LG - PH30JG 720p Wireless DLP Projector - White

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The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.

• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  Little projector giving you a big picture

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  This is a small projector but it is powerful enough to play with the big projectors. You get 720p of clear, dynamic and big picture. 1080p instead of 720p would of been amazing especially at this price. Think about 100 inches of great picture for under $500 for today’s TVs and you will not find one. With the PH30JG projector you get all of that and more. I have this on my wall as I wait to receive my projector screen but you can take a look at my pictures to see how amazing the quality look. With the16:9 feature be ready to have a true theater experience. Fan noise I think could be quieter but I guess it’s good to know that it’s cooling efficiently. You also get a few different ports such as HDMI, usb type a&c, audio out. You may also connect Bluetooth sound speakers to enhance your theater experience. Using your smartphone you can also cast content such as movies and games to the PH30JG. This projector is also LED which estimated to give you 30,000 hours of movie time before replacing the lamp and that is about 10 years if you use it 8 hours a day. In a dark room this will produce a magnificent picture but if your room is not dark enough you will have a washed looking picture. You get 4 hours on a fully charge battery but you can also plug it in while you while you use it. This is a sleek projector with a weight of about 1 lbs making it portable allowing you to take it anywhere. My only reason for not giving this a 5 star rating is because I think it should of been at least a 1080p. All said and done this will be great for most needs because it has so much great features and it is easy to use.

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  Posted 7 years ago by DSPARKA

• Rated 3 out of 5 stars

  Decent for portability, not quality

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  The best feature of this LG Minibeam projector is its portability, however you sacrifice most other features including picture quality and brightness. The initial set up was fairly simple and the menus are easy to understand. You have a couple options for inputs including a full size HDMI input and USB-C for newer phones and tablets. The resolution and brightness are not very good when enlarging the screen at a distance but they work as long as you’re not trying to impress anyone. It requires a fairly dark room to see clearly at full brightness, which I wouldn’t suggest on any display because it washes the picture out. I’m currently using the projector in my bedroom to project movies/shows/games on the ceiling since I don’t have a TV in there and, when not in use, I just tuck it away until I want to use it again. I found that using a streaming device/stick was a good option to cast what you want to display. It would have been a great option if this was built into the projector instead of using a third party peripheral in the only HDMI input. The battery lasts fairy long, probably good for at least a movie or two without having to charge, and also can be used to charge small devices. The projector has a small sound on-board speaker and I suggest pairing a Bluetooth speaker for better sound. One of the most frustrating features was the remote; I had to be very close to the device and pointed directly at it for it to register. At this price, I believe there are too many other options to research before deciding on this one in the saturated projector market . There was really nothing besides the portability that set this projector aside from the competition.

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  Posted 7 years ago by Grouticus

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  A Small Projector but Big on Features

