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Formovie Theater: test / review / calibration

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Published on: 20-05-2024 / Modified: 20-05-2024
For over a year now, I've been seeing Formovie Theater reviews everywhere, sometimes very detailed (and mostly honest), but often very light-hearted articles that seem to have been written only for the exposure they provide. I hope you'll be able to classify my test in the first category I've just mentioned

As I'm not the first to test this projector, I'll try to make my contribution with a few additional elements. I'd also like to demystify this projector a little, as it's considered to be the best in its class, which is undoubtedly true, but not with the basic configuration. It's a shame, because in this price range, I'd have expected the projector to be usable by the average person without the need for calibration. Don't go away, I've got a solution for you

My test will obviously follow my usual protocol, but I'll add a direct comparison with the Xiaomi Laser Cinema 2, which is probably the closest projector technically speaking. I'll also give you my calibration data so that you can get the most out of your projector and this will help you get the most out of your projector

If you like my work and want to buy this projector, I'd appreciate it if you'd go through my links, this allows me to continue testing projectors. Thank you!

Formovie Theater price

I have a coupon worth over 350€ to buy this projector from Nothingprojector (value may vary depending on base price):



July 2024: the Formovie Theater is 2734$ (2463€) with my promo code, the lowest price I could find

Why buy from NothingProjector?

- they offer the lowest price guarantee up to 30 days after your purchase (they'll refund the difference if you find it cheaper)

- they offer a 3-year warranty (vs. 2 years on the official site)

- they offer a 30-day return window (vs. 14 on the official site)

With this discount, buying a Xiaomi Laser Cinema 2 doesn't make much sense anymore

If you don't want to make a mistake when entering the promo code, you can automatically add it to the basket from this link, you'll be redirected to the home page but the code will appear in your basket:

Add promo code

Then add the projector to the basket:

Formovie Theater / NothingProjector

Formovie Theater Premium?

A new version of the Formovie Theater is available, it is the Formovie Theater Premium and you can find the full test here:
Formovie Theater Premium: Test / Review

Manufacturer web site:
https://www.formovie.com

Price Formovie Theater

The list below shows the prices for the Formovie Theater from more than 50 sites around the world. If you are not satisfied with any price, you can subscribe to a price alert to be the first to be notified when the price drops.

Timeline

May 17, 2024: I've received the NothingProjector projector, so the test can begin.

Why this projector?

I would have liked to test this projector sooner, but the opportunity didn't present itself. This projector is widely regarded as the best projector in its class and I wanted to see for myself. I have no doubt that it's a good projector, but I wanted to be able to compare it to the Xiaomi Laser Cinema 2 and the other USTs I've tested.
If I read between the lines of the (good) reviews I've read, this projector has out-of-the-box colorimetry unworthy of a projector in this price range. Calibration is not accessible without dedicated equipment, so you can either call on a professional calibrator who will adapt your settings to your situation for optimum results, or use the settings I'm about to give you. These settings will probably not bring you up to the same level as a professional calibrator, but they will bring a significant improvement over the factory settings...and it's free!

I'm also curious to see how the comparison with the Xiaomi Laser Cinema 2 will turn out, as I've been using this projector for about 2 years and haven't yet found a projector capable of doing better.

Unpacking

The Formovie Theater is quite large and quite heavy, and the box further reinforces this impression, as the projector is wrapped in a protective layer of foam. The box is nothing special and contains the bare essentials: a manual, the projector, the remote control and a power cable (European version).

The projector measures 55 cm by 35 cm and 12 cm in height, a little more than the Xiaomi Laser Cinema 2, which measures 53 cm by 33 cm, but I have the impression that the Formovie is considerably heavier.

The remote control needs two AAA batteries (not included) to operate, and has a fairly classic button layout, with a few differences here and there that take some getting used to. I often got confused between the power button and the settings button, because they're right next to each other. There's also a button next to the home button that allows you to go to an Android menu, but I don't think it's ideally placed because I don't need this menu, and putting it next to the most frequently used button isn't a good thing

Operating system

One of the undeniable advantages of the Formovie Theater over the Xiaomi Laser Cinema 2 is its use of a globalized Android operating system. This means you don't have to use an external solution to use it, it's an official Android version that will therefore receive updates and allow you to download applications via the Play Store. The Xiaomi runs under Fengmi OS in Chinese, which means you'll have to use an external solution like an Android box/stick unless, of course, you're fluent in Chinese

The Formovie Theater is also backed by a European warranty, which is not the case with the Xiaomi, these are two fairly significant advantages in favor of the Formovie but you'll have to assess whether this justifies the price difference between these two projectors.

