I lastly discovered a projector that delivers each type and substance

Valerion’s VisionMaster Professional 2 has one clear intention – to disrupt the high-end projector market, and, effectively, it’s doing so fairly effectively.

The projector-maker, a sub-brand of AWOL Imaginative and prescient, which is thought for its Extremely-Quick Throw (UST) projectors, burst onto the scene in 2024.

The model is lifestyle-centric, specializing in delivering a premium expertise inside trendy and compact designs that really feel proper at residence in your lounge.

With the Valerion VisionMaster Professional 2, the corporate is doing extra of the identical. I’ve spent a number of weeks with the projector now, and I can confidently say that it blends a good dimension and a premium look with options that punch above its worth class. Nonetheless, it would not come with out some minor hiccups.

Regardless that the projector is cheaper than others in its class, particularly when in comparison with higher-end options just like the JVC NZ8, it’s nonetheless a hefty $3,000 funding (at the moment on sale for $2,550). Regardless of its non-bulky look, the VisionMaster Professional 2 isn’t the most effective in terms of portability, with its 15.4 lb weight making it higher suited to a hard and fast place.

As is the case with DLP projectors, the VisionMaster Professional 2 additionally suffers from the occasional rainbow impact, although it’s minor sufficient to not make or break the core expertise.

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Value, availability, and specs

Accessible throughout the US, the projector sequence was first introduced by way of a Kickstarter marketing campaign again in October 2024, and it shortly raised over 10 million {dollars} from backers around the globe.

Subsequently, the VisionMaster Professional 2 grew to become broadly out there early in 2025, bringing entry to top-of-the-line projector options like an EBL (Enhanced Black Stage) mode, an RGB Triple Laser gentle supply, HDR10+, low enter lag for gaming, a 3,000 ISO Lumen max brightness score, and extra.

The projector is accompanied by a higher-end (and pricier) VisionMaster Max with increased peak brightness, a superior distinction ratio, and hardware-related upgrades like vertical lens shift and a dynamic iris. Which one of many two you finally get relies upon solely in your wants and price range.

For this evaluation, I used the Valerion VisionMaster Professional 2 with desktop gimbal stand and a devoted 120-inch ambient light-rejecting display screen, although these equipment aren’t strictly important to understand the projector’s prowess.

On the specs entrance, the projector depends on the late 2022-released MediaTek quad-core MT9618 that powers a number of of the projector’s AI-powered options. These embrace real-time optimizations like AI Scene Recognition, Darkish Element, Tremendous Decision, and extra. I left these off for the aim of this evaluation.

The chip, paired with 4GB of RAM, affords a principally speedy expertise, with no noticeable lag or slowdown throughout navigation or app utilization in my expertise.

The projector additionally boasts 128GB of inside storage, which is greater than adequate so that you can retailer an enormous library of apps, offline content material, and all of the system information. It runs Android 12, which takes up roughly 20GB of the whole storage.

What I favored in regards to the Valerion VisionMaster Professional 2

Buckle up

Earlier than moving into the nitty-gritty, I’m going to take a second to understand the producer’s consideration to some tremendous particulars, evident proper from the very first impression.

The system ships in a protecting case that additionally doubles as a handy carrying case in the event you intend to take the projector round for the occasional film night time at a buddy’s place. The case neatly holds the projector, its distant and the ability cable.

Talking of the distant, it comes with 2 AAA batteries, is backlit, and easily well-designed with fast entry to YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney. Different fast entry buttons embrace one for Google Assistant/voice management, enter, a shortcut to the aforementioned AI instruments, autofocus, and extra.

The distant is mostly very responsive, barring the arrow keys. In my expertise, efficiently registering a press on the left/proper/up/down arrow keys required exact finger placement immediately on the arrow dots. If my finger was even barely off-center, the distant wouldn’t register the enter. I might usually blame this on muscle reminiscence, particularly since my TV’s distant affords way more lenient button press zones. Nonetheless, after spending over a month with the projector, I nonetheless haven’t adjusted to the exact enter requirement.

Shifting on to the projector itself, it actually stands out with its premium electroplated ribbed steel design that’s wrapped across the projector’s physique. Reportedly, the metal-plated design is to assist the VisionMaster Professional 2 face up to a great deal of as much as 100 kg. Why that’s obligatory for a projector that’s both going to be ceiling mounted or positioned on a tripod? Effectively, I actually don’t know, however you’ll by no means discover me complaining about additional sturdiness, particularly when it provides character to the system in query.

Many of the projectors I’ve used up to now have featured a plasticky outer design, so the VisionMaster Professional 2 is clearly a breath of contemporary air that may seamlessly combine into my lounge with out protruding like a sore thumb.

Whether or not this prompts the trade to undertake extra aesthetically pleasing designs stays to be seen.

