BenQ TK850i True 4K HDR-PRO Smart Home Entertainment Projector powered by Android TV | 3000 Lumens | 98% Rec.709 | Lens shift & Keystone for Easy Setup | 3D Projector for Binge Watchers and Sports

Whats Good: Razer sharp picture and motion clarity Excellent color with both Rec. 709 and DCI-P3 Superb HDR tone mapping Good contrast and solid black levels Amazing value What Could Be Better: Input lag Fan noise in normal lamp mode Ive spent the last several weeks with the HT3550, putting it through its paces and viewing a wide variety of content in various room conditions. Amazingly, BenQ has managed to significantly improve image performance while introducing a host of exciting new features while not raising the price. The HT3550 costs just $1499.99-- the same price the HT2550 sold for just one year ago! This is the first projector below $1500 to offer real (95% coverage) DCI-P3 expanded color gamut support and the first in its class to offer an Active Iris to improve contrast and blacks. BenQ is also introducing its new HDR-Pro tone mapping technology with the HT3550 and its the best implementation of HDR Ive yet seen on a projector. As if that wasnt enough, BenQ pre-calibrates each HT3550 that leaves the factory. Lets check it out in more detail below. NOTABLE FEATURES AND PERFORMANCE True 4K Resolution The HT3550 utilizes Texas Instruments XPR pixel shifting technology to achieve a True 4K UHD resolution of 3840x2160-- meaning a full 8 million pixels on-screen. This is distinct from some competing pixel shift technologies that result in a simulated 4K image of around 4 million pixels. The HT3550 actually uses a new version of Texas Instruments ubiquitous .47 DMD that finally eliminates the grey border that has been a fixture of affordable 4K DLPs for the past year. Dynamic Iris The HT3550 is the first 4K DLP in this price range to include an automatic iris that dramatically improves contrast and black levels. Overall I was very satisfied with the iris performance although the action is not totally invisible especially in bright scenes. BenQ does give you the option of using the iris or using lamp dimming. I found the iris was more effective for film content while the lamp dimming was more preferable for high APL content or when watching with the lights on. Wide Color Support In another first for a 4K projector anywhere near this price range: the HT3550 covers 100% of the Rec. 709 color gamut and an amazing 95% of the DCI-P3 wide color gamut! Its even more impressive when you consider you could spend 4 times the price of the BenQ and still not get significant coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut. BenQ calibrates each unit from the factory and includes a rather simplistic calibration report. Ill talk a lot more about the HT3550s color performance further in the review. Chassis BenQ has added some nice touches both cosmetic and functional that help to set the HT3550 apart from its competition. While the external housing is a matte white that resists reflections and finger prints, the face plate is a handsome dark taupe with a brushed metal look that I was surprised to find is actual metal! The lens sits in a recessed aperture cut into the front faceplate. BenQ includes a lens cap that attaches to the projector with a string and snaps into place with very little effort. In front of the lens sits a black plastic lens guard that is a functional element to block light from leaking onto the ceiling when mounted. Both sides of the projector have large vents cut into them and I can count three fans drawing air through the chassis. In operation, these vents do reveal a fair amount of light from within the projector but, again, BenQ has been careful to ensure that no light is leaking forward. Around back, youll find possibly the finest looking derriere in all of projector-dom. The entire rear face plate is dominated by a perforated metal speaker grill that matches the color of the front faceplate. BenQ clearly designed the back of the HT3550 with the assumption that it might be used on a coffee table and therefore be visible. The grill hides two 5 watt chamber speakers that do a surprisingly good job of filling a room with sound. All of the HT3550s connections are arranged neatly in a thin strip cut into the center of the grill. Both HDMI inputs are full bandwidth HDMI 2.0A / HDCP 2.2 ports capable of 4K@60Hz. Short Throw Lens Fans of the W1070 and later HT2050/HT3050 will be happy to hear that BenQ has equipped the HT3550 with a shorter throw of 1.13 - 1.47. This will allow the HT3550 to target a 120 screen in just under 10 feet. Zoom ratio is 1.3X and the projector features a small amount of vertical lens shift. Overall, I had little issue getting the projector aligned and focused but the focus ring is a bit touchier than Id prefer. The lens is a new 10 element all glass design that BenQ says helps contribute to improved contrast and black level performance. The