Home cinema based on Fengmi Formovie Cinema 2 4K UST projector
Detailed video version of the review https://youtu.be/ksIRgUgRAzc
A bit of history
Good afternoon! This is my second article about projectors, the first one I wrote about three years ago about the Epson EH-TW6700 projector. He stayed with me for 2 years and was successfully sold. Why sold? Most likely, I just wanted something new, 4K, HDR and more contrast. I wanted to take an Epson 9400, but it would give only 90 in my room, so I took a Samsung QLED 75 TV. Great TV, great picture, incredible contrast, brightness and black level, backlight uniformity, tons of settings and modes… but once you’ve tried a projector and a wall-to-wall picture, you’ll never be the same again.
And at some point, just reading and looking out of habit for reviews of new products in the world of projectors, I fell on the topic of ultra-short-throw projectors, and so it began. I was sure that the purchase would not come and I have a great TV, I just read, nothing else, but the damn culture of mindless consumption won over common sense. As a result, I have a new piece of Chinese technology called Fengmi Formovie C2 4K at home.
Characteristics
Detailed technical data can be found on the net, but I will write about what is most important. So, this is a projector that is installed next to the projection plane and gives 100″ from a distance of 23cm from the body to the plane. Roughly speaking, every 6-7cm gives another +10″. It must be installed very accurately so that all axes are perpendicular-parallel to the floor and wall. You have no mechanical adjustments, except for the adjustable height of the two legs. You can edit the keystone through the menu, but this is precisely the electronic correction, which is best avoided.
The projector is claimed to be capable of displaying a 4K resolution of 3840-2160px, which is exactly half true, more on that later. There is also HDR, but this is already a controversial statement. Brightness 2200 ANSI lumens – it seems to be true, the projector is very bright. Contrast according to the passport is 3000:1, in short – the contrast is excellent for the projector, more details later.
There is a smart Amlogic T972-H processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB ROM, Android 9, Wi-Fi 5.0, Bluetooth 4.0. Good built-in sound, 3 USB 2.0, 3 HDMI 2.0 (one with ARC). 3D is not (not very desirable). There are optical and regular headphone outputs for sound. ethernet.
Installation
The projector is placed at a distance of 25cm from the wall it is projected on, which gives an image size of 103″. Every 6-7cm gives another 10″. I leveled it according to the building level on all planes, but I could not get an ideal trapezoid – the lower right edge “sagged” by 2cm, I had to edit it in the menu through the trapezoid distortion setting. I also put stickers 3 mm thick under the front legs, as there was not enough height of the adjustable legs for a clear level of parallel to the floor.
The decision to make the case white for the projector, which stands directly at the screen, looks very strange. It gives a noticeable illumination of the lower region of the image, put a black film on top – the illumination has ceased to be obvious. There was a small problem with the placement of the center channel of the audio system, I came up with a solution as in the photo. Otherwise, this placement is much more convenient than standard projectors.
Image quality
In short, the quality of the picture turned out to be higher than I expected. In more detail, then the brightness of 2200 is enough in a dark room in excess. The contrast for the projector (and for some LCD matrices) is very good, the black level, again for the projector, is excellent. Colors can be adjusted as you like, there are all the basic settings (but without fanaticism), including for individual color channels.
The concept of a good image is quite subjective and difficult to describe. Better watch the video. I really liked it, I did not expect good image clarity almost over the entire field from such a device format, good black level and contrast, plus the device processes the image from external sources very well (I connected a PC on Windows) – no jerks, jumps or blinking . No worse than the usual good TV in this regard. Plus there is a frame interpolation technology that works just as well.
Contrast. The black level is good, much better than the previous Epson 6700 projector. In the dark, I compared the backlight of the black fields of a 100tr laptop with an IPS matrix and this projector – the projector has deeper blacks. Yes, it is visible, but it does not interfere with viewing at all. Of course, if you have a bright room and there are at least 20% of bright areas in the frame, then the reflected light will kill the contrast, but these are questions not for the projector, but for the room. Or get an ALR screen for half the price of a projector. A certain French tester, Gregory, measured a contrast ratio of 3400: 1 in this projector, which is three times more than a typical IPS matrix. Personally, I doubt this value, but the contrast is really good. Score for contrast, given the price, 9 out of 10.