Establishing the VisionMaster Professional 2 is a seamless expertise. Technically, you don’t actually need a devoted tripod or ceiling mount to get working. The system has a sturdy leg that may be retracted, permitting you to realize the proper angle in your wall/display screen in minutes. I personally used the projector with a desktop gimbal stand, although the built-in leg gives greater than sufficient stability for many non-mounted setups.

Energy cable goes within the again, with its port, alongside two HDMI 2.1, one HDMI 2.0 with eARC, one USB 3.0, one USB 2.0, one optical S/PDIF, one 3.5mm audio jack, and one ethernet LAN port recessed behind a fold-down flap. The flap itself contains a soft-close/soft-open hinge, making certain it lowers gently and silently. This, once more, is a minor contact that provides to the projector’s total premium really feel and a focus to element.

All of that, although, comes second to the projector’s efficiency – and that’s one space the place the VisionMaster Professional 2 doesn’t disappoint.

The projector’s sensors work in tandem to provide you a calibrated begin from the get-go, and in my expertise, its auto-keystone and autofocus capabilities gave me a pointy and completely aligned picture each time.

Should you personal a devoted projector display screen, your expertise must be even smoother. The VisionMaster Professional 2 has auto-screen detection, which primarily adjusts the keystone and focus to evolve to your display screen’s borders. For me, this labored as meant about 9/10 instances, and when it didn’t, I simply needed to make very minor handbook focus changes to get the proper picture high quality. Theoretically, this could work with as much as a 300-inch display screen.

Talking of automated calibrations, the projector additionally boasts an auto content material detection function, which can routinely swap image modes to HDR when it detects appropriate content material, primarily making certain that you just’re all the time getting the most effective image high quality with out you having to manually dive into menus.

The projector is Energetic 3D appropriate too, which suggests common DLP glasses from Amazon ought to work for an immersive 3D expertise with appropriate content material. I didn’t get an opportunity to check this out. Nonetheless, what I used to be in a position to put to the check is the VisionMaster Professional 2’s brightness declare.

With the Laser Luminance Stage set to max, and a 9-point grid sample projected on the display screen, I used to be in a position to confirm Valerion’s brightness claims. For reference, the VisionMaster Professional 2 is rated at 3,000 ISO lumens. In my testing, the projector was solely in a position to obtain that worth (and better) with its ‘Brightness Enhancer’ set to excessive. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t advocate utilizing the projector on this mode, because it introduces a inexperienced bias that’s disagreeable to have a look at for prolonged durations.

Commonplace and Vivid modes simply reached spectacular 2,400-2,500 ISO lumen ranges with Brightness Enhancer set to off. Once more, these modes had been nonetheless too overwhelming for my eyes, particularly for prolonged viewing classes in a darkish room. That too with a light-weight rejecting display screen. Theater mode, then again, emerged because the candy spot. It was essentially the most nice to have a look at, clocking in at roughly 2,220 ISO lumens (for non-HDR content material) with Brightness Enhancer turned off.

Your outcomes might differ relying in your calibrations. Nonetheless, I can confidently say that the VisionMaster Professional 2’s gentle output is vibrant sufficient to simply refill screens greater than my 120-inch setup, with even daytime ambient gentle not posing a risk in any respect. The picture under was taken throughout the daytime with blinds partially open.

It’s price noting the ISO commonplace usually follows stricter measuring necessities when in comparison with the ANSI commonplace. My gentle meter checks had been performed in a room with blackout blinds and no different synthetic lights. The partitions within the projector room, nevertheless, are off-white, which may have launched a minute quantity of reflection to affect the readings.

Whereas brightness is vital to any good projector, distinction is what actually makes the picture pop. In line with Valerion, the VisionMaster Professional 2 boasts a 15,000:1 distinction ratio. This primarily implies that the brightest white the projector can show will probably be roughly 15,000 instances brighter than the darkest black it will possibly show. It’s price noting, although, that this isn’t the projector’s native distinction ratio.

The projector boasts an already spectacular 4,000:1 native distinction ratio, with the aforementioned EBL mode required to dynamically deepen black ranges to realize the 15,000:1 determine. Basically laser dimming, EBL dynamically adjusts the laser energy when it detects a predominantly darkish scene, all whereas stopping vibrant parts from trying washed by quickly adjusting the ability. That is in contrast to native dimming on TVs, the place particular person zones may be dimmed or brightened relying on the scene.

I usually solely utilized EBL at night time — on film nights, to be particular. It additionally presents a drastic colour shift, so I usually needed to allow the mode roughly quarter-hour earlier than beginning the film, simply to provide my eyes sufficient time to regulate to the modified colour temperature. The professionals, nevertheless, outweigh the cons, particularly when paired with a light-rejecting display screen.

I wouldn’t go so far as to match the distinction degree to high-end OLED TVs with native dimming, however I can confidently say that astronomy movies (that I typically go to sleep to) haven’t regarded this actually deep on the large display screen, with the darks trying actually huge, and vibrant objects likes galaxies and colourful nebulae standing out and shining vibrant.

