The BenQ W2720i is best understood as a mid-level projector among reasonably affordable 4K home theater models. Priced at $1,999 at this writing—and slated to go up to $2,199 shortly, due to recently imposed tariffs—it’s about double the cost of entry-level models like the BenQ HT2060, but less than half the price of the Epson Pro Cinema LS12000, our most expensive Editors’ Choice pick for home theater, and our top pick overall. Key features include support for several variations of HDR, plus good contrast and black levels for viewing in darkened home theaters. However, it’s also suitable for home entertainment played back under ambient light, and it even offers short lag times for serious gamers. It misses a few tricks, most notably support for Dolby Vision, but unless you are prone to seeing rainbow artifacts (red/green/blue flashes) easily, it’s a solid choice for the price.
Design: Android TV Dongle Included
As with most 4K projectors in the four-figure price range, the W2720i delivers its 3,840 by 2160 pixels to the screen using a 1,920-by-1,080-pixel DLP chip that takes advantage of TI’s fast-switch pixel shifting. The projector has a four-channel light source: red, green, and two blues. The second blue channel boosts brightness, and according to BenQ, it also helps improve color accuracy. BenQ rates the color gamut (the range of colors) at 98% of Rec.709, the standard for HDTVs. The rated life for the light source is 30,000 hours in Eco mode or 20,000 hours in either the brightest (Dynamic) or Normal mode.
The setup process is standard stuff. The W2720i weighs 14.1 pounds and measures 5.6 by 16.5 by 12 inches (HWD), making it best suited for permanent installation. The 1.3x manual zoom offers flexibility for how far to place the projector from the screen, and a small vertical lens shift lets you move the image plus or minus 5% of the image height from the vertically centered position. That’s just enough to compensate for a small error in positioning or mounting it, to still point at the screen without having to tilt the projector and square off the image with keystone correction (a solution that’s always best avoided, since it lowers brightness and can add artifacts to some images).
(Credit: M. David Stone)
The “i” in the W2720i’s name indicates that it comes with an Android TV dongle. As is typical for BenQ, you have to install it yourself, but little work is involved. The Android TV 11 setup itself is standard, with Wi-Fi as the only connection choice. Note also that you can control both the projector and the Android TV with the same remote. However, each has its own menu, which can be a little confusing until you learn which menu does what.
Other connectors are all on the rear panel, including three HDMI ports and two USB Type-A ports, one of which can read files from a USB memory key. One of the HDMI ports supports eARC for audio, and another can accept up to 4K/120Hz input to downconvert it to 1080p/120Hz for gaming. Different features for different ports mean you need to be careful to plug each source into the right port.
(Credit: M. David Stone)
Home theater projectors traditionally skimp on audio since most people who are serious about home theater will connect an external sound system. In that context, the W2720i delivers better audio than many, thanks to dual 5-watt speakers and Dolby Digital Plus support. The combination delivers high enough volume to fill a large family room and quite usable sound quality. Still, if you want home-theater-level quality, you should connect an external audio system to the 3.5mm or S/PDIF audio-out ports or to the one HDMI port that supports eARC.
Testing the BenQ W2720i: Little to No Tweaking Needed
The menus offer several predefined picture modes for SDR and HDR, including ISF Day and ISF Night modes if you’re willing to pay for a calibration. However, it’s hard to recommend getting one for this projector. Calibration is expensive, and BenQ boasts that the W2720i is calibrated before it ships.
After my preliminary tests, I choose Cinema AI mode for viewing SDR material in both a dark room and in ambient light. BenQ says that the mode adjusts the image based on the room’s level of light and the contents of each frame to give the best image possible. In my tests, that translated to offering good color accuracy, contrast, and a sense of three-dimensionality in scenes across the range from dark to mid-tones to bright. Cinema AI also delivered the darkest black level of any of the picture modes and did the best job of holding shadow detail.