lens on my sample is very good but not perfect. Focus is sharp showing only an ever so slight softening at the extreme left/right edges of the screen-- nothing that I would consider objectionable. However, the lens did exhibit what I would consider a higher than expected amount of chromatic aberration. To be fair, I had a very difficult time seeing any evidence of this from my seat and it didnt impact any of my viewing. Motion Enhancer (MEMC) A lot of people are fond of this feature and its one that has been requested for some time. For the record Ive never been a fan of motion interpolation (also referred to as motion estimation/motion compensation) but for this review I did test the function and it works surprisingly well. On the two lower settings I found the smoothing effect to work well enough without introducing noticeable artifacts. I could see myself actually using it for streaming content or TV sports-- From me thats high praise. At the higher settings you get the soap opera effect that some people enjoy but I do not. 3D 3D is all but dead but there continues to be a lot of enthusiasm for the format especially among the projector community. Happily, BenQ is still supporting the format with the HT3550. Some readers will remember that I had some difficulty with 3D on BenQs two prior 4K projectors, the HT2550 and TK800. I had no such issues this time. The HT3550 detects when a 3D source is present and automatically switches into its 3D picture preset. 3D is displayed in 1080p only. The image is satisfyingly sharp with no hint of crosstalk. All four of my various brand 3D glasses worked without problems. As will any RGBRGB DLP the image brightness in 3D is definitely more suitable for dark room use. Built in Speakers I always suggest pairing your projector with a proper surround sound system but if youre in a pinch or maybe using the HT3550 in another room, BenQ has you covered. The HT3550 contains a pair of rear facing 5 watt chamber speakers. While they wont shake your foundation with deep bass they do a surprisingly good job filling a room with sound and dialogue intelligibility is high. Because they face rearward this obviously works better if you have the projector sitting on a table in front of you as opposed to mounted above or behind your seating. Input Lag and Gaming Input lag is 63/64ms. To achieve this measurement you have to make sure all extraneous image processing is turned off. That includes the Active Iris, Motion Enhancer, and setting the 4K pixel enhancer to 0. The HT3550 does not feature any game mode or fast mode to improve performance here further. This is a bit disappointing as this is a full frame slower than last years HT2550 (for the record I clocked that projector using the same Bodnar tester at 45/46ms). Although not totally unexpected-- DLPs equipped with the MEMC Motion Enhancer always seem to score slower here than DLPs without even when the feature is turned off. As such, gaming performance is a bit lackluster which is a shame considering the outstanding visuals. Casual gamers might find the input lag here acceptable but competitive gamers will want to look elsewhere. Video Processing I was happy to see the HT3550 has improved on its predecessors when it comes to handling 24fps film content. The HT3550 is the first 4K DLP Im aware of to not require a 3:2 pull down meaning it can display movies in the correct cadence with no judder. It does this in a rather clever way: by slowing down the color wheel from 120Hz to 96Hz. It is important to mention here that I noticed no ill effects from this process such as increased rainbow effect or image instability. When compared against my reference for 24fps content, the BenQ HT2050a (yes, really), the Ht3550 largely matches its performance with only scrolling text appearing a hair smoother on the older projector. I did throw a wide variety of HD (1080p) content at the HT3550 and my takeaway is the up scaling to 4K is superb. The HT3550 displays HD material beautifully and without the addition of unwanted noise reduction that might obscure detail. In truth, I found myself watching a lot more HD material than I had planned simply because it looked so good. PICTURE MODES The HT3550 offers a LOT of picture controls. Now, if this sounds daunting to you, dont worry. I understand its not everyones idea of a good time to tweak menu settings or to customize picture presets. The good news is BenQ has setup the HT3550 very well to work great out-of-the-box without having to touch a thing besides maybe selecting the right picture mode or maybe the right lamp power for your room/ambient light situation. Im going to spend the next few paragraphs attempting to explain, as simply as I can, the different options that are available to you. If your eyes have already glassed over I suggest you skip forward to the Viewing Experience section. The HT3550 comes with 5 selectable SDR picture presets and one HDR preset. The SDR