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₹ 3,50,000
Nishant Padhiar | 24 Mar 2025 01:13 PM
Everyone aspires to bring the big-screen experience home. But then, city life happens and we get cooped up inside bird houses with barely enough room to practice insta-yoga. Formovie is a brand that has embraced this challenge since inception and has constantly innovated on form factor, technology and value. The Cinema Edge might be one of the most compact and slim ultra short-throw projectors we've had on our test bench and even before firing it up, it puts a smile on your face with the promise of a big picture. Using the Advanced Laser Phosphor Diode (ALPD) light engine, it comes with several benefits. Long life and instant power on/off are just the tip of the iceberg, but it also renders more contrast and less tinting of HDR images, a common irritant in lesser projectors.
Its compact footprint hides an impressive arsenal of tools. The front-firing soundbar has two drivers powered by a 30W amplifier and Dolby Audio processing, the sides have elegant fins for cooling the unit and keeping operating noise to under 32dB and around the back, a trio of HDMI 2.1 ports accept all you sources, including one with eARC. Although, with Google TV built-in, none of the popular streaming apps will need sideloading and you can be Netflix and chillin’ faster than you can say ‘The Woman In the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window’. WiFi 6 makes it easy to connect to your network and get speeds good enough to stream 4K without a glitch. Ethernet, SPDIF, Bluetooth and a line-out complete the suite.
If you fancy an 80in image just six inches from the screen, the Cinema Edge fits the bill nicely. Start with six inches from the wall for an 85in image and keep pulling it farther all the way until you get a massive 150in image. All from the same device!
Like with all UST projectors, you will have to fine tune its final resting place to achieve the perfect balance between picture size and geometry. But once you’ve settled in, there are a ton of picture tweaking options to fine tune the image, although it must be said that the Cinema Edge stops short of Dolby Vision or HDR10+. Still, its HDR10 picture is a bright and colourful affair and with 2100 lumens, you may even just get away by keeping your drapes or doors open. You could go up to a maximum of 150in if your credenza and aesthetic sense are flexible!
Decent sound, responsive navigation and easy set-up mean that the Formovie Cinema Edge may not be at the cutting-edge of HDR playback at home, but it certainly edges out buying a similar sized TV for a whole lot more.