Getting the projector up and running presents no particular difficulty, it's similar to what I've seen before with just 2 exceptions. Belgium wasn't on the list of countries, which isn't a big deal, but it's the first time it's happened to me with an Android TV system. The other difference is that, despite my choice of France, the keyboard remained Qwerty. That's never happened to me either.

When you first start up, you'll also have to focus the projector, which is no problem at all, but in my case the focus wasn't right. The top right corner was not sharp at all, but by playing with the arrows, I achieved edge-to-edge sharpness of the same level.

Finish

Formovie has opted for a design with pure, angular lines, there are no curves. It's a very clean, functional design that makes a good impression. Even the plastic used gives an impression of quality, which was a little less the case on the Xiaomi where everything was curved but with a plastic that gave less of an impression of quality...although in the end, all this is subjective as my Xiaomi hasn't aged a bit since I've had it

The front panel is covered with fabric to hide the Bowers and Wilkinson speakers, there's also the Formovie logo and once switched on, four little orange lights will remain lit in the middle of the front panel



On the sides, there's a large space to evacuate heat, still with that rectilinear design. The projector does evacuate heat through this grille, but not to the point of keeping your coffee hot.



A fairly complete set of connectors can be found at the rear (see details below).



On the underside, there are 4 screw holes for attaching the projector to the ceiling. Although it's designed to be used upside down, make sure you fasten it securely, because with the projector's weight, I wouldn't be too confident in this kind of configuration.

There are also little feet with an adjustment knob to raise the front of the projector like this:





Nothing special about the optical compartment.



The remote-controlled power button is on the top.

Projection room

My projection room is rectangular, 4.6m by 2.9m (height 2.2m). I have two projection walls, one white wall 2.9m wide with just white paint with a possible 4m setback. I then have a 133 inch ALR screen on another wall with a possible setback of 2.8m. I mainly use the ALR screen except when the layout or type of projector is not suitable for this situation.

Battery autonomy

This projector is not equipped with a battery.

Power consumption

This projector's power consumption varies greatly according to the intensity of the light. You have the office, viewing and night modes, which will determine the number of watts consumed by the projector. I measured over 320 watts in office mode, around 270 watts in viewing mode and 170 watts in night mode. Brightness is optimal with viewing mode, but if you're using this projector in total darkness, you might be happy with night mode, which brings consumption down to a much more acceptable level than the other two modes



The Xiaomi Laser Cinema 2 is considerably more power-hungry than the Formovie Theater, consuming almost 300 watts. In the first version of the Xiaomi it was possible to reduce power consumption by lowering the brightness, but this is no longer possible in the current version.

Operating noise

The Formovie Theater projector emits an audible hum, I measured 43 dB on the back of the projector and if I place the dbmeter at 1 meter, the sound level drops below 35 dB. The hum is still audible, but it's very faint and shouldn't bother you. I sit quite close to the projector when I use it and I'm not really bothered by the noise

The Formovie Theater projector is slightly quieter than the Xiaomi Laser Cinema 2 but the difference is almost imperceptible because it's only when using the decibel meter that I notice a difference.

Connectivity

The Formovie Theater's connectivity is quite comprehensive, with 3 HDMI ports, one of which is eARC. There are also 2 USB 2.0 ports, a headphone output, a digital audio output (SPDIF) and an ethernet port.

Image settings
The Formovie Theater offers a wide range of settings that will make life easier for a calibrator, but will be seen as gibberish for all other users. I tested all the available configurations (Standard, vivid, child,...) and then explored the parameters to obtain the best settings. Most of the available settings result in a colorimetry that's too cold; only the "movie" mode offers a warmer colorimetry, but this is too warm. With calibration, the image is superb, but unfortunately you won't be able to fully enjoy it in this article, as the dominance of the red laser disturbs my camera (probably because of the color space). The final rendering is much redder than reality, so keep this in mind when watching the videos that follow. I also have an important remark to make about the brightness: it's very strong and the contrast is excellent. This also has an impact on the videos that follow, because the camera isn't able to capture these extremes, so certain sections of the video are overexposed