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The best choice of picture mode for HDR10 input for movies on disc depends on the individual movie. Both HDR10 and HDR AI Cinema offered more-than-acceptable color accuracy, contrast, and shadow detail in testing. However, there’s no way to tell just by watching which mode has more accurate color. In one of our standard test clips, HDR10 offered better shadow detail, but that wasn’t true for all movies, making the choice between the two essentially a toss-up.
Note that the menus include a manual HDR Brightness setting. The option is needed for HDR10 because the best setting varies both from one movie to another and under different lighting conditions. HDR10+, which the W2720i also supports, was designed to eliminate the need for the setting, and the feature was not available when the projector negotiated an HDR10+ connection in my streaming tests. I was surprised to find that the feature is also available with the HDR AI picture mode, since I would have expected the mode’s image adjustment on a frame-by-frame basis would eliminate the need for it. Still, you’ll want to experiment with using it for HDR AI mode as well. You’ll also find an HLG mode, a Filmmaker mode, and an HDR Filmmaker mode, but I couldn’t find any online sources that the projector would negotiate a connection to using any of those modes.
(Credit: M. David Stone)
The W2720i also offers a single 3D picture mode, which supports DLP-Link glasses. I didn’t see any crosstalk in my tests, but 3D-related motion artifacts were at the high end of the typical range for current-generation 3D models.
The good news about rainbow artifacts is that I didn’t see them as often as with most projectors. The bad news is that when they showed, they were more obvious than typical. If you’re concerned about the issue, the other good news is that BenQ offers free returns within 30 days of the shipping date, so you can test it out for yourself.
(Credit: M. David Stone)
Casual gaming is definitely possible on the W2720i. I measured the input lag using a Bodnar 4K Lag Tester at 18.1 milliseconds (ms) for 4K/60Hz input, 18ms for 1080p/60Hz, 12.7ms for 1080p/120Hz, and 6.5ms for 1080p/240Hz. Each of these is just one or two milliseconds longer than the current state of the art.
Because the W2720i is designed for use in ambient light as well as in a dark home theater, it offers high enough brightness for a satisfyingly large image, even in a family room with lights on. Using the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) recommendations, the rated 2,500 lumens should make it suitably bright for roughly a 230-inch, 1.0 gain, 16:9 screen in a dark room. However, the brightest picture mode has a green tint. (Most people would consider it tolerable, but best reserved for daytime viewing on a bright day.) In my tests, using my preferred Cinema AI and HDR10 picture modes, it easily filled my 90-inch, 1.0-gain screen, delivering rich color in a dark room and standing up well to the level of light typical of a family room at night.
Verdict: A Solid Choice for Lights-On and Lights-Off Viewing
The BenQ W2720i succeeds in delivering both the high contrast and dark black level needed in a dark room and the brightness needed in ambient light, making it a good choice whether you want it for traditional home theater, home entertainment, or both. If you’re considering it, however, be sure to also take a look at the Epson Home Cinema 4010 (which we didn’t review but is the same projector as the Epson Pro Cinema 4050—one of our top picks—as explained in that review). And if you can stretch your budget, also take a look at the Epson Home Cinema LS11000 and Pro Cinema LS12000.
One advantage all three Epson models have is that they can’t show rainbow artifacts. Between the two more expensive models, the LS12000 costs more than the LS11000, and it offers higher contrast. Either is bright enough for rooms with ambient light, but the LS12000 delivers the best image quality of all the models mentioned here in a dark room. If neither fits your budget, the 4010’s price makes it directly competitive with the W2720i. However it’s the only model in this group with a standard lamp (which you’ll likely need to replace at some point).
If you’re not particularly sensitive to rainbow artifacts, the W2720i’s solid-state light source alone makes it the better choice than the 4010; plus, it supports more variations of HDR. And one other key benefit is that it comes out of the box ready to deliver good image quality with little to no tweaking.
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The Bottom Line
For users who don’t see (or don’t mind) occasional rainbow artifacts, the BenQ W2720i home theater projector can serve nicely for viewing in a dark room or with lights on.
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About M. David Stone
Contributing Editor
