🎬 Elevate Your Home Theater Experience!
The LG HF85LA Ultra Short Throw Laser Smart TV Home Theater CineBeam Projector offers a compact and stylish solution for home entertainment, delivering stunning 4K UHD visuals and powerful sound from just inches away. With smart connectivity features, this projector transforms any space into a cinematic experience.
J**1
It's an upgrade and...a downgrade?
This device is a replacement for my PF1000U which finally died (DLP chip started having problems and I took it apart because...I was curious).General:This Ultra Short Throw projector does the job. It's larger, but also slimmer and for me it was a no-brainer to go with the LG again. I had the PF1000U and it gave me a good 5 years. To me it was worth the money paid and did its job well. The HF85LA improves upon the design a bit, but there didn't seem to be any real improvements over the PF1000U, and in fact, there seem to be shortfalls which is why it received the amount of stars it did.Pros:-It is brighter than the PF1000U, but not by much-The design of it is taller, but also slimmer and the ultra short throw is significantly improved. The PF1000U had to sit quite a bit away from the wall to fill up my 110" screen. The HF85LA can be much closer.-The menus are easier to navigate and the remote has many more features-It comes with a mirror cover (the PF1000U did not).-It's heavier and better balanced than the PF1000U. The older model was very light and so it would often be susceptible to any light touch. If I was dusting, I'd almost always have to readjust. This model is solid and stays in place.-The HDMI control works great. Turning on my PS5 turns both my soundbar and projector on and I love it. The PF1000U would often just stop working with that function all together and I'd have to factory reset it to get it going again, until I gave up on it. This worked the first time without a hitch and no setup needed other than just turning the function on.Cons:-The picture is not better than the PF1000U, where my older project was crisp throughout, all the way into the corners, this has blur at the far ends and the focus setting never really gets it right.-Everyone has said this - NO NETFLIX. This is weird considering the PF1000U had Netflix and the WebOS is supposed to be an improvement from LG's previous GUI offering. It doesn't affect me much since I have dedicated devices for this, but its weird that its not there. It does have PLEX however, which the PF1000U did not.-The menu has much more ease of navigation, but...its slow. The PF1000U was snappy, though it lacked customizations.-HDMI ARC does not work the same as the PF1000U. Where I could have my video source come into the soundbar, out of the ARC port and into the ARC port of the PF1000U for video to my screen and audio out to the soundbar, the video would not come up. The PF1000U worked perfectly in this manner.-Some settings are locked (grayed out) and I have no idea why.-No Corner Grids. The four corner adjustment has a bullseye in the center and you have to inch the picture over, but the PF1000U had a cool grid in bright green lines that would help you line it up better. Again...I'm not sure why they would get rid of it.-No 3D. I'm sad that my PF1000U died and with it, the gimmicky active 3D which required battery powered glasses. I hardly used it, but the option was there and when I did use it, I loved it. Again, with this model being more expensive, I'm not sure why they removed it.Results:Overall, I still think this is a good buy. For the Ultra short throw feature alone and at a good price point still. I am disappointed that LG removed so many good features for no reason at all. The Test grid, 3D, HDMI ARC is less compatible, No Netflix. These are things that aren't dealbreakers, but certainly should have been kept in. With the PF1000U being discontinued and holding the same price point unless its used, I wanted to move into the newer device and I'm happy I did, but still wish they would have kept the original functions of its predecessor.
B**T
Wonderful Ultra Short Throw Project with a Couple Gotchas
First off, as anyone should when spending significantly on a new home A/V devices (especially one that you tend to build your system around like a projector), I did quite a bit of homework and knew about both of the drawbacks that I mention below. But that doesn’t mean they magically went away - so they’re worth knowing about.This LG projector has great picture quality and is bright enough for most purposes except a bright room (I would still recommend a dark room and ideally a screen for best picture with ay projector, but you can get away without it). The typical LG smart TV apps and AppStore are built in, and there’s even a built in speaker that’s not super loud, but fine for use if you want to take the projector for an outdoor/impromptu movie night. The selection of ports is also quite good and with the laser, the start-up time is near instant and there’s not a loud loud fan like you see in older projectors.So what are the downsides? There are two, and they are significant. First, all keystone adjustment and focus is manual, unlike some other new projectors that have automatic settings which are very useful. The keystone especially here is a bit of a pain to adjust, especially if you might move the projector a lot. The second is a bit of a setup thing - my prior project had an adjustment that would let it move the screen up/down, right/left a few degrees each way without moving the physical projector itself which this projector does not. Without that you are beholden to placing the projection in a very specific place to hit a given screen. And with the ultra short throw, that’s both close up and immediately below which can be rough.All in all, still a strong projector and well worth your consideration if you’re looking for this sort of device.
