One of the most significant benefits of the LG PF610 projector is its LED light engine. Because it uses four separate LED light sources, the LG PF610P does not have to use a spinning phosphor color wheel, so there is no visible rainbow effect. The PF610P uses four LEDs to generate red, green, and blue, with an addition of the fourth LED to boost brightness, contrast, and generate more vivid colors. Overall I found the darker areas of the picture to display a more greenish-blue hue in almost all of the demo content I used.
The PF610P is a 4K DLP projector that retails for $849 MSRP. It utilizes a single DLP (0.33” DMD) chip to reproduce Full HD display resolution (1,920 x 1,080 pixels). The PF610P's 4-ch LED light engine is rated to deliver at 1,000 lumens for up to 30,000 hours. The PF610P measured a brightness number of 979 ANSI Lumens in my testing which is not far off of LG's own rating.
webOS 5.0
The PF610P is loaded with all the popular streaming apps such as Hulu, YouTube, and Disney+ but is conspicuously missing the Netflix streaming service. LG would not commit to it being added in the future. There are tons of native applications in the LG webOS app store, and there is even a built-in web browser which is nice but all of these great features are hampered due to the slow speed of the webOS implementation in this particular projector. Buy an external smart stick or media device and you will have a much better experience.
The PF610P features HDMI ARC (audio return channel), which delivers high-quality sound sent to an external audio system via the projector's HDMI #2 connection, which works great for the projector's internal streaming services. What I find disappointing here is that the PF610P does not support eARC, as several older LG projectors do. Maybe LG does not think on-the-go users will care about the additional capabilities of eARC?
You can also wirelessly stream audio via Bluetooth to an external speaker or sound system.
So many LG Applications
Not only does the PF610P have a ton of smart entertainment features, since it utilizes LG's ThinQ AI webOS, it also has smart video processing to optimize the picture quality of HDR content and the projector's AUTO TONE MAPPING feature. Combine the PF610P with a good portable screen, and you have an excellent on-the-go and even living room projector.
Good picture, smart features albeit slightly sluggish, and low maintenance make the PF610P a compelling alternative to a large flat panel TV, especially in the bedroom.
The LG PF610P offers a lot of performance and features for its price. The LED light engine provides up to 30,000 hours of maintenance-free operation. There are plenty of lamp-based projectors in the PF610P price range, but they can't deliver picture quality equal to this projector.
Pleasing Picture Quality
Overall, I was pleased with the picture the PF610P delivered to my room. Few projectors outside of LG's other CineBeam models can match the PF610P's unique feature set. If you are looking for a reasonably bright, compact, 1080p smart projector with worry-free operation and a maintenance-free long life provided by LED illumination, the PF610P gets a strong recommendation from me.
PROS
● 979 lumens very close to LG's 1,000 lumens rating ● 4 LED Light Engine ● 30,000 Hour Lamp Life ● Full High Definition Resolution ● DLP chip delivers a sharp picture ● Compatible with HDR10 ● Smart Features ● Auto Tone Mapping to optimize HDR10 viewing ● 1-year parts/labor warranty
CONS
● Black Level and Contrast could be better ● Needs a backlit remote ● No zoom ● No Netflix compatibility ● Sluggish menu experience
