- When was the last time you brought home some tech
that really changed the way you use things?
I mean, a new laptop is just a new laptop, right?
A new phone, it's just a new phone, and even a new TV,
well, bigger cheaper, better, yeah,
but it's still just a TV, but this?
This has changed things.
(upbeat music)
Okay, so what's going on here?
It's sort of a YouTuber rite of passage at this point
to review the VAVA 4K Ultra Short Throw Laser Projector.
It's also really fun to say.
They sent me one to try out,
been using it for about a month now before it goes back.
Now if you know anything about projectors,
you've already noticed
that I'm kind of not using it quite right,
more on than in a second.
Really, I kind of wanted this video
to be less of a full review and more of a story
about how I've been using this
and really how the experience is different.
It's a story about how cool a projector is
and how I really want one
and how you're probably gonna want one too.
And it's also a story about how I'm probably
not getting one anytime soon.
And that's really a shame because, damn.
All right, first the basics.
So VAVA is one of those companies
that makes all kinds of things, right?
Projectors, of course, they've got dash cams
and USB hubs, baby monitors.
I have a really cool little solid state drive from my use.
The protector is what we're here for though, right?
So the first thing you need to know
is that there are projectors and then there are projectors.
You can get a cheap one for a few hundred dollars
but the resolution and maybe even more important,
the brightness is gonna be in the low end.
Or you can get something like LG Cinebeam 4K projector
which runs about $6,000 or get this,
Sony has a laser projector, $25,000, it's insane, it's nuts.
So VAVA's 4K laser projector falls on the low end
of what I would say is the upper class
of the spectrum there.
It's $2,800, now that's not nothing,
but it's certainly not $6,000, it's definitely not 25 grand.
So that's the price.
Now the other thing you need to know
is that this is an ultra short throw projector.
Now what does that mean?
A throw refers to a little bit of math
that tells you how far the projector needs
to be away from the screen that you're projecting on
in order to make an image.
Now this one is ultra short throw
and that means it can be real close
and it doesn't have to be in the other side of the room
and make your living room look like it's the inside
of a Buffalo Wild Wings.
Not that that's the worst idea in the world, maybe.
So in this case, the throw is really minimal,
for 100 inch picture, you need seven inches of distance.
Now other specs you'll care about,
there's the 4K resolution, of course,
it has HDR 10 for HDR, a 1.5 million to one contrast ratio,
and 2500 ANSI lumen, and that's the spec
you wanna look for, that's the standard,
so that you can compare this projector to other projectors.
If it doesn't say ANSI, look for it.
And even more specs you need to know,
so this thing is running Android,
it's not running Android TV,
it's running the non-Google-y version of Android
and to be honest, I don't even know what version.
I don't care.
That's because this thing has three HDMI ports in the back.
One of 'em's ARC, Audio Return Channel,
and plug in anything else, right?
If you got Amazon fire TV, use it.
If you got Roku, use it.
Apple TV, use it.
Android TV, Nvidia Shield, use it.
Any of that is gonna be better than what's built in
on this projector.
Also on the back there, more ports for USB
and audio and Ethernet but I tell you,
I didn't hook this thing up to the internet
until I started recording this review
just to make sure didn't have updates or anything crazy.
Just don't even bother, right?
Plug in any sort of other streaming device that you have.
All right, that's a lot.
That's not even the important stuff, right?
The important stuff is, what is it like
to use something this large?
The size matters for a whole bunch of things in life, right?
And one of them is your television.
It's actually kind of hard to describe
what it's like to go from a 65 inch TV to well, this.
Come to think of it, I should probably go measure it
and see exactly how big that picture is.
(upbeat music)
All right, so we got about 120 inches
and it really is more like,
instead of just watching a movie at home on your TV,
it's almost like being in the theater.
There are also no bad angles here which is really cool.
So if I can see the wall I can see what's going on,
I can watch it from my kitchen.
I can watch it from the dining room,
I can see what's on the screen from outside
which means my neighbors can too.
