A few years ago, the Formovie brand was little known in America and Europe, but today company confidently occupies a place among the industry leaders. Formovie Tech was created as a joint venture between Xiaomi and Appotronics and is part of the Mi ecosystem of the Chinese giant Xiaomi, which hardly needs an introduction. Approtronics is one of the innovative leaders in the laser display technology segment. In particular, in 2013, it developed the most popular Advanced Laser Phosphor Display (ALPD) technology for solid-state (SSL) light engines. Last year, the Chinese company Dangbei introduced X5 Ultra projector with newest ALPD 5.0-based light engine. Using three colors each of laser and LED light sources, it provides an unprecedented color gamut, covering 110% (Rec.2020 standard) / 152% (DCI-P3) / 206% (Rec.709). In fact, they correspond to maximum visible color gamut for human eyes.
Moreover, the new generation has practically eliminated laser speckles on the image due to interference. As known, they are one of the main problems in triple-laser RGB light engines. To be fair, this problem has already been quite successfully solved in Formovie Theater with the help of speckle elimination technology.
This model has deservedly become one of the bestsellers of 2022 and entered almost all top lists. Of course, the company’s management adequately responded to consumer demand and in two years introduced several new UST 4K laser projectors, including Formovie C2 / C3 (2023), Theater Premium Laser TV (UK), Formovie 4K Max and Cinema Edge Laser TV (2024). At the same time, Formovie 4K Cinema was discontinued in January 2023.
Formovie UST projectors
List:
– Formovie Theater – $ 2,500, 1,800 ISO Lumens, 3,000:1 (full on/off contrast), RGB Laser (ALPD4.0 RGB+ technology, 107% of the Rec.2020 color gamut), speckle elimination technology, 2x 15W speakers by Bowers & Wilkins, Android OS;
– Formovie C3 (Formovie Cinema) – $ 1,900, 2,250 ANSI Lumens, 3,000:1 contrast, RGB Laser (110% Rec.709 color gamut), 2x 15W speakers, FengOS 3.0.
This model also has a budget C2 version with a few minor differences (C2 vs C3):
– price $ 1,500 – $ 1,600 vs $ 1,900;
– brightness – 2,100 ANSI Lumen (~380 nit) vs 2,250 ANSI Lumen (~400 nit);
– HDR 10 vs HDR10+ support;
– 150″ vs 200″ image size diagonally (focusing range);
– no SGS certification (low blue-light);
– Formovie 4K Cinema (discontinued 2023) – $ 2,700, 2,100 ANSI Lumens, 3,000:1 contrast, Laser Phosphor (ALPD 3.0), 2x 15W speakers, Android TV 9.0.
Today the company offers a very bright Formovie (Fengmi) 4K Max, as its improved version – $ 3,700 / € 3,700, 4,500 ANSI Lumens (100% Color Light Output or CLO brightness due to zero loss), 3,000:1 contrast, Laser Phosphor (ALPD 3.0, up to 113% of the Rec.709 and 85% of the DCI-P3 color space), 30W speaker, up to 150″ diagonal (100″@47cm / 18.5″), supports 8K video decoding, Feng OS 1.2 version.
– Formovie Theater Premium Laser TV – $ 3,300 / £ 2,800, RGB Laser (ALPD4.0 RGB+ technology, 107% of the Rec.2020 color gamut), Bowers & Wilkins audio, Dolby Atmos & DTS, input lag up to 18 ms with ALLM, MEMC (1080p@120Hz), Google TV with official Netflix, Google Assistant, easy content sharing via Google Cast.
The price and specs of newest Cinema Edge are very close to C3.
Formovie Theater vs Cinema Edge
The Formovie Cinema Edge projector includes several enhancements, including integration of Google TV and native Netflix support vs Android 11 OS in the Theater.
In fact, these streaming platforms provide a convenient way to access their content without the external streaming sticks or additional devices.
The ALPD – based light engine of Cinema Edge is slightly brighter (1,900 vs 1,800 ISO lumens in ISO 21118 standard) and provides a slightly wider color gamut (110% for Rec.709 vs 107% for Rec.2020 standard).
Some sellers mistakenly list the Theater’s brightness as 2,800 ANSI Lumens, but company website lists 1,800 ISO Lumens.
For reference, 1 ANSI lumens (ANSI IT7.228 standard) = 1.045 ISO lumens (ISO 21118 standard).
The light source Cinema Edge uses blue phosphor laser with ALPD as opposed to Triple Laser with ALPD RGB+ 4.0 in Theater. But speckle elimination technology is not included in Cinema Edge specs.
Perhaps the company refused to use it in the ‘budget’ version.
The new model is significantly cheaper (~$ 2,000 vs $ 2,500).
Like the Theater model, the projector has 3,000:1 (full on/off) contrast ratio, supports 4K UHD resolution, image size up to 150″ diagonally, MEMC (smooth playback with frame interpolation) and voice control with Google Assistant.
Theater supports Dolby Vision / HDR 10+ (decoding) / HDR 10 / NLG, Cinema Edge offers HDR10 / NLG only.
As known, Theater uses upgraded 2x 15W sound system by Bowers & Wilkins and supports Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and DTS-X. Cinema Edge sound system also includes 2x 15W speakers, но supports only Dolby Audio and DTS-HD.
The WiFi 6 and three HDMI 2.1 ports provide all the necessary connections.
Conclusion
In the conditions of the economic downturn, many manufacturers of consumer electronics seek to reduce prices while maintaining high enough specs. The projector segment is no exception, and Cinema Edge perfectly fits this trend. Today, Formovie Cinema Edge is one of the cheapest 4K UST laser projectors. Some sellers offer it for less than $ 2,000. Only a few years ago, this price for a 4K UST laser model was classified as dumping. Despite the very affordable price, Cinema Edge offers quite premium specs and functionality, including:
– ALPD-based RGB-laser light engine (brightness of 1,900 ISO Lumens and color gamut up to 110% for Rec.709 color space);
– 3,000:1 (full on / off) contrast ratio;
– image size up to 150″ diagonally (150″@50cm);
– Google TV with official Netflix;
– HDR10 / NLG support;
– MEMC;
– voice control with Google Assistant.
For comparison:
– Hisense PX3-Pro – $ 3,500, August 2024, 4K UHD resolution, 3,000 ANSI Lumens, RGB Laser, 110% of the BT.2020 color space, 50W front-firing Harman / Kardon speakers;
– XGIMI Aura 2 – $ 2,700, September 2024, 4K UHD resolution, 2,300 ISO Lumens, Laser Phosphor, 99% in DCI-P3 color gamut, 60W Harman/Kardon speakers, Android TV 11.
The superb price-quality ratio promises the model cloudless marketing prospects and, perhaps, a place among the bestsellers.
The video demonstrates the new Formovie Cinema Edge 4K UST projector.
