Startup Valerion ended final 12 months by claiming the crown for the most-funded projector marketing campaign to this point on Kickstarter with a bunch of affordable premium streaming projectors. We have been bathing in ultra-sharp 4K goodness not too long ago as we tried out the VisionMaster Pro 2 mannequin.
The very first thing I will say about Valerion’s dwelling leisure hub is that is it is fairly the boxy magnificence – with its accordion-like sides made up of electroplated metallic strips over a geometrical plastic grille, dark-mirrored back and front, and total high-end appear and feel. A really subjective approach to start, however there it’s.
Fortuitously, its polished beauty are greater than matched by its capabilities. Actually, I might go so far as saying that projectors just like the VisionMaster Professional 2 ought to – and possibly do – have the makers of far more costly dwelling cinema fashions anxious.
This projector was initially a part of a Kickstarter marketing campaign that launched in October 2024 and went on to make historical past because the platform’s most-funded undertaking of that 12 months – elevating nearly US$10 million from keen backers. Delivery for this mannequin started in December as promised, and it went on common sale in February of this 12 months. It at present sits second highest within the VisionMaster lineup, behind the Max, and has not too long ago grow to be out there by retailers within the UK – which is the place I am based mostly.
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Attending to know you
The Professional 2 measures 10.2 x 7.3 x 8.5 in (260 x 185 x 216 mm) and weighs in at 15.4 lb (7 kg). As such, it is most likely going to look a bit odd hanging from the ceiling of a house theater – although you could possibly actually try this – however may simply take satisfaction of place as a purposeful murals in the lounge.
The face and rear of every mannequin in Valerion’s lineup sports activities a special coloration – the Max mannequin is black and the Plus is blue, for instance, whereas the Professional 2 is available in “elegant grey.” It may be positioned flat on a espresso desk or different front room furnishings as is and even plonked atop the protecting EPP foam carry case it travels with – the entrance finish may be angled up barely because of a built-in kickstand with reassuringly stiff hinges.
The Valerion VisionMaster sequence can be optioned with a complicated tripod stand sporting polished aluminum and picket legs with walnut accenting. There’s an alloy gimbal desktop stand out there too, with horizontal twist and vertical tilt, in addition to an alloy ceiling mount. Every choice can assist as much as 22 lb (10 kg) – the Professional 2 ideas the scales at 15.4 lb (7 kg) – and is secured to the tripod/stand/mount through the projector’s 0.25-inch tripod mount gap on its underside.
I used to be despatched the desktop stand with my overview unit. The projector is secured and seated inside a large U-shaped part sporting silicone pads that add a helpful layer of safety from scratches and impressions for the perimeters and backside of the projector. This part is linked to a bigger U body on the high through 360-degree hinges. And this double-U construction is bolted to a sq. base that sits on a rotating assist for 360-degree horizontal swivel.
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Just like the projector itself, this gimbal stand seemed very nicely made and thoughtfully designed, offering a safe and steady base for the projector, with dual-axis adjustment for versatile image positioning. In use, it proved to be a really clean operator, inspiring set-and-forget confidence, and holding its tilt while not having to fret about incessantly adjusting pressure on the joints.
Going for the laser triple
The place some laser projectors at this worth level make use of a single laser and a coloration wheel, the Professional 2 advantages from a triple-laser gentle supply the place every of the first colours – crimson, inexperienced and blue – will get its personal laser, and the beams are merged forward of output by the optics.
This offers the projector the ability to place out 3,000 ISO lumens, which I discovered a lot vivid for daytime viewing with the blinds partially drawn or late night watching with room lights on however barely dimmed. Daylight breaking by the glass obstacles or very vivid room lights will negatively influence viewing – however that is true of various televisions, and that is not how most individuals eat visible content material anyway.
The projection engine makes use of a giant 0.47-inch DMD chip, and employs pixel-shifting to render 4K UHD decision. Protection of the BT.2020 coloration house is available in at a formidable 110%, although diving into the settings can open the door to different coloration profiles for tone management maestros – with DCI-P3 and BT.709 among the many choices.