Colors. Initially, the picture has a rather cold tint, but you can adjust it as you like, the margin for the range of settings is huge. There is not much to write here.
Brightness. There are two modes View Mode and Office Mode, I stopped at the second one for now, it is a little brighter and a lone lamp burning in the dark looks a little brighter in this mode. As I said, for a dark room brightness with a head, but during the day it will look unpleasant.
Focus. Look in more detail in the video version of the review, it’s clearly visible there. In general, I liked the sharpness, there are two upper “softer” corners, but overall 8 out of 10. I’m pleasantly surprised, in other areas of the screen, the sharpness is impressive.
HDR 10. Formally, it is, in fact, there is little sense from it, the characteristics are not the same.
4K. I didn’t expect it either, but the difference between 4K content and Full-Hd is immediately visible. There, of course, not honest 3840-2160, but something in between 1920-1080, but even this can be clearly seen on such a diagonal. Honest 4K cost 500tr, although probably more expensive. 4K goes to 60fps, for this you need to enable HDMI 2.0 mode in the settings (more details in the video). Is it worth it to pay extra for this increased resolution option, for me the answer is definitely Yes.
Rainbow. Occasionally seen on very contrasting objects in movies when you move your eyes quickly around the frame. More often seen when viewed with credits. For watching the movie The Hobbit without subtitles, I noticed a rainbow a couple of times. Does it bother you? No, not at all. Someone probably will not see her at all, I was just looking for her.
When an external source is connected, there is a lag between the image and sound of 0.1 sec. It is solved in the player settings (sound synchronization) on your computer. Although many of this lag will not notice.
The overall impression of the picture is very good, subjectively no worse than on the screen of a regular laptop in the dark. Yes, the darkest night scenes aren’t as impressive as on a good QLED or OLED TV, but it’s a projector, so take that into account. But everything else looks more than convincing. In general, for the picture, taking into account the form factor, price and the fact that this is a projector 9 out of 10.
Operating system, settings, platform
The device has Android 9. The version of Android TV is somehow unofficial, Chinese, many applications (Netflix and IVI) did not start for me. You cannot install official YouTube, analogues do not show 4K. Movie Search, on the other hand, works great. In general, if the smart component is important, it is better to buy a Mi Stick thread and not suffer. Ideally, connect a computer.
To be honest, I didn’t really deal with application issues, maybe there you can conjure something and the same Netflix will start. I talked more about the OS in the video. I think the whole point is that Fengmi is a sub-brand of Xiaomi and is produced for the Chinese domestic market, from there all the legs grow. They have their Android there.
It is important to note that the picture settings for content from the projector and from external devices are independent, which is good. The menu itself is very smart. It is possible to wirelessly display a picture from the phone. You can transmit audio via Bluetooth or receive (speaker mode). The sound of the projector itself is quite pleasant, there is even a hint of bass. I will not write in detail about all the settings, everything is in the video.
The frame interpolation technology works perfectly, there is enough power. The picture doesn’t flicker. There are three levels, the second seems sufficient.
I noticed a strange thing – if I turn on the computer, and then the projector, then the video is not displayed, if vice versa, then everything is fine. And you have to wait until the projector is loaded, which is 20 seconds. There are settings for auto-turning on the projector when you turn on an external device, I did not succeed, although I turned on the option in the projector settings. Same thing with shutdown.
Noise. The projector is audible in silence, we can say that it does not sound like the loudest system unit under load. But the sound is monotonous, you don’t notice it after a minute. An example of sound in a video.
A little about ALR screens
I will not dilute water, in short, if you look with light sources, then you need it. If it is in the dark and with light walls, then it is not really needed, but if there is a lot of money, then it is desirable, because there is reflected light. But if you have a prepared dark room with sulfur walls and a ceiling, then it is a waste of money.
Results
The result is this – I got a little more than I expected. I am more than satisfied with the quality of the picture, and the picture is what we buy projectors for. Amazing focus and contrast. 4K movies look great. But Full-HD is good too. In any case, the projection quality is better than in a conventional cinema. The form factor is also quite convenient. The price is justified. The hardware is powerful enough for 4K and seamless display of content. There are troubles with the installation and a crooked operating system, but you need to install it once and forget it, and problems with the OS can be solved for 3tr.
Final score 9 out of 10
PS I recommend watching the video, there is much more information there and I tried to show the picture in comparison with the usual matrix:
