BenQ V5000i 4K RGB Laser TV Projector Review

The BenQ V5000i is the company's second generation of Laser TV projectors. The BenQ V5000i changes the design direction from the older V7050i. BenQ's most notable design change is leaving off the aluminum sliding electric panel that automatically opens and closes when the projector is powered on or off. The panel acts as protection for the projector lens and sensors.  BenQ has also ditched the exterior aluminum accents and embossed a pattern into parts of the projector's upper case to make them look like leather. 

The new V5000i's exterior is solidly built and elegant, with its matte black finish and cloth front speaker grill cover. The cover that hides the included QS-02 media stick is one of these areas.

BenQ designers changed the shape of the front speaker grill to incorporate the projector's larger system components. BenQ could have chosen the conservative approach and just made the front of the projector flat. Instead, BenQ designers took a bolder and more interesting path and incorporated the audio component’s protrusion and the resulting change in the V5000i’s shape as a design element.

Looking at the projector head-on, you will likely not notice it. Still, from a higher angle, the curve of the V5000i’s most visible surface looks like a sine wave generated by the audio components it covers and protects.

The BenQ V5000i is the biggest and heaviest Laser TV I’ve seen in years. The V5000i measures (WxHXD) 30 x 6.4 x 14 inches (760 x 164 x 358 mm) and weighs 29.12 lbs (13.21 kg).

There’s nothing different about the overall layout of this Laser TV projector. The projector's TreVolo speakers and woofer are on the front behind the cloth cover. The left and right sides of the projector are for ventilation, and all of the inputs are located on the projector's rear. The V5000i can be mounted on a tabletop or from the ceiling. Screw mounts for compatible ceiling brackets are located on the bottom of the projector. There is a single Power On/Off button on the top right corners of the projector.

The V5000i does not have a control panel on the projector, so all menu operations must be done from the projector's remote control or via the BenQ remote control application for iOS or Android.

The BenQ V5000i has two HDMI 2.0b connectors and one HDMI 2.1. HDMI input#2 supports Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC), and HDMI input#3 accepts a 4K 120 Hz signal.

A fourth HDMI connector with USB power is in a hidden compartment on the projector's top, right, rear corner. This port is where the included BenQ QS-02 streaming media stick plugs in. The increased bandwidth capabilities of eARC allow the transfer of uncompressed audio, such as Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Atmos, for the highest sound quality.

The V5000i can also control connected devices, such as an A/V receiver, via HDMI CEC (Consumer Electronics Control).

The BenQ V5000i is identical to the company's remote control on the recently reviewed BenQ W4000i. One of the things I like best about this remote control is that it controls both the projector and the QS-02 streaming stick. BenQ has increased the size of the remote to something similar to their more traditional candy bar remotes found on models like the HT2060 but with a curvier and more comfortable grip. BenQ has also added a backlight to the remote.

The BenQ V5000i remote control is well laid out. The top section has power controls, feature shortcut buttons for autofocus, which does not work with this projector, and a shortcut button for the 2D keystone feature. The next row has the source, mic, and projector menu buttons.

The remote control has the typical D-pad with an “OK” button, a back button, a settings menu button, volume up and volume down buttons, and a mute button. In addition, the V5000i remote control also has a dedicated shortcut button for game settings, picture modes, and sound modes.

The remote is very comfortable in the hand and functional, with the ability to control every menu-driven feature of the the projector. Features like focus, zoom, and vertical lens shift can only be manually adjusted on the projector.

BenQ projectors have menus that are easy to use and understand. The menus are organized in a way that makes sense, so you can find what you are looking for without any trouble. Navigating through the menus is straightforward, so you can quickly adjust settings and explore different options. If you need help or explanations, the menus provide on-screen guidance to make things easier.

You can customize the projector settings to your liking, whether the brightness, color, or other aspects. The menus offer quick access to important functions, so you can easily switch inputs or change the picture mode. With BenQ projectors, the menus are designed to be user-friendly and make getting the best performance from your projector a breeze.

Like other BenQ projectors I have recently reviewed, this unit works on two different menu systems. The first is the BenQ projector menu, allowing users to control most projector features. The second is the Android TV interface.

For a limited time, BenQ is including a 100" high-gain Fresnel ALR (ambient light rejecting) screen. The SNS21 displays a bright image with excellent color and better-than-average blacks.

The SNS21 uses multiple layers of screen material, with the fresnel layer using many concentric circles of micro prisms. These circular micro prisms redirect the light from the projector directly to the viewer's eyes, blocking the ambient light from above and on both sides, which blocks light from unwanted sources and, in the case of this BenQ screen, provides an increase in brightness gain. The SNS21 provides a 1.4X gain in brightness.

The micro prism structure of a Fresnel ALR screen is superior to that of typical ALR screens, which uses a sawtooth pattern and a black light-absorbing layer on top and a white reflective layer on the bottom. The surface of the Fresnel projection screen is also coated with a reflective layer very similar to the type of Fresnel layer used on LCD TVs.

