Formovie is leading the way by announcing a pre-release in China of their new for 2023 Formovie X5. In China it's being released as the Fengmi X5. This will be one of the first new 2023 4K home theater projectors and there is a lot to get excited about!
Unlike their wildly popular Formovie Theater which is an ultra short throw projector, the Formovie X5 is a regular throw projector made with entry level projection enthusiasts in mind. While it is designed for home use, the brightness and ease of set up with this projector would also make it great for classrooms and offices.
Here is what we know so far about the Formovie X5:
Bright Laser Light Source
One point of emphasis on the Formovie X5 seems to be the brightness. This home projector is said to have 2,450 CVIA lumens (which is a brand new Chinese standard for measuring lumens) and a reported 4,500 ANSI lumens of brightness. However in our Formovie X5 review we were only able to achieve around 2,500 lumens in our tests. Though others achieved a brightness of 3329 lumens. Regardless still short of the promised 4500. That said this is still definitely a bright projector, especially given its compact size.
The Formovie X5 will be powered by the advanced ALPD laser technology. It will also feature laser speckle reduction.
Formovie's marketing materials are pitching the X5 as a TV replacement, it's definitely bright enough, but like most projectors is much better suited in a more light controlled environment. If you pair it with an ambient light rejecting projector screen like the Screen Innovations Black Diamond, it would offer a greatly improved image in a room with more light such as a living room.
Fantastic Picture Quality
The Formovie X5 is a 4K projector so your picture is incredibly sharp and detailed. This is aided by the .47 inch DLP chip and glass + resin lens that creates the image you see on screen. This projector also supports MEMC and HDR10+.
The advanced ALPD laser technology will allow this regular throw projector to produce deep blacks which will help give it a fantastic contrast ratio. We don't yet know what that contrast ratio will be, but we'll keep you updated when we find out.
Additionally we don't yet know how wide of a color gamut it will cover. But Formovie is advertising 1.07 billion colors so it will likely cover most, if not all, of the BT.2020 color space.
Unfortunately for you 3D enthusiasts, the Formovie X5 will not support 3D content.
Easy To Set Up And Other Features
One of the selling points for the international version of the Fengmi X5 is its ease of set up. This projector features auto focus and automatic keystone screen alignment so all you need to do is place it the proper distance and this laser projector will do the rest.
Throw Ratio and Image Size
This projector offers a relatively close 1.27:1 throw ratio so it can better fit in many room sizes. Annoyingly it does seem to lack optical zoom so you'll need to position the projector the proper throw distance to create the image size you want.
Rough translations of the Chinese marketing materials suggest that it's capable of a screen size from 60 inches to 1000 inches. This would be a gigantically huge screen size. However it's much more likely that they mean centimeters instead of inches. Which would mean that it would be able to create an image size up to a still giant but much more reasonable size of approximately 400 inches. However one source suggests that it might only be able to produce a screen size of 120 inches. Though again, this is most likely not accurate as that would be even smaller of a range than their UST which can produce an image size up to 150 inches.
Compact, Light Weight Design
This powerful 4K laser projector is contained in an attractive 8.5" x 8.2" x 6.5" grey cube. At just 8.77 lbs. it's easy to move around essentially making it a more portable home theater projector. So if you want to have backyard movie nights, you can easily transport the projector inside and outside.
Connectivity
The Formovie X5 features 2 HDMI ports including HDMI 2.1 connectivity. It also has intelligent voice control and IoT connectivity.
Impressive Built-In Audio
Formovie has collaborated with Denon for their internal speakers. This built-in sound system two 12 W speakers and one 6 W speaker, for a 270° audio experience compatible with Dolby Audio and DTS-HD. While it's no substitute for a true surround sound system, the audio provided by the Formovie X5 would be great for smaller living rooms and outdoor movie nights.
The speakers on this projector feature attractive Kvadrat fabric that is made of 100% recycled material and is soft to the touch.
How Much Will The Formovie X5 Cost?
The Formovie X5 will likely cost between $1,700-$2,800. This will make it an exceptionally affordable home theater projector given the expected specs.
When Will The Formovie X5 Be Available?
No date has been given for when the Formovie X5 will be available, but given that it's already available in China on pre-sale, we expect it to be available in the United States sometime in the late summer or early fall.