I’ve been really happy with the 65-inch TV in my living room, but after trying out the Dangbei DBOX02 4K Laser Projector, I really wish I had the room to set up a home theater.

The DBOX02 ($1,899, but on sale at launch for less) can project up to a 200-inch picture at 4K resolution.

That’s a 16-foot diagonal image.

I definitely need a bigger house.

The DBOX02 uses an ALDP laser and projects light at 2,450 ISO lumens, so it shows a very bright image, making it viewable even in rooms with windows.

The projector runs the Google TV operating system tons of streaming apps, including officially licensed Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime video, Hulu, Disney+ and DirecTV. There’s built-in Wi-Fi, so it can wirelessly connect to your home network to show all your content.

The DBOX02 has AI image setup, including auto focus, auto keystone, screen fit and obstacle avoidance.

Keystone is the straightening of the image if it is projected upwards, so the sides are square. Obstacle avoidance will physically change the image size to avoid things like light switches that would otherwise be inside your image. These settings are customizable, so they don’t get in the way if you don’t need them.

Dangbei recommends keeping the image between 80 inches and 120 inches, but the image can be seen clearly between 60 inches and 200 inches.

Of course, the larger the image, the further the projector sits from the screen, so to make the 200-inch picture look its best, you’ll need to have a really dark room.

At our house, we have very small rooms, and we don’t have a wall with enough open space to really showcase a projector.

I’ve purchased an 84-inch portable screen and it is nice for the occasional movie night, but it isn’t that much bigger than my TV.

To see what the DBOX02 can really do, I brought it to my office and took it to the auditorium where we have a larger screen.

Sure enough, the DBOX02’s image looked great, but I still wanted to see more, so I backed up the projector to fill the wall. I maxed out the video at the recommended 200 inches.

In the windowless auditorium, with the lights out, the picture was stunning.

Inputs

The DBOX02 has two HDMI 2.1 ports with one being an HDMI eARC port, which can send high-def audio from the TV out to a sound system.

The projector also has two USB ports, one SPDIF audio out and one 3.5mm audio out and an ethernet jack to connect it directly to your router.

The USB ports can connect a keyboard or mouse or let you play video from a flash drive.

The only button on the DBOX02 is to power it on — all other interaction comes from the included remote. That remote needs two AAA batteries that were not included with my projector.

Specs

The ALPD laser has a light source lifespan of 30,000 hours. That means you can expect to use the projector eight hours per day for more than 10 years.

The resolution is 4K UHD at 3,840 by 2,160 pixels. The projector supports HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG video. It can also project 3D content in full HD.

The video refresh rate is 60HZ@4K up to 240HZ@1080p.

The throw ratio is 1.27:1.

The DBOX02 has two 12-watt built-in speakers that support Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS:X.

The Google TV operating system has built-in Chromecast, so you can wirelessly send video from your computer or phone and it has 32 gigabytes of storage with 2GB of DDR3 RAM.

It has Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2.

The projector measures 9.29 × 7.93 × 6.43 Inches and it weighs 8.8 pounds. It ships with a decent sized power brick with a cord that could stand to be a bit longer.

Conclusion

The DBOX02 is a great projector for the money — especially if you can get it on sale.

The image quality is on par with projectors costing much more.

I’d much rather deal with setting up a nine pound projector than trying to mount a 98-inch TV on the wall.

If you want to take best advantage of the 4K video, you’ll need to take some time to set things up for the best image quality. A clean white wall or even better, a proper screen, is a necessity. Don’t cheap out on the screen.

Also, like any TV, the DBOX02’s built-in speakers are good but not great. If you want to be blown away, you’ll need to add a decent sound system. Most home theaters have the projector on the ceiling above and even behind the seating locations, so having the audio for your movies coming from behind you isn’t ideal.

I can’t get over how great the picture is from the DBOX02. I set it up in my mom’s living room on a recent visit and she was so impressed she called the neighbors over to see it.

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