Gaming monitors and 4K TVs are great and all, offering an easy way to get the latest features on a capable display, but they certainly lack the major wow factor of a gaming projector: size. Going for a gaming projector will let you easily opt to play your games with a picture over 100 inches. And, while gaming projectors do have come at a cost that’s comparable to a lot of TVs for gaming, you’ll almost always be able to get a bigger picture from the projector than from a TV at the same price.
Best of all, recent projectors aren’t falling short on gaming features. You’ll find a good few that can deliver fast refresh rates and low input lag, letting you enjoy smooth and responsive gaming. We’ve rounded up an assortment of projectors that are ready to give you the biggest screen for gaming you’ve ever used, whether you plan to play on a console or gaming PC and at 1080p or 4K – and click here to find them in the UK.
TL;DR – These are the Best Gaming Projectors:
- Optoma UHD35x
- Optoma HD39HDRx
- BenQ TH685P
- Optoma UHZ50
- ViewSonic PX748-4K
- Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS500
Optoma UHD35x
Best Gaming Projector
The Optoma UHD35x goes all-in on both resolution and speed to make the most of your games while still costing less than $1,500. This projector can spit out a 4K UHD picture in HDR and let you play with a reasonably low 16ms input lag at 60Hz for pristine visuals in story-based games blown up to 300 inches on your walls. When it comes time to sweat in competitive games, you can always switch the projector over to the "enhanced gaming mode," running at 1080p with a 240Hz refresh rate for ultra-smooth gameplay and just 4.2ms of input lag.
Those capabilities come alongside vibrant colors and a 3,600-lumen brightness level, letting the Optoma UHD35x deliver realistic images in just about any space, though you’ll still want to keep the ambient light low. A high contrast ratio also ensures even dark scenes are rich and detailed. And when you’re ready to hook up your consoles or PC, there are only two HDMI ports on this projector, meaning you may have to swap cables now and then or opt for an AV receiver if you’re running several gaming platforms.
Optoma HD39HDRx
Best Budget Gaming Projector
You don’t need to spend a fortune to blow up your game’s image, as the Optoma’s HD39HDRx projector lets you play on a picture stretched up to almost 300 inches for under $800. The grand size is aided by its dazzling 4,000-lumen brightness, so you’re good to play in most spaces. It also supports HDR content, taking advantage of the brightness levels for deep black and bright highlights, and delivers a wide color gamut with great accuracy. There’s even a game mode on the projector, optimizing the contrast and color for a more immersive experience.
The Optoma HD39HDRx gives you a solid footing in games, even if it comes at a lower price point than the UHD35. It offers the low input lag that has made many of Optoma’s projectors competitive in this space. This model delivers just 8.4ms of lag when running at 1080p and 120Hz, giving you plenty of speed for fast-paced, stutter-free gameplay. You also get two HDMI ports to plug in your consoles, while one of those ports supports 3D content. And a powerful built-in speaker means you won’t need to shell out extra cash for an external speaker setup.
BenQ TH685P
Best Ultra Cheap Gaming Projector
- See it on Amazon (out of stock)
If you don’t need the blustery 4K resolution or the flashy 240Hz refresh rate, you can lower the price tag you’re facing considerably with the BenQ TH685. This projector still gives you the qualities you should seek, most notably its 8.3ms input lag when running at 1080p and 120Hz.
The BenQ TH685 offers some solid flexibility. You can set it up to provide a 30-inch image or go as large as 300 inches, and its brightness level of 3,500 ANSI lumens will paint a picture that’s easy to see without needing a pitch-black room. The projector has a 1.3x manual zoom as well, which can help you get your image perfectly framed where you want it while letting you position the projector somewhere convenient.
Optoma UHZ50
Best High-End Gaming Projector
With the Optoma UHZ50, you’re stepping into the big leagues for gaming projectors. This thing is a beast. It offers 3,000 lumens of brightness from a laser light source, letting you enjoy all that brightness without having to worry as much about prematurely burning out a bulb. The projector is ready to cast a 4K UHD picture on your walls, projector screen, or even the side of a building at up to 300 inches or as small as 34 inches, giving you a lot of options for setup.
Really hitting home this projector’s gaming capabilities is its 4ms input lag when running at 1080p/240Hz – got to love a display that lets you choose between high resolution and high speed. Optoma even lets you go cinematic with support for a 21:9 and even 32:9 aspect ratios, perfect for watching movies or playing games in super ultrawide mode.
ViewSonic PX748-4K
Best Gaming Projector for Consoles
Your gaming consoles offer a well-rounded experience, and they deserve a well-rounded projector. The ViewSonic PX748-4K is just that. This gaming projector comes in at a more modest price than the Optoma UHD35, but you’ll find it’s offering some comparable capabilities.
