The Dangbei DBOX02 projector ($1,899) is greatest described as a piece in progress. You’ll be able to’t at present view 3D content material, for instance, however Dangbei says that downside will probably be solved in an upcoming firmware replace, which may even embrace new options. Even the title has modified—from the Mars Professional 2 at its introduction—to keep away from confusion with equally named fashions from different producers, based on the corporate. (That features the Anker Nebula Mars II Professional, which really is not a direct competitor.) That mentioned, the DBOX02 is extensively accessible for lower than its checklist value, and it presents good brightness and film high quality straight out of the field. And whereas we nonetheless favor the Hisense C1 as our prime choose for a 4K room-to-room moveable projector, the DBOX02 is sweet sufficient to be value contemplating even earlier than the firmware replace arrives. Design: A Google TV-Powered Black CubeThe DBOX02 weighs 8.8 kilos and measures 6.4 by 9.3 by 7.9 inches (HWD). As with all of its direct competitors, it delivers its 3,840-by-2,160-pixel picture to the display screen courtesy of a 1,920-by-1,080-pixel DLP chip and TI’s fast-switch pixel shifting. The chip is paired with an ALPD gentle supply, a time period that describes a number of light-engine designs from Appotronics. Dangbei says it is the laser-phosphor model, which produces its main colours utilizing a laser and an RGB phosphor wheel. Dangbei charges the lifetime at 30,000 hours in Commonplace energy mode.
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Preliminary setup is typical for projectors that supply Google TV and automated setup options like autofocus and keystone adjustment. Optionally join picture sources to 1 or each of the HDMI ports, energy up the projector, and run via the usual Google TV setup, with a alternative of Ethernet or Wi-Fi for connecting to the web. Netflix customers will admire {that a} licensed model of the app is already put in, together with another frequent apps, together with Amazon Prime Video.
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The autofocus delivered a suitably crisp picture in my assessments, whereas the horizontal and vertical keystone changes did not all the time work nicely. Nevertheless, our normal recommendation is to show off automated keystone changes and in addition keep away from utilizing the handbook keystone and different digital changes—which embrace digital zoom and impediment avoidance within the case of the DBOX02—since they will decrease picture brightness, introduce artifacts to some pictures, and even improve enter lag, which is a matter for gaming.
Dangbei pegs the DBOX02’s brightness at 2,450 ISO lumens (equal to ANSI lumens). Primarily based on the Society of Movement Image and Tv Engineers (SMPTE) suggestions, that may be sufficient to fill a roughly 185-to-255-inch picture on a 1.0-gain display screen in a darkish room. In my assessments, utilizing my most popular settings for each SDR and HDR viewing and a 90-inch display screen, the picture was appropriately vivid each in a darkish room and in a room with a low stage of ambient gentle. It was additionally simply vivid sufficient for my 80-inch display screen in a household room with many home windows on a sunny day.
(Credit score: M. David Stone)
The onboard sound system, constructed round twin 12-watt audio system and Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, and DTS:X, delivers greater than ample quantity to fill a big household room and excessive sufficient high quality that you’ll doubtless resolve it is all you want. Nevertheless, you can too hook up with an exterior system utilizing the projector’s 3.5mm or S/PDIF audio out ports, the one HDMI port with eARC help, or Bluetooth. You can even set the projector to work as a Bluetooth speaker for different audio sources.Testing the Dangbei DBOX02: On-Level Picture High quality, Complicated ControlsIn addition to SDR, the DBOX02 helps three variations of HDR: HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG. Image-mode choices embrace 4 predefined modes and one Customized mode for SDR, plus a second set of HDR modes which are in any other case equivalent.Oddly, in my assessments the HDR set got here up solely once I was testing with HDR Blu-ray discs. After I was viewing HDR10+ materials streamed from Prime Video, the projector confirmed an HDR10+ message briefly when switching to an HDR10+ film however didn’t provide any HDR image modes within the menu. Dangbei couldn’t replicate the issue and says that it hasn’t gotten any experiences from customers about it, nevertheless it’s nonetheless wanting into the problem. It is unclear if the issue was with the projector or the streaming connection, nevertheless it is not a lot of a problem for viewing in any case. The default settings for HDR ship a picture that most individuals will take into account greater than acceptable by default.