Image quality

Important notes

- These videos may be blocked by YouTube due to the use of copyrighted content. If this is the case at the time of your visit, you will still be able to view the videos directly on YouTube

- do not pay attention to the red dominance, this is a problem related to the recording of this type of image

- the screen used is a 133-inch white neutral screen

First video: Rings of Power / Dolby Vision (Amazon Prime)



This projector is Dolby Vision compatible, which means that each image is optimized for optimum rendering, whereas HDR uses a common configuration for all images. The rendering of Rings of Power on this projector is superb, and what you see in this video is underwhelming for the reasons I mentioned above

Second video: Star Wars 9 (local file)



This trailer has a very warm basic tone, so the red accentuation here will further enhance this effect. As in the previous example, the image is superb, with some high-contrast scenes really creating a wow effect where many details simply wouldn't be visible on another projector

Third video: Top Gun Maverick (local file)



This video has a rather cold tone with wide variations in brightness, so some passages are overexposed because of the camera, but this isn't actually the case. I had activated motion compensation for this video because there's a lot of movement and you can see its corrective effect in certain fast scenes where compensation shows its limits.

Comparison with the Xiaomi Laser Cinema 2

As promised in the introduction to this article, I compared the Xiaomi Laser Cinema 2 with the Formovie Theater under equivalent conditions (calibrated, identical screen, identical content, identical camera). The only drawback to this comparison is the dominance of red for the Formovie Theater, which forced me to use different recording parameters. I've displayed these settings to give you an idea. Even with a lower color temperature, red still dominates on the Formovie, but in reality, the images are perfectly comparable



The video will probably be blocked by YouTube because I used copyrighted content. To see it, just watch it on YouTube

Who comes out on top in this duel of image and sound? Quite frankly, I'm having trouble deciding between them, as the image is superb in both cases, although I'd give the Formovie the edge in terms of contrast and brightness. In terms of colorimetry, the Formovie also does a little better, whereas the Xiaomi tends to force saturation. In both cases, image quality is very good.

Sound-wise, I hadn't really noticed a difference when I listened to it, but when I edited this video and compared the soundtracks, I can clearly hear a difference. The Formovie's sound is finer and higher-pitched, whereas the Xiaomi offers a thumping sound for techno or that kind of music.

Colorimetry

I was very surprised (negatively) by the colorimetry of the different configurations available for this projector. I obtained colorimetric deviations greater than 10 on all configurations, and obviously I'm not the only one to have come to this conclusion. On projectorcentral.com, the findings are exactly the same. This means that this projector needs calibration to be used to its full potential, and unfortunately, there is no intermediate situation where an existing configuration could bring the colorimetry into an acceptable zone.

Here's an overview of the colorimetric deviations:



I'm well aware that I don't have the best equipment for this type of projector, but even with a possible margin of error, the result is not very good and perfectly similar to what projectorcentral.com has obtained with more suitable equipment

What's the solution? You can either pay a calibrator to obtain a result adapted to your situation (with a home visit), or reuse settings from people who have calibrated their projectors. The first solution is the best, but also the most expensive, costing several hundred euros plus travel expenses. This cost is justified by the expensive equipment a calibrator needs to acquire to calibrate this type of projector. The second solution is obviously free, but the parameters are valid in one context and may vary according to the type of screen, brightness, etc.

I'm going to share my settings with you, as well as another configuration, to give you the best chance of finding what you need. I've calibrated my projector with a standard white screen (gain 1.2) and an ALR NothingProjector gray screen (gain 0.7), I'll also add the settings found on the internet for an ALR Vividstorm screen. Even if this solution is not optimal, it should already greatly improve the factory configuration.

White screen settings:



With this configuration I obtained a delta E of 2.21 for colors, 1 for white, 1.34 for grays and 2.09 for gamma. The delta E of the basic configurations is greater than 10 each time, so the gain is quite significant. Once again, a margin of error must be taken into account, but the image is visibly much better to the naked eye.

