Our favorite little-known value projector brand just launched an affordable UST laser beamer for up to 150 inches

The Formovie brand might not be a household name, but you'll know at least one of its parents: it's a joint venture between Xiaomi and Appotronics, which make the lighting engines in a lot of laser-based projectors. We were very impressed by the Formovie Theater short-throw projector, which we think is one of the best projectors around for its price, and now the firm has just announced a 4K ultra short throw laser projecto capable of delivering a 150-inch image.

It's called the Formovie Cinema Edge, and like its stablemate it has an impressive specification. It's considerably more affordable than the Theater, though: where that has an official price just shy of $3,000, the Formovie Cinema Edge is available to pre-order for $2,199 (about £1,650 / AU$3,250).

Formovie Cinema Edge projector: key features

The Formovie Cinema Edge is a 4K ultra short throw projector capable of displaying up to 150 inches. It features 110% Rec. 709 color reproduction, and boasts a contrast ratio of 3,000:1. Brightness is 1,900 ISO lumens and it offers multiple brightness modes including office mode, viewing mode and night mode.

The refresh rate is 60Hz and the projector has 2GB of on-board RAM and 32GB of storage; the OS is Google TV and the Netflix app is preloaded. It also integrates with other key streaming apps such as YouTube, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV, HBO and Peacock. The projector supports both Dolby Audio and DTS:X, and the maximum operating noise level is a low 32dB.

The Formovie Cinema Edge has Wi-Fi 6 and three HDMI 2.1 eARC ports, plus two USB 2.0. The throw ratio is 0.23:1, enabling a 100-inch projection with a throw distance of just nine inches.

For now, pre-orders are available from the Formovie website with 15% off; prices will then rise to $2,499 (about £1,900 / AU$3,700). Obviously, none of this is cheap, but it's a great price for a quality 4K laser projector, and is especially great value compared to the cost of the best TVs if you buy them in a near-100-inch size. The 98-inch version of the Samsung QN90D , for example, costs around four times this price. So the Formovie looks like a stone-cold big-screen bargain in comparison. We'll look to review it in the future.

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