Over this past summer, my family and I would have movie night once or twice a week. During movie nights, we’d all sit in the master bed, turn off the lights, and fire up the BenQ GP520 to watch a movie or some episodes of Only Murders in the Building that my daughter was binging through. It was glorious.
Some of this, no doubt, comes from the novelty of it all. We don’t have a TV in the bedroom. In our living room, we have a nice but modest 4K HDR OLED TV. It’s nice, maybe a bit long in the tooth now, but nice. This was something else. Before I go on, let me rewind to discuss how we got here.
A long time ago, I owned an Epson projector. I loved it for the time that I owned it, but eventually, it gave way to conventional televisions. Now, close to twenty years later, a projector came back into my life, the BenQ GP520, and it reignited my love for the projected image.
The BenQ GP520 at a Glance
- DLP projection system
- 2600 ANSI lumens of brightness
- 4K UHD resolution
- 16:9 native aspect ratio
- 200,000:1 contrast ratio
- 30-bit display color
- 20,000+ hours light source life
- 1:2 throw ratio
- Google TV OS
- 2x HDMI inputs, 2x USB A inputs, 1x USB-C input
On paper, this projector checked off all the boxes that I could think of. It’s amazing how far the technology has come since I was last in the scene, so to speak. Though I never needed to avail myself of any of the hardware inputs, I appreciate having the options. When there’s a network outage, or two things just refuse to talk to each other over the network, having a way to just plug them into each other can be the difference between watching a movie and just staring at each other in the dark.
Key Features
- Auto Keystone & Rotation
- Obstacle Avoidance
- Screen Fit
- Image Reposition
- Wall Color Correction
- Ambient Light Adaption
Unboxing and Setup
The first thing I noticed was the form-factor. Its shape is a bit more blocky than the conventional short/wide/deep projectors I am used to. The GP520 isn’t quite a cube, but it has that feel. The unit weighs in at 8.2 lbs., so this is not something I would lug around in the subway every day, though that’s how I got it home. A carrying case of some kind could have been really helpful, but it wasn’t included in the box.
Setting up Google TV
Like many modern devices, if you plan to use streaming services, after unboxing everything, you’ll need to go through the setup process. To be honest, I was so enthusiastic to see the stunning 4K UHD picture; this part felt like an eternity! The good news is this is a one-time thing. Once Google was set up, the projector took only a minute or so (I didn’t closely time it) to come alive and display the Google TV home screen. And then we’re off to the races.
Mounting the Projector
There is no stand included in the box. One can be purchased separately. It’s possible that you won’t need a stand as the projector can just sit directly on a tabletop. I had a photography tripod that I was able to repurpose for the cause.
Automatic Keystone Correction
Flashing back to my first foray with my trusty old Epson projector, I was lucky enough to avoid dealing with keystoning. Keystoning happens when the projector and the wall it’s projecting at are not perfectly perpendicular. It causes a distortion of the image. Back in the day, I was able to plant my projector dead-center opposite my wall. Had I needed to correct any keystoning, I would have had to do it manually.
The BenQ GP520 automates keystone correction, and it does an excellent job. I couldn’t do better myself manually, and I tried. After the projector lights up, it cycles through a display setup. During that setup, it will correct for any keystoning.
Obstacle Avoidance & Image Reposition
On top of automatically correcting any keystoning, which I could not avoid due to where I had to place the projector in my room, the BenQ will automatically adjust and move the image to avoid overlaying it on top of objects. In my case, I’ve got a small cuckoo clock that clips one corner of the projected area. The GP520 cleverly resized and moved the image out of its way.
BenQ GP520 Performance
After setting up the BenQ GP250 and my space, I chose some content to view. Now it was time to actually watch something!
Wall Color Correction
The wall in my viewing space (my bedroom) isn’t white. It’s a light blue-green color. Most of the walls in my apartment are painted in something other than white. I was amazed that I could not tell that there was anything off about the colors that the BenQ projected against that non-white surface. I really was shocked.
In my first projector phase, I had built my own homemade movie screen (silver to help with the Epson’s not-so-bright bulb), but looking at the image from the BenQ, I wouldn’t bother doing such a thing now. There’d be no point. The image looks as good on my blue-green wall as I imagine that it would on a white or silver canvas screen. It is really impressive.
Ambient Light Adaption
The enemy of projection is ambient light. There’s just no way around it. I used to have black-out curtains for this very reason, so I could watch things during the day. My neighbors probably thought that I was a vampire. I’m not going to say that the BenQ GP520 fully solved the issue. I don’t know if it can be solved. It’s physics. I will say that the image was very watchable in the afternoon with more than a little light filtering in from the windows. I had no problems enjoying it under those constraints.
So we’re finally ready for movie night, or TV night, as it sometimes turned out. My family did not equivocate in declaring the picture far superior to our TV. I couldn’t really disagree. The BenQ puts out a lovely image that captures every bit that Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, or whatever service we were using threw our way. As I already mentioned, I couldn’t see any of the blue-green color from the wall sneak into the image. The image was crisp, full of detail, and captured the bright and dark scenes equally well.
BenQ GP520 Sounds Great
I haven’t talked about sound, but I probably should. BenQ advertises a virtual spatial surround system. I have always liked separate speakers and real surround sound. However, while I’m not sure I could hear any sort of surround (to be fair, my positioning of the projector could take a lot of blame for that!, what I did hear was really good, and I soon forgot that I was listening to sound from a single point in the room.
It also has plenty of volume. I live in a small apartment in a building with thin walls. We never need or want to put out a lot of sound. The BenQ had a ton of audio headroom that we didn’t touch. I’m hard-pressed to think of practical circumstances that would really push it. I suppose a large enough cavernous room would do it, but I don’t live there.
When movie night would come to an end, it was trivial to power the projector down and put it away.
I can move the projector between rooms, pack it, or unpack it. The BenQ projector is small. Unlike your average TV, you can hide it out of sight, even in a small New York City apartment.
Watch Time
It’s time for a bit of back-of-the-napkin math. When I bought my Epson projector in a past age, a major consideration was the lifetime of its bulb. Bulb life was a bit of a dirty secret of projector life. Most projectors had ridiculously short bulb life. They were totally unsuited to everyday use as a TV replacement.
Fast-forward to now. If the low end of BenQ’s light source estimate holds true, this projector has 200,000 hours of life in its light source. If I divide that by 8,760 (the number of hours in one year— 365 x 24, check my math), I get almost 23 years (22.83 to be somewhat precise) worth of constant projecting. Even adding heaps of salt to that number, I’m pretty confident that, at this point, the light source is no longer the weak link in the chain.
Is There a Weak Link?
The OS is upgradable. I don’t know if HDMI is going anywhere, and we’ve got USB-C as well as legacy USB-A support. I’m thinking hard here to come up with something to pour a little water on things, and the only thing that dampens my love at all for this device, once I’ve got it situated and secured, is the remote.
The remote lacks backlighting, making it awkward to use in dark conditions. Does it overshadow everything I like about the projector? No. No, it doesn’t.
Final Words
The BenQ GP250 projector is built like a tank, with a similar silhouette, now that I think about it. It’s got ages of light hours to burn, excellent imaging, sound, and some really handy quality of life features. It is geared for the long haul, and I’m looking forward to many more movie nights to come.