presets are Bright, Vivid, Cinema, D Cinema and User. The HDR10 preset only becomes accessible when feeding the display an HDR10 source. Unlike some projectors the HT3550 will auto-detect HDR content and automatically switch to the HDR mode. You can break down the different SDR presets by the kind of viewing environment they are intended for. Bright is the requisite high ambient light mode that should only be used as a last resort due to its strong green tint. Vivid and Cinema are both appropriate for less than ideal rooms or rooms where some ambient light might be present. Both have very good color with Cinema offering a more natural image while Vivid is brighter with enhanced color saturation. D Cinema and User are both appropriate for dark room or theater room viewing. The D Cinema preset is the one that is calibrated from the factory and its here youll find the best black levels and color accuracy for SDR content in an appropriately dark cinema environment. All of the modes allow access to adjust basic picture controls such as contrast, brightness, sharpness, etc. as well as access advanced color/gamma controls and customization of the Iris, Brilliant Color setting and lamp power. In addition, BenQ provides a host of other picture enhancements as part of their CinemaMaster suite such color and flesh tone enhancers, 4K pixel enhancer and the motion smoother (MEMC/CFI) feature. There is only one function that is greyed out in the picture menu and that is the Wide Color feature. In Cinema and Vivid is I locked in the off position and in D Cinema and User it is locked in the On position. As I mentioned, when you feed the HT3550 an HDR10 source it will automatically switch to its HDR10 picture preset. Out of the box, the HDR10 picture mode is bright and punchy with a more natural image akin to the Cinema setting. There is more than enough output to compete with some ambient light. It should be mentioned here that in this default state, all wide color gamut content will be displayed as Rec. 709. There is only one HDR10 mode so you cant select from different presets like you can with SDR content although you can tailor just about every aspect of the picture as you can with the various SDR modes including the one that was not accessible before: Wide Color. The Wide Color feature engages and disengages a color filer inside the projector. This filter allows the HT3550 to natively display the DCI-P3 expanded color gamut for richer, truer to life color. Ill get into the effects the filter has more in the Viewing Experience section but in my personal opinion this is a game changer at this price point. However, using the filter does make a significant impact on the HT3550s lumen output. Using a crude lux meter and some calculation it appears the filter costs around 30% of the HT3550s light output. For this reason, use of the filter is recommended only for dark room or theater use. VIEWING EXPERIENCE I started my viewing with the Kingsmen 2: The Golden Circle. This is a fun movie even it misses the mark set by the first film. The UHD Blu-ray is upconverted from a DCI 2K source and yet I wanted to start here for one reason: color. This is a vibrant and colorful movie that I thought should be a good test for the HT3550s DCI-P3 capabilities. Immediately I was struck with just how much better the HT3550 is able to render contrast and blacks than its predecessor. Early in the film Eggsy confronts Merlin in the bombed out shell of the former Kingsman headquarters. Shadow detail here is excellent and the HT3550 is able to produce a black that actually looks black. Later in the film were treated to a fly over of the jungle and a pull in on our villain, Julianne Moores Poppy. Here the advantages of the increased color gamut become obvious. The green of the jungle is lush and much more realistic while the red paint of Poppys diner gleans in a rich hue simply not possible in Rec 709. Next I threw on Thor: Ragnarok. Im going to be honest, at this point I was less interested in viewing serious reference material and more interested in just seeing all the pretty colors the HT3550 is capable of producing. Thor is far from a reference disc but Im happy I threw it in because it cued me into one of the more massive improvements BenQ has made with this new model. There is a moment early in the film when Thor and Loki attempt to flee their sister Hela by summoning the Bifrost (if you havent seen the movie the bifrost is a rainbow road in ancient Norse Mythology…anyways) and a fight ensues knocking Thor and Loki into space. While certainly beautiful thanks to the great contrast and color volume, my biggest takeaway was the HT3550s vastly improved motion performance. With all the debris and colors flying past in the background it’s hard for some displays to adequately translate the punching and kicking happening in the foreground. The last time I saw motion clarity like this I was reviewing the HT2050A. With the