It is also value noting that there are a very good variety of modes out there for massaging coloration profiles to go well with private preferences, with sufficient presets on faucet for individuals who do not prefer to get below the hood for effective tuning. In fact, hue and temperature can be tweaked behind the scenes, as can issues like distinction, gamma and the output energy of the lasers.
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The projector has a 4,000:1 native distinction ratio, however this may be dynamically boosted to fifteen,000:1 – with Enhanced Black Degree and Darkish Element settings enhancing readability and definition within the shadows. Dolby Imaginative and prescient, HDR10+ and HLG content material are all supported too, together with IMAX Enhanced, and there is a FilmMaker mode for twenty-four frames per second cinematic viewing, in addition to assist for a 48-Hz refresh fee.
I discovered the HDR efficiency to be genuinely spectacular, which will get one thing of a lift from onboard dynamic tone mapping – which adjusts scenes for brightness, distinction, coloration and readability. A really good addition at this worth level.
The projector additionally boasts 0.9-1.5:1 optical zoom – comparatively uncommon in life-style projectors – which helps give this mannequin the set up flexibility edge over digital counterparts. I discovered that the unit delivered 100-diagonal-inch photos when pulled again round 80 inches (200+ cm) from a wall or display screen. The utmost show measurement is 300 inches.
Autofocus, auto keystone correction, fit-to-screen and resizing to keep away from obstacles actually do assist make positioning and setup fast and simple. That is because of built-in processing smarts and information from each a CMOS imaginative and prescient digicam and ToF sensor out entrance.
The autofocus offered splendidly sharp visuals, however we did endure the occasional keystone misfire. Those that want to take management and go guide could be a little bit annoyed by the considerably massive jumps between changes. It is form of an analogous story for guide zoom too.
Streaming leisure, the GTV manner
The VisionMaster Professional 2 runs Google TV, which implies your whole favorites from different GTV units may be loaded in or you can begin afresh and select from common streaming and leisure/gaming apps. There was even a fundamental browser included in my default choices, which was a welcome addition.
GTV improves on the inventory Android TV it is constructed on, offering a extra streamlined and built-in person expertise – you’ll be able to open the Play Retailer if you happen to actually need to, for instance, however GTV affords quick access to out there apps by onscreen menu objects. There’s assist for Airplay 2, Chromecast and Miracast for display screen mirroring flexibility as nicely.
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Wi-fi connectivity shapes up with Wi-Fi 6E, although there may be Ethernet LAN out there through the again panel if cabling is extra your velocity. This panel has a hinged cowl to guard from mud when the unit will not be in use, although I think that a lot of the time it would stay open as the ability port is a part of the connectivity strip. However I assume it is good to have the choice to shut it up for aesthetic causes, or when hefting it round in its case.
The I/O strip sports activities two HDMI 2.1 ports plus one other HDMI 2.0 port that helps eARC (for lossless audio to dwelling theater setups), one USB 3.0 Kind-A and one USB 2.0 Kind-A (each with energy supply). There are additionally S/PDIF and three.5-mm audio connections right here, although chances are you’ll by no means want them.
That is as a result of there is a 24-watt sound system supporting Dolby Atmos and DTS HD Grasp throughout the boxy partitions of the VisionMaster Professional 2. This setup proved to have loads of immersive output oomph, each in my dwelling and in a bigger public house. The audio system do not seem like big-name branded such as you’ll discover in among the competitors, however I discovered the sound high quality to be high notch – rocking clear and nicely balanced throughout the entire frequency vary. Plus there is a seven-band EQ for adjusting to non-public tastes if wanted.
Console players may respect the assist for 21:9 and even 32:9 codecs in addition to as much as 240-Hz refresh and 4-ms enter lag at 1080p, and the flexibility to split-screen. I am not such an individual nevertheless, so did not check out the projector’s gaming chops throughout my overview.
