ports, which is often the case with cheaper TVs, but given that this is premium enough to be a QLED model, we'd prefer the future-proofing that four ports would give you.
Features score: 4/5
The successes and failures of the Q60B’s picture quality depend on whether you’re watching bright or dark scenes and the environment you're watching them in. (Image credit: Future/TechRadar)
Samsung Q60B review: Picture quality
Bright and colorful for its money
Good 4K and upscaled sharpness
Some black level shortcomings
As we’d slightly feared, the desire to deliver the color and brightness benefits associated with Quantum Dots at the Q60B’s sort of affordable price level isn’t an unmitigated success… but there are certainly times when you’d be forgiven for persuading yourself that it was.
Essentially the successes and failures of the Q60B’s picture quality depend on whether you’re watching bright or dark scenes. With the former, the set instantly wins you over with its impressive brightness compared with many of its similarly affordable rivals. It’s often said that you really need at least 500 nits of brightness for anything approaching a ‘true’ HDR experience, and the Q60B is impressively bright for a budget TV, able to produce 573 nits of brightness on a 10% white HDR window in its Standard picture mode during our tests.
The Q60B’s ability to deliver this certainly contributes to a much more dramatic and exciting shift when you switch from SDR to HDR than you do with most cheap HDR TVs.
This brightness feeds handsomely into the Q60B’s Quantum Dot colors, giving them levels of intensity and richness that again push comfortably beyond the color volumes typically associated with TVs at the same price. The brightness can cause a bit of subtle shading to be lost in the most extremely bright HDR areas. Still, for the most part – especially in the Standard preset – the impressively full-on color saturations are combined with very credible and immersive blends and tonal shifts.
Again there’s a sense that you’re seeing much more of an HDR image’s potential here than you would typically expect with such an affordable TV.
The Q60B also stands out from many rivals with its sharpness. Native 4K images typically look crisp and full of texture, while the 4K upscaling of HD sources delivers exceptionally clean, crisp, and natural-looking results.
While these strengths add up to bright scenes – especially HDR bright scenes – that look eye-catching and dynamic, though, the Q60B’s inability to achieve really any level of localized light control makes it much less satisfying with dark scenes. Parts of dark scenes that should look black instead invariably look a rather washed-out gray, leaving them feeling flat and unconvincing compared with bright moments in the same TV show or film.
This means that as well as feeling unsatisfying in themselves, the flat-looking dark scenes contribute to a sense of inconsistency that can be quite distracting when you’re trying to immerse yourself in a film.
Some of the TV’s settings can cause dark scenes to flicker a bit, too, as the screen reacts to small changes in average brightness levels, while colors in dark picture areas tend to look less punchy and convincing thanks to the infusion of gray washing over them. It’s noticeable, too, that dark scenes can reveal patches of cloudiness in the Q60B’s panel.
Since we wouldn’t typically associate such clouding with Samsung mid-range or even budget LCD TVs, we can’t help but wonder if the push for an ‘air-slim’ design is at least partly to blame.
Another surprising picture gremlin finds motion looking a bit uncomfortable on the Q60B. While the motion presets on even Samsung’s flagship TVs are typically pretty unhelpful, at least it’s possible with those to get natural, clean-looking motion without too much trouble. With the Q60B, though, depending on which motion processing setting you use, you’re either left with quite glaring judder, distracting stuttering/frame dropping, or too many unwanted processing ‘glitches’.
Picture quality score: 3.5/5
The thing frame looks premium, but doesn't leave much space for audio power. (Image credit: TechRadar/Future)
Samsung Q60B review: Sound quality
OTS Lite processing for positional audio
Adaptive Sound capabilities
Q-Symphony support with Samsung soundbars
As well as potentially not helping the Q60B’s picture quality in some areas, its Air Slim design likely also contributes to its underwhelming audio performance. There just doesn’t seem to be enough physical space to create either the volume levels or dynamic range – especially where lower frequencies are concerned – to provide a really convincing accompaniment to anything more rambunctious than a daytime chat show.
You can even clearly hear the TV physically give up the audio ghost during loud movie scenes that rise to a serious crescendo, with its soundstage suddenly becoming quieter rather than continuing to expand with the sound.
While the Q60B’s sound lacks any remotely cinematic qualities, though, it does at least understand its limits, managing to avoid falling prey to crackles, buzzes, hums and drop outs for most of the time. This is actually preferable to a TV that tries to go beyond its capabilities and just makes a mess of things.
The Object Tracking Sound Lite processing, finally, does a surprisingly credible job of placing specific effects in the correct place on screen considering how few speakers it has at its disposal. This at least compensates a bit for the speakers’ lack of raw power and impact.
Sound quality score: 3/5
Three HDMI ports is not atypical, but we'd really prefer four on any TV that's intended to last. (Image credit: Future/TechRadar)
Samsung Q60B review: Design
Exceptionally slim profile
Solar-powered remote control
Multi-position feet
Take a quick walk around the Q60B, and you’ll struggle to believe its price. It’s incredibly thin, for starters – the proud recipient of an Air Slim design that makes practically every other non-OLED TV look a chunky monkey by comparison.
The frame around the screen is pretty trim, too, while the two supporting feet (if you’re not wall-hanging the set) are so slim when viewed straight on that you can barely see them. All of this means that the Q60B does a very impressive job of letting you focus on the pictures it’s producing rather than the hardware that’s producing them.
You can adjust the width of the feet to suit different sizes of support furniture or, perhaps, to give you the space to tuck a small soundbar between them.
The Q60B ships with two remote controls. One is a standard, button-heavy affair that looks a bit overwhelming but is actually pretty easy to learn your way around once you’ve used it for a few minutes. The other is a stripped-back smart remote featuring a much leaner, more button-light design and, best of all, a solar cell on its rear that means you can use it as much as you like without ever having to worry about replacing its batteries.
Design score: 4/5
This TV is incredibly thin for an affordable model, and makes other options look they're not trying hard enough. (Image credit: Future/TechRadar)
Samsung Q60B review: Smart features & menus
Proprietary Samsung Tizen system
Extensive app collection
As ever with Samsung TVs, the Q60B’s smart interface and features are provided by a home-grown system built around Samsung’s Tizen OS. This has traditionally served Samsung very well – though the redesign ushered in for Samsung’s current range is a rare misstep.
