BenQ TK710 review: best-in-class gaming projector with some caveats

BenQ TK710 is the latest projector from the brand that aims to deliver excellent gaming performance

Multiple news reports have suggested that the projector market in both the APAC region and India has grown substantially in recent years and is expected to grow even further in the near future. This growth is expected in the home entertainment, industrial, education, corporate, government, and media segments. As consumer habits are changing and people are ready to invest in larger TVs and projectors to improve their home entertainment setups, there is a serious demand for capable devices that can deliver excellent picture quality. While the projectors have traditionally been looked at as devices to get a theatre-like experience while watching movies at home, this industry has gradually started catering to the gaming audience.

Earlier this year I reviewed the BenQ X300G, which took me by surprise as it offered impressive gaming features, brilliant picture quality, and a compact size that made it easy to carry around. Now, it is time to step it up a notch as I’ve got my hands on a much more capable gaming projector from the brand – TK710 – that promises to deliver as low an input lag as 4.2ms while gaming. Does the projector deliver on this promise? Does it justify its price tag of Rs 3,49,000? Can it be used for competitive online gaming? Check out my detailed review below to get answers to these questions.

Design and installation

The TK710 is a long-throw laser projector with a blue laser phosphor light source that has a life of 20,000 hours. Despite being a long-throw projector, the TK710 isn’t incredibly bulky or hard to carry around. While ideally, you should install it on the ceiling, if you do have to change its position to another room, it’s a relief to know it won’t be a great hassle. Now that we are talking about installation, it is important to mention that the projector offers a 10 percent vertical lens shift capability. Along with this, you also get the 3D keystone with 4-corner correction to provide you with immense flexibility while installing this projector. While you can get a projection size of up to 150 inches by placing the projector around 12.5-16.3 ft from the screen, the 1.3x provides you with more room to adjust the projector distance as per your convenience.

The input ports are all present on the back side of the TK710. The projector features two HDMI 2.0b ports with High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) 2.2. This creates an encrypted system that enables a secure connection between the source and the display. The TK710 also has an RS-232 serial control port, an audio output jack, and a USB Type-A port (Power supply, 5V/2.5A). The projector offers the ability to power on and off each connected device (via the CEC protocol) directly from the TK710.

Unfortunately, the remote control for the projector looks and feels like an afterthought. While it offers all the basic functionalities, it doesn’t have the solid build quality we usually get with projectors in this price range.

Specifications and features

The TK710 comes with a 0.65-inch DMD (Digital Micromirror Device) with XPR Technology developed by Texas Instruments. As the projector opts for the new 0.65-inch DMD instead of the more common 0.47-inch, it manages to deliver a high 600,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, deeper blacks, and brighter images. The TK710 is capable of projecting 4K (3,840 x 2,160 pixels) resolution and has been claimed to offer up to 3200 ANSI lumens of brightness.

Notably, the projector can reproduce up to 95 percent of the Rec.709 colour gamut, which ensures you get colour-accurate visuals. It even comes with support for HDR10, which enhances your viewing experience in both games and movies. As I mentioned earlier, the TK710 is capable of offering an input lag as low as 4.2ms (1080p at 240Hz) and 16.7ms (4K at 60Hz).

You also get a 5-watt (mono) treVolo-tuned speaker, which can come in handy in the absence of a dedicated speaker system. But by all means, do get yourself a decent sound setup to fully enjoy the visuals delivered by this projector.

One thing to keep in mind here is that the TK710 doesn’t come with a built-in OS, which means that you’ll either need to connect it to a dongle (Chromecast, FireTV stick) or to an external HDMI source to use it. Sadly, the projector doesn’t support external SSDs/HDDs, which might have been a conscious decision on the brand’s part as it is pitching this product to gamers.

Having said that, the TK710 offers advanced colour adjustment settings, which allow you to adjust the image precisely to your liking. The Advanced Colour Settings menu lets you tune gamma, colour temperature, and HDR brightness. There is also the advanced Colour Management System that provides you with even more control.

Viewing and gaming experience

Although the 3200 ANSI lumens of brightness is every bit a feature worth boasting about on paper, in usage, it feels like a true game-changer. In my previous experience with the projectors, daylight was sort of an Achilles’ heel that severely hurt the viewing experience. But I still wanted to test the TK710 on this front, especially because of its high-brightness claim. I was surprised to find out how well the projector handled ambient light. This is the first projector that I have reviewed that aces in this department and you can enjoy its content any time of the day.

Before I jump into the gaming performance, let me share that watching movies on this projector is an equally enjoyable experience. Whether you consider the sharpness of the image, the black levels, the contrast ratio, or the colour reproduction, the projector delivers big time. While this has been labelled as a ‘Casual Gaming Projector’ by the brand, you can definitely consider it for your home theatre too.

My primary gripe with gaming on projectors has been the input lag. While you can easily enjoy single-player games on these devices, online gaming is almost impossible as reaction time is the key. While monitors deliver excellent response times, projectors simply can’t match up. However, with its 4.7ms response time, the new BenQ projector is capable enough to help you play competitively in online games. To give you a personal example, I could not play online game modes such as FUT Champions and Division Rivals on FC 25 on any of the previous projectors I reviewed as I was thrashed badly by the opponents. However, on the TK710, I did not just compete but comfortably beat many rivals even in the Elite division.

Whether it was swinging through the streets of New York in Spider-Man 2 or roaming around in Hogwarts Legacy, the experience you get with the 150-inch screen is unparalleled. In some ways, you only understand when you see it with your own eyes. While there is something to be said about the improving quality of OLED TVs, the sheer size of the screen that is delivered by a high-quality projector can easily make someone’s jaw drop.

The TK710 comes with four dedicated HDR modes: HDR10, FPS, RPG, and USER. While the HDR performance is decent, I won’t say it dramatically impacts the image quality. There are very few games right now that fully take advantage of HDR and that’s why HDR performance might not be your top priority either. Overall, you can rest assured that you will get good image quality, low response time, and high brightness. All these factors combine to offer a convenient gaming experience on a massive screen.

Verdict

BenQ TK710 is not a ‘Casual Gaming Projector’ but rather a really capable machine that can be used for all kinds of games, even while playing online competitively. The projector offers you a lot of control to get your desired image output and its peak brightness of 3,200 ANSI lumens ensures it can be used any time of the day as it tackles ambient light really well. Having said all this, do keep in mind that the brand has trimmed down on certain features such as HDMI 2.1 ports, support for external drives, and a built-in OS to ensure that the projector packs capable hardware to deliver impressive viewing and gaming experience. At a retail price of Rs 3,49,000, it is clear to me that this product is for gaming enthusiasts who want to enjoy games on a larger-than-life screen without losing the competitive edge.

Editor’s rating: 8.0 / 10

Pros

Cons

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