LG’s bright idea for home cinema fans

Relaxnews

The LG ProBeam will be marketed as a compact consumer projector with professional performance when it goes on sale after its global debut at CES 2017 this January. Though LG has built a solid reputation for the quality of its high-end LED projectors, this new device is the first that it has built specifically for use in and around the average home. It tips the scales at just 2kg, so it’s lighter than most notebook computers, and, thanks to Bluetooth and Miracast support, should be simple to pair with audio and visual sources — i.e., a set of wireless speakers and the video content from a smartphone or tablet.
What’s more, it runs on the company’s webOS Smart TV platform so it can also tap into a host of video-streaming apps as well as simply syncing with other LG products. “LG is confident its expertise in the home entertainment sector will make its first compact laser projector a hit with consumers,” said Tim Alessi, head of product marketing at LG Electronics USA. “LG is proud to continue pioneering the home cinema experience in dynamic new ways.” Rated at 2000 lumens, the ProBeam will be the lightest full HD laser projector of its kind available when it goes on sale. And that brightness rating means that a crisp widescreen image should be possible even in rooms where blocking out light isn’t possible.
As such it will be potentially ideal for those consumers that like a proper movie night but don’t have the wall space for a proper cinema display-size TV set. However, as adoption rates for 4K UHD televisions are picking up — 2017 is widely considered the year that sales really take off — consumers could think twice about a projector, no matter how well designed and compact, that didn’t support the new image standard.
According to NPD Group, the majority of Americans now know what ultra-high definition TV is (traditionally the metric used to identify the tipping point into the mainstream of an emerging technology), while 33% of consumers are now interested in having a 4K set of their own at home. And with prices for televisions with four times HD resolution now widely available for $500 and less at big box retailers, the ProBeam, for which LG has not yet revealed the price, could struggle to get noticed.