The issue is that by moving to a full screen home page in place of the previous much more compact couple of ‘shelves’ overlying the picture, Samsung has made things feel more overwhelming. Plus it hasn’t made particularly great use of all the space available to it, making it feel harder rather than easier to quickly get to content you’re actually likely to want to watch.
Some aspects of the new menu navigation system aren’t helpful/logical either, especially when it comes to accessing the picture and sound set up menus.
On the upside, Samsung’s TV Plus service of fully streamed TV channels is now pretty expansive and includes more interesting content than it used to. Plus the main Tizen platform continues to cater for a huge line up of apps, including all the streaming services most people will want (with the exception of Google Play).
Where a streaming app is supported, moreover, you can bet that it will be able to play 4K and HDR video if a service carries these key AV features. The only catch is that the Q60B’s lack of Dolby Vision support means it will only play basic HDR10 from services that support Dolby Vision.
The two issues we have are that it doesn't support ATSC 3.0 for 4K broadcasts in the US (though few budget TVs do), and in the UK it doesn't support the Freeview Play umbrella app for the UK’s main terrestrial TV catch up apps. However, Samsung does carry all the individual apps for these channels.
The Q60B provides extensive support for voice control via multiple voice recognition platforms, giving you a handy way to dodge some of the issues with the onscreen menus.
Smart features and menus score: 3.5/5
The Q60B ships with two remote controls – this the simple one you can mostly just use. (Image credit: Future/TechRadar)
Samsung Q60B review: Gaming
Handy Gaming Hub for checking features
No 4K 120Hz support
Ultra-fast 9.4ms response time
An affordable, unusually bright, colorful TV like the Samsung Q60B has excellent potential as a gaming display. Potential which it delivers on in some areas, but falls a little short in others.
Of massive appeal to the gaming world is its 9.4ms of input lag (the time between when a console sends an image to it, and when it appears on-screen) with 60Hz content when using its Game preset. This is one of the lowest numbers we’ve ever measured on a TV.
Also very welcome is a dedicated Gaming Hub in the TV’s menus that pulls together a host of streaming apps, games and services, such as Xbox Game Pass, Twitch and Nvidia Geforce Now. It’s easy to connect controllers to the TV, too, to play via cloud services.
The screen’s combination of brightness, rich colors, and impressive sharpness are well-suited to game graphics too. This sharpness with 4K sources also makes it a shame that none of the TV’s three HDMI inputs can support 4K at 120Hz feeds or variable refresh rates. The only gaming feature they can handle is automatic low latency mode switching.
To be fair, 4K 120Hz and VRR support are currently very rare at the Q60B’s price point. But if TCL can do it, then you’d like to think Samsung could too.
Gaming score: 3.5/5
Samsung Q60B review: Value
Recent reductions make it very competitive
Well featured for its money
Cheaper models often don’t have Quantum Dots
The fact that it recently received further price cuts instantly establishes today’s Q60B as a potential bargain. It builds on this impressively, though, by including a Quantum Dot system at a price where such color technology is not always found.
Its smart system is extremely rich in content for such an affordable TV too, while its bright, colorful and responsive pictures help it stand out from the usually much duller competition.
Its uninspiring sound quality, lack of cutting edge gaming graphics support and limited backlight control, though, mean that it can’t entirely escape its budget nature.
The Samsung Q60B isn’t consistent enough with its performance or features to warrant an unqualified recommendation. If you’re after an affordable TV that will deliver more brightness and richer color in a room that tends to be quite light, though, then it is a good option for its money. Its intense, sharp visuals and fast response time might make it a good gaming monitor, too.
Its lack of contrast and rather basic sound damage its potential as a serious home cinema TV, however, and it’s a shame that it doesn’t support the latest cutting-edge gaming graphics features.
There aren't a whole lot of gaming monitors out there like the HyperX Armada 27. The display panel is a fairly standard-issue 1440p gaming monitor featuring a 165Hz refresh rate, up to 1ms response time, and plenty of color modes to tinker with. But where this monitor really shines is the boom arm that replaces the traditional gaming monitor stand, and it's honestly hard for me to ever go back to a traditional gaming monitor after this.
Boom arm-style monitors aren't new by any means, with displays like the LG 32UN880 UltraFine Display Ergo being a prime example. But these monitors are typically marketed to content creators or professional users like software developers who might be crowded around and focused on a single display in portrait mode.
The HyperX Armada 27 — and its smaller sibling, the Armada 25 — are purely designed with gamers in mind, and for that, it could easily be the best gaming monitor for 1440p gaming that you're likely to find out there thanks to its physical versatility.
It isn't all upside though, as you'll need to spend a good bit more for this display than you would for many of the best 1440p monitors on the market. The Armada 27, which is available now, has an MSRP of $499 / £499 / AU$779, though it's certainly possible to catch the occasional sale to help bring the price closer to the $400 / £400 / AU$600 mark that's typical for a good 1440p display.
And, since this is a gaming monitor, you're not getting a lot of input ports on the Armada 27, which is limited to just two HDMI 2.0 and one DisplayPort 1.4 input. This means that if you plan on using this with a PS5 or Xbox Series X console, you'll be locked into 60Hz rather than 120Hz, and there are better gaming monitors out there that can get you 120Hz for less than you're spending here.
But, there really is just something about this monitor that demands to be loved, and I do, in fact, love it. It's not for everyone, and for PC gamers out there jealous of everyone else getting to enjoy some of that sweet, sweet arm action, then this is definitely the monitor for you.
HyperX Armada 27: Price & availability
(Image credit: Future)
How much is it? $499 / £499 / AU$779
When is it available? It is available now.
Where can you get it? It is available in the US, UK, and Australia
The HyperX Armada 27 is available now in the US, UK, and Australia for $499, £499, and AU$779, respectively.
This makes it cheaper than something like the Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165, which doesn't even have a monitor arm and costs $799 / £699 / AU$999, while something like the Monoprice Dark Matter 27-inch gaming monitor can offer the same frame rates and resolution for about 40% cheaper at $299 (about £265, AU$435).
Ultimately, it's still a bit pricey for a 1440p display that is good but not the absolute best. The money you're spending really is for the monitor arm (as well as the included VESA mount), which is well-built enough to justify the premium price, but you're still spending a lot of money for the adaptability rather than the display itself.
