A midrange UST projector that lags behind its rivals

Formovie’s Theater took the projector world by storm when it first arrived, offering a triple laser, 150-inch ultra short throw (UST) image and Dolby Vision for $3,000. That was a relatively unheard of price for such a feature set, especially from a brand that hardly anyone knew about.

That model helped make Formovie’s name, but $3,000 is still pretty expensive for a projector. To appeal to more buyers, the company recently unveiled the $1,800 Cinema Edge, a far more affordable option that still offers a laser light engine, sharp 4K image, Google TV for streaming and 15-watt stereo speakers.

There are some fairly serious trade offs, though, particularly the absence of a triple laser engine and Dolby Vision, plus mediocre color accuracy and brightness. The new model also has some heavy competition from the likes of Hisense, Epson and Optoma. All of that adds up to a projector that’s not quite as exciting as Formovie’s first attempt.

The Formovie Cinema Edge’s main features

As a reminder, Formovie is a joint venture between Xiaomi and Appotronics (the latter makes laser engines for high-end brands like Barco). Formovie now offers three projector models: the Cinema Edge, $2,400 Theater and $3,000 Theater Premium. It also sells the cheap and cheerful $199 Episode One Google TV projector, a 120-inch floor rising screen and a 100-inch wall-mounted ALR screen.

The Cinema Edge is more compact than the Theater in all dimensions and has a square design and subtle, dark grey exterior. You can project to a wall, or preferably a dedicated glare-reducing ALR screen, at a distance of about 13 inches for a 120-inch picture. All of that makes it discreet and lets you install it in relatively tight spaces.

The Cinema Edge comes with a pair of 15W speakers, but projector purists will no doubt want a 5.1 audio system to best use the built-in Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD. The Google TV system includes Netflix (unlike the Theater at launch) but the processor is a bit laggy. That can make navigation and settings adjustments a chore, though it’s par for the course on other projectors I’ve seen, particularly Optoma and HiSense models. As a result, some users may still prefer to use a Google TV or other streaming device.

Similar to the Theater, the Cinema Edge sits on three rubber feet rather than four, which can make it tricky to level when setting up. While it supports digital keystone fine-tuning to square the image, that should be used as little as possible, as it reduces picture resolution slightly and increases latency for gaming. Because of that, along with the configuration for various apps, setup took longer than I expected.

Fortunately, there are plenty of inputs to add accessories like Blu-Ray players, including three HDMI 2.1 ports (one with eArc for a high-quality return to your audio system), 3.5mm and optical audio connectors, two USB-C ports for media/streaming stick power and an ethernet port (plus Wi-FI support, of course).

The included remote is required to change most settings, control playback and more, plus it uses standard batteries with no charging port. Like most ultra short throw projectors, the Cinema Edge has a sensor that detects if someone gets too close and automatically dims the output so you don’t get a laser blast in your eyeballs.

Picture quality

Like most modern projectors (Epson aside), the Formovie Cinema Edge uses Texas Instruments’ DLP tech that projects a 1080p image twice to create a sharp 4K image using so-called fast-switch pixel shifting. It combines that with an RGB+ single color laser to keep the price down compared to triple laser setups like the Formovie Theater or Hisense’s $3,500 PX3-Pro.

The Cinema Edge delivers sharp 4K video at up to 2,100 lumens, which is decent, but falls short of rivals like the 2,400-lumen Hisense PX2-Pro or Epson’s EpiQVision Ultra LS650. That latter model pumps out 3,600 lumens. Still, the Cinema Edge’s level of brightness was just enough to watch some content in daylight, like Netflix’s Drive to Survive or live sports on Amazon Prime.

The 4K detail is excellent, and something I appreciated when watching sci-fi series like Silo, The Expanse and 3 Body Problem. Contrast is also strong, allowing for better viewing of films with dimly lit scenes like those in Joker and The Batman.

Where the Formovie Cinema Edge struggles compared to the Theater model is in color rendering. With its single laser light source, it lacks the incredible 100-percent-plus BT.2020 color gamut found on the Formovie Theater or Hisense PX2-Pro. It’s also limited to HDR10 support, rather than superior modes like Dolby Vision found on the slightly more expensive Hisense PX2-Pro.

As a result, visuals are a bit more drab in films like Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Air, with primary colors failing to pop off the screen as I’ve seen on those other models. That said, colors are accurate by default, and there are extensive picture quality settings if you want to fine-tune everything. I noticed other issues related to the lack of good HDR performance, namely blown out highlights and some artifacts in the shadows or dark parts of images, particularly in The Batman.

Motion smoothing (called MJC on the Cinema Edge) is enabled by default, unfortunately, but it’s relatively easy to disable. Without it, though, the projector occasionally suffers from some motion artifacts during fast action sequences, something that’s common on DLP projectors. For those types of films, I found the low motion smoothing setting to be a good compromise, limiting the soap opera effect while removing any choppiness from energetic action scenes.

The Cinema Edge isn’t bad for light gaming, but with a refresh rate limited to 60Hz and input latency around 40 milliseconds, you can’t play anything too demanding like fast-moving FPS shooters. For instance, I played Resident Evil Village from my Mac through the projector, and the lag, tearing and artifacting made gameplay a challenge.

The speakers offer decent audio quality, with clear voices, music and sound effects. However, the bass is a bit thin and there’s little to no soundstage to add realism. Given the projector’s Dolby Atmos and HDMI 2.1 eArc support, anyone serious about audio would want to add external speakers or at least a soundbar.

Wrap-up

Considering how good Formovie’s Theater is, the Cinema Edge is a disappointment. Performance is only so-so for the price, with relatively low brightness and mediocre color rendering. The built-in Google TV is a bit laggy, and setup is more difficult than it needs to be due to the lack of a fourth foot. The speaker setup is also just okay, with better sound quality available on some Optoma and LG projectors.

The Cinema Edge is still a decent mid-range UST projector, but the problem for Formovie is that there’s a lot of competition in this price range. For just $200 more, you can get the Hisense PX2-Pro triple laser UST projector, which offers higher brightness (2,400 lumens), along with Dolby Vision and over 100 percent BT.2020 coverage. Another option for the same $1,800 price is the Epson LS650, which offers similar specs but nearly double the brightness at 3600 lumens. The Cinema Edge is a good choice if you want a versatile projector with a small and subtle design, but if brightness and picture quality are paramount, look elsewhere.