Formovie Theater Premium Review: A 4K Projector Promising A Cinematic Experience At Home

The TV space is currently owned by OLED and QLED TVs. And while these are great displays in their own right, they're often limited by the size of their screens. So, if you want to get the expansive cinema experience, your best option is to pick a projector. However, you wouldn't want to just get any projector, especially if you have limited space. Instead, you'd want a short throw projector that will give you the largest possible viewing area without needing a lot of room.

One such brand that offers high-quality luxury short throw projectors is Formovie, and its line of premium ultra short-throw projectors have always delivered the best in entertainment. Still, the company finds room for improvement; that's why it just launched the Formovie Theater Premium. This ultra short throw projector retains all the best features of the previous models, while adding necessary upgrades like a brighter output and Google TV, meaning you no longer need a Google TV Streamer or Chromecast.

Formovie provided the Formovie Theater Premium for this review, and we spent a few weeks using this laser projector to get the most out of it. So, let's check out this laser projector and see if it outperforms its predecessor.

What I love best about the Formovie Theater Premium is that it took me less than five minutes to physically set up the device. All I needed to do was to take it out of its box, place it on my TV rack, plug it to the outlet, and it's good to go. The projector is a bit heavy, though, at 22 pounds (10 kg,) so I recommend having someone with you to help set it up.

After I placed the projector where it needs to go, I powered it on and I immediately went through setting up Google TV. It took me about 15 to 30 minutes to log into my Google account on the TV using my phone. When I've finished the initial set up, I was delighted to see that the most popular streaming apps are already pre-installed on the system.

This includes YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, and Apple TV, so I could get to immediately watching my favorite shows after I finished the install. YouTube Music is also already added on the device to take advantage of its excellent built-in speakers for listening to music (although I still prefer Spotify).

Since the Formovie Theater Premium is still a projector, it has several features that you'd only find on devices like it. For example, it has keystone and focus correction in the settings menu so you can get the most perfect image shape. It also has a couple of manually adjustable feet to help keep it flat.

Adjusting these settings were pretty easy, even if I didn't have a projector screen. However, I was slightly disappointed because the Formovie Theater Premium didn't have automatic keystone and focus correction — a feature that I expected at this price point.

Aside from these basic adjustments, you can also set the Formovie Theater Premium either as a front or rear projector. It also lets you select between desktop or ceiling mounts, although you need to purchase a third-party mounting solution as Formovie doesn't offer one on its website.

One more thing that I appreciate about the Formovie Theater Premium is its included Infrared Body Sensor feature. It incorporates two sensors on either side of the laser projector lens and reduces the projected image to minimal brightness when it detects someone near the it. This helps avoid accidental eye damage, especially given how bright the Formovie Theater Premium can get.

The Formovie Theater Premium is pretty bright at 2200 lumens, which makes it usable even if there are some ambient light sources. However, you can't use it with overhead lights turned on or direct sunlight streaming into the room, even if you set its Brightness Mode to Office Mode, which is its highest setting.

But to get the brightest and sharpest images from your projector, I still recommend extinguishing all possible light sources. I even bought blackout curtains for my living room just to ensure that I can enjoy the ultra short throw laser projector at its best quality.

With all light sources extinguished, the Formovie Theater Premium's image quality shines through. You could appreciate its 4K resolution with all the lights off, as the darkness allows every fine detail on the screen to pop out. Furthermore, it also uses Dolby Vision to deliver highly accurate colors, allowing you to experience movies and TV shows as their director has intended.

Sound effects and music is the other half of the viewing experience, and the Formovie Theater Premium's built-in Bowers & Wilkins speakers offers an excellent sound stage to go along with what you see. The projector's speakers convey every detail of Michael W. Smith's "In Christ Alone" with extreme clarity and crispness, but its quality also let me feel every emotion in Panic! At The Disco's "Don't Let The Light Go Out" and James Blunt's "Monsters."

Aside from its prowess in playing music, the Bowers & Wilkins speakers also excel in transporting you within the film you're watching. I loved how it was able to recreate the intensity of the Heat shoot out and the grit of battle in Saving Private Ryan's Omaha Beach scene.

This level of sound quality is brought to you by four drivers — one tweeter and woofer on each side — that uses Bowers & Wilkins Gen 2 system. But if you're an audiophile and built-in speakers do not satisfy you, the Formovie Theater Premium also offers line out, S/PDIF, and HDMI eARC ports for connecting your stereo and surround sound speakers.

Aside from the two audio ports, you also get three HDMI and two USB ports, plus an Ethernet port for better internet reliability. That means you can plug in three HDMI devices on the Formovie Theater Premium simultaneously — like a console, your gaming PC, and a home media streaming server built from your old PC. All of its HDMI ports are HDMI 2.1, too, ensuring you can enjoy 4K at 60Hz no matter which USB.

The two USB ports are dedicated to displaying photos, music, and movies via an external storage device. It's too bad, though, that it doesn't have USB-C ports, especially as many devices now use that standard.

If you prefer wireless connectivity, the Formovie Theater Premium has 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 connection options. The Wi-Fi 6 should be fast enough to let you stream 4K HDR content, while the Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity goes beyond just connecting the included remote control (batteries not included, though). If you have a wireless Bluetooth controller, keyboard, and/or mouse, you could connect them to the projector and play games via Steam Link.

The biggest advantage that ultra short throw projectors offer is the reduced space requirement to get a huge immersive screen. The Formovie Theater Premium has a minimum distance of 3.75 inches (or 9.6 cm) from the projection plane, which gives you a massive 80-inch viewing area. But if you push it to its maximum distance of 16.5 inches (or 42.2 cm), you'll end up with a 150-inch screen.

At the moment, the largest readily available TV on Amazon is 98 inches. However, they're difficult to set up and transport, especially with their thin, fragile displays. Those large flat panels are also a safety hazard to kids and pets, making it preferable to mount them on a wall. However, this isn't always possible, especially if your TV is placed in front of a window.

On the other hand, the Formovie Theater Premium projector won't fall over since it's a small box planted on your TV rack. It would work with any blank wall or projection screen that rolls away when unused. You can also mount the projector itself on the ceiling, so even if you don't have the floor space, you'll still enjoy a giant viewing experience.

The Formovie Theater Premium is a great ultra short throw projector for those who are looking to level up from smaller TVs. It offers both excellent visual and audio quality that immerses you into whatever you're watching or listening to, plus its Google TV features make it convenient for streaming on the most popular platforms.

It comes at a considerable price, though, at $3,499 on Amazon. You'll also have to spend more on a projector screen (or projection wall) plus a few other accessories to get the best quality of it. This makes it about $1,000 to $1,500 more expensive than the average 98-inch TV, but it does come with premium Bowers & Wilkins audio. Furthermore, most TVs do not go above 100 inches — the Formovie Theater Premium will easily break this barrier.

I won't recommend any ultra short throw projector for the average buyer that will only place it in a living room. But if you have a dedicated entertainment room (or plan to convert your living room into one) where you have control of all light sources, you should consider the Formovie Theater Premium ultra short throw projector instead of getting an OLED TV.