Review Two

After opening the box, Xue Lei found the projector itself wrapped in a plastic bag and cushioned between two pieces of foam. As a moderately well-known content creator, he was already quite practiced at unboxing things.

In no time at all, Xue Lei had taken everything out of the box and laid it out on the table.

From left to right, there was the now-empty cardboard box, two pieces of shock-absorbing foam, the projector wrapped in its plastic bag, an instruction manual, a warranty card, a power supply, one HDMI 2.0 cable, and two DP cables.

The manual, warranty card, and power supply were all pretty standard. What Xue Lei couldn't understand was why there were two DP cables.

DP cables were the kind of display cables used by most computers nowadays. Seeing two of them, Xue Lei suddenly thought of Dell's 8K monitor data-transfer setup. That 32-inch Dell 8K monitor cost over twenty thousand yuan...

He couldn't help but complain. Xue Lei said with a speechless look, "Is this projector manufacturer seriously trying to be funny? They really think their projector is a monitor. What kind of projector comes with two DP cables?"

"Forget it, forget it. Let's take a look at the product first. There's no point complaining too much."

"All right, dear viewers, what you see here are all the accessories included with this Phantom Projector, made by Shenma Technology Company."

"The specs are ridiculously over the top, it even comes with two DP cables, and it costs 4,999 yuan. There's so much I'd like to say about that, but let's be patient and see how things go. Maybe there'll be a few surprises later, right?"

"Enough talk. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can wrap up. Let's turn it on and see what this product is really like!" Xue Lei took the projector out of its plastic bag and couldn't help pausing for a moment.

It actually felt pretty good in his hands, nothing like the rough, cheap plastic junk he'd imagined. And it was pretty heavy, too—probably three or four pounds!

Compared with the projectors he'd handled before, this one weighed about twice as much as other products of the same size!

Xue Lei said, a little surprised, "This is interesting. The workmanship isn't what I'd expected from some cheap plastic junk that'd break at a touch. And this plastic, if I'm not mistaken, is made of much higher-quality PC plastic. PC plastic is excellent for making the casings of various small and medium-sized machines. It's strong, heat-resistant, hard, safe and non-toxic, and performs well at low temperatures, among other advantages."

"I didn't expect a brand-new company that talks a big game to be willing to use such good materials for its machine casing. So it's not entirely a scam company after all."

"And aside from the casing material, take a look at the workmanship—it's quite meticulous. They must have had a big factory make it. The casing is square, with the sharp corners rounded off, and there are louvered vents all around the body for heat dissipation. The design may look a little old-fashioned, but it should greatly improve the product's cooling performance."

After filming the projector from all sides, Xue Lei said, "That's about it for the appearance. Next, let's try out the projector's display and see how it performs in practice. After seeing only the packaging earlier, I wasn't expecting much, but now I'm starting to look forward to it. I hope it lives up to the price."

He aimed the projector at the wall and adjusted the camera angle.

Plug it in. Turn it on!

A beam of light appeared on the white wall. With the lights on, the projector adjusted its brightness slightly, and the picture went from dim to vivid in less than a second.

On the startup screen, a white Pegasus with wings on its back galloped across the display, then gave way to a solid blue background.

"Huh. This looks kind of interesting!" Xue Lei couldn't help letting out a surprised sound at the very first image.

Then he explained to his nonexistent audience why he'd been surprised.

"The brightness is excellent. Take a look. Even with the lights on, the image in front of me is vivid and extremely clear."

"Those of you who don't have much experience with projectors or monitors might not notice anything special, but as a professional tech reviewer who's tested dozens, even hundreds of displays and projectors, I can tell there's something different about this one."

"The image projected by this device looks really comfortable. And I don't know if you noticed, but when it first turned on, the brightness changed slightly. It can adjust its brightness according to the surrounding conditions!"

"Let's try turning off the lights."

Xue Lei went over to the light switch and turned off the room lights.

With the lights off, the only illumination in the room came from the few fill lights he used for filming and the projector.

Sure enough, the light from the projected image changed slightly, too. It dimmed a little while remaining clear, so it wouldn't hurt your eyes.

He turned the lights back on, and the projector's brightness increased!

After repeatedly turning the lights on and off to fully demonstrate how the brightness changed, Xue Lei returned to his workstation and started again.

"Honestly, this is a little too surprising. Maybe this projector really can reach 6,000 lumens. At least judging by the image quality I'm seeing now, it's clear and easy on the eyes. If it were daytime, the brightness might go even higher!"