You can enjoy your console games in 4K HDR and monstrous size thanks to the bright, 4000 ANSI Lumen light source. While 4K is capped at 60Hz on this projector, you can opt for a 1080p picture to enjoy 120Hz on your consoles and even 240Hz if you’re connecting a PC. At its fastest speed, the ViewSonic PX748-4K is also offering a 4.2ms input lag for responsive gaming. Not only does this projector offer a pair of HDMI 2.0 ports for your consoles, but it also has a USB-C port that can handle a Nintendo Switch video signal directly.
Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS500
Best Ultra-Short Throw Gaming Projector
While projectors make it easy to get a huge picture, some of that simplicity may be offset by the fact you now need to have all of your gaming setup behind you (or in the middle of the room) or run long cables across the room. That’s solved with an ultra-short-throw (UST) projector, and the Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS500 is a champ UST projector for gaming.
This projector can sit right next to your wall or projector screen and cast a 70- to 130-inch image. With 4,000 ANSI lumens of brightness coming from a laser light source and 3LCD display technology, you’re going to get an uncompromising picture with no rainbow effect. The laser will also let you enjoy maximum brightness without the same, shorter lifespan of bulb-based projectors. The EpiqVision Ultra LS500 supports 4K gaming and HDR while boasting a 16.7ms input lag. Adding to its convenience, this projector includes built-in 10W stereo speakers and its own streaming stick (though you can always swap it out for your own preferred stick).
Where to Get the Best Gaming Projectors in the UK
If you're looking for true 4K gaming with a projector, you've come to the right place UK readers. We've managed to track down several of the absolute best projectors for gaming in the UK. There are a few absentees from our list, but there's still enough choice here to get you started on your premium gaming experience.
What to Look for in a Projector for Gaming
Though projectors have a lot in common with other displays, like TVs and monitors, the process of finding a good one can be a bit trickier. Projectors aren’t generally known for having low input lag, and having a high input lag is one of the surest ways to have a bad gaming experience. Ensuring you’re getting a projector with a low input lag (ideally below 35 milliseconds) is a must, and we’ve selected only projectors that can meet this benchmark.
With too high of an input lag, every action you input on your controller will be delayed on screen, and your games will feel sluggish at best and be impossible at worst (good luck beating a Elden Ring with 100ms of input lag).
You’re also going to have to find a projector that can work with your space. Just because a projector says it can produce a 300-inch image doesn’t guarantee it can do so in any old room. The image you get is a result of the projector’s throw ratio and the distance you place the projector from the screen/wall it’s projecting onto. The further away you set it up from your screen, the bigger the image you’ll get. Many high-quality projectors will feature an optical zoom, which can allow you to position the projector where you want it while still getting the picture size you need. Beyond this, features like keystone adjustment and vertical lens shift can further improve the flexibility of your setup, as you’ll need to find a place to put your project and a space to serve as your display — as opposed to just needing space for the display as you would with a TV.
Similar to other displays, your resolution and frame rate are major considerations for projectors. It gets tricky with projectors though because, for whatever reason, a great many brands like to list the maximum resolution they can receive from source devices more prominently than the “native resolution” that the projector is actually capable of displaying. You always should look for that listed native resolution, as that’s the picture you’re going to get on your screen. One exception is projectors that use pixel-shifting technology, which allows them to have a native 1080p resolution but create a 4K picture.
A projector’s brightness and projection technology are also worth paying attention to. Knowing whether you’re getting a lamp, LED, or laser projector can help you weigh the overall value, as a lamp-based model may be cheaper upfront but will likely need a new bulb after a few thousand hours of use, whereas LEDs and lasers can last for tens of thousands of hours before needing replacement.
Brightness levels will determine where and how you can actually use your projector. Generally, no projector is going to be good for a brightly lit room. Some 2,000+ ANSI lumen models will be bright enough to see content in a lit room, but dark details will be washed out by the ambient light in the room.
Advanced projection screens can help, but will add considerably to the price. If you can turn off the lights and have decent shades, you should still have a good experience with these 2,000+ lumen projectors. If you’re in a very dark room, you could get away with a projector offering just a few hundred lumens. Pay careful attention to details around the lumen rating — ideally, you should see “ANSI” lumens or “color light output” (CLO) lumens, as these will be more reliable, standardized measurements. If you don’t see ANSI or CLO measurements, take the projector’s light output with a grain of salt and verify it with independent reviews, especially if it’s promising a high brightness at a low price.
Mark Knapp is a regular contributor to IGN and an irregular Tweeter on Twitter @Techn0Mark