(Credit score: M. David Stone)
A possible stumbling block to utilizing the projector—or at the least studying tips on how to use it—is that the buttons on the distant for opening the menus to regulate settings for the present enter aren’t labeled, even with icons. Till you recognize the place they’re (by discovering them unintentionally or by asking Dangbei help, if you must), this may be irritating. Nevertheless, utilizing them is straightforward sufficient as soon as you understand how. You’ll be able to both press and maintain the Residence button (moderately than simply urgent it), or you need to use one of many unlabeled facet buttons.After some preliminary assessments, I selected the default image modes for my official viewing assessments—Commonplace and Commonplace (HDR). Each provide impartial, properly saturated colours and notably good distinction in each darkish and light-weight scenes. The SDR Commonplace mode additionally has good shadow element together with a darkish black stage, making it simple to see what’s going on in darkish scenes whereas retaining most of their visible affect. Commonplace (HDR) mode presents the very best steadiness among the many HDR image modes between holding shadow element and conserving the black stage sufficiently darkish. It additionally delivers on HDR’s promise of improved shadow element in contrast with the SDR model of the identical scenes.
(Credit score: M. David Stone)
The one change I made to the default settings was to set body interpolation (the MEMC setting) to Off. Though the function can enhance the look of stay or recorded video, it additionally launched an apparent digital video impact for filmed materials, which many individuals discover objectionable.The DBOX02 formally helps 3D, nevertheless it did not work with Blu-ray 3D discs in my assessments. Dangbei says that it is a recognized downside that will probably be fastened in a firmware replace it is anticipating to launch in October. It additionally says the replace will embrace settings for coloration calibration and that customers will get an alert in regards to the new replace as soon as it is accessible after they hook up with the web. The corporate did not provide the brand new model quantity, however it will likely be the following one after V11.1.0.83 (which some, however not all, models have already been upgraded to, based on Dangbei).
(Credit score: M. David Stone)
Rainbow artifacts (purple/inexperienced/blue flashes) are a possible concern for any single-chip DLP projector. I see them simply and noticed them extra usually with the DBOX02 than with a lot of the competitors. In case you’re involved in regards to the subject, our normal recommendation is to purchase from a seller who presents simple, free returns so you’ll be able to choose it for your self.I measured the projector’s enter lag with my Bodnar meter at 34.6ms for each 1080p/60Hz and 4K/60Hz, which is appropriate for informal gaming. The projector ought to exhibit shorter lag at 1080p for 120Hz and 240Hz, that are additionally supported, nevertheless it couldn’t sync to my Bodnar meter at these settings.Verdict: Idiosyncracies Do not Break This ProjectorIf you are contemplating the DBOX02, make sure to examine it with the Hisense C1, in addition to the Xgimi Horizon Extremely and the JMGO N1 Extremely. All are wonderful selections, and every presents one thing the others lack. The C1 and the Horizon Extremely help Dolby Imaginative and prescient, which is at present essentially the most refined possibility for HDR, and each dealt with Dolby Imaginative and prescient properly in our assessments. Between them, the C1 does a greater job with HDR10, which is why it is our prime choose, whereas the Horizon Extremely presents a shorter enter lag and provides help for 3D. The N1 Extremely is proscribed to HDR10 and HLG for HDR help, however its gimbal mount, which helps you to place the image exactly the place you want it in seconds, helps make it terribly simple to arrange.Word that the DBOX02 is out there with a gimbal mount additionally. Though the mount is $139 by itself, it is usually bundled with the projector throughout promotions. Dangbei did not provide one for testing, so we will not vouch for the way it compares to the N1 Extremely for ease of setup. However even with out the gimbal, the DBOX02 generally is a more-than-reasonable alternative. When you get previous the preliminary impediment of the idiosyncratic distant with unlabeled buttons, the reward is a vivid, good-quality picture and onboard audio to match.
The Backside Line
The Dangbei DBOX02 projector presents vibrant coloration, good shadow element, and excessive distinction, nevertheless it additionally exhibits a number of rainbow artifacts and has some quirks that want fixing in a future firmware replace.
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About M. David Stone
Contributing Editor
Most of my present work for PCMag is about printers and projectors, however I’ve coated all kinds of different topics—in additional than 4,000 items, over greater than 40 years—together with each computer-related areas and others starting from ape language experiments, to politics, to cosmology, to house colonies. I’ve written for PCMag.com from its begin, and for PC Journal earlier than that, as a Contributor, then a Contributing Editor, then because the Lead Analyst for Printers, Scanners, and Projectors, and now, after a brief hiatus, again to Contributing Editor.
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