VAVA – 4K UHD Smart Ultra Short Throw Laser TV Home Theater Projector – Black

I am shocked by how well this projector performs. I was searching for a 4K projector and had several different models that I looked at from different manufacturers. I did not necessarily need to go with at UST projector. In fact, I had narrowed my search to the following: The Epson 5050UB (long throw), Epson LS500 (Ultra Short Throw), Optoma P2 (Ultra Short Throw), and coming in a distant fourth…the VAVA 4K (Ultra Short Throw).
I had spent months doing research. In fact, I actually came across a 5040UB projector for a really cheap price secondhand. So I thought I was set. One day, I happened to notice the VAVA was on sale from Best Buy for under $2000. I himmed and hawed all day, but decided to purchase with the thinking that if I did not like it, I could make my money back by reselling it.
My fears:
-I had read that the color accuracy on the VAVA was terrible. Many reviews had stated that the reds were pushed too greatly, and that there was a tint over the picture.
-3D was a huge must for me. Though the VAVA supports 3D, it was by mean of a firmware update, and I had read many people were underwhelmed by the 3D on this device. This was actually what gave me the most pause.
-Fan Noise. I had been seeing reports that this projector gets loud.
-Lack of brightness. This projector was said to not perform well in ambient lighting.
After owning the projector for a couple of weeks, I am happy to report that, though these fears all have some basis, I have found workarounds to most, and the others do not bother me as much as I thought.
-First off, color accuracy. The reds definitely get pushed on this projector. After getting some different settings from a few online sources, these were the settings I ended up going with:
Color Mode: Custom
Brightness: 48
Contrast: 45
Saturation: 37
Definition: 50
Tone: 43
Red Gain: 1012
Green Gain: 852
Blue Gain: 777
HDR: Off
I tried these settings with HDR on first and the reds blew up. The picture was saturated with color, but did not looks natural. I tampered with the settings more, but found that the best thing to do was switch HDR to off. Once I switched off the HDR, everything looked great! Now one of the biggest selling point of 4K has been HDR, so was this projector actually worth it? I would say yes. Though HDR is not worth anything on this, the increase in resolution is noticeable. Switching between regular Blu-Ray and UHD Blu-ray is not as subtle as some might have you believe on a 100″ screen. So even without HDR, I would say the 4K is absolutely worth it at this size. With the above settings and HDR off, I see no tint or overpowering colors, but a clean, natural, and sharp image.
-Next, 3D. I have a large library of 3D blu-rays. I have actually not upgraded my TV past 1080p, because I love 3D and the new TVs do not offer it. 3D on this projector requires manual switching, which is not so bad (about three clicks on the remote). I started with Avatar in 3D. The image displayed as two images, one on the top of the screen, and one on the bottom. When I accessed the 3D menu on the VAVA, it presented me with three options: left/right, top/bottom, screen encapsulation.
Since the image I saw was split horizontally, I chose top/bottom. My heart sank. The 3D image displayed gave me an absolute headache. The picture had depth, but seemed to line up imperfectly. It almost felt like I had astigmatism. On top of that, there were green bars that flickered at the top and bottom of the image. I thought this would be a deal breaker, but I decided to try something else. I tried frame encapsulation and voila! The image line up perfectly, and actually, impressively. Unlike my Panasonic plasma 3D TV, there was no ghosting at all. I had not experienced 3D this good outside of the theater. Depth was outstanding, and colors looked great. Of course, the image was darker, but I was very pleasantly surprised.
-Third, fan noise. This projector can sing. I am good at tuning things out, but I can see this being an issue for someone that wants absolute quiet during the quiet scenes in a movie. It does not bother me, and to be honest, I have do not even notice it past the first two minutes or so after starting up the projector. The 5040UB definitely wins in this regard. I barely even knew that was on just by listening to it.
-Fourth, brightness. This projector advertises something like 6000 lumens, but it ends up closer to 2700 lumens in most professional reviews I have seen. I use a VAVA ALR screen, and even that gets washed out a bit in direct sunlight, though I can still see the picture. If you will be watching in a high-lit environment, you may have to consider a light canon like the Epson LS500 UST projector.
Final thoughts:
The Epson 5040UB had a better picture, but the convenience of the VAVA won out. Though not as good of a picture per se, this projector is no slouch. I honestly do not feel like I lost out on anything by not getting a pricier projector. I have seen this projector dip a hair under $2000 a few times. At that price point, I feel no qualms about recommending it.

The product came in good shape and I really enjoy watching movies and Netflix on a big screen. All in all this is a great product and the 110 inch display fits perfectly on my wall and makes a great home theater to watch movies with my friends.

That’s a wonderful thing I’m enjoying it I would recommend everyone entirely to have one and I garanti that u guys won’t regret of ur purchase

I spent months reading reviews and creating pro and con lists of all the u.s.t. projectors and finally decided. Not disappointed with this purchase. Also, it went on sale a few days after and Best Buy refunded me the difference. So glad I got it from them.