Fresnel screens do have disadvantages. These screens are very delicate compared to a standard lenticular ALR screen and can be damaged much more easily than their counterparts. Fresnel screens increase brightness but offer significantly reduced off-axis viewing compared to a non-fresnel screen. The SNS21 provides a viewing angle of 45 degrees vs the 150-degree viewing angle found on typical non-fresnel (lenticular) screens.

Fresnel screens are typically more expensive to manufacture than standard ALR screens. The increased fragility of the screen material and more complex manufacturing process make building Fresnel ALR screens larger than 100 inches cost-prohibitive.

BenQ does not offer a Fresnel screen size larger than 100 inches. But as an example, a Brand-X 120-inch Fresnel screen can sell for 50% to 150% or more than the identical 100-inch version. A 150-inch Fresnel screen can sell for over 200% more than the 100-inch version of the same screen.

The BenQ screen does a fantastic job of boosting the brightness. When watching a video in a completely light-controlled space, the resulting image looks much closer to an LCD flat panel than any other projector screen I’ve used. Typically, black levels on high-gain screens suffer due to increased gain, but this BenQ screen still displayed better black levels than I expected. If you need a screen that boosts brightness for lights on viewing, the SNS21 should be perfect.

The BenQ V5000i's out-of-the-box color performance is excellent. The V5000i has several SDR preset picture modes and multiple HDR preset modes. Due to its RGB laser light source, V5000i can display 100 percent of the BT2020 color space. This type of laser can easily reproduce the wide range of colors utilized in both SDR and HDR content.

Before calibration, the CINEMA (Rec 709), USER, and FILMMAKER picture modes delivered the most accurate measurements. The ISF Night and ISF Day modes also looked good, but they can only be accessed when ISF is enabled. This ISF calibration menu is designed for use by authorized ISF calibrators and is password-protected.

We measured the Hisense pre- and post-calibration color reproduction using Portrait Displays Calman color calibration software. Since your room and screen material significantly impact the overall picture, we don't recommend using someone else's calibration adjustments. If your room is brighter/darker or your walls are a different color, your settings would probably be different. Also, the color characteristics of different individual projectors can vary. Therefore, copying someone else's results can be detrimental to the picture quality rather than improving it. However, I am including my specific room before and after calibration results.

Suppose you want to make quick BRIGHTNESS, CONTRAST, and SHARPNESS adjustments to improve the picture quality of your projector in your room. In that case, several free test patterns are available on the Murideo website and their YouTube channel. Murideo also has written instructions located under the resource section of its website.

Also, check out our YouTube video on utilizing several test patterns called Optimize The Image of a Projector or TV Using Free Murideo Test Patterns.

When evaluating color reproduction, a Delta E measurement of 3 or less is considered ‘Excellent’ and imperceptible by the human eye. After SDR calibration, the grayscale average DeltaE was less than one, which was outstanding. The average pre-calibration Color Tracking dE was about 1.2, which is also outstanding, so there is no need to adjust it, but you have CMS adjustments if you want to improve it even further. 

Many tri-laser projectors that we have reviewed in the past struggle to reproduce the Rec709 color space used in SDR material accurately, but the BenQ V5000I did a great job tracking colors in SDR material. BenQ projectors typically produce images with rich colors, as with the V5000i. When this projector is combined with the high-gain screen, images appear to have an extra layer of depth with incredibly pleasing and accurate colors.

While many BenQ projectors like the V5000i deliver excellent out-of-the-box color reproduction due to factory calibration, it is nice that the company also offers powerful advanced calibration tools that allow users to fine-tune the displayed image. 

What a difference only a few years makes in the home theater market, specifically with Laser TV-style ultra-short throw projectors. Ultra-short throw projectors offer so much of the convenience and performance of a flat-panel television but with the ability to project a much bigger image. The BenQ V5000i takes color, contrast, and brightness performance to a new level in light-controlled spaces with color and contrast that is simply stunning. The V5000i is the first BenQ projector to use an RGB laser light source, and the improvement in color performance is noticeable compared to the previous model. The V5000i largely owes its new picture performance to the new triple laser light source BenQ uses. BenQ lists the projector as able to cover 95% of the BT.2020 and 98% of the DCI-P3 color spaces.

Projectors that use RGB triple laser light sources tend to produce some degree of color fringing, resulting in red and blue highlights around the edges of objects projected onscreen. Fringing is a form of chromatic aberration typically caused by the projector lens. It is most visible when displaying text and other high-contrast content, like lighter objects against a black background or the reverse. Typically, as long as you watch the projector from an acceptable distance, in this case, 1.4X the screen's height, fringing should not be noticeable. The amount of fringing on the V5000i is higher than that of competitive models, so if you sit any closer than the manufacturer's recommended 11.2 feet distance, it is quite noticeable.

The V5000i is a smart projector with the company's newest and most powerful streaming stick, the BenQ QS-02. The QS-02 eliminates the biggest flaw of the QS-01 by offering users a native Netflix Android TV streaming app; otherwise, this device is very similar. What does not change is the Android TV’s slow interface. I’ve talked about this in previous BenQ projector reviews. The delay from pressing a button on the remote to an onscreen action is most irritating when typing using the Android TV on-screen keyboard with the V5000i remote. The good news is that this can be fixed by adding a more powerful Google TV stick or Apple TV device.

