Ahead of last year's CES expo, Samsung launched a "one-of-a-kind projector" called the Freestyle that ditched the familiar boxy housing for a stylish cylinder. Now LG has joined the party with a new CineBeam that goes 4K instead of 1080p.
The LG CineBeam PU700R's "intuitive and interior-friendly design" doesn't exactly mirror the Freestyle, wearing an elliptic face rather than a circle, but it's pretty close.
The DLP projector can throw 4K UHD (3,840 x 2,160) visuals at up to 120 diagonal inches, and its RGB LED light source puts out up to 1,000 ANSI lumens, with LG cooking in optimized brightness levels for daylight-friendly viewing without needing to close the blinds. Contrast is reported to be 150,000:1, and there's support for HDR10 and HLG content, too.
The comparatively chunky cradle it's mounted to allow for easy adjustment over 90 degrees for placement flexibility, with 4/9/15-point keystone correction and Auto Screen Adjustment – which aligns, focuses and tweaks the image for optimum viewing – helping things along.
The projector sports HDMI and USB inputs for cabled connectivity, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are included with support for screen sharing and AirPlay 2, and there's a single 5-W speaker – but the unit can pair with up to two Bluetooth-enabled speakers at the same time for stereo potential.
Entertainment is served up via LG's Smart webOS platform, which includes access to apps like Prime Video, Apple TV, Disney Plus and YouTube (no mention of native Netflix though). Upward-firing mood lighting is available via the cradle's base, and projected images can enliven a plain wall with digital wallpaper.
Its 6.4 x 12 x 5.7-in (162.5 x 304.8 x 144.7-mm) proportions and weight of 6.8 lb (3 kg) do fit with LG's portable pitch, but the projector doesn't feature a built-in battery so a nearby wall outlet will still have to be figured in to placement choices.
The CineBeam PU700R is on sale now for US$1,699.99, including a backlit remote. Purchases before June 11 come with a free LG XBoom 360 Bluetooth speaker.
Product page: PU700R