The BenQ HT3550 is a 4k HDR projector primarily meant for watching movies. It projects a 100" image at a distance of 8.2 to 10.7 feet, 120" at a distance of 9.9 to 12.8 feet, and a very large 150" at a distance of 12.3 to 16 feet. The projector comes with auto vertical keystone technology to eliminate trapezoid effects when installed at an angle and includes a lens shift feature of up to 10% on the vertical axis. Finally, it has two HDMI 2.0b ports for 4k @ 60Hz gaming and two integrated 5W speakers.
Our Verdict
The BenQ HT3550 is alright for watching movies. Its native contrast is decent, and its brightness is alright, leading to pleasant blacks and a bright enough image when watched in a dark room. The projector has a very wide color gamut, but unfortunately, it's just not bright enough to make its colors look vibrant. The projector's color accuracy before calibration is poor, so you need to calibrate it if color accuracy matters to you.
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Very wide color gamut.
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Projector isn't bright enough to project vibrant colors.
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Poor pre-calibration accuracy.
- 6.9 Movies
- Updated Aug 07, 2024: Mentioned the newly-reviewed BenQ HT3560 in the Differences Between Sizes And Variants and Compared To Other Projectors sections of this review.
- Updated Aug 05, 2024: Updated text throughout the review according to Test Bench 0.9, mainly in the Verdict, Compared To Other Projectors and Contrast sections.
- Updated Aug 02, 2024: We've converted this review to Test Bench 0.9. We've overhauled our Contrast tests, as we now measure contrast at various average pixel levels (APL). You can see the full changelog here.
- Updated Feb 13, 2024: Review published.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We bought and tested the BenQ HT3550. This projector has two higher-end models: the BenQ HT3550i, which has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and comes with the BenQ QS01 Android TV dongle, and the BenQ HT3560, which doesn't come with a smart dongle but has 1080p @ 240Hz on its three HDMI ports, plus eARC support.
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Model |
Streaming dongle | ARC/eARC | 1080p @ 240Hz | USB ports | HDMI ports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BenQ HT3560 | No | eARC | Yes | 2 x USB 2.0 | 3 x HDMI 2.0 |
| BenQ HT3550i | Yes | ARC | No | 1 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0 | 2 x HDMI 2.0 |
| BenQ HT3550 | No | ARC | No | 1 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0 | 2 x HDMI 2.0 |
Our unit was manufactured in December 2022; you can see the label here.
Compared To Other Projectors
The BenQ HT3550 is an okay mid-tier 4k HDR projector for watching movies in a dark room due to its decent contrast and very wide color gamut. However, there are better options, with the ViewSonic PX701-4K being almost as good for a lot less money. It also has a higher-end model, the BenQ HT3560, which is much more accurate out of the box and has both 1080p @ 240Hz and 4k @ 60Hz support on its three HDMI ports, making it a much better value for gamers. Plus, the newer model has eARC instead of ARC. You'll still need to get a streaming dongle if you want a smart OS and wireless features, but overall, the newer model is a noticeable improvement over the HT3550.
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The Epson Home Cinema 3800 is much better than the BenQ HT3550. The Epson is much brighter, and has way better contrast with significantly brighter colors. It's also vastly more accurate before calibration and has near-perfect accuracy post-calibration. The BenQ is smaller and lighter and has auto keystone correction on the vertical axis, so it's easier to carry around and faster to install.
The BenQ HT3550 and BenQ TK700STi are meant for different uses, as the HT3500 is primarily meant for home theater use, while the TK700STi is a gaming projector. Still, the TK700STi is no slouch for watching movies due to its satisfactory contrast and decent brightness, although the BenQ matches it for contrast. However, the HT3550 is significantly more colorful and much more accurate than the TK700STi post-calibration, making it the better choice for color aficionados.
The BenQ HT3560 is better than the BenQ HT3550. They're extremely similar, but the HT3560 is vastly more accurate out of the box, making it the superior product for anyone who cares about image accuracy. It also has three HDMI ports instead of two and has eARC support instead of ARC. The HT3560 is also capable of up to 4k @ 60Hz or 1080p @ 240Hz, while the HT3550 is limited to 4k @ 60Hz. The latter does have one USB 3.0 port alongside a USB 2.0 port, while the HT3560 has two USB 2.0 ports.
The Epson Home Cinema 5050UB is much better than the BenQ HT3550. The Epson is much brighter, with significantly brighter and saturated colors due to its brightness and excellent color gamut. It's also vastly more accurate before calibration and has fantastic accuracy post-calibration. The BenQ is smaller and lighter and has auto keystone correction on the vertical axis, so it's easier to carry around and faster to install.
The BenQ HT2050A is slightly better than the BenQ HT3550, although the HT3550 is a more recent release with 4k HDR support, while the HT2050A is an older model that's limited to 1080p and lacks HDR. The HT3550 also has a much wider color gamut, although neither projector is bright enough to make colors pop. Still, the older HT2050A has much better contrast and slightly better peak brightness, so it's more capable in a variety of lighting conditions than the sharper HT3550.
The ViewSonic PX701-4K and BenQ HT3550 are about equally as good, although the ViewSonic is much better for gaming due to its 1080p @ 240Hz support. Otherwise, both projectors are 4k pixel-shifting units, with the BenQ having a much wider color gamut, while the ViewSonic has the edge in contrast. Ultimately they're both capable in a variety of contexts, but the ViewSonic is better if you're hoping to game, while the BenQ has the slight edge for content consumption due to its wider color range.
Test Results
The BenQ HT3550 isn't meant to be portable as it's a big projector without an integrated battery, so you need to plug it in. It has auto keystone correction, but only on the vertical axis, so you still need to center it horizontally to avoid a crooked image. It doesn't have autofocus, so you must manually adjust that to get the clearest image possible.
This DLP projector uses a lamp as its light source, which can last from 4000 to about 15000 hours depending on the selected eco mode, after which you'll need to swap the lamp for a new one. It's not a true 4k projector, as it uses pixel shifting to create a higher-resolution image. This offers better quality than a pure 1080p projector, but not as good as a native 4k projector.
This projector has okay brightness. It offers an acceptable viewing experience in a dark room. Unfortunately, its colors are not very vibrant.
The BenQ HT3550 has decent native contrast, leading to pleasant blacks in a dark room.
The projector has disappointing color accuracy out-of-the-box. Its white balance is off, with blues and greens being overrepresented in most shades of white. Its gamma curve is peculiar; the projector is always overbrightened, but bright scenes are extremely so. Finally, the projector's color temperature is very cold, giving everything a blue-ish tint.
The projector's image accuracy post-calibration is great. Its white balance is now excellent overall, with only minor color accuracy issues in the brightest whites. Gamma is now much better, with very dark and very bright scenes still slightly overbrightened. Color temperature is now almost exactly on target.
The BenQ HT3550 has an excellent color gamut. It does a fantastic job with the Rec. 709 color space used with SDR content and even does a very good job with the wider Rec. 2020 color space.
The BenQ HT3550 doesn't have a smart OS, but it does have two 5W speakers.
The projector has a 12v trigger out port to connect your screen to it; this allows you to signal the screen to unfold when the projector powers on and inversely retract the screen when the projector is powered off. Unfortunately, the projector doesn't support Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.