For a limited time, BenQ is including a high-gain Fresnel ALR (ambient light rejecting) screen. ALR screens are designed to filter most light hitting the screen from sources other than the projector. Fresnel ALR screens offer significant performance advantages compared to a white matte screen, providing better screen brightness while filtering out ambient light. The SNS21’s 1.5X gain comes at the expense of wide viewing angles, reducing the typical 150-degree viewing angle to 45 degrees.

The included 100-inch high-gain screen games look stunning even in rooms with uncontrolled ambient light sources. The V5000i is not the brightest UST projector. Still, BenQ makes full use of the projector's 2,500 ANSI lumens of brightness, allowing the projector to be used for lights on viewing with far less impact on color and black-level performance than I expected.

In addition to home theater, the BenQ V5000i is an excellent gaming projector that accepts 4K 120Hz signals from modern consoles like the PS5 and Xbox. The projector downconverts the 120 Hz signal to display at 4K 60 Hz with an input lag of just 17.9 ms in the projector's GAME mode. The V5000i also supports 1080p 120 Hz gaming with an input lag of 13 ms and 1080p 240 Hz gaming with an input lag of just 5 ms. The V5000i is an excellent gaming projector.

The built-in 20-watt (15W x2 woofers and 5W x2 full range speakers) Trevolo sound system provides amazing audio performance, providing the biggest and most dynamic sound of any ultra-short throw projector I have previously reviewed. If you want bigger sound, the V5000i has analog and digital audio outputs and eARC connectivity for connecting to external sound solutions. Users should enjoy the sound that this projector is capable of producing.

The BenQ V5000i is an excellent Laser TV projector perfect for blockbuster home theater content of playing the latest console games. The V5000i is highly competitive, packaged with the BenQ SNS21 high-gain Fresnel ALR screen for $3,499 MSRP. For a limited time, BenQ offers free screen installation at no additional cost. The V5000i is an incredible value and worth serious consideration for your next home entertainment projector.

AWOL VISION LTV3000 PRO $3,999 MSRP

The AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro sells for $3,999 and includes a 100-inch 1.1X high-gain Fresnel screen that provides excellent lights on viewing. Brightness between these two systems is similar since the BenQ is rated at 2,500 ANSI lumens compared to the AWOL Vision's 3,000 ANSI lumens. Still, the BenQ SNS21 screen offers a higher 1.4X gain.

I recently reviewed the LTV-3000 projector and can report that the projector's color fringing is visibly lower than the BenQ, which makes for an overall sharper displayed image between the two projectors.

The LTV-3000 Pro, as with all previous models, supports HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and HLG, whereas the BenQ V5000i stops at HDR10+ and does not support Dolby Vision. AWOL Vision lists the projector's contrast as 2,500:1 when using the company's Enhanced Adaptive Black Level setting. Both the LTV3000 and the V5000i offered excellent black-level performance.

The LTV-3000 Pro features a big-sounding 36-watt sound system capable of very dynamic sound, but the bigger chassis on the V5000i leaves more room for audio components and offers the best on-board sound I’ve heard in any current projector. The AWOL Vision sounds good for a Laser TV, but the BenQ offers next-level audio quality, especially in bass performance.

AWOL Vision uses Amazon Fire TV OS as its streaming and application solution. The included Firestick 4K Max is an excellent performer. The Firestick and the BenQ QS-02 offer similar features, but the Amazon device is better in speed and overall eco-system than the QS-02.

The other big change in the LTV-3000 Pro is adding what AWOL Vision calls Smart Room Ready functionality. The AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro is now seamlessly integrated with Control4 and other projector control and management solutions. AWOL addition of this functionality allows projector features like power, volume, HDMI source switching, and more to be managed through platforms like PJLink, Control 4, SAVANT, and Crestron.

Hisense PX2-Pro $2998 MSRP

The Hisense PX2-PRO and the BenQ V5000i offer comparable features and benefits. Both projectors use bright triple laser light sources and can display the full BT2020 color gamut. The BenQ’s brightness is 2,500 ANSI, with the Hisense rated at 2,400 ANSI lumens.

We talk a lot about Hisense and their excellent understanding of color science, but in this comparison, the color performance of the V5000i is on par with Hisense.

Both the V5000i and the PX2-PRO offer digital focus adjustment. The BenQ projector can display up to a 100-inch image. In contrast, the Hisense goes up to 130 inches.

Both projectors support HDR-encoded content. However, the Hisense PX2-PRO supports Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos content. The BenQ V5000i does not support Dolby Vision but does support HDR10+.

Both projectors offer big onboard sound systems that easily compete with entry-level soundbars, but once again, I like that Hisense supports Dolby Atmos sound where BenQ does not.

While it is very nice that BenQ has included a QS-02 Android TV stick with the projector, Hisense has partnered with Google to provide users with a fully integrated Google TV OS experience with access to the entire gamut of Google and Google-compatible services, including live TV, built into the projector.