The 5 Best Home Theater Projectors of 2025

If you're looking for the best home theater projector, check out the Epson Home Cinema 3800. The projector has great image quality due to its excellent brightness and great contrast. Movies are vibrant, especially when watched in a dark room, and it's easily bright enough to handle a few lights. With its pixel-shifting technology, it also projects a sharp image, so you won't have any problems with movies looking fuzzy when projecting very large images. Even more impressive is its out-of-the-box accuracy; color purists will be more than satisfied with this unit without calibrating it. It's also HDR10 and HLG compatible, but unfortunately, its color gamut isn't quite good enough for a truly engrossing HDR experience, as colors look a bit washed out. This projector projects an 80-inch image at a distance of approximately 93 inches (7.75 feet) and up to 200 inches at a distance of 233 inches (about 19 feet).

While this projector offers tremendous image quality, it's a bit dry on features. If you want to easily watch movies from streaming apps, this projector isn't for you, as it doesn't have an integrated smart OS or Wi-Fi, although it does have Bluetooth. It also doesn't have an ARC/eARC port, so for the best sound, you'll need to connect the projector to a receiver through HDMI. Otherwise, this unit has two HDMI ports to connect external devices. Overall, this unit provides the best possible image quality for enthusiasts wanting to build a cinema room without spending an arm and a leg.

For those looking for the best of the best with money to burn, consider the Epson Home Cinema 5050UB, the best movie projector we've tested. Like the Epson Home Cinema 3800, this model has no fancy features and is focused on only one thing: watching movies. It's a bit dimmer than the 3800, but it does have slightly better contrast, so it looks punchier when watching movies in a dark home theater setup. However, its most noticeable advantage over the cheaper Epson is its color gamut; it's very wide, and the projector is bright enough to project a vibrant, colorful HDR image. The 5050UB's pre-calibration accuracy is equally excellent, and for purists, you can improve it even more with the projector's vast array of calibration features. It projects an 80-inch image at a distance of approximately 94 inches or about eight feet, up to a massive 300 inches at 357 inches, almost 30 feet.

Just like the 3800, this unit has two HDMI ports to connect external devices and a 12V trigger-out port if you want to automate your projector screen. This unit doesn't have an ARC/eARC port, so you'll still need to connect the projector to a receiver through HDMI for the best sound. It's light on features as it doesn't come with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, nor does it have a smart OS. Overall, this projector provides the best possible image quality, although it's not worth the extra cost over the top pick for most people.

If your chosen home theater room is on the smaller side, or if you want to place your projector closer to the screen, consider the XGIMI AURA 2, the best short-throw projector for home theaters. It projects a 90-inch image from a distance of 5.4 inches and up to a 150-inch image from 15.3 inches. It matches the Epson Home Cinema 5050UB in brightness, which is impressive, although the Epson has the edge when it comes to contrast and color vibrancy. The XGIMI is just as accurate out-of-the-box, however, and supports Dolby Vision as well as being IMAX Enhanced certified, making it a more modern option than the otherwise slightly better-performing Epson.

This projector has three HDMI ports, one with eARC support. It also has three USB data ports for direct playback from a USB drive, a headphone jack, and an optical audio out port, so it has everything you need to connect a soundbar. Its Google TV smart OS is fully featured, with Chromecast, Magicast, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.2 support, so you won't need a streaming dongle to get the most out of this projector. Overall, the Epson Home Cinema 3800 offers better value, and the Home Cinema 5050UB delivers slightly better overall performance at a similar price. But if you're tight on space—or just want to install your projector closer to the wall—the XGIMI is a very good alternative.

Looking for a home theater projector that punches well above its price tag? The BenQ HT2060 routinely dips below its little‑over‑$1,000 MSRP during sales, and that value makes it our best budget home theater projector pick. Expect sharp 1080p images and deep, inky contrast that rivals anything else here once the lights are down. Colors are dialed‑in right out of the box, so you don't need to worry about calibrating it, but its brightness is merely mediocre, although certainly good enough for a dim home theater room. It projects a 100-inch image at a distance of around 9.6 feet, 120 inches at a distance of around 11.5 feet, and a very large 150 inches at a distance of about 14.4 feet.

Extras are minimal: there's no built‑in smart OS, Wi‑Fi, or Bluetooth, but it's definitely a smaller and lighter projector than any of the choices above, and it comes with auto vertical keystone correction, making it rather easy to move around if you're looking for the perfect placement. If you'd prefer to watch movies from streaming apps, the unit has a powered USB‑A port for a dongle. Unfortunately, there's no ARC/eARC; instead, you get 3.5 mm audio in/out and an optical output. Overall, if you want top‑tier cinematic performance at a decent price—especially once those discounts hit—the BenQ HT2060 is hard to beat.

If you're looking for the cheapest projector that still delivers acceptable performance, the NexiGo PJ40 (Gen 3) stands out as the best cheap projector for home theaters you can buy. It's priced far lower than our budget option, the BenQ HT2060, while offering contrast that's just as good, making it a strong contender for dark-room home theater setups. However, it's held back by its dim brightness and muted colors, though it's still relatively bright for a projector at this price point. Unfortunately, it also has poor out-of-the-box color accuracy, so calibration is a must for anyone who prioritizes accurate colors. This model can project a 100-inch image from a distance of 10.5 feet.

This projector supports Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi, and casting via Miracast or Apple AirPlay, providing flexibility for connecting devices. It also has two HDMI ports (one with ARC for soundbars) and a decent 20W built-in speaker system, offering convenience for those who don't want to rely on external speakers. While it lacks the BenQ projector's superior brightness, it makes up for it with extras like HDR10 support and more robust connectivity options. Overall, this unit is a fantastic pick if you're on a tight budget and plan to use your projector in a darker space.