HT3550, BenQ has reclaimed one of DLPs biggest advantages over competing tech. At this point it was time to get serious and so I decided to watch the massively underappreciated Bladerunner 2049. Both of the prior discs I watched were upconverted from a DCI 2K source but not this one. Filmed on ARRI Alexa cameras at 3.4K and displaying some of the finest cinematography and lighting in recent memory, this pristine UHD Blu-ray transfer is one of my all time favorite reference discs. My two favorite scenes to reference are the scene where K and Joi are flying over the wasteland in the driving rain and the moment when K and Decker have a drink. The former for the displays ability to render fine detail and the latter to check for proper tone mapping. The TH3550 aced both tests. In the first scene, you can see individual streaks of rain in the sky and water droplets on Ks windshield are rendered in precise clarity. In the second, the oppressive orange glow of the irradiated skyline reflects on the actors faces without them appearing too dark while the deep red fabric of the barstools retain their color. This is a testament to BenQs revised HDR PRO tone mapping. Throughout, contrast and black levels looked great. Even the black bars of the letterbox managed to remain black during scenes of high APL. I should mention here that I had still not seen any pumping artifacts or evidence of the iris in action besides the occasional distant crackle overhead to prove that the iris was indeed working. Really impressive performance here. Next up was the UHD Blu-ray release of the Dark Crystal. One of my favorite films growing up the Dark Crystal has recently received a brand new digital 4K scan from the original film stock. A lot of people might challenge my assertion that this is reference material simply owing to the fact that this is not always the prettiest movie. In addition the noise present in the original 35mm comes through loud and clear in the transfer. But this is one of the reasons I love 4K. With the extra resolution 4K provides, film can actually look like film. Every detail of the Skeksis puppets, the complexity of Aughras lab (and her nipples— I never realized she had nipples before— I wish I could go back to a time I didn’t know that) and the texture of Kiras cloak all come through in resounding clarity. I finished my 4K/HDR testing with the amazing Planet Earth 2 and Blue Planet 2 UHD Blu-ray discs. And, yes, I re-watched all of the episodes. Theres not much else I can say about this series that hasnt already been said. The HT3550 handled it with aplomb. I was paying special attention to scenes that had given the prior HT2550 trouble such as the flyover of the icebergs and the scene with the massive waves. These scenes caused the HT2550 to clip detail, washing out the snowy surfaces of the floating ice and obscuring details in the crests of the waves. But the HT3550 never lost track and BenQs HDR PRO tone mapping proved itself again and again. About mid-way through the Blue Planet series I witnessed my first example of the BenQ struggling with black levels. There is a scene where a mini sub prowls the artic ocean floor with a singular bright spotlight shining in a sea of black. This is a very tough scene and here the HT3550s blacks appeared a bit hazy although they were far from the mushy grey its predecessor displayed in this same scene. 4K may be all the rage these days but let’s be honest: HD content is ubiquitous and many owners will likely spend just as much time watching 1080p as they will 4K. The HD Blu-ray copy of Oblivion is most certainly reference material and one of the few movies where the HD disc is superior to the UHD disc. Giving the HT3550s calibrated D Cinema mode a spin I can honestly say this is one of the finest experiences Ive had watching this film. The HT3550 handles HD up conversion exceedingly well and at several points during the film I was gob smacked by just how much detail I was picking up in only a 1080p release. Color looked spot on and viewed back to back with my THX plasma the HT3550s colors, especially green, appeared a bit more realistic. Contrast sparkled and the black levels were back to looking solidly black. CONCLUSION The BenQ HT3550 True 4K Home Cinema Projector packs a dizzying amount of performance and value into a projector costing just $1499. Its difficult for me to describe just how much Ive enjoyed my time with the BenQ HT3550. If youve been on the fence about upgrading to 4K the HT3550 makes a very strong case. It might just be the model youve been waiting for. The HT3550 represents a comprehensive improvement over last years 4K lineup and offers a level of picture quality and refinement that was simply absent before. The inclusion of DCI-P3 color gives the HT3550 legitimate home cinema cred while its solid contrast and impressive handling of HDR content makes this a benchmark in the segment. It earns my highest recommendation.

