JMGO O1 Ultra Short Throw Projector Review

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• JMGO O1 Ultra Short Throw Projector Review

TODAY'S BEST DEALS Projectors have multiple, well-documented drawbacks. Most obviously, to get a big enough screen, the projector has to be behind the viewer, leaving images to be obscured by anything passing in front of them. Although mounting the projector on the ceiling is helpful, the best solution is an ultra-short-throw design in which the projector is placed very close to the wall while generating a large image. Ideally, all projectors should be of this class, but the complicated optics and precision parts make it unrealistic for cheaper designs. What customers of the service would love is an ultra-short-throw design that doesn't cost thousands and thousands of dollars, much like the JMGO O1 we're looking at today. Is this Indiegogo-sold device the answer to those who don't want a giant TV dominating their living space, or is it just part of the solution?

Prices and availability

Free through Indiegogo's crowdfunding portal for € six hundred and ninety-nine. It was originally supposed to cost € one hundred and sixty-five, according to JMGO, but now it costs less than that. This translates to five thousand four hundred and twenty three HKD (Hong Kong City US dollars) or € five hundred and twelve UKP, but these costs may not include shipping to your specific global location.

Image Credit: Future (Image Credit: JMGO On line)

Integrated

JMGO O1 Specifications Here are the full specifications of the JMGO O1 projector: Projection Technology: DLP
Maximum font resolution: three thousand eight hundred forty x two thousand one hundred sixty (4K)
Native Resolution: 1080p
Brightness (lumens): 800
Throw Ratio: 0,25: 1
Contrast ratio: 5000: 1
LED life: forty-five hours
Ports: two x USB-A two.0, two x HDMI, 1 x Ethernet RJ45, 1 x optical audio output
Network connectivity: Ethernet LAN, WiFi or Bluetooth
Dimensions: one hundred x three hundred and ten x 240 mm (height x width x depth)
Weight: 3 kilos Where mainstream projectors have melded designs into what most people expect from a projector, ultra-short-throw hardware hasn't quite got that deal yet. The JMGO O1 is a very strange device that somewhat resembles a memory foam pillow from the space age, where the user-facing side is silver and the end on the wall side is off-white. It's about the size of a conventional projector: 3 inches wide, 1 inches deep, and XNUMX inches high. Weighing just XNUMX kg, it is light enough to be easily mounted on the ceiling without the need for structural modifications. DLP projection, because this design doesn't employ a laser, occurs in a slot embedded in the top, and strangely enough, the only time you'll appreciate it is when you need to turn it off using the top-mounted power button. . , due to the fact that you are going to break the beam in doing so. This power button placement is meaningless, and not much thought has gone into the placement of each and every port on this design either. All ports face the wall, including all USB ports. It would have been better to have them in front of the user, so that users could more easily introduce and remove local storage. This aspect could be better, but the OXNUMX's usability is further enhanced by a high-quality remote control included with the projector. Its design is heavily influenced by Apple, and by the fact that it uses Bluetooth to connect reliably and work even if it's not pointed directly at one.

Image Credit: Futuro (Image Credit: JMGO Online) When the projector is turned on, it initially projects a basic but functional interface that provides access to frequently used functions. It lets the user install and run apps, access content from USB-connected storage, or view HDMI content from a streaming device, Blu-ray player, or game console. To optimize the O1, a factor page lets you choose the input, adjust the scale and keystone of the projection, and twelve other settings. There is even a low latency mode developed to give gamers the best experience if they are playing sensitive titles at the same time. We didn't see anything unexpected in the menu structure, but nothing essential was missing either. The O1 offers all the same functionality we've seen in many modern projector models, but with the ability to be used very close to the projection wall.