C**Y
Good Product; Friendly Customer Service, but nightmare whenever you have to deal with them.
Buy at your own risk I love my projector and really enjoyed it for 8 months. I then noticed a tiny off-color spot that wasnt changing colors with the rest of the projector. Sent it in for repairs under warranty in original packaging with a microfiber cloth of my own over the lens and mirror to protect it. LG sends it back with the same off color pixel that that wasnt fixed.Support Contact- First Contact Representative forgot to put in my repair and waited a week for shipping labels that were never coming.- Second Contact (Product has been shipped at this point) - Representative says it will be 2 weeks longer than originally estimated. Not a big deal as long as its fixed yetIntermission - Projector comes back with the same issue I sent it in for...Third Contact with support - emailed using LG's support center on there website, and received a phone number where the guy said he was only for TV's and couldn't transfer me to the projector department specialists as he didn't have his transfer phone number list at home. (Were in a pandemic but I mean give the guy a list of phone numbers.)Fourth Contact with support - I think it may be something with the lens at this point and contact online chat support again to be told they dont recommend I do anything to it myself and that I send it back in.LG Paid for shipping each time, but at this point I have lost faith in there technicians to turn on and test a product that they "fix", and I have lost faith in there Customer service to provide me with a proper fix to my problem. No one was rude to me and every support member was professional, but running in circles isn't very much fun.
Y**K
Impressive piece of tech that is difficult to recommend.
I like LG a lot, from AV stuff to washers and dryers, they rarely disappoint. I am still quite happy with the OLED TV I bought in 2017. This projector, however, is a mixed bag and it is not clear which niche it is meant to fill. It is not really portable, it is dim, it is rather expensive, it is difficult to align. Less wiring is required than for a ceiling mounted projector but that is hardly the justification for the price tag.This projector is difficult to align, given that the throwing angle accentuates any misalignment; therefore, it should really be bolted down, not sitting on a dresser as pictured. The speaker is very weak, I am not sure why it is even there. This projector is also quite dim; it ok for my daughter's cartoons but no gaming can happen during the day because of the small amount of light getting around the blackout curtains. So, while it is technically "portable" it is not really portable. The set up is laborious, extra speakers are required, and the room has to be very dark. Not to mention, if the goal is to show a presentation, there are far cheaper and more compact options available.Now, of course, the short throw feature is very impressive. However, it also accentuates any wall imperfection. Our house was built in 1901 and, due to many remodels and the natural settling, our walls are not 100% flat. Looking at the projected picture, one might think that the wall is inches off from flat in some spots but that is just the consequence of the angled picture. Of course, one could use a projector screen. But, at that point, why not also get a brighter ceiling mounted projector for half the price?Finally, maybe I am spoiled by the 4 K OLED, but 1080 P pixels are distinguishable even when the image is 8 ft or so in diagonal. Gaming-wise, that is a turn off.
N**N
Super happy with my purchase
This thing is a beast! Its bright, clear, and easy to set up. This is my first projector. I've been researching projectors for a while now and I knew I wanted a Short Throw due to the fact that I didn't want people to stand up and block the beam while watching tv or a movie. this sits about 5 or so inches from the screen directly under it and produces an amazing image. It connects to all of my existing speakers and gaming systems. I'm sure there are far better and far more expensive projectors out there but this work perfectly for me. Playing games on this screen with my 7.1 surround sound system is, for lack of a better term, a game changer.
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