And yeah, I'm showing off a little.
So setup is super simple,
I've literally just plugged everything in
and it worked, right?
I had to wiggle the base of the unit just a little bit
to try to line things up as best I could that way,
and then you can fine tune things in the settings
and make sure all your corners
are lined up and all that stuff.
Focus took care of itself, which is really cool,
but you can also just adjust that if you need to.
And that brings us to what was really
the biggest game changer for me in this whole experience
'cause having a projector
is more than just having a bigger screen.
For one, you're gonna want the room to be darker,
almost certainly,I've got this pretty well lit
for shooting this video, but most of the time,
we're watching the projector,
I kept things pretty dark in here.
Then there's a matter of sound.
The VAVA has a 60-watt Harman Kardon speaker setup inside
which is not awful actually,
but it's not nearly as good
as my VIZIO surround sound setup
I have here in the living room.
♪ Living in the night ♪
♪ 'Neath devils torn asunder ♪
The question then was what to do with the soundbar.
It didn't sound good at all sitting behind the projector.
I didn't want it sitting in front of the projector
because then the projector was a little closer
to the wall than I wanted,
and the picture wasn't quite as big.
So for my purposes here, I've put it on top,
which isn't great, obviously,
I would probably would've mount it on the wall
below the picture.
Speaking of sound, this thing has a fan in it
to get the hot air out.
And you will hear the fan, right?
It's not a deal breaker for me but it is noticeable,
and if I'm sitting there at that computer working,
I can feel the hot air coming out the side of the thing,
just something to think about
as you're rearranging your setup.
And finally, there's a matter of the screen,
that's what I was alluding to earlier
when I said I'm not quite doing this quite right.
So there are all kinds of screens you can get, right?
you can get something that's permanent,
it just sits there on the wall,
you can get screens that come down from the ceiling,
you can get screens that come up from the floor,
or this is how I would do it if I really had my druthers.
I would redo this wall entirely, right?
First, I would get drywall that is straight
and actually you may have noticed
that top right corner there, it's got a weird wave to it,
it's because the drywall is not actually flat.
And, yeah, you noticed.
The drywall I have is textured as well
and that comes through, especially in light pictures,
and then I would use an ambient light reflecting paint.
ALR, it's a standard in screens
and really it makes it to the room
maybe it doesn't have to be quite as dark
and everything just looks better.
So you can get that in a paint
or you can get it in the screen itself,
definitely something to look at.
So me, I don't think I'd want a big blank screen
laying there most of the time when the thing's not on,
so I would redo this entire wall.
It looks so great not having a TV out there
in the living room unused.
That's how I would do it.
So the bottom line here, using a projector
isn't like having just a larger television, right?
It really changes the entire experience in your living room.
And something like the VAVA 4K laser projector
makes that more attainable for us common folk.
Now a $2,800 projector is not nothing,
that's still expensive, but it's also not $6,000
like LG or 25 grand like Sony.
And if I was gonna spend that kind of money
to get that size picture,
that's probably right about the sweet spot for me,
you take that and some kind of screen,
you can get something decent for not a ton of money,
same, you know set yourself a budget,
maybe four grand and you've got the projector
in a good size, good quality screen, all done.
And I would argue that if I'm gonna have something
this large in my living room all the time,
I'm gonna spend the extra money to make it look good.
Again, don't worry about what's built into the projector
and the Android build and all that,
just plug in Roku or Fire TV or Apple TV
or even Android TV, just plug in anything else,
you're gonna be good to go and this thing
is gonna serve you really, really well.
And it's gonna do so for a long time too.
I know we're used to asking about
like projector bulb hours and stuff,
it's a laser projector, right?
We're talking years here,
so you're definitely gonna get your money's worth.
So that's it for the VAVA 4K
Ultra Short Throw Laser Projector, still love saying that.
If you got any more questions on it,
go find me in the comments, hit me up on the socials.
That's it for now, I'm gonna go watch some TV.
See you later.
(upbeat techno music)