If all you're looking to do is game at 1440p with fast frames, there are cheaper options for that.
Value: 3.5 / 5
HyperX Armada 27: Design
(Image credit: Future)
Monitor arm is fantastic
Included VESA wall mount hardware
Limited input options
HyperX Armada 27 key specs
Here are the specs on the HyperX Armada 27 sent to TechRadar for review:
The Armada 27 is a fantastic gaming monitor if what you're after is cool factor and a well-built premium feature. If you're looking for the best gaming panel on the market, you might find yourself disappointed by the somewhat mismatched quality of the two parts of the monitor.
First, when it comes to the arm, the degree of movement it affords you is rather incredible, and this leave it open to all kinds of use cases that we haven't even thought of yet. In addition to portrait mode, the tilt on the monitor is one of the most liberal I've ever encountered, with a back tilt that puts the display panel at an acute angle, something I've yet to encounter in a gaming monitor.
The forward tilt isn't as intense, unfortunately, but the freedom to move the monitor through multiple axes of motion makes it ideal for finding the exact right angle to play your games no matter what position you're in.
Image 1 of 5
(Image credit: Future)
Image 2 of 5
(Image credit: Future)
Image 3 of 5
(Image credit: Future)
Image 4 of 5
(Image credit: Future)
Image 5 of 5
(Image credit: Future)
The display, on the other hand, is your fairly standard plastic monitor panel, though the bezels are nice and thin, and the panel itself doesn't weigh all that much. It's VESA mount-compatible, and a wall mount for the arm is included in the package if you want to bolt it to the studs behind your dry wall.
Let me just emphasize that part, by the way. Always mount TVs and monitors to wall studs! Anchors in dry wall are not going to be enough to withstand the torque this display produces when fully extended.
As mentioned before, there are only three input ports (two HDMI 2.0 and one DisplayPort 1.4), so you're going to be somewhat limited in what you can connect to this monitor.
There is a noticeable lack of RGB lighting on this display, which I definitely appreciate, and the controls on the right-bottom corner on the back of the panel are easy to access when needed, which lets you access the display's settings menu to make adjustments to color profile, response time, and more.
Design: 4.5 / 5
HyperX Armada 27: Performance
(Image credit: Future)
Steady 165Hz refresh, 1ms response time
Decent color gamut (95% DCI-P3)
HDR 400 is ok, but nothing special
The Armada 27 wouldn't be a great gaming monitor without great gaming performance, and fortunately, it delivers.
While 4K gaming monitors are nice and all, 1440p really is a sweet spot for gaming as it brings fantastic visuals while giving you higher frame rates for your games, and the Armada 27 definitely lets it rip thanks to its 165Hz max refresh rate.
What's more, you can tune the pixel response in the monitor's settings to get 1ms GtG response time, though there might be some slight loss of clarity when set in this mode. If you're in it for competitive esports, you won't care about that, but for more mainstream gaming, I'd actually suggest you use a more moderate setting between normal and the fastest response.
When it comes to color, there are a number of onboard color profile presets that you can pick from, and while 95% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage is very good, it's not the best monitor for creatives at this price.
The HDR 400 helps bring some better blacks during gaming, but really, you need content designed for HDR 400 to get the benefits of the technology, so you're probably not going to get much use out of it. It's an ok also-have, but it's definitely not a reason to buy this monitor.
Performance: 4.5 / 5
Should you buy the HyperX Armada 27?
(Image credit: Future)
Buy the HyperX Armada 27 if...
Don't buy the HyperX Armada 27 if...
Also consider
HyperX Armada 27: Report Card
How We Test
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
• Original review date: June 2022
• Current flagship Epson 4K projector
• Launch price: $4,999 / £4,499 / AU$8,999
• Target price now: $4,999 / £4,499 / AU$8,999
The Epson Pro Cinema LS12000 has remained the company’s flagship long throw 4K projector since we first reviewed it back in 2022. A 3LCD model with a laser light engine, the LS12000 delivers stunning picture quality for movies and gaming and still sits at the top of our best 4K projectors guide as the best overall option. The LS12000 doesn’t get discounted on a regular basis, although we did see it drop to £3,999 in the UK during Black Friday, so expect to pay full price outside of major sales events. The rest of this review remains as previously published.
Epson Pro Cinema LS12000: One-minute review
If you’re looking to find one of the best 4K projectors out there, you don’t have to look further than the Epson Pro Cinema LS12000. This machine is delivering powerful technology that shines an almost unbeatable image. It comes at a predictable high price, though, and Epson has gone all-in on the picture-side of the equation, leaving you to fend for yourself when it comes to video sources and audio.
The LS12000 is a beefy (we’re talking 50 pounds) laser projector with a 3LCD system inside. This combination provides a bright light source for both color and white output, powerful contrast, and no artifacts we could detect. It’s an immaculate picture that doesn’t struggle to overcome bright lighting conditions in a room and then can step up to simply blow us away when we turn out all the ambient light.
The sharp and colorful visuals are also easy to get just how we want them. With zoom, lens shift, focus, and keystone controls, all we have to do is set the projector where we want it and then move and adjust the image to our ideal size and position. There’s a lot of flexibility for big rooms and even bigger rooms, though we wouldn’t recommend going all out like this for a small space — this is a serious home theater projector.
The Epson Pro Cinema LS12000 won’t make sense for a lot of people. But those who want the best and will set out to complement it with a capable AV receiver and robust sound system will likely be pleased as a peach with the LS12000.
Epson Pro Cinema LS12000 review: Price and availability
The Epson Pro Cinema LS12000 is available for $4,999 (£4,399, about AU$7,090), while the company’s lower-spec LS11000 (2500 lumen brightness and 1,200,000:1 contrast ratio) is available for $3,999 (£4,099, about AU$5,670).
(Image credit: Future / Mark Knapp)
Epson Pro Cinema LS12000 review: Design and features
48Gbps HDMI 2.1 ports (1x eARC) with 4K/120Hz support
No Smart TV platform or speakers
Hardware zoom and lens shift
The LS12000 is a bit of a beast. This isn’t your little shelf-top projector you set at the back of the room for a casual home theater. This is a purpose-built machine for a next-level home cinema. It comes in a substantial housing that feels well-built, looks elegant, and is actually not overwhelmingly heavy despite its size.
