BenQ, the global No.1 DLP brand, introduces i500, a device that combines wireless streaming apps, short-throw LED projection and  ntegrated audio to deliver big-screen entertainment in limited spaces.

"It's never been easier to equip your apartment with larger-than-life entertainment," says Conway Lee, President of BenQ Corporation. “Simply turn on the i500 and you’re ready to stream videos and music via wireless LAN without connecting to anything else.”

BenQ i500 LED smart projector comes ready out-of-the-box with popular stream services and apps such as Youtube by KODI, Spotify, Vimeo, dailymotion, YuppTV, Aptoide, Arte. Plus much more apps to stream programming of any genre, ranging from movies, TV shows, news, sports, education and cartoons. With the available game pad and controllers, i500 unleashes a universe of heart-pounding games including action/adventure, strategy, role-playing, even first-person shooters.

i500 does all of this via wireless LAN with no other connections required, it can even play video or music content from a USB stick or display Excel, Word, or PowerPoint documents without a PC.

From as close as 1 meter from the screen, i500’s short-throw projection delivers 80” of panoramic entertainment for supersized movies, shows, apps, and games in the tightest living spaces. Supporting a variety of streaming content formats from HD to Full HD, i500 with its long-life LED light source can showcases HD videos.

i500 features dual 5Wx2 chambered speakers specially tuned to produce clear voices and rich sound quality without external speaker connections. When i500 is not projecting the i500 has the ability to be a powerful Bluetooth speaker system.

Elegant and lightweight, i500 is designed to enable big-screen entertainment in any room. Its vertical keystone correction eliminates the trapezoid effect when the projector is placed at an indirect angle, enabling placement on a coffee table or a bedroom chair without distortion.

Never requiring lamp replacement, BenQ i500 LED smart projector offers the latest software and streaming apps via OTA (Over-the-Air) live updates to provide years of unlimited hassle-free entertainment for urban lifestyles.

Go BenQ i500 LED Smart Projector

Customers itching for an al fresco home theatre experience might soon have a solution with Hitch Theatres-- a line of portable projector screens and stands allowing one to take the theatre nearly anywhere.

The idea of portable home theatres came to company founder Joe Livingstone on a date, unsurprisingly enough. Apparently he once took a date stargazing out of town, where decided to watch a movie under the stars on a laptop. From there he started wondering about creating a portable drive in theatre.

Hitch Theatre proposes three flavours of portable home theatre-- True Drive-In Theatre (allows one to project a movie across the bed of a truck), Group Date (adds a tall projector stand with removable DVD and sound shelf) and Movie Night (a freestanding portable projector screen complete with tall stand, removable DVD and sound shelf). The screen is 122-inch, while the rooftop stand is around 30cm tall.

Vivitek announces the H1060-- a compact 3000 ANSI lumens projector featuring a contrast ration of 15000:1 and DLP BrilliantColor technology for a 6-segment (GYRWCB) colour wheel.

It handles both 3D and native 1080p content, and is described as ideal for the viewing of both sports and video games. Providing images is an energy efficient lamp Vivitek claims offers up to 10000 hours of use in dynamic eco mode while being positioned on top of the projectors, making bulb replacements easier.

A firmware update brings 4K HDR capability to the Sony VPL-VW320ES home cinema projector, making it the 3rd projector from the company (following the VPL-VW5000ES and VPL-VW520ES) with support for the format.

HDR (aka High Dynamic Range) promises to offer the closest representation of reality as seen through the human eye, with greater detail, high contrast, increased colour depth, brighter highlights and deeper blacks, making for more immersive images from compatible content such as 4K Blu-ray discs.

Optoma announces the ML750ST-- a portable short throw WXGA (1280x800) one-chip DLP projector with an LED light source the company says is ideal for both home and commercial use.

The ML750ST is similar to Optoma's previous ML750, only with the addition of short throw capabilities. As such, the projector beams 100-inch images from a distance of just 170cm. It is 3D-compatible, and features an MHL port for the projection of content from compatible mobile devices together with a regular HDMI port.

The Sony compact home cinema projector lineup gets a refresh with the VPL-HW45ES-- a successor to the HW40ES featuring Reality Creation technology and SXRD panel  to ensure clearer and more detailed pictures.

Designed for first time customers, the VPL-HW45ES beams 1080p images with 1800 ANSI lumens brightness in both 3D and 2D. Sony also promises the lamp lasts for up to 6000 hours, while a quiet fan and a front-facing exhaust port allow for extra installation flexibility.

Further features include a built-in RF 3D transmitter and a USB update function ensuring up-to-date firmware.