Here's a photo before calibration:



After calibration:



Unfortunately, the photo does not fully reproduce the real image quality, as is often the case with this type of projector. The image quality is therefore actually better, but this will give you an idea of the scope for improvement

Brightness 50

Contrast 40

Saturation 48

Hue 0

Sharpness 2

Gamma dark

Color temperature

Red gain 3

Green gain -10

Blue gain -1036

Hue

Red 48

Green 45

Blue 40

Cyan 54

Magenta 41

Yellow 47

Skin 47

Saturation

Red 79

Green 69

Blue 45

Cyan 67

Magenta 64

Yellow 34

Brightness

Red 68

Green 74

Blue 77

Cyan 86

Magenta 72

Yellow 62

Skin 66

Offset

Red 52

Green 49

Blue 49

Gain

Red 51

Green 51

Blue 43

With an ALR NothingProjector screen:

I obtained a delta E of 2.61 for colors, 0.5 for white, 1.35 for grays with a gamma of 2.09. This screen tends to accentuate blues and reduce reds

Brightness 52

Contrast 40

Saturation 48

Hue 0

Sharpness 2

Gamma dark

Color temperature

Red gain 5

Green gain -10

Blue gain -39

Hue

Red 48

Green 49

Blue 40

Cyan 54

Magenta 41

Yellow 40

Skin 47

Saturation

Red 79

Green 63

Blue 40

Cyan 84

Magenta 64

Yellow 41

Brightness

Red 47

Green 78

Blue 77

Cyan 86

Magenta 83

Yellow 74

Skin 66

Offset

Red 52

Green 49

Blue 49

Gain

Red 51

Green 51

Blue 43

Settings for Vividstorm screen:

These settings come from the ProjectorCentral website, they were obtained by an expert with professional equipment, so they are reliable

I do not copy them in my page because this content does not belong to me. I obtained a delta slightly higher than mine with these settings, so it would be best to test them to see what suits you best.

You can also use the settings for 11-point white balance and HDR, which I only modified slightly for my screens.

Brightness

The projector has three light modes: viewing, office, night. These three configurations will influence not only the brightness but also the power consumption of the projector.

I measured the following brightness levels after calibration:

2275 lumens for viewing mode

2696 lumens for office mode

1964 lumens for night mode

If you use one of the existing configurations, it's the "child" mode (almost 3000 lumens with "office" brightness) that provides the most light and the "movie" mode is the least bright (almost 2500 lumens with "office" brightness)

This projector is therefore very bright, but you won't be able to use it in broad daylight like a television. If you combine it with an ALR screen like my NothingProjector screen, you'll be able to use the projector in a moderately bright environment without too many problems, but the light will have a negative effect on contrast. So don't buy this projector if you're thinking of replacing a TV in a brightly lit room.

A word of warning: office mode doesn't allow you to adjust color temperature (the menu is grayed out), so you'll have to adapt your projector's settings from one of the other two modes.

Sharpness

The Formovie's sharpness is excellent, but you'll probably have to play a bit with the adjustment tool. The placement of a UST projector is sensitive to distance and angle, so everything must be perfectly straight before you can use the adjustment tool

Once you've made the adjustment, don't touch anything else. Sharpness is excellent from edge to edge, and sometimes a few millimetres can make all the difference

I notice a slight overflow of blue on the left edge, but it's imperceptible without really paying attention



Sharpness and sharpness adjustment are very similar on the Xiaomi Laser Cinema 2, and I can feel here that the two projectors have many things in common.

Contrast

This projector has excellent contrast, one of the best I've tested so far, and rather than inundate you with figures, I'll start with a little demonstration. Below, I've filmed the trailer for The Batman in standard mode, and you can see for yourself how well this projector handles high-contrast scenes. I've used this trailer with many other projectors, so you'll be able to compare the result with other projectors.



The contrast ratio is between 3500:1 and 3900:1 (in standard mode). I don't get the impression that dynamic contrast plays a role, but it's not important - the native contrast is good enough. With my calibration, I'm coming in a little below 3500:1

I had filmed the same trailer with the Xiaomi Laser Cinema 2 but hadn't realized that my phone was set to HDR, so the result wasn't comparable to the Formovie Theater video, so I'll have to try again.

Motion compensation



This projector sends its images at 60 Hz, which causes jerks in rapid horizontal movements. Fortunately, the Formovie Theater features a 3-level compensation mechanism that makes horizontal movements smoother. Without compensation, the white rectangle at the top of the video tears, but as soon as you activate compensation, this problem almost completely disappears. There's no need to use the highest level of compensation, as the lowest will suffice, and high compensation will cause a soap opera effect on your films.