Okay, so, nice design? Examine. Ample brightness? Examine. Spectacular distinction ratio? Examine. However what about when the controllers come out? Though not marketed as a ‘gaming projector,’ the VisionMaster Professional 2 can simply maintain its personal. It achieves a 4ms enter lag at 1080p@240Hz. 4K gaming is capped at 60Hz with a barely increased 15ms enter lag. Let’s be sincere right here – you’re not taking part in precision-based aggressive shooters like Counter Strike or Valorant on 4K. And in case you are about that life, you’ll most positively choose your gaming monitor over a projector display screen.

For many different titles, the 15ms delay wasn’t actually noticeable in any respect, making the VisionMaster Professional 2 a dependable alternative for an immersive big-screen gaming expertise. I platinum-ed FromSoftware’s new Elden Ring Nightreign in its entirety on the projector, and it was a very seamless, responsive, and visually beautiful expertise with no hiccups.

HDR gaming is supported for appropriate titles, and the identical goes for the EBL mode (I principally saved it disabled whereas gaming). Moreover, the projector routinely goes into its Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) when it detects that you just’ve plugged in and turned on a linked system like a PlayStation, saving you the effort of diving into menus to manually swap modes.

What I didn’t like in regards to the Valerion VisionMaster Professional 2

Seeing purple (and inexperienced and blue)

There actually isn’t one single factor that breaks the VisionMaster Professional 2, however there are a number of tiny ones that, in my view, may have additional polished the expertise.

The projector’s brighter modes — Commonplace and Vivid, for instance, undergo from the occasional rainbow impact (RBE), which I primarily noticed when shortly navigating by means of the projector’s menus.

Sensitivity to perceiving the impact differs from individual to individual, and I’d take into account myself not significantly delicate to it. Nonetheless, I nonetheless seen the RBE artifacts on occasion. What’s necessary, although, is that the impact didn’t actually appear to kick whereas viewing content material. That’s probably as a result of my unit is positioned on the optimum distance the place I don’t want main keystone corrections, which appears to be making RBE worse for some customers.

Utilizing the projector in among the ‘less-bright’ modes like Theater additionally appeared to just about make the rainbow impact disappear.

Elsewhere, the distant, albeit well-designed, requires exact button enter for the arrow keys. This might very effectively be a ‘me’ challenge, however one that would have been prevented with greater button press zones.

I additionally seen that the projector, regardless of its in any other case speedy efficiency, typically takes a bit longer than conventional TVs to begin up. It typically takes roughly 10 to fifteen seconds for the projector to completely energy on and show a picture, and though that isn’t an enormous inconvenience, this hasn’t been a problem on cheaper and fewer highly effective projectors I’ve examined up to now.

Moreover, even after the VisionMaster Professional 2 begins projecting Google TV’s residence interface, it takes a number of additional seconds to turn into absolutely responsive. Once more, a fast startup doesn’t essentially make or break the general expertise, however it definitely is an expectation once you’re shelling out $2,500 to $3,000 on a tool.

Must you purchase the Valerion VisionMaster Professional 2?

It’s worthwhile to think about extra prices

The reply to that query actually relies on your wants. Though reasonably priced, contemplating its premium construct high quality, efficiency, and the sheer variety of options it affords, that worth level is already knocking on the door of some actually high-end TVs.

If the VisionMaster Professional 2 will probably be your first projector, you additionally should think about extra prices for a good display screen, a projector mount (Should you don’t intend to put the system on a desk), and doubtlessly even blackout curtains.

If you have already got the extras, or have already factored within the extra prices, the VisionMaster Professional 2 is a compelling various to conventional TVs. Nonetheless, you additionally want to contemplate whether or not you want all of the VisionMaster Professional 2’s superior options.

There are a number of dependable projectors available on the market that sit considerably decrease than the $3,000 price ticket – even ones from Valerion, just like the StreamMaster Plus and Plus 2, that don’t essentially supply all of VisionMaster Professional 2’s top-of-the-line options, however can nonetheless present an awesome and easy ‘level and think about’ expertise for a lot of customers.

These, nevertheless, wouldn’t all the time supply a picture as vibrant because the VisionMaster Professional 2, nor would they usually function the identical deep distinction. They definitely wouldn’t ship the exceptionally low enter delay the VisionMaster boasts.

Elsewhere, in the event you plan to make the projector a central attraction in your dwelling or residence theater room, there are hardly every other projectors that may match the Valerion providing’s trendy aesthetic.

The VisionMaster Professional 2 retails for $3,000, however it’s at the moment discounted by $450, which brings its worth right down to $2,550.

Model

Valerion

Native Decision

4K

Projection Expertise

DLP with an RGB Triple Laser gentle supply

Valerion VisionMaster Professional 2 is a premium projector providing that boasts an RGB Triple Laser gentle supply, HDR10+ visuals, 3,000 ISO Lumen max brightness, and a number of other top-of-the-line options that aren’t usually anticipated with $3,000 way of life projector.