My son projects his MacBook screen using this projector and it is really clear. I was surprised how clear the text was using this projector.

Best one so far, have it hanging on ceiling too.

I ordered the item and it came on time. The box was damaged with a big hole in the side. I purchased this as a new purchase. There were signs this projector was used and I believe was returned. The seller Adorama also has a used department as evidenced by their message in their on hold announcement. The seller Adorama was what appeared to be looking for any way to not provide the requested refund. First they delayed the process for a week by saying they have to look into it I will call you back in 3 days. They didnt call me back. I called them and spoke with the first customer representative. After I pressed her for a discussion with their manager She disconnected the call. I called back and got a different csr. After some discussion and a request to speak with their manager again she provided me a return label and I sent it back 3 hrs later. Their customer service department acts more like a customer disservice department. And I dont understand why they do everything they can to not let you talk to the customer service manager. After all, what is the customer service manager for? The projector when working looked great. It was bright and true to color. But it was intermittent at turn on.

Great looking projector Im in the process of building a home theater. This will be the first one Ive put together and I agonized over which projector I was going to buy for a long time. Lamp or laser? Did I need 4k? What about HDR? Was LG a better choice or Optoma? Eventually, I read a very detailed review of the upcoming BenQ HT3550 that made it sound really great. It had the specs I wanted and it was right in my price range, so I made the leap and ordered one. It took about 3 weeks to arrive but I finally got it on Friday. I got it set up fired it up to make sure it works. Everything works great, setup was very easy, and it looks absolutely stunning. The picture is really extraordinary and the colors are fantastic. Its very quiet. And since I didnt have my surround sound system fully set up, I just used the internal speakers and those even sound pretty decent. All in all, this is a fantastic value for the money and I highly recommend it.

Dim bulb that flickers during bright scenes. HORRIBLE customer service: they disregard every issue I’ve consulted with them. The colors were completely messed up on the first one I received and the hdr didn’t work. BENQ technical support refused to help and I had to get Amazon involved to receive a replacement. Instead of saying our projectors have defects, they tell you that their projectors don’t have defects.

Absolutely LOVE this projector. However, the bulb/lamp burned out after only a few hours of use. Luckily it was within the return period so Amazon replaced it with a new one.

This projector was great until 32 days of ownership it stopped working. No light, no fan noise, no nothing!!! Talk about a total let down. Ill have to contact the manufacturer, maybe they can help with this situation.

Stay away! Ever since Ive had this projector, 3 or 4 out of every 10 startups only half of the screen works and I have to turn it off (it actually turns itself off) and restart it. If that was the only issue, and its a big one, I suppose I could live with it and I have thus far. Now, with just over 200 hours on it, a bad aberration has showed up on the bottom left of the screen and its not the lens nor my actual pull-down screen. Definitely a internal issue and it can be seen during bright scenes or when a uniform color is displayed. Extremely annoying, something that once you see you cant unsee. Im crossing my fingers that I can get BenQ to RMA it even though it was purchased from a third-party seller through Amazon. I wouldnt take the risk if I were you!

Love the projector. Looks sleek and picture is amazing. It’s just pricey; took all my savings but I needed an upgrade in my media room.