Image size and projection distance

Not yet available / tested

Audio quality

To give you an idea of the audio quality of this projector, I've chosen 4 soundtracks with different characteristics:

- Nirvana

- Adèle

- DJ Furax

- DJ Greg C

It's highly likely that YouTube will block this video as I've used copyrighted content. To play the video, you'll have to watch it on YouTube directly

The sound produced by the Bowers & Wilkins speakers is of very good quality, with the projector at ease in both high and low frequencies. The vocals on the Nirvana and Adele soundtracks are very well rendered, and the sound for the techno tracks is quite powerful and immersive. I recorded at around 50% volume, which was more than enough for my projection room. At this volume level, there's no distortion or saturation. This Formovie Theater is one of the best sounding projectors I've tested

Video games

I used my Nvidia Shield to test ShadowRunner on this projector to test the gaming experience. The Formovie Theater has a "gaming" mode to improve latency, and this gaming mode works very well for this type of game. I measured a latency of around 130ms in all configurations except gaming mode, where I obtained an input lag of around 30 ms. With such low input lag, you'll have no problem playing FPS games like this. In fact, it wasn't the input lag that caused me to crash in the game, it was just my poor performance as a gamer with a gamepad. I'm not used to using a gamepad and I find this Nvidia gamepad far too sensitive

If I compare the gaming performance of this projector with the Xiaomi Laser Cinema 2, I can't see any difference, they're both comfortable with good input lag (with gaming mode). I found the video I made at the time, playing a few minutes of Conan Exiles streaming from the Geforce cloud

Encoutered bugs

Some slowdowns in applications such as Kodi or Amazon Prime.

ALR/CLR Projection screen

Are you looking for a good ALR/CLR screen for your projector? I may have what you need:
ALR/CLR NothingProjector Screen

Test / Review conclusion

With all the positive reviews of the Formovie Theater, I was curious to form my own opinion. Obviously, I didn't expect to hear anything contrary to what had already been written, but I did want to be able to compare this projector with my Xiaomi Laser Cinema 2, which up to now has been the best projector I've tested. Did the Formovie live up to its promise? Yes, but so did the Xiaomi!

The Formovie Theater has not usurped its reputation, it's an excellent projector on all evaluation criteria, but it needs a little help. The basic configuration of the projector doesn't allow you to benefit from the full potential of the device, so you'll need to go through a calibration or at least adapt the settings. You can either call in a professional calibrator to adapt the projector to your situation, or try your luck with a few tips from the Internet. I've published my settings and those of another American site, the settings are different but the "philosophy" is the same. This projector emits too much blue, so you need to reduce the amount of blue to get closer to a perfect image

Image quality is not something subjective, it can be measured. I measured brightness, contrast and colorimetry. I also analyzed sharpness, motion compensation, sound quality and input lag. The Formovie Theater ticks all the boxes. It's very bright, has excellent contrast and, after calibration, the colors are perfect. So you can enjoy the big show at home, and the show doesn't stop at the picture, because the sound is just as good. If, after watching a good film, you want to turn your projector into a giant gaming screen, that's also possible.

Video projectors of this type often have the same weaknesses, such as power consumption, noise levels and image grain. The Formovie fares well here too, because for such a bright projector, power consumption is quite reasonable, and even if you can hear it whirring a little, the noise it produces fades very quickly. I didn't notice any graininess in the image

What about the Xiaomi Laser Cinema 2? The Xiaomi is an excellent projector that also has the advantage of costing considerably less. If you're deciding between the two, there are other factors to consider besides image quality. The Xiaomi has never been officially marketed outside China, which means you won't get any support in the event of a problem. The operating system is in Chinese, so you'll have to use a back-up solution like the Nvidia Shield I used in this test. So there's a choice here between financial benefit and support risk. The Formovie has a 3-year warranty and uses an official version of Android TV, so you're also buying peace of mind

If you want to invest in a home cinema experience, you've got a product here that will meet your needs. The budget is high, and ideally you'll also need to pair it with a screen, but you've got a few years ahead of you to make it pay, and I don't think any other video projector is going to make a fool of it for a long time to come.

Strengths

Brightness

Contrast

Colorimetry (after calibration)

Sound quality

Low input lag (in gaming mode)

Android TV

Operating noise

Image size

Effective motion compensation

3-year warranty with NothingProjector

Weaknesses

Colorimetry (without calibration)

Remote control ergonomics (position of some buttons)

Responsiveness in some applications

Native Netflix support

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