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  I have used over a dozen conventional projectors for work and for personal use and know what to expect when lugging around projectors and having to make wired connections and having to move cords out of the way so people don't trip over them. I have never used a pico projector before, so naturally I was eager to try out the LG Mini Beam. The first thing I noticed even before I opened the box for the LG Mini Beam projector was how small the packaging is compared to the box for the regular projector. Upon opening the box and taking out the projector, I was truly stunned at how small the projector really is. It is smaller than my hand, and my hand is not even that large. Furthermore, this thing is light, weighing in at a tad over one pound. With such a diminutive size and weight, the projector definitely checks the boxes for compactness and portability. The projector can be tucked into a large coat pocket and nobody would know. I was also pleasantly surprised by the number of connections that LG was able to fit into this tiny projector. There are connections for hdmi, usb-a, usb-c (yes, you read that correctly), and a 3.5mm audio out jack. Kudos to LG for including the audio jack because we all know how dismal the audio output from projector speakers in general are. As an aside, Epson doesn't even include a 3.5 mm audio jack in it's conventional projectors until you get to their premium home cinema projector models. What's also neat about the projector is that you have two choices for recharging the lithium ion battery in the projector. You can either re-charge via the supplied bulky ac adapter with powerbrick, or you can elegantly connect a usb-c cord to a wall charger. Since I like to carry as little with me as possible, I opted to use a usb-c cord and 2.4 amp charger. It'll take up to 3 hrs to charge a fully discharged battery. Once fully charged and powered on, you simply follow the on screen menus to connect your display either wirelessly, via hdmi, or usb-c. I was able to immediately display content and start using the projector in a minute or two once I familiarized myself with the on screen menus and the remote control. I successfully connected my windows 10 laptop wirelessly through Screen Share and had the projected image of my desktop on my living room wall. I was similarly able to connect wireless displays for my android phones and tablets. I did notice that there is a noticeable lag on the projected image when connected via the screen share wireless display function. When I moved the cursor on my mouse, it took a second for the cursor on the projected image to also move. For a more robust connection, I like going the traditional route of using an hdmi cord and this essentially eliminates any lag which is great for video content. Speaking of content, I was able to connect my Google Chromecast through the hdmi connection on the projector and turn the projector/chromecast combination into a powerhouse mobile streaming unit. I simply powered the Google Chromecast with a large capacity portable charger (e.g. portable Anker power bank). Add a good quality bluetooth speaker and connect wirelessly through the Mini Beam's bluetooth menu, and you have a totally wireless setup. Outdoor movie nights just became much easier and totally cord free! LG claims up to 4 hrs in battery life when using the most battery conserving eco-options which will lower the brightness of the image. I went ahead and set the projector on best quality and brightest viewing settings (e.g. non-eco friendly options) and was still able to get through a 2.5 hour movie on a single battery charge with battery remaining. The projector is able to project an HD 1280x720 image with a screen size up to 100” or a little over 8', which is pretty amazing for such a pocket size projector. Image and video quality is as good as 720p can deliver. Colors are vibrant and crisp. Contrast is good. Audio through the internal 1 watt speaker, while better than your average smart phone, still leaves much to be desired and will benefit from connecting to a better audio system through the 3.5 mm audio out jack or through bluetooth. The fan on the projector is remarkably quiet. You won't notice that it is even on when you have audio playing. The projector doesn't get hot when in use; perhaps just a little warm. With conventional projectors, it takes a lot of energy (resulting in heat) to make a bright image. This means that if you are using a conventional projector in a small enclosed room like a small bedroom, you will notice the room warm up. However, with a pico projector such as this LG Mini Beam you won't have the heat issue because it has so little power output compared to a conventional projector. The Mini Beam is great for using indoors in the summer because you won't have the added heat for your air conditioner to deal with. Besides great features as bluetooth, usb-c, rechargeable battery, a tripod mount, and portability, the LG Mini Beam also comes packed with an automated vertical keystone image correction. Keystone correction will adjust the top and bottom width of the image if the projector is not set up at a right angle to the screen. This prevents the screen from becoming trapezoidal in shape. You will want automated keystone correction since this makes setting up your projector faster so you can begin enjoying movie night. One other feature worth mentioning is that the projector has 'PJT mode' which flips the image upside down or horizontally. This allows for ceiling mounting for the projector or projecting from the rear onto a transparent screen. As much as I have been effusively showering the Mini Beam with praise, it is worth noting its one major and significant shortcoming: it can only produce up to 250 lumens of light output. For comparison, conventional home projectors have 2,000 plus lumens, with business projectors having over 3,500 lumens of output. Having more lumens helps to overcome the ambient lighting so that the projected image does not get washed out. With the LG Mini Beam, it is evident that its use is limited to rooms having little to no ambient lighting with blinds and curtains closed. The instant that ambient light is introduced, the image is washed out. I would not recommend the Mini Beam for any type of business use. The office environment has too much ambient lighting. Additionally, an 8' large screen may be insuffficient for large audiences. On the otherhand, this would make an excellent projector for home use where you can control the ambient lighting. It's portability for home use means you can set it up on a table top, counter top, tripod, or even on the bed in your bedroom to watch from the ceiling. For outdoor movie nights, you'll have to wait until it is dark. In summary, the LG Mini Beam is a fun, easy to use, very intuitive, and high quality portable projector that allows you to cut the power cord. With 720p HD quality, you'll get good to very good image quality which is vibrant and crisp. It comes packed with a lot of features and connections in a tiny package. However, there is a trade-off you'll have to be willing to make for ultra portability, compactness, and battery power. With a small 250 maximum lumen output, you'll need to use the projector in a dark room or at night. Finally, there is the question of price and value that you'll be getting from the Mini Beam. For the listed price of the LG Mini Beam, in today's market you can get a conventional projector with better contrast, better brighness, richer colors, and the same 720p image resolution, but with much more lumens to be able to use in a greater variety of ambient lighting environments. Of course it wouldn't be as portable, lightweight, and cord-free as the LG Mini Beam. These are factors you will have to prioritize as you make your decision on your next projector. Would I recommend the Mini Beam? For home use, yes. For business, no.

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  Posted 7 years ago by lambda100