The LS12000 is ready for a variety of setups and flexes to meet its positioning. We set our unit up on a mantel at the back of a living room, roughly 14 feet from the opposite wall. Thanks to the projector’s optical zoom, we can easily squeeze down the image to fit in the available space on our wall without sacrificing detail (as with digital zoom). From there, the wide vertical and horizontal lens shift range lets us further center the picture all without having to move the projector. Essentially, it’s easy to find a convenient place to set the projector and then use its powerful adjustment tools to project the image where it fits best. The projector doesn’t do this automatically, nor does it auto focus, but it makes the process fairly accessible without having to dive too deep into menus.
The package is pretty bare-bones for anyone expecting an all-in-one entertainment device. It’s a centerpiece, for sure, but you’ll have to build around it. The kit includes just the projector itself, a beefy remote control, a port cover that can snap onto the back, and a ceiling mounting kit. There’s no Smart TV operating system running onboard, and there aren’t even speakers. This is just your display, and you’ll very likely want to run it to an AV receiver because it only has two HDMI ports. Thankfully, they’re both high-bandwidth, 48Gbps HDMI 2.1 ports capable of 4K/120Hz (which the projector actually supports) as well as eARC on one of them.
The projector naturally has extensive support for the kind of high-quality cinema features you'd want from a device like this. It handles HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG with 10-bit HDR color processing. It has preset color modes as well as options to dial them in just how you prefer. It can send through a variety of Dolby and DTS audio signals over eARC. It will even let you turn motion interpolation on or off as you like.
The cherry on top is the powered lens cover that slides open when the projector turns on and shuts back up when it’s turned off, helping keep the optics clean and protected.
The LS12000's rear-panel is equipped with dual 48Gbps HDMI 2.1 ports. (Image credit: Future / Mark Knapp)
Epson Pro Cinema LS12000 review: Picture Quality
3LCD system with laser light source
Huge, bright 4K pictures with vivid color
Rich detail across the spectrum
We’re inclined to say there’d be almost no reason to go out to a movie theater anymore when you can have a picture like this at home. The Epson Pro Cinema LS12000 provides a staggeringly brilliant image that hardly cares whether we’re watching in the daytime but will reward us greatly for watching at night with the lights off. Epson isn’t playing games with its brightness claims. It has the projector rated for 2,700 lumens whether it’s showing all white or showing color. You’d think that brightness might mean a machine that runs hot and has loud fans as a result, but we don’t hear a peep of fan noise while running the LS12000.
Brightness is an important metric for a projector, but oftentimes they can manage an acceptable brightness while struggling to present compelling shadow details, making for an image that lacks in contrast. The LS120000 doesn’t. This thing is virtuoso for challenging imagery. In The Batman, even in a dark scene, the details on Batman’s and Catwoman’s black outfits are discernible. The fact the projector can provide such rich detail in shadows while blasting out vivid color is simply astounding. Given how bright the projector can get, it even impresses during daytime without doing much to subdue ambient light. If the sun is blasting through our windows, we’ll draw the blinds, but otherwise the picture is still stunningly acceptable even without ideal conditions. Mind you, this is all without a projection screen, which will dial up the visuals even further.
We recently tested the Hisense L9G, a premium ultra-short throw projector that performs stunningly. It’s a remarkable product that we can readily recommend, but even it looks feeble next to the sheer might of the picture coming from the LS12000. Where the L9G had to balance its $5,500 budget on the projection, audio, smart TV platform, and included projection screen, the LS12000 has all of its cost going toward the picture.
Epson Pro Cinema LS12000 specs
Screen sizes supported: 50 to 130 inches | 8K: No | HDR: Yes | Optical technology: Laser 3LCD | Smart TV: No| Dimensions: 20.5(w) x 7.6(h) x 17.6(d)inches | Weight: 28 pounds | 3D: No | Inputs: 2xHDMI 2.1 (1 with eARC), 1 x powered USB, optical digital audio output, Ethernet, RS232-C, 12-volt trigger output
Given how bright the projector is and the fact it can support a wide variety of image sizes, it naturally has to be sharp. While the projector is using three LCDs with a native 1080p resolution, Epson’s dual-axis pixel shifting creates a proper 4K UHD image with no artifacts that we can pick up such as the dithering we’ve seen on some cheaper DMD-based projectors.
Now, the LS12000 provides a lot, but it comes at a steep price. Assuming a $15 ticket, you could go to the movie theater about 333 times before the LS12000 made more financial sense. But, the LS12000 could still be more practical than it seems at first. If you’d go every weekend for six years, you’ve evened out, and the 20,000-hour light source lifespan ought to last well beyond that. If you’ve got kids or a spouse coming along to the theater, you reach that return-on-investment even sooner. If you have to pay for parking at the theater, don’t forget to factor that in. And the fact is you’re getting more than just movies from your home movie theater. You can’t go to the theater to watch Law & Order SVU. You can’t go to the theater to stream every season of The Office. You can’t go to the theater to play 500 hours of Elden Ring’s New Game+.
The Epson Pro Cinema LS12000 is definitely an investment, and one you’ll have to build around with a decent sound system and potentially a setup that makes it easier to switch sources given the meager two HDMI ports. But for those looking to have the ultimate home theater, this machine will handily deliver the picture.
Should I buy the Epson Pro Cinema LS12000 4K laser projector?
The Epson LS12000's large size makes it best-suited for a permanent installation (cat shown for scale). (Image credit: Future / Mark Knapp)
Buy it if...
You want the ultimate home theater visuals
The Epson Pro Cinema LS12000 might not stream or output audio, but its picture is undeniably brilliant. Rich shadows, vibrant color, and dazzling highlights all come through wonderfully.
You don’t want to fuss with placement
If you’ve already got the perfect spot for setting a big projector, the LS12000 can likely adapt to that space. It has a wide zoom and lens shift range, letting you frame the image just where you want it.
You want it all
The Epson Pro Cinema LS12000 brings the 4K picture, blasts the HDR visuals, explodes with brightness, sinks into darkness, goes smooth at up to 120Hz, tightens down to 50 inches or scales up to 300 inches. It’ll likely be some time before you’ll feel like this projector is missing something you’ve got to have.
Don’y buy it if…
You only have $5,000 to spend on a home theater
The LS12000 is amazing, but it is just a display. You don’t get sound and you don’t get a streaming or broadcast platform out of it. If you’re just starting an entertainment setup, you’ll need those as well.
