STACK #201 Jul 2021

GAMING FEATURE

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GAMES WITHOUT FRONTIERS BENQ’S ULTRA-FAST 4K PROJECTOR Words Anthony Horan

primarily designed to be used for watching TV and movies, not interactively playing video games. BenQ’s aiming to change that with its TK700Sti, which bravely claims to be the world’s fastest 4K HDR gaming projector. Luckily, it’s got the specs to back that up, with the headline feature being an astonishing 16ms (that’s 16 thousandths of a second) input latency at 4K resolution. To put that into perspective, if you run a conventional OLEDTV in Game Mode, you’re likely to get a latency of around 14ms. Projectors usually just can’t compete in this space, but BenQ’s engineered this one with gaming in mind (and in full 4K and HDR, too). At lower resolutions, the latency’s even more remarkable – 8.3ms at 120Hz, perfect for PS5 and Xbox Series X. A “short throw” laser projector, it uses similar tech to the DLP projectors you’ll find in cinemas, but squeezes it all into a compact box that you place far closer to the wall (or screen – it’s well worth picking one up as well for better clarity and colour) than an old-school projector. At 2.3 metres from the screen (it can be ceiling-mounted if you like, or just put it on a table) the image tops out at an astonishing 120 inches in full 4K. It’s incredibly immersive for gaming, as well as stellar for sports and movies. With a bright 3000 lumen light output, wide colour gamut and even support for 3D – one of the only ways to watch 3D Blu-rays still available – the projector’s based on Google’s Android TV, so you can load it up with your favourite streaming apps and have a proper big- screen movie night. The sheer amount of tech in this compact box is astonishing at the price – so if you’ve been contemplating turning the wall of your living space into a cinema screen and are tempted by the idea of gaming gone large, this one’s well worth checking out.

W hether you spend your gaming and Switch, you’ll probably be well aware that the size of the screen you’re playing on isn’t all that matters. You want to be able to get fully immersed in a twitch shooter, an intense story adventure or the sort of anything-goes exploring and platforming goodness that shows off what the latest generation of consoles can do. And that means the bigger the screen, the better the experience. But above around 65 inches or so, the price of conventional TVs starts to rapidly escalate. While the best from the big brands now boast gaming features, if you’re looking for that giant- sized immersive experience, you’re looking at a very large, very heavy investment – and even then, you’re going to cap out at around 85 inches or so. To go properly big, you’re going to need to start looking at a projector. Up until recently, that was an incredibly time on a PC or prefer the couch- friendliness of the Xbox, Playstation

expensive proposition, and not really all that suitable for gaming. The key to any big-screen gaming is one word – latency (also known as input lag). It’s the measurement of the time it takes for what your console or PC sends to the screen to actually display on the screen so that you can react to it, and the lower that number is, the better. Projectors have traditionally not boasted especially brilliant latency, because most are

Video projectors described as “short throw” are perfect for smaller rooms and living areas, because they are placed close to the screen (or wall) and are portable, making it possible to set them up as needed. How close you place the projector determines how big the image is - the further away, the bigger the screen (but at the cost of some brightness). Stuff to Know About Short Throw

24 JULY 2021

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