Performance

To evaluate the projector we are using the Grandview Dynamique DY3 100" ALR screen, which provides a 140° viewing angle and gain of 0.4. It is set in a living room with some indirect lighting from doors and windows from the left. While this particular ALR screen is made for ultra-short throw projectors, the brightness measurements are done in front of it, so the screen provides a clean and exactly dimensioned surface to do the testing in the case of the Formovie Cinema Edge 4K.

We test real world luminance the same way ANSI lumens are measured. This includes a nine-segment white screen across the 100" or 2.75 m² canvas in a dark room where the ambient luminance (it boosts the values of the digital light meter) around the area of the projected image is just under 1 Lux. While the projector's brightness and contrast may be adjusted to see the eight shades of gray in a control image, we test the unit at its default settings. The used measuring device has a variance of 4%, which should be taken into account when considering the final result in lumens. Lastly, as measuring the nine zones is a manual process, some variance is expected, especially with short throw and ultra short throw projectors, as one has to point the measuring device at the light source instead of laying it flat against the wall as with classic projectors.

For the test the brightness is turned all the way up, HDR is turned off, and the color setting is meant to be set to a hidden "High Performance Mode" on the device. As mentioned, this cranks the fan up to 100% - as such, this setting is really not something you should be using on a daily basis. With this, the Formovie Cinema Edge 4K clocked in at an average of 1050 lux across all nine measuring points before considering any device-specific variances across the surface area of 2.75 square meters. The spread between the measuring points was around 150 lux, which is also acceptable. The average lux value translates into an excellent 2880 ANSI Lumen. This is actually far above what the unit is advertised as. This feels a bit like a déjà vu, as the Wemax Nova we reviewed also manages to outperform its values. With both of those projectors with plenty of similarities and from the same manufacturer, it could explain why. Also, for transparency, we naturally can only evaluate things based on the unit we receive and for all we know, these could be "golden samples" that have been cherry-picked to go above and beyond. The Formovie Cinema Edge 4K is absolutely meant to be used in a sunlit room or with the living room lights on, for example and can be considered when wanting to replace your TV permanently.

That said, in recent years many Asian brands have started using their own standard called ISO Lumens to essentially compete with the long-standing ANSI Lumens way of measuring brightness. The main result here is that advertised ISO Lumens is always a higher number than ANSI. So the unknowing customer will think these units are brighter than established North American or European brands. On top of that, it is based on ISO 21118, which allows for fairly large delta in "error between the measured value and nominal value ≤ 20%," meaning that brands communicate an ideal ISO Lumens number, but the mass-produced average could be up to 20% less. This discrepancy and conflict is unfortunate, and there is no easy way to convert from ISO to ANSI, but some are using a general rule of thumb of ANSI = 75% of ISO Lumens. We have seen brands switch from ANSI to ISO on existing products using that rule as well, meaning 600 ANSI Lumens marketing has been changed to 800 ISO Lumens.

During normal use, not the Performance Mode, the unit is a little noticeable in terms of noise, but emits a slightly louder than usual fan noise at 39.2 dBA. Our sample also struggled with a little bit of a rattle, but your experience may differ. For example our sample had already clocked over 550 hours of use according to the counter in the Android setting menu. In terms of audio, the Cinema Edge 4K manages to deliver clean audio at sufficient volume with a pretty good balance. Thanks to the speakers facing you, it essentially acts like a built-in soundbar. Dolby Audio in this case has no direct relationship to the speakers but instead refers to the output formats the unit is capable of.


The Formovie Cinema Edge 4K subjectively manages to do very well when firing up the Top Gun: Maverick trailer. The images are crisp, without any motion artifacts during fast-paced scenes and the there is plenty of brightness, which doesn't feel washed out while still allowing for dark blacks vs. gray ones. The chair in the background of one scene is still barely visible and the human in the hanger elevator scene is just noticeable if you look in person (Editor's note: just a reminder, that the images taken are not representative of exactly what you will see in person).


Rick & Morty also looks great, with fairly bright yellow, but generally a little bit more muted yet clear color palettes. Whites are actually every so slightly towards the cool center of the spectrum, but not really noticeable unless you have a direct comparison right next to it.


Games like Death Stranding manage to really make use of the blacks as well as brights without either feeling under-lit or overblown. So playing games will certainly feel balanced even with quickly changing scene types. Here it did also feel just every so slightly cool, but again, this could be purely subjective.