HU85LS: hands-on experience with LG’s perfect projector

The thing about projectors is they're usually right in the middle of a room to project the image onto the wall. And they need to be supplied with power, so they come with a long cable that goes through half the room and potentially trips up anyone who gets up during the film to get a cold beer from the fridge.

LG's HU85LS is different. The magic word is «Ultra Short Throw». This means the projector is placed just under the screen and still produces a picture of at least 90 inches. This eliminates all those logistical problems that keep many people from buying a regular projector.

It will be available from our warehouse on 1 October, which is very soon. If you can’t wait, pre-order it now.

Projector

LG HU85LS

4K, 2700 lm, 0.19:1

39

Projector

LG HU85LS

4K, 2700 lm, 0.19:1

39

The most impressive feature of the HU85LS is its laser technology: RGB laser. RGB is rare. That's why this projector is perfectly suited for a hands-on review. RGB laser technology promises contrast values that can even compete with televisions.

First impression: bright image + CLR canvas = great combination

I'm not going to make it easy for this projector to perform. After all, I don't need to test it in a darkened showroom to know that it's good. A quick look at its specs is all that takes:

• DLP RGB laser projector
• Resolution: UHD by 2x XRP technology (native resolution: 2716×1528)
• Maximum brightness: 2700 ANSI lumens
• HDR: HDR10 and HLG
• Contrast ratio: 2 million : 1
• Screen size: 100 inches at 10 cm distance; 120 inches at 18.3 cm distance
• 30 dB regular mode, 26 dB in eco mode (who uses eco mode anyway?)
• 2x 5 W speakers (stereo sound)
• HDMI (HDCP 2.2) and HDMI ARC
• Bluetooth and WLAN-enabled: Yes
• Operating system: webOS 4.5

I’m sure you understand now why I’m not going to make this projector’s life easy. I want to challenge it. Especially the maximum brightness of 2700 ANSI lumens is a promise that I’d like to put to the test. So I set up a small improvised living room in the fifth floor of the Westpark in Zurich. Why? It's bright here. Probably brighter than in your living room – the building has huge window fronts.

I placed the screen by Elite Screens on top of two leather armchairs and taped it to the wall. I said «improvised», didn't I? «Avengers: Infinity War» was my choice of movie. My first impression? The screen absorbed the light of the beamer and reflected it in such a way that I could see the picture well.

My first verdict? Good but not great.

Before you take this as a criticism, it was really, really bright in the foyer. Probably brighter than in the Gobi Desert south of Mongolia at noon. Rather unfair conditions actually – I wasn’t expecting to see anything at all, to be honest. Thus, saying the image was good is a huge compliment.

Sure, without a screen, I probably wouldn’t have seen a thing. And even with a screen, dark scenes were difficult to see. That bright scenes made me stand in front of the projector with big eyes and an open mouth – not only me, by the way, also everyone else who walked by – is down to the brightness of 2700 ANSI lumens.

By the way, ANSI lumen indicates the brightness level of a projection. The brighter, the better? Not necessarily. With too much brightness, colours will appear faded. This is why most projectors don't (want to) produce more than 2000 ANSI lumens.

One more thing: the LG HU85LS is available in a bundle with the mentioned screen. I don't want to talk you into it, I honestly don't. But if you're thinking about ordering this projector anyway and you need a decent screen to go with it, this offer might indeed be interesting for you.

Projector

LG HU85LS & AR100H-CLR Bundle

Projector

LG HU85LS & AR120H-CLR Bundle

The first bundle includes a 100-inch screen; the second bundle a 120-inch screen.

RGB Technology: three laser modules for red, green and blue

You don't need to worry about the HU85LS producing an image that's too bright. Its colours are impressive despite 2700 ANSI lumens – even in the bright digitec living room, where the conditions are far from ideal. The Laser technology RGB makes this possible. RGB stands for red, green and blue: one laser module per primary colour.

Usually, laser beamers only have one laser module that generates bluish light. The blue laser light – simply put – takes on a white-yellowish colour through a phosphor wheel in the projector. In the case of a DLP projector, the light has to pass through an additional colour wheel, making sure the final image has all the colours you see on the screen.

The disadvantage of this is that the colour wheel may produce unnatural rainbow effects. On top of this, there's always more blue in the image than green and red, because only blue is generated directly by the laser, while red and green are generated by the phosphor wheel. The result? Unbalanced colours and limited HDR feeling.

The HU85LS doesn’t have these problems. The three laser modules eliminate the need for a colour wheel, as all three elementary colours come directly from one of the laser modules. This produces exceptionally well-balanced colours despite the high brightness level of 2700 ANSI lumens:

• 100% coverage of SDR relevant Rec. 709 colour space
• 97% coverage of HDR relevant DCI-P3 colour space

Let's put this into perspective: most laser projectors provide a colour space coverage of about 80-85% of the DCI-P3 colour space. That's far from what HDR TVs offer. By the way, this is why I'm always critical of projectors that say they support HDR.

But 97% DCI-P3 coverage? That's a lot. The UHD Alliance awards the «Ultra HD Premium» label for a DCI-P3 coverage of 90% or more. Samsung is one of the few manufacturers who manage to offer 100% coverage for televisions. To sum things up: yes, the HU85LS really does produce a hell of a lot of vibrant colours. 16.7 million, according to its specs. But I didn't count them.

My summary: wow!

You see: this projector impressed me. Even if I tried it out it in conditions that were far from ideal. But anything else would have been too easy: if a projector that costs 6,000 Swiss francs can't produce an incredibly good picture in a darkened room, there's no point in stocking it.

Therefore, my first impression that takes the external conditions into account is that the colour rendering is extremely balanced, especially for a projector. The brightness level is also impressive and is second to none in the range of ultra-short throw projectors. The picture is pin sharp. Unsurprisingly. The UHD projection is a UHD image with native 2716×1528 pixels and pixel shifting.

I would like to give this projector a thorough test, even under more normal conditions. However, I'm not sure if this will ever happen. LG gave me the permission to dismantle the projector to have a look at the RGB laser technology. The good news: I'll be able to offer you extremely rare pictures of the inner workings of this projector.

The bad news: I’m not sure if I’ll be able to put it together again.

But I’ll give it a go. Give me a week or two. Click the «Follow author» button and you won’t miss my next article.