"That's about all we can tell from this startup screen. It's reasonably clear and the colors are reasonably vivid. Let's keep testing!"

"Still, although the clarity and smoothness of the image surprised me, take a look: the projector isn't showing the usual TV box app screen. Nowadays, even projectors that cost just a few hundred yuan come with their own video playback system."

"But this projector is only showing a blue background, just like a monitor. That's really inconvenient for customers who want to use it as a TV. It means you'll need to prepare a separate set-top box or connect it to a computer."

"The price is already up to 4,999 yuan, and the manufacturer is still being this stingy? Whatever, I won't say more. At least the picture quality is worth looking forward to."

"Luckily, as a tech reviewer, I've got all kinds of equipment at home. Give me a moment—I'll be right back!"

Xue Lei went to the next room, found a set-top box he'd bought for a previous review, and brought it to his workspace. He connected the set-top box's HDMI port to the projector.

"Plug it in. Turn it on!"

The image projected onto the wall finally changed.

The set-top box's startup ad appeared. It was a car commercial. Tall, lush green trees lined both sides of a road, and a sleek black vehicle sped off into the distance.

The slogan appeared: "Through wind and rain, the all-new Cadillac XT6 is with you as you cross mountains and valleys!"

The ten-second ad ended, revealing the familiar set-top box interface.

Staring blankly at the image in front of him, Xue Lei looked as if he'd seen a ghost. He said in disbelief, "How can it look like this? It shouldn't look like this!"

"The projector's startup screen was so brief that, although it seemed pretty good, I didn't get much of an impression. But the set-top box startup screen really blew me away."

"Even when you look closely, you can't see a single pixel. The image is incredibly smooth, and the colors are incredibly vivid. It doesn't look like something a projector could display at all!"

"It even feels like I'm looking at a monitor! And the craziest part is, it looks like a high-end monitor. Judging just by what I can see, the image quality is at least that of a 2K monitor!"

"Guys, have you ever seen a 100-inch 2K monitor? Maybe this is what one would look like!"

"This is incredible! It really can produce the kind of image you'd get from a monitor!"

"I was wrong, wrong, wrong!"

"Maybe the specs on the box really are true!"

"Wang Defa! I can't believe this! You call this a projector?!"

Holding his forehead, Xue Lei poured out one incredulous remark after another. After a while, he finally calmed down a little and said, "Guys, this product is just too surprising. I never expected the image quality to be this good!"

"I admit it: right now, the image projected at about 100 inches looks great—really great. It has roughly the image quality of a 2K monitor. As for the maximum 8K resolution listed on the packaging, they probably weren't exaggerating, either. If you shrink the projected image to around 40 inches, the quality should make a huge leap and reach 8K!"

"8K image quality! I don't even know what to say!!!"

"Forget it. Let's keep testing."

"Since the picture quality is so impressive, let's just pick a movie and watch it. Unfortunately, this set-top box only supports movies up to 4K, so we can't make full use of the projector's display capabilities. We'll test it with this set-top box first. Later, I'll connect my computer to the projector and test its 8K display, as well as those specs that sound outrageous but might actually be real: a 144 Hz refresh rate and a 1-millisecond response time."

"Let's see a miracle happen!"

Using the remote, Xue Lei operated the set-top box and picked a random 4K movie. He set the picture to the highest resolution, and the movie began.

It was an old sci-fi blockbuster: The Wandering Earth!

Time passed without him noticing. By the time Xue Lei came to, more than twenty minutes had gone by!

A big screen and high resolution made for an awesome experience!

And, unexpectedly, the projector's speakers were really good, too!

Back at work, Xue Lei was full of energy. After trying it out carefully, he shared his impressions with the camera.

"Dear viewers, I don't know what to say. I'm sorry for some of the things I said earlier, when I put this product down."

"My imagination was too limited, and I mistakenly thought this was just another product with wildly exaggerated specs, like so many others on shopping websites."

"This product has completely changed the way I think about projectors. You can't judge what's in the sea by the water's surface, and you can't judge a product by its price or brand!"

"Based on what I've experienced so far, this is already close to a perfect product."

"Seriously, aside from the thousand yuan the seller paid for my review, I haven't taken any sponsorship money. I also made it clear to the seller before they sent the product that I'd give an honest review."

"After just a short time testing it, the Phantom Projector's outstanding performance has won me over."

"Watching a movie on a 100-inch 2K screen is unbelievably awesome! It's a true private-cinema experience! And it only costs five thousand yuan! At this price, it absolutely crushes the competition!"

