The global electronics company BenQ has been in the home video market for a long time, and it has developed a following for its value-minded, affordable projectors. What may not be as well-known is the company has for several years also offered a range of higher end projectors to cater to more robust home theaters where homeowners expect more performance, which is where the subject of today’s review, the BenQ W5800 projector, comes into play.

With the introduction of the W5800 4K UHD projector, the company has stepped up its game to provide home AV enthusiasts a projector that is competitively priced and fully capable with running with the enthusiast products that are priced at similar levels. Trying the W5800 out for myself I was thrilled with the images the projector produced in my system, but to get more into detail about what I liked, let’s move on with the review.

CE Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Fantastic image quality straight from the box.
• Any sort of calibration from basic contrast and black level adjustments to advanced ISF calibrations will improve what is already a nice picture.
• BenQ W5800’s size and weight allow for a range of placement options.

Cons:

• Gamers could argue the projector could use a few more gaming friendly features such as the HDMI specifications for VRR (variable refresh rate) and ALLM (auto low latency mode), but the projector incorporates HDMI 2.0 inputs instead of HDMI 2.1.
• The menu navigation takes a little time to get use to compared to some other products.

BenQ W5800 Features

Weighing about 23 pounds, BenQ states the projector measures 20.7 inches wide x 5.7 inches tall x 15.4 inches deep. The laser-based 4K unit delivers 8.3 million pixels or a 3840×2160 resolution, along with HDR10+ dynamic high dynamic range capabilities.

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The W5800 offers BenQ’s proprietary HDR-PRO tone mapping processing, along with the company’s Filmmaker Mode, which the company describes as processing that displays content as the content creators originally intended.

BenQ also includes features such as a 1.6x motorized lens system, as well as two HDMI 2.0b inputs; RS-232 connectivity, DCI-P3 and Rec. 709 color space capabilities, and the ability to produce up to 2,600 ANSI lumens of brightness.

Additional Specs

• Rated to produce up to 2,600 lumens of brightness
• 16:9 aspect ratio with a 4K compliant UHD resolution (3840×2160)
• Laser light engine rated to deliver up to 20,000 hours of operational life
• BenQ says the W5800 is compliant with the DCI-P3 and Rec. 709 color spaces
• The projector provides a pair of HDMI inputs and RS-232 for control system integration
• Retail price is $4,999

Setup and Installation

The W5800 is a nice, integrator friendly projector that is terrific for ISF (Imaging Science Foundation) trained installers (the projector is ISFccc certified), as well as enthusiasts/dealers that use basic software such as calibration discs, and even installers that are still learning about the benefits of calibration.

In my case after I had removed the projector from its packaging, I placed it on my projector shelf, which is roughly 12 feet from my 100-inch Screen Innovations Zero Edge 16:9 screen with the company’s Pure White 1.3 screen material. I then connected a FBBR fiber optic HDMI cable from my Integra DRX-3.4 receiver to the projector. Once I plugged the BenQ projector in and inserted the batteries into the remote control I was able to power up the projector and align the image and focus it all with the remote’s motorized lens controls.

With the image focused and aligned with the Zero Edge screen I entered the W5800’s menu system using the remote control. Some of the basic setup items I did was select “auto” for the geometry and for its operational mode, I went with the “Filmmaker Mode.”

Later, I did make some basic adjustments to the contrast and black levels, and I verified the color accuracy. Additionally, I also set the company’s “Motion Enhancer 4K” processing to “low.” I will point out that I left the lamp in its normal mode, and I left the gamma setting at 2.4.

Visual Performance

Over the years I’ve been fortunate to try several BenQ’s projectors and most of them performed very well considering the price point of the products. Having the W5800 in my system I was stunned with how good the images the projector produced straight from the box operating in “Filmmaker Mode” with no other types of calibration.

Historically memory tells me that there’s always been one area in which the BenQ products I’ve tried maybe weren’t up to competitive market levels, but that is not the case with its latest projector. The $4,999 projector produces fantastic images that are bright, rich in color and detailed low-level detail that includes solid blacks.

With the W5800 straight from the box in “Filmmaker Mode” TV such as Lost Treasures of the Bible from Hulu highlighted how controlled the projector handle bright images such as archeological dig sites in the Middle East where there are vast amounts of dessert as backdrops with green vegetation that looked like you were a part of the dig crew. 

Getting to the color accuracy and image processing sports and games like hockey are excellent content pieces to use to evaluate real-world video performance. Watching the Boston Bruins and the depth of black and gold on the team’s uniforms I thought were deep and accurate. Contrasting those colors on the white ice and the players stood out well on the screen to demonstrate the dynamic capabilities of the W5800. Hockey also makes for a good test for processing and after I set the Motion Enhancer 4K processing to low I did not see any judder, image compression or feathering using the projector.

Shifting gears from streaming hockey games and TV from my Apple TV 4K, I watched physical media, including the UltraHD 4K version of Avengers: End Game, a Blu-ray version of Disney’s classic, Up, and a DVD of Emergency: The Final Rescues, using a Panasonic DP-UB820 disc player. I thought the results with physical media also looked fantastic. Color depth was excellent, and image depth and clarity were also excellent, as were broadcast media such as NFL games for that matter.

For those interested in using the W5800 in rooms where ambient light exists, the projector won’t have any issues producing nice images in those types of environments.

Maybe the only items I could complain about were the projector’s menu navigation, which I thought was a little awkward until I became familiar with it, and the unit’s lack of HDMI 2.1 gaming friendly features.

To be honest, I think the gaming element of the projector may be a little overrated, but admittedly I am not a gamer, so maybe that is a bigger deal to the gaming community.

Final Thoughts on the W5800

So, what are my thoughts on the W5800? I will start with I think that you don’t need to be an ISF-trained calibrator to get a good image from the projector. Run the cables, plug it in, throw it in Filmmaker Mode,” and it will deliver impressive images. If someone has ISF or THX training however, the possibility of refining those images should be enticing. This projector is more than capable of making videophiles happy with pristine images especially with calibration.

If I were to offer up a more concise opinion, it would be that BenQ has nailed what most homeowners want in a step-up, projector. In doing so, the company has firmly positioned itself to compete with Sony, JVC and Epson.

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