Hisense first announced the L5 ultra-short throw projector at CES in early January. And it is just now going on sale at several retailers.
We often see products announced at CES and go on sale in the second half of the year, but this time around it was likely due to the pandemic. So we’ll blame that for the long wait. We were impressed with the L5, at CES, and even gave it a “Best of CES” award.
Anyways, the Hisense L5 series is on sale now at Amazon, BeachCamera and a few other retailers for $3,999. Yes, it received a $1,000 price cut since its announcement, seven months ago.
The Hisense L5 is pricey, but worth it
The Hisense L5 is a premium ultra-short throw projector that happens to run on Android TV. And these ultra-short throw projectors can sometimes cost many thousands of dollars.
The L5 series uses a blue laser source, which will hit 2,700 lumens of maximum brightness, while also offering 25,000 hours of viewing.
Hisense is also using a Texas Instruments DLP chip that can produce 4K via pixel shifting and fast scanning. That’s going to provide a better image, which is important since projectors are not typically known for their image quality.
It also supports HDR10 and HLG, while also covering around 83% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. Basically, you’re going to get a really incredible picture here.
Because this is an ultra-short throw projector, it can sit just 11-inches from the wall. Which allows you to put it on a table without needing a ceiling mount.
Hisense has also built 30W speakers inside the L5, and it uses dbx-TV for surround-like sound.
Powered by Android TV
In recent years, Hisense has gone all-in with Android TV, and that’s something we really like seeing.
And the L5 series is no different.
This projector comes with Android TV built-in, which is going to give you access to thousands of apps like Netflix, Hulu, Google Play Movies & TV, YouTube and much more. There is also Google Assistant available, as well as Cast. So just about everything is covered here.
That’s actually a really big deal, considering a lot of other projectors will use their own proprietary software, which is a mess, and difficult to use. Not to mention the fact that most apps are unlikely to be available on a proprietary platform. But something like Android TV or Roku, they will be available. So that is a very wise decision by Hisense.
As mentioned, the Hisense L5 series is available from Amazon and BeachCamera now.