Looking for a budget-friendly 1080P projector? Yaber has got you covered with their selection of projectors as long as you are savvy enough. I recently got my hands on the Yaber V9 Pro – a 1080P projector that seems promising on paper. I was excited to test it out and see how it performs, considering the price of around £200 ish*. So, I plugged it in, put it to the test, and evaluated its trade-offs.
(*more on that later)
Comes with a backpack?
Yaber V9 comes tucked inside a small backpack. I’m probably the last person to take proper advantage of this fact and take it hiking (no internal battery), but I don’t hate the idea. The backpack size is perfect not just for the projector, but for my camera with lenses too. It removes the need for packing foam, so that’s a plus.
Camping tips aside, Yaber V9 Pro is a 1080p LCD-based projector with WiFi capabilities. It doesn’t have Android streaming box features, but the inclusion of WiFi Miracast, 2 HDMI and 2 USB ports is much appreciated. What’s very pleasing to see is the support for WIFI6 – which so far only my PC and Xiaomi Mi 11 support at home – that extra bandwidth won’t be congested when screen casting.
Basic control buttons are positioned on the top of the unit and provide everything you need to control the playback from the device. The included IR remote offers the same functions (and more), but has one annoying feature (at least for me). The screen alignment button is located where I would expect the “back” button to be, so I found myself constantly pressing the wrong button. Additionally, I noticed a mic imprint on the remote’s belly, but it’s clear that this remote doesn’t support that – Looks like the remote’s shell design is shared with more expensive models from Yaber.
Speaking of annoyances, the power lead connects at the side, which is an odd choice, considering all that extra empty space at the back. Hiding cables will be so much harder!
Confusing pricing
When I initially opened Yaber’s Amazon page, I got confused as the price of £359 was not what I expected to see. At that price this may not be the best deal on the market, however… at the time of writing, the Amazon listing comes with a single-use voucher (£100 off your purchase) and an additional code can be used:
to get the price closer to the £200 mark. I’m not sure what’s the benefit of pitching the price this way is, but I’m here to review stuff, rather than come up with marketing strategies.
Features
Considering the budget price, Yaber V9 Pro is packed with a nice set of features including autofocus, keystone and zoom. All these come in handy in day-to-day use. Playing with various options opens up settings for front and rear projection as well as a ceiling mount.
While Yaber V9 Pro is “dumb” (no environment for apps), included USB ports allow playback of the most common file types (music, pictures, videos) but what the Yaber V9 Pro is missing – is the option to add DLNA or network storage instead. I’d be happy to sacrifice other options just to get that.
Screencast – no HDCP
Built-in Miracast/ScreenCast isn’t HDCP certified, you can share a desktop, and watch youtube, but any streaming services with HDMI content protection won’t work. There is a slight latency between the input and display, so the projector isn’t suited for anything but casual games.
What’s disappointing, even when connected via HDMI, Amazon complained about the projector not being HDCP compliant and dropped browser resolution to 480p. Connecting Google Cast paints another picture where I had no problem using it with Amazon Prime and HD content. It’s clear to me, that if you want to stream stuff like Netflix or Disney+, you’ll spend the money saved on the projector on streaming dongles.
Sadly, wireless streaming was temperamental. I had moments when everything worked relatively well, but most of the time, when I tried to cast to the projector, it couldn’t handle the stream. Using recently reviewed ProScreenCast gave me better results. I hope a firmware update would improve the consistency. For reference, I have tried WiFi6 with my Asus Mesh routers (Asus RT-AX88U and Asus RT-AX86U ).
Picture
I placed the LCD projector just above my head in the bedroom, in the exact same spot where my Xiaomi DLP projector usually sits. Having spent countless hours with that projector, I knew what to expect.
It’s a vibrant LCD projection in 1080P and it feels bright. 500 ANSI, isn’t bright enough for a day’s use, but once your curtains are drawn, you will enjoy the screening. The picture is sharp and clear and despite being cast over a 75″ area – pixels are only noticeable up close. The picture does suffer from chromatic aberration on the edges, which is mostly visible on white text, especially when viewed up close.