You want more flexibility
The LS12000 can flex to a variety of setups, but it’s really the kind of projector you want to leave in one place. It’s big and hefty, so not likely one you’ll want to move frequently or tote along with you on a trip.
You’re not a die-hard cinephile
The LS12000 is a splurge when compared to the many projectors out there that you can get a large 4K picture from. Many do a great job for a night of entertainment and casual viewing if you remember to draw the blinds and dim the lights. Epson even has a $1,000 cheaper option in the LS11000 that sacrifices only a little.
• Original review date: April 2022
• Remains a current top model in JVC’s lineup
• Launch price: $15,999 / £15,800 / AU$25,000
• Target price now: $13,999 / £15,800 / AU$25,000
The JVC DLA-NZ8 rightfully retains its place as the best premium projector option in our best 4K projectors guide since no new long throw projectors have arrived that can match its performance. With advanced HDR and 8K support, this laser-based D-ILA model represents the state of the projector art, and has a price tag match. The DLA-NZ8 has gone down in price in the US since we first reviewed it, and can now be had for $13,999. That’s not cheap, but if you’re looking for the best projector for a bespoke home theater, the DLA-NZ8 is still king. The rest of this review remains as previously published.
One-minute review
The JVC DLA-NZ8 is the latest native 4K projector from the company, and unlike previous lamp-based generations it uses a BLU-Escent laser light source. This results in brighter images, greater consistency and a longer lifespan without compromising the black levels or increasing the fan noise. As a result, this excellent projector builds on JVC’s existing strengths, expanding them in some areas and adding a host of new cutting-edge features in others.
The native 4K images are detailed and precise, while the addition of 8K/e-shiftX processing helps make good content look even better. The overall picture accuracy is impressive, the SDR images are superb, and the HDR performance remains class-leading thanks to JVC's dynamic tone mapping and Theatre Optimiser feature. There's even support for HDR10+, plus 3D pictures that are bright, punchy and free of crosstalk.
In terms of other features, there are two HDMI 2.1 inputs with support for 8K/60p and 4K/120p. This will be welcome news for gamers, as will an input lag of 38ms. An added benefit of HDMI 2.1 is that the projector is also much faster at locking onto video signals. There’s an effective remote, intuitive menu system, and flexible installation – although whether stand or ceiling mounting, bear in mind that this beamer is big and heavy.
The NZ8 is also very expensive, although the pricing of JVC’s new line-up is intended to reflect the comparative cost of 4K laser projectors from Sony. Interestingly the NZ8 currently has no direct competitor, so if you want uncompromising performance, peerless HDR tone mapping, comprehensive features and a high degree of future-proofing performance, this remarkable projector is in a class of its own.
Price and availability
JVC’s new NZ series of laser-powered projectors include all the features found on the previous lamp-based generation, but add HDMI 2.1 inputs capable of handling 8K/60p and 4K/120p, 8K/e-shiftX with an actual resolution of 8K, improved optics, and support for HDR10+.
The new range is headlined by the DLA-NZ9, which is also called the DLA-RS4100 in some markets. This flagship projector will set you back an eye-watering £24,999/$25,999, but is state of the art, with a claimed brightness of 3,000 Lumens, a native contrast of 100,000:1, and a 100mm all-glass lens with ultra-high contrast optics.
The DLA-NZ8 (DLA-RS3100) reviewed here costs £15,800/$15,999, and is largely the same as the NZ9 but hits 2,500 Lumens, has a contrast of 80,000:1, and smaller 65mm all-glass lens. However it does have the same improved optical path, and other features found on the high-end model.
Finally, there's the DLA-NZ7 (DLA-RS2100), which retails for a slightly more reasonable £11,500/$10,999. This projector is similar to the NZ8 but doesn’t use upgraded optics, with a brightness of 2,200 Lumens, and contrast of 40,000:1. It also lacks the wide colour gamut filter found on the more expensive models, and uses the same bi-directional 8K/e-shift found on the earlier DLA-NX9, rather than the new four-directional 8K/e-shiftX employed on the NZ8 and NZ9.
(Image credit: JVC)
Design
65mm all-glass lens
2 x HDMI 2.1 inputs
Backlit remote control
The JVC DLA-NZ8 looks identical to the previous generation, with the same matte black chassis and fantastic level of build quality. The only difference is at the rear, where there are slightly larger air vents and no removable dust filter. Despite its size, the design cleverly builds curves into the shape of the chassis to help offset the projector’s overall bulk.
It’s worth pointing out that the NZ8 is huge – measuring 500 x 234 x 505mm (WxHxD), and weighing in at a back-breaking 23.1kg. So it’s not the kind of beamer you whip out for movie night or to watch the big game. This is a serious product that’s designed for permanent installation in a dedicated home cinema, using either a stand or ceiling mount.
The new model contains the same 17-element, 15-group all-glass 65mm lens that was introduced on JVC’s previous generation of 4K projectors. However, it has been upgraded to improve the contrast performance by adding an inside coating designed to suppress any reflected light. This upgrade explains how the brighter NZ8 can have the same contrast ratio as the previous DLA-N7.
One of the biggest upgrades on this new generation of 4K projectors is the inclusion of HDMI 2.1 inputs, with JVC being the first manufacturer to do so. These 48Gbps ports accept both 8K/60p and 4K/120p, plus they support HDCP 2.3, 3D and high dynamic range – specifically HDR10, HLG, and HDR10+, with the latter also being a new addition. An unexpected benefit of HDMI 2.1 is that the NZ8 locks onto video signals faster than previous JVCs, which were painfully slow.
The provided remote is identical to the previous generation, which is welcome news because it's an excellent controller. It's comfortable to hold and easy to use with one hand, laying out all the buttons in a sensible manner. There's a dedicated backlight, which works really well because it illuminates the actual writing on the buttons, making them easy to read in the dark.
Features
BLU-Escent laser light source
Native 4K D-ILA chipset
8K/e-shiftX image processing
HDR Dynamic tone mapping
The JVC DLA-NZ8 uses the company’s BLU-Escent laser diode light source that was first introduced on the ultra-expensive DLA-Z1. As a result, the NZ8 has increased brightness, greater consistency, and a 20,000-hour lifespan. In practical terms that means you could watch a film a day for the next 20 years without worrying about dimming or having to change the lamp.
