Projectors

BenQ describes its TH690ST as the 'world's first short-throw 4LED console gaming projector'. While this description sums up its core appeal well, it only scrapes the surface of everything the unit has going for it.

Xgimi is the latest in a growing line of relatively new Chinese brands on a mission to shake up the home entertainment market – and if its new Aura ultra-short-throw projector is anything to go by, it'll soon find plenty of fans. Priced £2,399, this beamer feels like serious value for money.

Projectors, for better or for worse, seem to be getting more and more specialised. There are dedicated education projectors, business projectors, gaming projectors and, of course, home cinema projectors. Happily for us, BenQ very clearly describes its new W1800 model as a home cinema projector – an assertion it backs up in a number of promising ways.

Not content with unexpectedly returning to the premium projector fray last year with its The Premiere ultra-short-throw model (see HCC #318), Samsung has now decided, again out of the blue, to redefine our entire notion of what a projector even is. And it's to the Korean company's credit that, having lived with its new, out-of-left-field beamer, I'm quite smitten.

Video gaming is currently enjoying the sort of explosion in popularity that home cinema did in the 1980s. Sales of the latest Xbox Series X and PS5 consoles are truly mind-boggling (despite ongoing supply issues). It's no surprise, then, to see makers of traditionally AV gear suddenly falling over themselves to cater for the gaming market.