The weakest aspect of Yaber V9 Pro’s image reproduction is how the projector handles dark colours. It tends to blend various shades of brown and black together, resulting in a loss of detail. This issue is especially pronounced when characters are wearing black clothes and have darker skin tones.
Thankfully, the projector’s handy quick menus allow for on-the-fly adjustments to picture and sound quality. You can choose from dedicated template settings or make manual tweaks for brightness, contrast, sharpness, and colour. While you may not be able to fix all the issues, these options can help you mitigate them.
Size
At a distance of 2.20m, the projection is approximately 75 inches, which is slightly smaller than what I prefer (compared to 85 inches from Xiaomi), but still perfectly fine for 1080p resolution. Yaber V9 Pro projects the image at the level of its lens, with the projection spanning vertically above and below the projector’s placement. However, since my bedroom shelf was installed with my older projector in mind, the final image ended up being significantly lower.
To fix this, I had to prop up the projector slightly and use keystone compensation to adjust the slightly skewed image. As a result, the projection was a bit smaller. I only discovered an angle adjustment screw for mounting the projector on a tripod when I tried to do so, which can be removed to make space for the 1/4″ tripod mount.
Another thing worth mentioning is the focus step. Each focus step is relatively large, making it possible to place the projector at a distance from the wall in between the focus steps. If you are unable to get a sharp image despite manual adjustments, consider moving the projector a few centimetres closer before refocusing it and reducing keystoning as much as possible.
Gaming?
Actually, yes. I would strongly encourage you to use HDMI rather than wireless display mode, but the input lag is minimal. After all, this is an LCD projector and doesn’t suffer from the input lag associated with DLP technology.
Your competitive marksmanship skills will undoubtedly suffer, but mouse movements are accurate, leaving you open to playing anything else that doesn’t rely on lightning-fast responses. I’ve tried Spider-man, CS:GO, Witcher 3 (although my framerate tanked for some reason), and KSP2 – at no point did I feel like I was at a strong disadvantage – although playing Counter-Strike with a pillow as a mouse mat is less than ideal and bots even on “HARD” don’t pose that much of a threat.
Sound
The Yaber V9 Pro comes with built-in speakers, but they are located at the back, which is not ideal as you are likely to push the projector as far back against the wall as possible. The speakers are rated for 2 x 5W each and are surprisingly loud. This is a good thing since the projector itself is definitely audible. If you are looking for a bedroom projector for late-night, intimate screenings, the fans will drive you mad.
Despite the above, the Yaber V9 Pro speakers fill the room with sound well. My comfortable volume level was around 25% with the projector above my head. The speakers will do in a pinch, but considering how the sound consists mainly of mid-tones with a little muddy bass, you’ll be switching to dedicated speakers in no time. Especially since I had to disable Dolby Sound to get the audio output via HDMI.
Thankfully, both a 3.5mm jack and Bluetooth audio are available for external devices. In short, the Yaber V9 Pro is loud enough to get the attention of kids, but for some serious boxset binging, I recommend a pair of speakers, like these from Majority to go with it.
Final thoughts
I would love to see Yaber omitting WiFi and focusing on picture quality and noise reduction. Not everything needs a long list of features to be appealing. They nailed the price point (perhaps not the pricing strategy) and resolution, and if they saved money by omitting WiFi and perhaps even USB playback in exchange for better dark colour reproduction and silent operation, I would recommend this projector to anyone on a tight budget.
Ultimately, your choice will depend on your budget and expectations. On the positive side, you have a native 1080P projection that can entertain your family in cinematic style without burning a hole in your wallet.
On the other side, you will need to spend a bit more on better speakers (unless you already have some) and a streaming device – while timing the purchase just right to get the best price.
Yaber V9 Pro is great for the living room where extra lumens come in handy, but not ideal for the bedroom where every decibel matters. Either way, home cinema has never been so affordable, so treat yourself! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in this Reddit thread.
🆓📈💵 – See the transparency note for details.