The NZ8 uses the same three-chip 4K D-ILA device as JVC’s previous generation, but also includes 8K/e-shiftX processing. When first introduced this feature shifted pixels in two directions to increase the perceived resolution, which the NZ7 still does, but the NZ8 and NZ9 employ an upgraded technology that shifts the pixels in four directions to display a full 8K resolution.
When it comes to HDR the NZ8 sports a number of class-leading features such as Auto Tone Mapping, which reads static metadata and immediately adjusts the tone mapping. There’s also Frame Adapt HDR, which analyses a signal and changes the tone mapping dynamically, while the Theatre Optimiser tweaks the HDR delivery to match your screen’s size and gain.
The NZ8 includes motorised focus, zoom and shift controls, which makes installation a doddle, and there are also lens memories for different screen aspect ratios. The menu system has been tweaked, and now has six settings for the Frame Adapt HDR features, while the Theatre Optimiser allows you to specify if your screen uses a 16:9 or 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
The laser light source has three LD Power options (low, mid, and high), along with two Dynamic CTRL settings that dynamically adjust the brightness of the laser. The laser is surprisingly quiet in operation, even in the brighter mid option, and the high mode isn’t significantly louder, making it a viable choice for those looking for a punchier HDR image or using a very large screen.
(Image credit: JVC)
Performance
HDR10/HLG/HDR10+ support
Wide colour gamut filter
3D with optional emitter and glasses
The JVC DLA-NZ8 delivers the kind of gorgeous film-like imagery for which the company is justly famous. The native 4K D-ILA chipset and 65mm all-glass ensure pictures so clear and detailed that even the most demanding pixel-peepers will be happy. The overall uniformity and geometry of the projected images are equally as precise, so all the basics are covered.
The colour accuracy is also exceptional, with a beautifully natural reproduction that hits all the industry standards right out of the box. The light path has been improved for greater contrast, and when combined with those deep blacks the benefits of a JVC projector are there for all to see, while the increased brightness of the laser light source produces images that really pop.
This projector is equally impressive with motion handling, producing buttery smooth pictures that are free of blurring and unwanted artefacts. The processing is also superb, taking lower quality content and upscaling it to the NZ8’s 4K capabilities, while the 8K/e-shiftX device is a revelation, shifting pixels in four directions to create images with a perceived resolution of 8K.
This projector is a stellar performer with SDR (standard dynamic range) content, but it’s with HDR (high dynamic range) that the JVCs are in a class of their own. Aside from having the necessary latitude from deep blacks to bright highlights, their cutting-edge tone mapping analyses the HDR content in real time, rendering it perfectly to match the increased brightness and wider colours.
These class-leading HDR capabilities are perfectly demonstrated in the film Allied, during the scene here Brad Pitt is watching an air raid. The combination of unrivalled contrast and flawless tone-mapping produce deep blacks in the night sky, and amazing shadow detail. The HDR also picks out the bright tracer fire and flak, allowing both to be highlighted against the darkness.
The NZ8 uses a filter to create a wider colour gamut, and this is perfectly demonstrated in The Greatest Showman, where the detailed 4K image pops with wonderfully saturated primaries. The HDR uses its increased dynamic range to great effect, bringing out all the details in the brightly lit scenes under the big top spotlights, and ensuring the specular highlights are never clipped.
The HDR is frequently breathtaking, retaining all the detail in the shadows and delivering bright pictures that are never blown out. The HDR images are clearly superior to SDR with saturated colours and a punchier dynamic range, while HDR10+ support allows the JVC to take advantage of the format’s added tone mapping information, ensuring content is perfectly displayed.
This added capability is expertly demonstrated in the film 1917, which includes HDR10+ dynamic metadata. The Oscar-winning 4K photography from Roger Deakins is beautifully reproduced by the NZ8, with every shot looking great, but it’s the nighttime scenes lit only by flares that really show what this projector can do with deep blacks and detailed shadows.
Although 3D is waning in popularity these days, there are still plenty of supporting Blu-rays, and the NZ8 displays them with pictures that are bright, accurate, and free of any ghosting. You’ll need to purchase the optional RF transmitter and glasses, but if you do decide to add them you’ll be rewarded with big screen 3D images that are probably superior to your local multiplex.
Finally, the NZ8 delivers a 38ms input lag with low latency turned on, which might not be as impressive as the sub-10 second measurements routinely delivered by TVs these days, but is good for a projector and results in some enjoyably responsive game play. Once you include the 4K/120p support and laser light source, the NZ8 makes for an excellent gaming projector.
Should I buy the JVC DLA-NZ8 4K laser projector?
Buy it if...
You want gorgeous 4K images with that elusive film-like quality The combination of a 4K chipset and all-glass lens produces fantastically pin-sharp images, while JVC’s justifiably famous deep blacks and superior contrast performance result in that all-important film-like quality, separating this projector from the competition.
You want class-leading HDR tone mapping The implementation of state-of-the-art dynamic tone mapping and a feature that optimises the overall performance for specific home cinema setups, produces stunningly detailed and impactful HDR images, making JVC’s projectors superior to any other manufacturer.
You want 8K/60p and 4K/120p support for next-gen gaming The inclusion of HDMI 2.1 supports 8K/60p and 4K/120p signals, while the addition of 8K/e-shiftX image processing ensures the NZ8 can also project an 8K image with no perceivable loss in resolution. So despite its hefty price tag, this projector will remain relevant for years to come.
Don’t buy it if…
You want something small or portable for occasional use The NZ8 is a serious home cinema projector, with a massive chassis and a high-end price tag. It’s designed for a dedicated room with a permanent installation using a stand or wall mount, and for the optimal performance you will need a proper screen as well.
You want a projector to use in a white room or during the day While the NZ8 is bright, it will struggle in a room with white walls, windows or any other light source. The darker the room the better the results, because any reflected light will wash-out JVC’s class-leading contrast performance.
You want really bright HDR like on a TV This really applies to all projectors, but none of them can get close to a TV in terms of their peak brightness for HDR. So if you’re looking for really bright specular highlights, you should be considering a big-screen TV rather than a projector.