Tweaking a little bit bit, and tweaking extra
There is a button on the backlit distant that overlays a shortcut strip on the viewing window for fast entry to key settings, so you’ll be able to refire keystone or autofocus or change presets and so forth, or you’ll be able to simply hit the settings cog icon to go full guide for all-in parameter nerding.
Different choices on that useful menu bar embody an image mode to modify between Dynamic, Cinema, Recreation/PC (and extra) profiles; optimized sound for sports activities or music or theater and many others (that final one proved essentially the most partaking in my testing); and a sleep timer so the unit mechanically shuts off after a set time.
There’s additionally an choice for launching AI options powered by the projector’s MT9618 AI-system-on-chip, which you’ll prefer to faucet into for an improved audiovisual expertise – equivalent to AI Scene for optimization based mostly on scene evaluation, AI Tremendous Decision for edge smoothing and picture enhancement, and Darkish Element that just about does what it says on the tin.
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I discovered myself utilizing this shortcut menu fairly a bit to shortly tweak choices and parameters when watching various kinds of content material. As such, I discovered it a helpful addition to a nicely thought out distant that features devoted buttons for muting the audio, guide focus, voice assistant and AI options. There are additionally devoted shortcuts for Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and YouTube. Not the entire buttons are backlit although, which may result in some fascinating surprises after darkish.
Going deeper and deeper into the settings places an terrible lot of fine-tuning and performance-boosting potentialities at your fingertips, together with a DLP Turbo Mode for supercharging processing to cut back enter lag, turning on eye safety so the laser output will dim if somebody passes in entrance of the projector, dialing in noise discount, organising gesture management through the CMOS digicam and far, far more.
The slightly snazzy-looking distant runs on two AA-sized batteries (equipped) and, curiously, operates out of the field in IR mode for fundamental operation. It may well then be paired over Bluetooth for extra performance, together with good options like voice search – so you’ll be able to actually discuss to the hand – in addition to the liberty to make use of it exterior the vary of the infrared sensor on the again of the projector.
The projector additionally has a {hardware} swap up high to allow or disable built-in far-field microphones for voice search while not having the distant. 4 standing LEDs between the mic ports supply a visible indication of lively standing.
Going huge on wall and display screen
A lot of my watching in the course of the overview was through a daily 80-inch projection display screen that is housed in a tube and pulls up on a body for a comparatively flat viewing space, or on a clean wall the place I used to be in a position to produce visuals at simply over 100 diagonal inches.
The picture high quality on the white wall was excellent, even throughout daylight – with the onboard brightness chops managing to chop their manner by the sunshine coming in through barely shaded home windows for an pleasant watch. Stopping extra gentle from getting into the house was rewarded with even higher picture high quality – vivid, sharp and coloration wealthy – with pals remarking that it was identical to having a TV constructed straight into the wall.
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Viewing on the common projector display screen bumped the visuals up a notch additional, significantly for distinction and dynamics, however by far essentially the most spectacular expertise was had with the 100-inch ambient-light-rejecting Fresnel display screen for long-throw projectors that Valerion despatched with the projector. Just like the desktop stand shipped out to me, that is an non-compulsory additional however based mostly on my pop-eyed expertise, I might positively suggest saving up your pennies for a display screen like this to get the very best out of the VisionMaster Professional 2.
The ALR display screen got here in a 5-ft-long (1.5-m) cardboard coffin and wanted to be assembled like a hybrid IKEA/Meccano set. I merely did not have the ground house in my dwelling to undertake this job, so I opted to do the meeting and testing at a area people corridor – which meant that, given its momentary location, I hoisted it atop a desk when constructed (ensuring of tight proper angles on the decrease edge) slightly than mounting to a wall, however I am leaping forward a little bit.
The display screen was wrapped round a tube and the varied body elements housed inside that for transport – the equipment even got here with a screwdriver and protecting sheet. A step-by-step construct information was included, however as extra of a visible learner I used to be comfortable to seek out an official construct video on Valerion’s YouTube channel.
