When thinking about gaming, a lot of factors come into play. Do we want a beautiful picture or do we want something efficient but effective? Do we want a surround sound experience? With gaming, there are a ton of variables to consider in order to create the best gaming experience possible. What was the best a year ago has become outdated and new technology will replace it. So how do you decide on what to purchase to get the most bang for your buck? This question is even harder to answer when it comes to the world of projects.

Earlier this year, we reviewed the Emotn N1 projector. Now, we look at another Netflix-licensed projector that could rival some of the most well-known projectors. We are talking about Dangbei’s Neo Smart Projector. Over the last two weeks, I have spent a good bit of time with the Dangbei Neo Smart Projector trying out its different functions. Below, you’ll find our thoughts on the Dangbei Neo Smart Projector and we’ll review its positive and negative aspects.

Dangbei Neo Smart Projector
Manufacturer: Dangbei
Release Date: May 4th, 2023
Price: $699.99 USD – $100 off with a coupon

Product Details

Before I dive into our Dangbei Neo Smart Projector review, here are some of the key product details

• First DLP Netflix Projector in the World: With officially-licensed Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, and more pre-installed on the DLP projector’s Linux system, you can enjoy your favorite and trending movies and TV shows without the need for any additional devices or software. The small but powerful mini home theater projector is ready for you to take your movies anywhere.
• Project Anytime, Anywhere: Take the portable projector with you around your home, backyard, camping, and more. The compact size makes it easy to store and transport, and it fits comfortably in a backpack. The lightweight design makes it easy to carry around and won’t weigh you down during your travels.
• Picture-Perfect Experience: From native 1080P FHD resolution to a projection size of up to 120 inches and support for HDR10/HLG, experience a sharper, crisper image powered by DLP technology. Dangbei Neo movie projector also makes a lasting and eco-friendly gift with a lifespan of up to 30,000 hours and further less power consumption than a TV.
• Effortless Setup with Intelligent Technology: Enjoy easy setup with autofocus & keystone correction, intelligent screen fit & obstacle avoidance, all designed to ensure that the smart projector always displays a clear and sharp image, no matter where it is placed in the room. Cast and stream your favorite content right away with multiple connectivity options, including 5G Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 5.0.
• Stunning Sound without Annoying Noise: Enjoy a cinematic sound experience with the Bluetooth projector’s 2×6W speakers, Dolby Audio support, and 360° surround sound for rich and immersive audio. A feast for your ears and eyes! With a noise level of less than 24dB, you can always enjoy a quiet viewing experience. A truly cinematic audio-visual experience puts you right in the middle of the action.

Now, with these features in mind, let’s jump into our review.

Time with the Dangbei Neo Smart Projector

When I first received the Dangbei Neo Smart Projector, I was shocked at the size and weight of the device (‎7.87 x 6.18 x 3.94 inches and  5.9 lbs). In fact, the box helped with the deception with the projector being well packaged to avoid any potential damage. The only downside with the package itself is that batteries are not included but are necessary in order to use the remote to set up the projector. Thankfully, a friend of ours had extra AAA batteries and we were off.

Starting up the projector, the device takes a second in order to register its positioning in the room and in order to focus the lens. Depending on the surface you decide to use, the protector can take longer to adjust the picture quality. Most of the time, the Dangbei Neo Smart Projector does a great job at focusing the lens, but when shined on surfaces that are uneven, it has some difficulty. In those situations, you will need to adjust the lens focus through the settings.

The Dangbei Neo Smart Projector has great picture quality whether it is indoors or outdoors. Ultimately, it creates the best possible picture when displayed on a white surface. When using the projector, you can change the color tones to help adjust the settings based on sports, movies, games, or other viewing aspects. Even with lights on and/or some sunlight, the projector still does a great job of creating a beautiful picture.

Connecting to Other Devices

Connecting the Dangbei Neo Smart Projector to other devices can seem like a daunting task. When connecting your phone to the projector through Bluetooth or wifi, you will need to select the correct menu. Selecting the wrong menu will result in the phone not being visible and you will have to switch to the other option; thankfully that is easy enough to fix and can be done in seconds. Connecting to other Bluetooth devices is also easy as long as another device is not already connected to it.

