BENQ TK700STI 4K SMART GAMING PROJECTOR REVIEW - PERFORMANCE

COLOR REPRODUCTION

I found the color reproduction of TK700STi out of the box to be great. In the Advanced menu, you will find 6 user-selectable picture modes; BRIGHT, LIVING ROOM, GAME, SPORTS, CINEMA, and USER.

• BRIGHT mode provided the brightest projected image, perfect for using the projector in higher ambient light environments.
• LIVING ROOM mode provided a balance between brightness and color accuracy.

• GAME mode is designed to give the best gaming experience with Audio-Visual presets for First-Person Shooting (FPS), Role Playing Game (RPG), and Sports Game (SPG). It also delivered the minimum amount of input lag
• SPORTS had high brightness for watching sports in a room with significant ambient light.

• CINEMA mode was one of my favorite modes. I found the colors and contrast to be excellent in rooms with an insignificant amount of ambient light.
• USER mode allows the end-user complete customizability to brightness, Contrast, Sharpness, Brilliant Color and opens up User Management which allows quickly loading settings from the previous 5 modes

As with most BenQ home entertainment projectors we have reviewed the CINEMA and USER picture modes delivered the most accurate color reproduction.

The BRIGHT can be used when for extra brightness needed in a well-lit room. In this picture mode, the images were somewhat oversaturated with a cooler color temperature. However, If you need to cut through a significant amount of ambient light, the oversaturation may be worth it.

The images above provide a general idea of the color accuracy for each of the picture modes. Though, when viewing in person, the colors look much better than how the photos look on the display that you are using to read this review.

We calibrated the USER Mode for SDR. Since your room and screen material has a major impact on the overall picture, I don't recommend using someone else calibration adjustments. If your room is brighter/darker or your walls are a different color, copying someone else results can cause more harm than good. However below are the before and after results in Phil's room.

To test the projector's color accuracy we use Portrait Displays Calman color calibration software.

Out of the box, the grayscale had a heavy emphasis on green at higher brightness levels. Colors are also slightly over-saturated.

• Picture Mode: User
• Color Temperature: 6440K
• Grayscale Average dE: 6.74
• Color Saturation Average dE: 11.02

I placed the COLOR TEMP setting to Normal and made some quick adjustments to the red and green gain settings in the Color Temperature Tuning menu to produce good D65 white balance

The achieve my gamma target of 2.2 in my room, I set the GAMMA setting from BenQ to 2.3.

I used the CMS adjustments to adjust the color tracking at lower percentages but this reduced the color gamut slightly

• Picture Mode: User
• Color Temperature: 6440K
• Grayscale Average dE: 1.31
• Color Saturation Average dE: 3.7

Delta E grayscale/color accuracy measurement of 3 and under is considered ‘Excellent’ and imperceptible by the human eye after calibration the TK700STi had an average grayscale dE of 1.31. The color average dE was 3.7 but it was mostly luminance (brightness) error. Most of the color saturation points tracked well with the exception of 100%.

An additional three projector automated picture modes are built into the TK700STi. After auto-detecting metadata or EOTF info from HDR contents, HDR10/HDR picture mode becomes activated. There are dedicated settings for HDR. I made a few adjustments to the Color Color Temperature Tuning to achieve good grayscale.

HLG picture mode will be switched to automatically anytime metadata, or EOTF info from HLG content is detected. 3D picture mode becomes available when the 3D function is enabled. The TK700STi supports Frame Sequential 3D but not the side-by-side or Top-bottom formats.

BRIGHTNESS

The BenQ TK700STi has a rated brightness of 3,000 ANSI lumens. To measure the brightness, I set the projector’s Light Source mode to NORMAL and its picture mode to BRIGHT, which is the projector’s brightest mode. I then took 3-4 readings about 15-20% out from the center of the lens.

At wide zoom for maximum brightness, BRIGHT mode, the TK700STi measured 2873 lumens, which was slightly under BenQ’s TK700STi published ANSI lumens specification. The TK700STi should be more than bright enough for most intended applications. I measured all six available picture modes at wide-zoom; my measurements are below.

BenQ TK700STi Brightness

The NORMAL lamp mode produced the brightest image. There are additional lamp modes available that are designed to extend the life of the lamp and/or reduce power consumption. These modes reduce the light output TK700STi but even in these modes, the projector delivered more than enough brightness for viewing a dark room.

Brightness Based On Lamp Mode

PICTURE QUALITY

As I typically do for my projector reviews, I connected a 4K Apple TV with a 0.5 meter (20 inch) Bullet Train 18Gbps HDMI cable and a MacBook Pro with a 4 meter (157 inch) Bullet Train 18Gbps HDMI cable to my demo TK700STi for this review.

All HD and 4K images were taken with settings on the TK700STi set to CINEMA mode and the light source set to Normal.

4K HDR content can deliver expanded color space with better highlight and shadow detail but even the brightest HDR projectors can struggle to reproduce HDR faithfully. BenQ integrates software and hardware technologies to produced good-looking HDR images.

BenQ has an exclusive light source mode called SmartEco. BenQ states, “BenQ’s exclusive SmartEco^® Technology is an ingenious solution that heightens the viewing experience. It automatically adjusts lamp brightness based on content, enhancing brightness and contrast to produce the best possible picture quality. In this way, BenQ DLP Projectors can project deeper true blacks, increasing contrast for clear text and subtle details.” In addition, SmartEco Technology provided a noticeable contrast ratio enhancement.

While the black levels of the TK700STi were not as deep as one of BenQ's home theater-focused projectors like the HT3550i, they good enough for any room with ambient light.

The BenQ TK700STi is full HD 3D-ready. Moreover, the TK700STi allows you to enjoy 3D movies, videos, sporting events, and games in a more realistic way by enhancing depth to the image when you are wearing a pair of optional compatible 3D glasses.

SOUND QUALITY

The TK700STi has what BenQ calls CinemaMaster Audio+ 2. This allows the projector to combine optimized hardware with intelligent sound processing software and audio equalization. The TK700Sti menu system under the Audio submenu there six audio presets; STANDARD, CINEMA, MUSIC, GAME SPORTS, and USER.

In addition, the USER mode allows personalization to the sound settings via the User Sound EQ. The User Sound EQ provides adjustment to the 100 Hz, 300 Hz,1k Hz, 3k Hz, and 10k Hz bands to fine-tune the sound to the end-users personal preference.

I traveled for work a few weeks with the TK700Sti and found the single 5W speaker to be acceptable in my hotel room. The single built-in 5W chamber speaker sound goes from acceptable to quite respectable once you tune the sound settings with User Sound EQ.

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I also traveled to my brother’s residence with the projector. Unfortunately, the single TK700Sti speaker became drowned out by the level of ambient sounds at the graduation party he was throwing, even with the User Sound EQ adjusted. However, the BenQ comes roaring back to life when hooked up to something as simple as a soundbar via it audio output, HDMI ARC, or Bluetooth.

The volume level is conveniently displayed on-screen when the included remote control changes the volume. The speaker is located on the left side of the projector’s chassis.

We do not measure audible noise, but the manual states the noise level of TK700Sti varies between 33dB and 38dB, depending on the light source mode. LAMPSAVE mode was the quietest, and the NORMAL mode was the loudest. At really low volume settings, I could hear the TK700Sti fan from my seated position but most of the time it was unnoticeable.