The BenQ V6000 projector is undoubtedly one of the most stylish projectors we had in the house. But are there also great performances behind that beautiful appearance? We roll out the screen and put this Ultra Short Throw laser projector on the test bench.
BenQ V6000 projector – specifications
- What: Ultra HD DLP projector with laser light source
- Setup: 3,840 x 2,160 (1,920 x 1,080 with pixel shifting), light output 3,000 ANSI lumens, dynamic contrast 3,000,000: 1, projection ratio 0.252 (100 inch diagonal at 0.22 m), noise level 32-37 dB (eco mode, standard)
- Connections: 2x HDMI (2.0, ARC), 3x USB (1x media, 1x optional WiFi, 1x power supply), 1x optical digital out, 1x RS-232c
- Lamp life: laser light source, up to 20,000 hours
- Extras: HDR10, HLG, 3D, 2x 5 Watt speaker
- Dimensions: 500 x 157 x 388 mm
- Weight: 10.0 kg
- List price: EUR 3,999
BenQ V6000 – Design
Ultra Short Throw projectors can take the place of your TV, so they are very clearly present in the living room. We see that people pay attention to a beautiful design and fine finish. And this BenQ is a good example of that.
The white chassis was given some nice style elements such as the ventilation grilles with a dark blue accent line and the loudspeakers hidden behind light gray fabric. The lens is covered with a silver-colored plate, which slides away motorized when you switch on the device. Since the lens otherwise catches a lot of dust, we think that is an excellent choice. This projector is available in white (V6000) or black (V6050).
BenQ V6000 – Connections
The connections are on the side facing the screen and are kept to a minimum. Two HDMI 2.0 connections, one of which with ARC. Three USB connections (two on the side, one on the back), a digital optical output and RS-232C for control.
The USB connections are for supplying power to an external dongle (such as a Chromecast) or for playing media files. What is striking is the lack of network connection or Bluetooth, so all smart functionality will be missing.
BenQ V6000 – Placement
With a projection ratio of 0.25, this BenQ is really very close to the wall. A 100 inch image requires the projector to be barely 22 cm from the wall, for the smallest possible image, 70 inches, it is even 7 cm. In the latter case, it may become a bit more difficult to connect the HDMI cables.
BenQ has also built in a handy feature for the placement. Two rulers, marked with the screen sizes, slide out from the rear of the projector and can even be screwed on if desired. Simply pull the slats out to the desired size and you can effortlessly place the projector at the correct distance from the wall. The projection offset is 119%, the bottom of the image is about 19% of the image height above the top of the device.
The focus is motorized, and almost inaudible. It also starts very slowly so we initially thought it was faulty. But no, nothing to worry about, just hold the key longer. Put the test pattern on the screen, and after a few seconds of adjustment, the image will be razor-sharp. Zoom is missing, which is not uncommon on UST projectors.
Still, BenQ has cut back on a placement feature: trapezoidal distortion. UST projectors that are even slightly tilted project a clearly distorted image. Of course the feet are adjustable, and for vertical trapezoidal distortion there is an automatic or manual keystone correction. Horizontal keystone correction is lacking, however, and a finer control such as we saw on the Optoma UHZ65UST, for example, is also missing. This makes a perfectly flat projection surface of paramount importance.
Unfortunately, we cannot call the BenQ silent. With the laser light source in the highest position, or in the SmartEco mode where the projector modulates the light intensity, it is very clearly present. That improves if you choose the ‘economic’ mode. There is also a ‘Silence’ mode. The projector then switches off the pixel shift, which means that you do not have a 4K image, but a Full HD image. You then approximately fall back to the level of the eco mode, the noise of the cooling fans always remains audible.
Furthermore, you have to take into account all the pros and cons of Ultra Short Throw projection .
BenQ V6000 – Ease of use
The clear and smoothly working menus make it easy to adjust one or another setting. The projector also offers many options for image adjustment, including an extensive color management system. The LumiExpert function adjusts the gamma curve based on the ambient light, so that dark and midtones become brighter or darker according to need.
Anyone who sometimes bends over the projector and keeps forgetting to close their eyes no longer has to fear that. The V6000 is equipped with a sensor that switches the lamp off when you bend over the projector. You can also turn this function off if you want.
Yet also a downside in terms of ease of use. The HDMI connection takes an awful long time to sync when you start a video. This can go up to more than 10 seconds, which often seems like an eternity. The reason is unclear to us, sync delay is not uncommon, but it has to take so long. That problem becomes downright annoying when you browse through different videos.
Remote control
Just like the projector, the remote has a stylish appearance. Partly black and silver, and with backlit keys.
It also offers a lot of possibilities to adjust the image, without having to pass through the menus. That is an asset that we still find important for a projector, it allows you to quickly tweak the image based on what you are watching. The only detail that bothered us is that the keys require a relatively large amount of force to press.
Functions
No network connection, no Bluetooth, you don’t have to hope for any kind of smart TV functionality. On the one hand, we think that’s a miss, especially because this class of projectors just takes the place of your TV. On the other hand, the performance of the projectors that do offer this has often remained below expectations.
The V6000 is equipped with a media player that played all our video files, but was absent for Dolby Digital and DTS based soundtracks.
