tldr; 4LED short throw with built-in Chromecast and HDMI eARC - flexible placement but insufficient lumens for 150"+ screens.
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Best praise vs top criticism for BenQ X500i
“This is a common issue for cheaper business class projectors. Their black floor is quite high as they really are designed for decent PowerPoint presentations in a lit conference room. Not dark movies with a lot of shadow detail. Enjoy this one for a bit, but if you get the bug, then any model designed more for home theater use will be a significant upgrade overall. Not perfection though. Even top tier models still have some room to grow. But, a lot better than that particular Epson is capable of delivering. BenQ HT2060 is a incredibly solid entry level 1080p projector, but a slight jump up to their X500i isn't a bad way to go.”
“Isn’t the X500i the gaming Projector? Interesting choice. If you’re strictly getting it for movies, you’ll want to avoid that one unless you want to sacrifice black levels for high frame rates. Anyway, I don’t know man I bought my projector over a year ago which is why I’m so surprised you commented on this post lol away go with whatever you feel is best. Or if you have 400 extra dollars, just save up and then get the bigger one that’s the full 4K projector that benQ do, I forget what it’s called. That will cover you on all your bases. Alright, nighty night now.”
526 Reddit opinions analyzed • Last updated 2/24/2026