It took two of us about an hour and a half to place the body and display screen collectively, a lot of that going and not using a hitch other than some minor alignment points. But it surely was clear from the get-go that the designers behind this monumental self-assembly puzzle had very a lot earned their crust. On the conclusion of the construct, we had what basically seemed like a flat-panel TV however with a grey show space between the skinny bezels slightly than a complete blackout.
After we had been constructing the body, we had the projector throw the How To YouTube video on a close-by clean wall, with tube lighting glowing overhead. This served to drive dwelling the arresting variations between visible readability and definition on the wall and the Fresnel display screen. Turning off the overhead lights (however leaving the blinds open) yielded merely breathtaking outcomes. Daytime tv and not using a TV – marvelous!
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The darks had been far more satisfying, the shadows included extra element, the onscreen colours popped like by no means earlier than, and the picture appeared much more outlined – all with out tweaking the settings I might used for the sooner wall present.
I did strive Enhanced Black Degree right here although, which provided high and low flavors to enhance readability in darkish scenes. Nevertheless, this mode did seem to mess with onscreen coloration supply to a noticeable diploma – probably not an enormous deal until you are within the behavior of biking by choices whereas watching or have very exacting viewing preferences.
The visuals had been gorgeous with out activating this setting so chances are you’ll not even want to interact it – jaws had very a lot dropped already in the neighborhood house I used to be testing this setup in. But it surely’s value a fast point out all the identical, and I might actually suggest giving it a strive if you happen to’re watch a moody film or shade-packed present.
I additionally gave the Brightness Enhancer its time within the highlight, however I actually wasn’t impressed. Once more there are two ranges right here, and every radically altered the colour profile of the onscreen visuals – with the excessive setting giving all the pieces a nasty inexperienced hue. There may nicely be a use for this setting, however I did not discover it and was comfortable to disable it.
Rounding out my impressions, I discovered the interior cooling fan to be fairly quiet, and probably not noticeable in any respect when audio was taking part in. Together with the facet dissipation vents it did an excellent job of maintaining the projector from working scorching. Nevertheless, the massive wall adapter did run scorching so chances are you’ll must train warning when unplugging straight after use.
The underside line
The construct high quality, excellent visible supply with ample alternatives for parameter tweaking, spectacular GTV integration, and satisfying audio output give the impression that Valerion has been on the high of its recreation for years. But it surely’s a comparatively new child on the block, launched simply final 12 months as a sister model to AWOL Imaginative and prescient however now working as one merged entity.
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I’ve seen others on-line describe the VisionMaster sequence as recreation altering and large killers, and I might usually take such issues with an enormous grain of salt. However my overview expertise over the previous few weeks actually backs up a lot of that form of enthusiastic hype discuss.
You might have seen that I did not embody any luminance measurements to validate Valerion’s brightness claims, or dive into precise vs. claimed coloration or distinction metrics – this overview is extra in regards to the person expertise than geeking on each little element. I might suggest trying out the wonderful deep dive over on Projector Central for such nitty gritties.
The Professional 2 punches nicely above its price ticket of US$2,999 when it comes to picture high quality, type issue and high-end seems to be. And that would embody some tasty equipment if you happen to’re fast sufficient to be a part of the corporate’s first anniversary celebrations – although there does not appear to be a bundle that features the ALR Fresnel display screen we had been despatched, so that may price you a couple of grand additional.
If you happen to miss this promotion, then your non-compulsory ALR display screen and a tripod or ceiling mount plus the price of the projector will add as much as a tidy sum, significantly greater than if you happen to go down the reasonably priced 100-inch 4K TV route within the firm of manufacturers like Hisense and TCL.
Personally, as a largely wall however generally display screen form of streaming leisure shopper, I want the cinematic really feel of a succesful projector. And the VisionMaster Professional 2 delivers in spades. Extremely beneficial.
Product web page: VisionMaster Pro 2
