9 Best Home Projectors, According to Tech Pros (2024)

When it comes to home electronics, our experts are especially looking for the sweet spot between value and performance. The Home Cinema 2150 nails it, delivering big, bold LCD picture quality and ample (if not quite cinema-grade) sound through its10-watt speakers, all at a reasonable price.Our experts found the Home Cinema 2150 especiallyeasy to setup. The flexible lens shift makes it simple to adjust image size, which can get up to 11-feet wide,several times that ofa typical flat-screen TV. The only problem is you might have to rearrange the family room to come up withenough wall space. But from then on, movie night will never be the same.

Though the top-rated Epson is well-priced, you can spend even less on a capable home projector. Enter the Optoma HD146X. It’s a DLP (digital light processing) projector, which means the picture isn’t quite as bright as what you get with an LCD, but with its fullHD 1080p resolution, no one is going to have to squint to read the score of the ball game or subtitles of foreign-language films.If there’s a gamer in the house, they’ll appreciate the fast response times of the device’s enhanced gaming mode.But spending less than $500 does come with some tradeoffs. The Optoma is a bit noisier thancomparable home projectors, so you might need to invest in auxiliary speakers, and you can’t cast as large a picture on the wall. But if you’re doing most of your watching and playing in a small-ish, quiet, easily darkened space, theHD146Xis sure to satisfy.

As the name implies, this top-performing home projector uses laser technology, instead of the standardlamp. The result is exceptionally crisp, bright picture quality, so much so that you can easily watch during the day. The VAVA also differs from a lot of the competition in that it's ashort-throw laser projector, so it sits close up against the wall, instead of across the room. The built-in Harmon Kardon speaker adds impressive sound quality.Our pros found the initial setup to be more complex than competitors and weren't thrilled with thelimited selection of apps. But you'll likelylook past those flaws if sleek design and a dazzling picture are your top concerns.

When it came to choosing the best of the short-throw projectors, our experts went with the BenQ. That’s because the little projector that could produces an exceptionally large image (up to 100 inches) from short distances. That makes it the perfect projector for small spaces. If you’re into gaming, you’ll appreciate the low input lag that cuts down on motion blur, no matter how fast the action. The BenQ’s Full HD (1080p) visuals deliver sharp image quality and solid sound emanates from the built-inspeaker. Our experts also found the projector easy to set up and control, thanks to its wireless streaming capability.

Need to get even shorter with your projector’s throw distance? The Samsung ultra-short home projector will wow with you its ability to display a massive 130-inch image from a few short inches. You might expect some tradeoff in image quality from that distance, but thanks in partto the triple laser light source, the contrast and color accuracy are incredible. Addin the 40 watts of built-in sound, and the experience approaches cinematic. Now for the reality check: the Premiere LSP9T coststhousands more than many top-rated home projectors. And you thought the cost of a movie ticket was a lot!

For a true one-box system that makes little compromise on picture and sound quality, look no further than the CineBeam HU80KSW (though get ready to pay a pretty penny for it). The ultra-compact projector impressed our experts with its 4K HDR resolution and room-filling sound performance from the onboard Harmon Kardon speakers. But the real beauty of this home projector is its all-in-one functionality, compliments of the built-in LG smart hub, making it simple to download apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime and YouTube. The CineBeam can also mirror content from your smartphone, tablet or laptop without the use of cables. With its integrated handle and power cord, along with the compact design, the projector moves easily around the house — or take it to the office for work presentations and on your next family vacation.

If portability is your tip-top priority, a mini projector is the way to go, and none impressed our experts more than the Nebula Capsule II. The device packs solid picture and quality performance into its incredibly compact design — at just under six inches tall, it practically fits in the palm of your hand. Built-in Android TV connects you instantly to a wealth of content, and you can download all your favorite apps, including Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime and Twitch. Rapid charging on the built-in battery is a nice convenience, and the power pack delivers up to three hours of HD projection, enough for a solid binge when you’re on the go.

Voice control has found its way into most parts of the home. Why not home entertainment too? That’s the main value prop of the Optoma UHD51A. The Alexa-compatible (and Google Assistant, too)home projector lets you control everything by voice, nice when you want to fast forward or turn down the volume in a darkened room. Lest you think the Optoma is a one-trick projector, it also earns solid performance marks from our experts, boasting 4K resolution and vertical lens shift for easy image adjustment. It’s also one of the few projectors that can display true 3D content from most 3D sources, for true off-the-wall viewing pleasure.

Let’s not forget about the children! After all, they’re the ones consuming the most media in many homes. More than just a home projector, Hachi's kid-friendly device can turn any surface into a touch screen, enabling all kinds of interactive activities on the bedroomfloor or kitchen table, from games to educational content. Forgrownups, there’s a ton of fitness programs, though in our testskids tended to be more adept with the novel interaction. The portable device with wireless screen casting is alsogreat for sharing power point presentation at work. Of course, the Infinite M1 also functions well as a traditional projector, casting up to 100-inch images with crisp 4K picture quality and helpful auto-focusing. Our experts also like the convenience of the Bluetooth-enabled remote control, good for navigating all that rich content.