• Original review date: November 2020
• New Premiere 9 model coming out in 2024
• Launch price: US$6,499 / £6,999 / AU$10,999
• Target price now: $4,499 / £3,118 / AU$5,995
The Samsung Premiere LSP9T was the company’s first ultra short throw projector and it remains in the lineup, now at a discounted price. That’s because the LSP9T is due to be replaced in 2024 by the Premiere 9, another 4K UST that Samsung says will have improved brightness and better sound with the addition of Dolby Atmos processing. Nonetheless, the Premiere LSP9T is an impressive projector, and at $4,499 / £3,118 / AU$5,995 it’s now a much better value. The rest of this review remains as previously published.
One-minute review
Samsung is back in the home cinema projector market, after more than a decade away – and its Samsung Premiere flagship beamer is certain to impress.
The Premiere LSP9T’s ultra short throw design, 2800 lumens of laser-driven brightness, support for the latest 4K and HDR picture quality standards, powerful built-in audio system, and built-in tuner and smart system make it a true rival for a king-sized TV – especially as it produces mostly outstanding pictures.
Brightness and color volume are both exceptional for a projector, getting maximum value from an innovative new laser light source design. Here, for once, is a projector that actually handles HDR content well – despite that content being designed for TV rather than projection technologies.
The Premiere LSP9T’s pictures genuinely look 4K too, delivering a dense, cinematic image free of visible image structure even at its 130-inch maximum image size.
It’s not quite as ready for next-gen gaming as we’d have liked, and some fleeting color striping noise and occasional black level shortcomings sometimes reminds you a bit too obviously of the mechanics of its laser DLP optical system. But as an ultra short-throw projector, this may be the best example we’ve seen so far.
Price and availability
The Samsung Premiere LSP9T is available across the world
£6,999 / US$6,499 / AU$10,999 price tag
A cheaper single-laser Premiere model, the LSP7T, is also available
Considering the two Premiere models are the first home entertainment projectors Samsung has released for over a decade, it’s impressive to see how widely Samsung is distributing them across the world. It’s a clear sign of Samsung’s manufacturing and distribution might – and, perhaps, its confidence in its new creation.
The flagship LSP9T’s £6,999 / $6,499 / AU$10,999 price looks high at first glance. LG’s similar Cinebeam HU85LS only costs £4,999, for instance, and the recently launched Optoma CinemaX P2 ultra short throw (UST) laser projector costs just £2,999. However, the Samsung model boasts an innovative triple laser design to boost color range and brightness, carries an unusually powerful audio system, and sports the most TV-like features and smart operating system of any projector to date.
Don’t forget, either, that Sony’s trailblazing VZ1000ES UST laser projector still costs £10,999, despite being available for around three years now.
(Image credit: John Archer)
Design
Ultra short throw design lets you place it right up to your wall
Crisp, gloss white finish
Powerful speakers are built into its rear side
The optical requirements of an ultra short-throw projector limit what the LSP9T can do in design terms. Within those limitations, though, the LSP9T actually looks pretty nice.
Its gloss white finish looks and feels premium, and is offset nicely by the grey fabric that sits over the speakers. Its rounded corners are a welcome domesticated touch too, and build quality is impressive.
The Premiere is slightly smaller than many ultra short-throw laser rivals, making it easier to fit on a sideboard. Another nice touch is the way its ergonomic, button-lite ‘smart’ remote control continues the crisp white finish theme.
Connections are all tucked away on the projector’s wall-facing side, making it easier to hide potential cable spaghetti. The only catch is that, due to the projector’s ultra short-throw design, thick cables can be a bit of struggle to squeeze in.
Connections are eye-catchingly numerous, too. It’s particularly good to see there are three HDMIs rather than the normal two, and an RF input that – unlike most UST projectors, including LG’s HU85LS – the Premiere LSP9T carries a fully functioning digital TV tuner. This underlines just how much Samsung sees its new Premiere projectors as alternatives to huge and prohibitively expensive LCD TVs.
(Image credit: Samsung)
One of the HDMIs supports eARC functionality for passing lossless Dolby Atmos soundtracks out to compatible soundbars or AV receivers, and you’ll get a digital optical audio output thrown in too. For many people, though, the 40W 4.2-channel speaker system built into the Premiere LSP9T may well be good enough – at least in the short term.
An Ethernet port, meanwhile, lets you hardwire the projector into your network if you don’t want to use the projector’s Wi-Fi capability. You will definitely want to get the Premiere LSP9T on your network one way or the other, though, because unlike most projectors, this one carries the same full online smart TV system you get with Samsung 2020 TVs – the Tizen OS.
The last connection of note is a powered (5v 0.5A) USB port for accessing AV files from USB storage devices, or letting you attach something like an Amazon Fire TV stick (assuming you can squeeze one between the projector’s connections and the wall, that is).
I guess it would have been nice if the LSP9T’s HDMIs supported next-gen gaming features such as 4K/120Hz, variable refresh rates, and automatic game mode switching. But no other projector currently offers such functionality either.
The Premiere LSP9T’s design contains a couple of cool hidden features. You can, for instance, connect recent Galaxy phones to the projector for streaming just by tapping the phone against the projector’s bodywork. There’s also built-in Bluetooth headphone support, and 4.2 channels of sound – but more on that latter point in our audio section below.
(Image credit: John Archer)
Smart TV
Straightforward TV-like interface
Comprehensive collection of content
Includes voice control and Android/Apple Airplay wireless support
Samsung Premiere specs
Screen sizes supported: 100 to 130 inches | Tuner: Freeview HD | 8K: No | HDR: Yes | Optical technology: Three-Laser DLP | Smart TV: Yes, Eden 2.0 | Dimensions: 550(w) x 141(h) x 367(d)mm | Weight: 11.5kg | 3D: No | Inputs: 3xHDMI 2.0 (with eARC), 1 x powered USB, RF input, optical digital audio output, bluetooth headphone output, Ethernet
The Premiere LSP9T fully implements Samsung’s excellent Tizen smart TV interface – the one used on most new Samsung TVs these days. That means you get the same economically-presented menus at the bottom of the screen, complete with pop-up content views above selected apps.
You can even issue verbal instructions to the TV via Samsung’s built-in Bixby system (with Alexa and Google Assistant supported via external listening devices if you have them).
Samsung’s smart system covers all the key video streaming apps, from Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to Apple TV and Disney Plus, with impressively comprehensive catch-up services for whichever region you’re in (you get all the key terrestrial broadcasters in the UK, for instance).