BenQ V6000 – Image processing
Projectors with a native 4K panel still cost an arm and a leg, so it’s no surprise that the BenQ uses pixel shifting (for DLP, the correct term is XPR: Xpanded Pixel Resolution). The native resolution is Full HD and by shifting 4x you get 4K resolution. If you want to know how this works, look in our background article about projectors . As always, the result is also very visible (you can switch it off by activating the ‘silence’ mode), but the very finest 4K detail remains narrowly hidden. Still, the image is very handsome, with no visible pixel grid and with a lot of detail.
The image processing is decent, but leaves a lot of room for improvement. The projector scores poorly on deinterlacing, and causes light moiré effects for many video and film frame rates that you deliver interlaced. So choose 1080p or 2160p as output on your source, then you avoid all those problems. The noise reduction scores poorly and is not available on 4K sources.
Frame interpolation (Motion Enhancement 4K) is available on Full HD and 4K sources, but the effect is quite limited. The projector shows relatively clear judder and the frame interpolation cannot really get rid of that completely. We think the ‘middle’ position is a good choice for most circumstances.
BenQ V6000 – Image quality
This laser projector uses an RGBY (Red Green Blue Yellow) color wheel and claims 3,000 lumens.
In the brightest image mode (Bright), the meter stops at approximately 2,390 lumens, a very good result. If we look at the Cinema image mode, it drops to 1,530 lumens, which is still sufficient for a 120-inch screen in ambient light. If we put the lamp in eco mode, the light output in Cinema drops to 880 lumens, just enough for a 100 inch screen.
The projector combines that light output with a contrast of just 1,000: 1, which produces decent images. We switch the lamp in ‘SmartEco’, so that the projector can modulate the light intensity based on the image. The contrast then increases to 2,640: 1 for an incomplete white or black image, while on / off contrast remains stuck at 2,010: 1. This indicates that the algorithm intervenes properly if possible, and dark images such as the Gravity test scene therefore get a better black display.
The Cinema image mode is well calibrated after two adjustments. Set the gamma value to 2.2 and push the ‘Brightness’ setting to 52 or 53 for a little more black detail.
The color range is quite good. They are often a bit too dark only in the most saturated colors. Intense cyan also deviates too much from light blue. We would have expected slightly better results given BenQ’s efforts to comply with the Rec.709 standard. The general balance is fine, however, and provides vivid images with good skin tones, lots of black detail and good contrast.
BenQ V6000 – HDR
For HDR, BenQ has equipped the V6000 with a special color filter that extends the color range. With the filter activated we get 90% DCI-P3 (and 66% Rec.2020), which is very good. But unfortunately you sacrifice a lot of clarity for that. Even in the highest position, the light output is then only 660 lumens. This is best limited to an 80-inch screen (in ambient light).
This does not have to be a problem with darkening, were it not that the V6000 still struggles with HDR reproduction. The main reason is the color reproduction. In some cases, it really goes wrong. The white point in the HDR10 mode moves to green and blue. This gives yellow a slightly green glow. Cyan is very hard to light blue, and magenta to purple. In some test scenes like above the results were really bad, SDR counts as a reference here. Deactivating the color filter improves the result slightly, but then dilutes the color rendering too much. The HDR result is therefore a mixed experience, sometimes quite good, sometimes remarkably bad, but unfortunately never particularly good.
We also notice that the BenQ generally works much too dark in HDR and still hides a lot of white detail, often above 1500 nits. The HDR brightness setting mainly works on midtones and has less effect on white detail. There we look at the Epson EH-LS500, for example, which provided a much better user experience there.
BenQ V6000 – Gaming
With an input lag of 79.1 ms and no game mode that can improve that, the V6000 is not the best choice for gamers.
BenQ V6000 – Sound quality
A very pleasant surprise was the sound quality. The V6000 is equipped with 2x 5W speakers and although that seems quite limited compared to the 2x 10W that you find on many competitors, it can certainly hold its own. In fact, the sound has a warm and pleasant character with clear voices and a reasonable bass response. Even if we set the volume knob to maximum and let some Metallica or Wagner sound, there is no distortion to be heard.
The volume is sufficient for a relatively large room, but that may be our only concern, for impact we might have wanted a little more volume. A separate sound solution is possible via HDMI ARC or digital optical out, but is certainly not an absolute necessity.
BenQ V6000 – Conclusion
The BenQ V6000 excels at some things, but it also has a long way to go before we really call it full. Small downsides are the lack of any smart TV functions and the very slow HDMI synchronization. The projector is also somewhat noisy. However, the main point of attention is the HDR display. The extended color range costs a lot of brightness, but it is also used inaccurately, so that HDR images often appear very unnatural. That does not seem worth it to us, but even with the P3 filter switched off, HDR reproduction remains substandard. Those reservations also mean that the price seems too high to us, especially compared to competitors such as the Optoma UHZ65UST and the Epson EH-LS500 .
That is a shame, because the V6000 also has a lot to offer. The handsome design really caught our attention, and the very short throw ratio (even within the UST category) makes installation very easy. For SDR playback, the results are very good. It combines sufficient brightness with good contrast. The projector controls the laser light source well to achieve a deeper black in dark images, with excellent black detail. Here too the color reproduction is not perfect, but it is more than good enough to create beautiful images. A fantastic bonus is the excellent sound, which makes a soundbar unnecessary for many users.
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