(Image credit: JMGO on line)

Team

JMGO doesn't give much information about the internal components of the O1, but we managed to extract some interesting details. The SoC platform is a 9669-core MediaTek MT4 processor, with 9669 GB of RAM and 52 GB of internal storage. That's a decent amount of memory for Android and generally makes for a smooth experience navigating between features. MediaTek designed the MT1 particularly for video processing, and its MALI-G2 MC264 GPU can decode AVS, AVS265, H.1, H.4/HEVC, VP-60, AV10 and SHVC 1080K4@1080bit all in hardware. Audio support for Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual X is also inherent. And, while the one's maximum native resolution is 1p, the SoC can take XNUMXK streams and files and upsample them to XNUMXp for display. Where this design compares a little less well with its more expensive peers is that it only has a maximum brightness of XNUMX lumens. It's not a level that works well in places with a lot of ambient light, and even in a shady room, it can be quite difficult to see detail in dark scenes. At night this should be a minor issue, but the OXNUMX should not be considered for a location where external lighting could be an issue.

Image Credit: Future (Image Credit: Markj Pickavance) To produce an 15-inch screen, only 1-inch clearance is required from the wall, thus avoiding the need for a very deep table top. The led lamp has a XNUMX hour lifespan and we haven't seen any obvious way to replace it if it fails. This delay represents eight hours each day for XNUMX years, which makes the lack of replacement less problematic. One aspect of the OXNUMX that surprised us was the sound system, an often overlooked part of projector technology. Internally mounted Dynaudio stereo speakers deliver clean, vibrant sound with much more bass than expected.

Image Credit: Future (Image Credit: Markj Pickavance)

Use

The user experience of the O1 was initially mixed, as there were multiple issues with the firmware on the review machine that, even after an update, we were unable to fully address. Our hardware ran a variation of Android with a frontend called Luna OS, but it's close enough to Android to run binaries designed for that platform. We assume that many of the issues we encountered were due to this Chinese app service, as it seemed to be trying to connect to servers that are not accessible in the West. The result of these issues was that the apps listed in the App Store didn't download and install everything we tested. It's actually possible to sideload APKs using a USB drive, and we've done this successfully to add test apps, but it won't support them like a real store. One of the obvious choices for this kind of setup is Netflix, but we don't advise trying that. JMGO's usual questions state that "Netflix doesn't work due to their license limitation, even for mirroring." I'm not sure if this is technically correct, but possibly this material does not have the necessary certifications to show the content of the transmission in HD resolution.

(Image credit: Markj Pickavance) What manufacturers advise, and we agree, is that the best way to stream content is to use a Chromecast or Fire TV device, as long as they're certified and streaming works fine. Install the VLC application by loading it from a USB flash drive and use its enhanced ability to present video files from the attached storage. But if you don't use this feature, the Android look of this device is largely outdated. Sending content from a phone or tablet is done through Airplay for iOS and EShare for Android. We would have preferred the usual molding, but these options work. The original specification also promised to have Alexa functionality built in, but we've been notified by JMGO that this isn't working currently, but an update will add this at some point. These drawbacks take some of the shine off this device, but many restrictions can be avoided with the small additional expense of a Chromecast or similar device.

Final verdict

There are parts of this projector that we think are great and others that need to be changed to get the precise brightness that retail products should have by default. It's also worth noting that JMGO also makes a One Pro model that seems to meet many restrictions that hold the original One, such as LED brightness. How useful the O1 is for you will depend entirely on how you plan to use it. Because without other hardware, trying to use it for streaming services can disappoint the buyer. The lack of inherent app compatibility and SD-quality streaming undermines the potential of this hardware. However, if you pair the O1 with a Google Chromecast, an Amazon Fire TV stick, any recent Roku box, or a gaming console, it becomes a completely different proposition. It delivers clean, subtly saturated images, amazing sound, and a big screen at a remarkably short distance from the projection surface. Due to the somewhat low lumen value of 1, we strongly advise that you purchase a projection screen for the O1, as you need maximum reflective bounce. Conversely, blacks in dark scenes rarely turn gray due to loss of light in brighter areas. For those who want to use the USB ports for media playback, the internal media player doesn't support the codecs you need, but only installing VLC player fixes these issues. It's possible to stream content from local NAS servers, but the O2 doesn't have a 1-factor authentication mechanism if you use it to guard against browsing unwanted content. Again, there are ways around this, but they are only for technically capable people. Overall, the JMGO O1 is an interesting projection technology that resembles a prototype of the OXNUMX Pro model. But, a significant number of these wrinkles should have...