HDR and 4K are well supported across the provided apps, too – and as noted earlier, there’s excellent support for using the projector as a wireless display or speaker for files on your smartphones. The LSP9T is basically a fully functioning smart TV in a projector’s body.
Picture quality
Exceptionally bright, colorful pictures
Impressive 4K sharpness
Some unexpected rainbow effect
The Premiere LSP9T has a number of unique picture quality features to its name that we’ll cover in the course of this part of the review – kicking off with its use of a triple laser system, where separate red, green and blue lasers create the picture without having to pass light through a color wheels as most DLP projectors do.
It’s this purity of the laser delivery, in fact, that makes the LSP9T’s pictures look even brighter in a dark room than the claimed 2,800 lumens would lead you to expect. This brightness is particularly helpful with high dynamic range sources, creating dazzling HDR images we simply haven’t seen on a projector of this price before. This holds true even with some ambient light in the room – a key achievement for a projector designed for the living room rather than a dedicated home cinema environment.
The direct RGB laser system ensures, too, that the projector’s extreme brightness is partnered by equally extreme color volume. Samsung claims that the Premiere LSP9T can cover 106% of the BT2020 HDR color range, and a massive 147% of the DCI-P3 color gamut used in digital cinemas – all powered by 16-bit 3D color mapping. With bright and mid-bright wide color gamut HDR movies, colors enjoy an intensity and range of tones beyond what we’d expect from a projector.
(Image credit: John Archer)
Normally, consumer projectors have to introduce a color filter to offer a wide color gamut, and these filters invariably lead to a much dimmer picture. Getting so much color with no loss of brightness on the LSP9T is therefore a sight for sore eyes. That’s especially true with the projector’s Dynamic mode, though saturation drops a little more than is necessary with the Standard setting.
Another exclusive picture feature of the LSP9T is its HDR10+ support. This means it can work with the extra scene-by-scene metadata the HDR10+ format provides, rather than merely the ‘static’ data you get with the industry standard HDR10 format. The result when playing HDR10+ sources is enhanced contrast (more distance between the darkest and brightest parts of the picture) and more detail refinement. As well as, more unexpectedly, reduced video noise in dark picture areas.
The LSP9T excels with native 4K sources. As usual with DLP projectors, it doesn’t carry a truly native 4K resolution in the way that Sony’s SXRD projectors do. Instead it uses Texas Instruments’ ultra-fast double flashing technology to get the mirrors on its DLP chip to deliver more than a single pixel of picture for each image frame.
This system is considered effective enough by the US’s Consumer Technology Association, though, to qualify as true 4K. And certainly 4K pictures look beautifully detailed, sharp and textured with the LSP9T. Not quite as pristine as the best Sony 4K models, perhaps, but a cut above most other ‘pseudo’ 4K DLP projectors.
It can retain that sharpness when there’s motion, too, thanks to the LSP9T carrying a projector-optimised version of the motion processing systems Samsung has been refining on its TVs for years now. You need to handle the motion processing with care, as the higher powered settings can cause distracting processing side effects. But the lowest setting does a good job of reducing judder without causing too many unpleasant trade offs.
Being able to take advantage of Samsung’s processing know-how also helps the LSP9T handle sub-4K content superbly well, too, adding density and genuine detail – to, say, HD sources – without the results looking forced or fake.
As spectacular as the LSP9T’s pictures are most of the time, though, they don’t completely escape the issues associated with the still relatively new world of laser projection.
For instance, very dark scenes can take on a rather grey appearance, especially if they’re in HDR and a bright highlight or two has to share screen space with darker patches of an image. This is especially true if you’re using the projector’s Movie or Filmmaker Mode picture preset, so much so that I don’t think many users will particularly enjoy either mode. Despite the UHD Alliance-approved Filmmaker Mode – the LSP9T being the first projector to be certified to use this – being designed to deliver a more accurate picture based on typical mastering standards.
Fortunately, contrast is better in the projector’s Bright or Standard modes. That’s probably because they make more aggressive use of a unique DynamicBlack feature that apparently amplifies dark video signals to boost bright areas before closing down the light source aperture to enhance the blackness of dark areas. The results still don’t deliver brilliant black levels, but they are good enough not to be a substantial distraction from all the (literally) brilliant stuff the projector is doing elsewhere.
Another issue that impacts the Dynamic and Standard presets is the loss of color finesse in very dark scenes. Skin tones and color blends can lose some of their subtle shading, looking a little rough and unnatural. However, content dark enough to really exacerbate this problem is pretty rare.
The projector’s input lag isn’t incredible, either, reaching a fairly average 56ms in its Game mode – but perhaps the most notable flaw is with the DLP rainbow effect.
(Image credit: Samsung)
This phenomenon sees stripes of color flitting over small, bright picture highlights, and is quite common to see on DLP projectors that use a color wheel. But of course, the LSP9T doesn’t use a color wheel! Whatever its cause, the rainbow effect is undoubtedly there – so if you know yourself to be particularly susceptible to seeing it (sensitivity varies from person to person) it’s definitely something to think about.
The key point to remember about the LSP9T’s picture niggles, though, is that they’re arguably a necessity with current affordable laser technologies, and a side effect of the explosive strengths of the projector’s impactful and remarkably TV-like pictures.
Audio performance
Audio beam technology for greater precision and a larger soundstage
40W of power in a 4.2-channel configuration
Sounds better than many TVs
The Premiere LSP9T’s built-in sound system impresses in a number of ways. First, the distance the beam-based speaker system casts the sound away from the projector’s chassis is remarkable. As a result, the sound never seems to actually be coming from the physical location of the speakers on the LSP9T’s rear. The effect is closer to a wall of sound, complete with significant height and width, that seems to elevate everything to match the position of the onscreen pictures.
Dialogue remains correctly placed at the heart of this elevated soundstage, while specific effects are accurately positioned in the audio wall to tally up with the onscreen action. Detailing in even very complex movie mixes is good, and treble effects are delivered without harshness or clipping.
Bass is a little limited. There’s still enough of it, though, to ensure that even action movie soundtracks don’t end up sounding thin or flat. The projector never tries to push bass deeper than its speakers can sensibly go, either, meaning there’s no buzzing interference, crackling or drop outs. The speakers built into the LSP9T class would be good by TV standards, but are truly excellent by projector standards.
