Dangbei Atom, a HDR10/HLG laser projector with Dolby sound, Chromecast, Google TV and more

Dangbei reached out to me recently to let me know they have a new projector on the market, the Atom, which on paper seemed interesting, but the 1080p output initially put me off in a world surrounded 4K everything. Hell, even a smartphone has a higher resolution, but I could not have been more mistaken in this train of thought.

The Atom, once I got my hands on one, with 1200 lumen supporting Dolby HDR10 and HLG, as well as being a laser projector offers very good results, that only get better as you dim the lights. This is not a sponsored review, Dangbei kindly sent me this to check out and write about my honest experience with the projector as went about using it in my day-to-day media consumption.

The best thing about it for me is that it runs Google TV with a host of smart connectivity and apps already installed such as YouTube, Prime Video and Netflix, with the option to install other apps you're familiar with through the integration of Google's Android Play Store and the ability to side-load apps. The convenient feature of Google TV is that your watchlist is tied to the Google web search results. For example, if I look up a movie or TV show on Google on my PC, then click the "Want to watch" button:

It will then show up in the watchlist area of the Google TV homescreen on the Atom, nice!

The other benefit of Google TV compared to Android TV is that apps like Netflix are officially licensed and neatly integrated with no performance issues that I could spot.

The Atom is available from Amazon in the UK/EU for £799 and $899 from Amazon USA, though it does not come with a carrying case which I would have expected in the box at this price given the projector's Nintendo Wii-like portability. The carrying case has to be bought separately, which you cannot seem to buy from Amazon UK, only on Amazon USA for $50. There is a limited time $150 discount available for those buying direct from Dangbei's website, details are available here.

Anyway, on to the review.

Specifications

Construction

The Atom is made entirely of metal-alloy. It feels solid and has some heft to it, and it's not too far from the size of a Nintendo Wii for a comparison that most will be able to gauge.

There are grilles on each side but the speakers themselves are only on the left side. There is a virtual surround sound option which can be enabled in the settings as it is off by default.

There appears to be a single fan that is constantly active, by default the laser lamp is not at its brightest mode, and only manually setting the brightness can reach that mode. It's not that much brighter than auto, but it might make a small difference in a room that is otherwise too bright to control ambient lighting effectively.

The back of the unit houses very few connections, the HDMI ARC port is the only real thing of significance, the 3.5mm output could be used as a line-out to a home theatre system or other audio setup, though bear in mind this is stereo only.

The underside of the unit has a large anti-slip circle and the tripod mount along with some extra ventilation.

The set-up

I found no problems setting the Atom up, there really is nothing physical to adjust on this projector, no dials or knobs to tweak like on a traditional unit, just a standard tripod mount if you want to fix it to the ceiling or something with three legs (I used a desktop tripod for some of my testing) and that's about it.

The remote control is very nice quality, far nicer feel with its alloy back cover and solid build quality with premium feeling rubber buttons instead of the cheap sticky rubber often found of other remotes. It takes 2x AAA batteries and connects to the Atom using Bluetooth LE, so no need to point it at the Atom, or do what I was doing using muscle memory, point it at the wall every time I went to do something 😅.

The mic button works exactly as expected, with voice input being recorded on the remote and sent via Bluetooth to the Atom. The latency from saying something to it appearing on the screen was near enough instant, if you've used voice search on a modern phone, then the experience is the same here.

Upon first boot it's a simple case of logging into your Google account and then signing into the rest of the apps like Netflix/Prime and so on. If additional apps are desired, then a quick search from the homescreen will bring up the results using the Play Store. I installed Solid Explorer as that's what I use on my phones and tablets to view content shared on the home network.

General navigation and configuration is also a breeze, the interface and speed feels essentially the same as a modern smart TV. If the projector is ever moved, then the auto image calibration and auto keystone/adjustment features kick in re-aligning the image and focus.

There is also auto-obstacle avoidance which stops the calibration process from throwing a fit if something gets in the way. A pre-focus calibration is also done whenever you turn on the Atom, meaning you've always got the sharpest image and/or correct alignment.

The Atom can also function as a Bluetooth Speaker mode that allows anyone with a phone to stream music as if it was a Bluetooth speaker. I have no idea when this might be useful for my needs, but it's there should someone somewhere need it.

Performance

Whether streaming content from a phone or playing directly from the native app on the Atom, everything behaved as you would expect from a modern display device. If you're familiar with using a smart TV, then the usage of the Atom is no different.

The interface is smooth and responsive, although if clicking back to go to the homescreen whilst playing something in let's say Netflix, then there is a short loading time of a couple of seconds before you are returned to the homescreen. I guess this is just down to processing speed. The delay does not exist when streaming from a phone as the unit is not having to do all the processing in the background.

I watched various content from trailers to TV shows to some of my own videos on YouTube, along with various HDR demo reels. All played back with excellent colour and brightness, and whilst the above video may not highlight quite so well, there is no banding or graininess in the projected image like you can get with other projectors. There is also no fringing along the edges of sharp lines in content which is common with traditional projector lenses with standard lamps.

Thanks to the time-of-flight sensor on the front of the Atom, the automatic alignment and adjustment features work well and react quickly to any change. Also, if projector movement is detected, then the onboard gyros will kick start re-calibration and adjustment (if you have the auto modes enabled).

Dangbei have a clip demonstrating how each works much better than I could in my limited space:

What this means is that unlike traditional projectors, you don't need to worry if it's not perfectly straight or facing dead-centre to the projection area, just let the auto alignment do the fine-tuning.

Conclusion

As the review excerpt opens, pleasantly impressed is the best way I can describe the Atom. It's the sort of thing I didn't ever consider wanting, but now that I've used it, can think of a several situations where something of this quality would come in handy, both for home and for my photography.

It's a shame that a carrying case is not included, £800 is a lot of money to only get a basic unboxing experience, and the official case isn't available on the UK Dangbei Amazon store either.

But these are nitpicking things, what matters most is the image quality, and here the Atom seems to excel as a 1080p projector. With support for all the biggest streaming platforms, along with the ability to download other apps through the Play Store, play over USB, and stream over your home network or just use the Atom as a Chromecast device, all of the boxes seem to be ticked.

It is not a projector you would use in bright daylight rooms, it would be passable but remember it only has one emitter, to compensate for side glare on the projection wall additional emitters are needed. For ambient normally lit rooms though, the Atom does a fine job, just remember to close the curtains for maximum enjoyment during the day.

I only encountered one bug during my time using this unit Dangbei sent me which is in retail form. This was when I was setting it up in another room to test something out and I noticed the homescreen went blank only showing the grey thumbnail backgrounds. After about a minute the Atom restarted itself and all was well after that. For reference, at the time of writing there have been no new system updates.

Update - 2024.04.15

Dangbei reached out and confirmed that USA availability is confirmed via the Amazon USA page. Links have been updated in the Specifications box and original wording updated to reflect this information.