"Other than the fact that I've never heard of the brand, it's excellent in every other way!"

"Oh no, I think I've been completely sold on this projector. I've become a walking advertisement for it."

"We're only halfway through the review, and there are plenty of other features to test. Let's look forward to even more impressive performance from the Phantom Projector!"

As he prepared to connect his computer to the projector, Xue Lei said with anticipation, "Little Lei is really looking forward to testing the 1-millisecond response time and 144 Hz refresh rate listed on the projector's packaging. If those specs are real, this projector won't just be good for watching TV; it'll also work great as a gaming monitor."

"It's much smaller than a traditional monitor, so it'd be really convenient for business trips, travel, or moving house. You could easily fit a small ITX computer and a projector like this into a suitcase."

"The only downside might be that you'd need an RTX 3090 to run big-budget AAA games at 8K. But that's not the projector's fault!"

He unplugged the HDMI cable from the projector and connected his computer with the DP cable.

The screen was still a massive 100 inches, but this time it showed the familiar desktop of Xue Lei's computer. A 4K anime-girl dance wallpaper played as smoothly as silk.

Just looking at a screen like this was a pleasure!

Over the next few hours, Xue Lei put the projector through an in-depth review.

He tested 8K video playback, its performance in games, compared it with the big-brand 4K monitor he'd bought for over 3,000 yuan, tried the speakers with different songs, and tested its stability and temperature after extended use.

The more he tested it, the more amazed he became by the projector's powerful performance.

It completely outperformed the big-brand 4K monitor Xue Lei had bought for over 3,000 yuan. In the same game and the same scene, the image from the projector actually looked more comfortable than the monitor's, at least to the naked eye!

"What the heck? This is ridiculous!"

After watching an entire 8K movie, Xue Lei couldn't bring himself to stop!

Even though he'd already watched the movie once before, seeing it in 8K felt like stepping into another world. The actors' movements and expressions, their joy and sorrow, all seemed close enough to touch, as if it were happening right beside him. The immersion was incredible!

The speakers were excellent, too. Compared with a big-brand sound system that Xue Lei had reviewed before, one that cost over 2,000 yuan, the difference was obvious as soon as you heard them!

"This is completely absurd!"

For the entire night, Xue Lei tested the projector's various functions as if he were under a spell. He didn't come to his senses until sunlight streamed into his studio at dawn. The whole night had passed just like that.

His original plan had been to give the projector from this unknown little manufacturer a quick review, but it had turned into an in-depth hands-on test. Xue Lei didn't mind at all. It had been worth it!

After testing it all night, Xue Lei was sure: this was an unbelievably powerful projector. It could even be used as a monitor, and it was fantastic for watching movies!

He could already think of a few ways to use it. It could serve as a display for an ITX computer, for one thing, and it could even be used as a regular monitor. Gamers could also pair it with a Switch, PlayStation, or other console for an even better gaming experience!

Those were the kinds of use cases Xue Lei planned to cover in his upcoming review of the projector.

This was a super projector whose price was far below what its performance would suggest. Anyone who bought one would be extremely satisfied!

A product this good was still virtually unknown. Xue Lei was sure it would catch on. If he posted a review video of the Phantom Projector while not many people knew about it yet, he was sure it would draw a huge audience.

And viewers who bought the product after watching his review and tested it for themselves would feel grateful to him for introducing them to it. Their follows would come naturally!

At this point, it was no longer just about earning the thousand yuan he'd been paid to review it.

A product this good was like striking gold. Xue Lei could make plenty of videos reviewing it.

He opened all the studio windows to let the sunlight stream in and shine onto the projected screen. The image remained vivid, and the brightness automatically increased. He filmed one last shot.

"Time to go all out!" Looking at the sunlight streaming in from outside, Xue Lei perked himself up, slapped his cheeks, and returned to editing the video. He wasn't going to sleep until he'd finished editing the review!

While Xue Lei went into overdrive, Ning Yifan had already gotten up early in another city. After finishing his workout, he returned to his rented room and got to work.

Another night had passed, and no customers had bought a Phantom Projector. Not a single prospective buyer had even made an inquiry.

Maybe that would change soon.

Ning Yifan wasn't in a hurry. He continued with his work as usual. He'd finished assembling all the remaining parts the day before, and there were now 194 projectors stacked in his room.

With no projectors to assemble, Ning Yifan could take it a little easy today. He could browse the freelancing platform, play games, or watch movies and anime.