For this review, I decided to test out how the Dangbei Neo Smart Projector would work with the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, a laptop, an external hard drive, and a portable speaker. When using either the Xbox Series X or the PlayStation 5, the projector created a beautiful image and had amazing response times. The only issue that the projector faced was when I had both devices connected through a splitter and turned on, it could not decide which one to display.

When I decide to use a portable speaker, it prioritized sound from the speaker and disabled sound from the projector. When I connected multiple speakers to the projector, it was able to stream to two consecutively but beyond that, it would drop one occassionally. If you are using a multichannel tethered portable speaker system, then it is fine, but if the devices are not related, it will have some trouble connecting to multiple. Honestly, I wish that the speaker would still put out sound while connected to Bluetooth speakers; this would help with sound spacing when watching something outdoors.

Finally, the Dangbei Neo Smart Projector had no problem connecting to a laptop in order to stream content; however, if the pc would sleep, the projector would lose connection. In order to get around this, I would connect the projector to the laptop through an ethernet cable. As for external hard drives and flash drives, the projector has two USB slots to connect to. Even when the USBs were accidentally removed, it did not cause a problem with reading the device when it was reconnected; in fact, it did an excellent job reading the device and processing the information quickly.

All these connectivity options made it so that I could enjoy the projector in a variety of ways, either with friends or while solo gaming. Now that I’ve covered some of the positive aspects, I need to go over some of the negative ones.

Projector Negative Aspects

The Dangbei Neo Smart Projector does have great picture quality, but it is lacking when it comes to sound performance and function. When we talk about function, we are talking about both the internal and external aspects of the device. Externally, the device expects that you will lay it on a flat surface in order to display the picture. If you do not have a flat surface available and need to have it at an angle, it can make the picture look awkward or uneven. This brings us to point two, the projector doesn’t have a stand, it expects that you will either have one or will buy one. Even having an area to screw in leg attachments or coming with a small stand would be beneficial.

When it comes to the projector’s internal functions there are two key issues. The app store on the projector is rather lacking when it comes to things to add to the projector. Yes, the projector does have YouTube, Amazon, and Netflix functionality, but if you want other things such as Crunchyroll you will have to find alternative ways to add it or just stream it from another device.

The second big issue is the select option. When on the main home screen, approving an application or connection will create a little window. The window is not the problem, the color used to select the choices is; the device uses a blue marker in order to select the choice; this is problematic for two reasons. One, the background of the home screen is also blue so it tends to blend in. and you would think that the other option is being highlighted since it is a different color. Two, those that are color blind can very easily miss this due to the lack of variety.

As I previously mentioned, the projector’s speakers will turn off if you connect it to a Bluetooth speaker; when outdoors a Bluetooth speaker is almost required when using the projector in order to have good audio quality. Even a remotely busy residential area’s sound will overpower the projector’s sound; inside it has great acoustics but outdoors it is lacking.

Verdict:

The Dangbei Neo Smart Projector offers consumers great picture quality for a reasonable price; it would be interesting to see how it compares when directly next to another projector. The sound quality is great when indoors but feels lackluster when outside. The ability to connect to multiple Bluetooth devices to it at one time is helpful, but too many can overload the device. The autofocus feature typically does a great job of adjusting the lens to great an amazing picture quality but uneven surfaces can make it difficult.

Personally, I will be taking the Dangbei Neo Smart Projector on the road with me but I will also be bringing a portable speaker. I can definitely recommend looking into it if you are in the market for a new projector or would prefer one over a TV. Over the last two weeks, I have spent more time using the projector than I have my main floor TV; with this in mind, I can definitely say that it is worth the price point if used primarily indoors; it does take a little bit to get used to but after some fine-tuning things become a bit easier.

A copy of the Dangbei Neo Smart Projector was provided by Dangbei. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. The Dangbei Neo Smart Projector is available starting on…. for 699 or 599 with the coupon.