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Projectors used to be for movies and presentations. While they've always been great for covering a large screen area, the refresh rates and resolution haven't been so impressive if you want a rapidly responding, detailed gaming experience. But times are changing, and Philips has seen this as an opportunity to enter the gaming projector market with the GamePix 900. Not only does it offer 4K resolution, if you drop to 1080p it supports 240Hz. Could this be the king of gaming projectors? We put it through its paces to find out.
Aside from its headline 4K resolution (3,840 x 2,160) and 240Hz at 1080p, the GamePix 900 can also manage 120Hz at 1440p, which might be the sweet spot for many games. At 1080p and 240Hz, the input lag is 6ms, which is quite a bit higher than a gaming monitor offering this refresh rate, but not hideous, although it drops to 8ms at 120Hz. However, there is no support for FreeSync or G-sync adaptive frame rates.
The GamePix 900 can project an image from 60in up to 120in diagonal, so your screen size will be well beyond any gaming monitor and you'd need to spend a fortune to get a TV this size. It can cover 95% of the Rec. 709 colour gamut, which should keep movies looking vibrant and natural. There's HDR10 support to help here too. Stated brightness is 1,000 ANSI lumens, although that's at the source.
You only get a single HDMI port on the rear, so will need to swap physically between different inputs. Although there's a built-in 5W speaker, a headphone minijack is available. A USB port is included too.
The headline features of the Philips GamePix 900 are certainly compelling, and for a limited time you can pick one up for £495, although this will rise to £819 when the offer runs out. Read on to find out if the GamePix is exactly what you need to upsize your gaming.
Price: £819 (reduced to £495 at time of publication).
Specification:
- Display Technology: DLP
- Light Source: LED
- LED Lifetime: 30,000 hours
- Brightness: 1,000 ANSI Lumens
- Resolution: 3,840 x 2,160
- Max Refresh: 240Hz at 1,080p
- Input Lag: 6ms at 240Hz, 8ms at 120Hz
- Colour Gamut: 95% Rec. 709
- Screen Size: 60 to 120in
- HDR Support: HDR 10
- 3D Support: Yes
- Internal Speaker: 5W
Our GamePix 900 came in a basic white box (it was an early sample) rather than retail packaging, so we haven't included a picture of that in this review.
Power comes from an external adapter, with an IEC 5 / 6 cable attachment.
The GamePix 900 is quite fat as projectors go. We quite like the red edging around the lens hole. A projector is not something where you drool over the design, but we do rather like the dark grey matte finish and overall look of the unit. You can manually adjust the lens through the hole in the top. However, there are no physical buttons on the unit at all, so if you lose the remote control (see below) you will be a bit stuffed. The build quality also feels average rather than premium.
On the rear, next to the power input, is a USB Type A port intended to supply power to an external device rather than enable direct media playback. Then there's a single HDMI input and headphone audio minijack plus a power button. You will probably route audio from the source device to a higher-power speaker system rather than use the one integrated.
That's not a lot of connectivity, considering this is a premium unit. We would have liked to see a second HDMI or DisplayPort for additional sources. There's also no wireless connectivity, so no option to cast directly from a mobile device.
With no buttons on the unit itself other than power, the remote will be essential. Aside from volume controls, there are arrow keys and an OK button for navigation, a settings wheel, a button to call up keystone, and keys for quick menu and general settings. Plus power on/off, of course. And that's it. We're not sure why a source button is included as there is only one source available.
You will need to use the remote to adjust keystone (and the dial on the unit itself to adjust focus), with no automated function available for either, although you probably won't have to do this often because the GamePix is not meant to be carried around. It's more for setting up in your gaming and entertainment room and then leaving alone.
So the Philips GamePix is rather barebones in terms of design and physical features. What about its menu and options?
Once the Philips GamePix 900 is warmed up, your only route towards any settings is via the remote control.
As predicted, with only an HDMI input, the source button is pointless.
You can also get directly to keystone adjustments with a single button, using the navigation pad to make adjustments.
There's a separate button for Color Modes too, which include Brightest, Standard, Movie, Action Gaming, Adventure Gaming, Sports Gaming and a User-configurable preset.
The little cog button on the remote calls up the menu, with the first tab providing the ability to change the aspect ratio, keystone (again), zoom, and gaming mode. This setting restarts the projector specifically for this application.
The next tab along provides Color Mode presets, which we have already detailed above. You can also adjust brightness and contrast, or select a colour temperature preset, as well as configure RGB settings manually. The Advanced options include the ability to adjust parameters like sharpness and gamma. Silent mode reduces fan noise.
The next tab is all about power, including automatic power cycling, toggling smart energy, and turning power to the USB port off and on.
The fourth tab provides sundry startup and shutdown options, including a timer for the light to blank, the Philips splash screen and enabling a pattern (to aid adjustment).
The test card pattern looks like this.
Next along are HDMI settings, including support for HDR and control over the light source.
The penultimate tab includes sundry options such as menu language, whether the device is front or back projecting, and other menu configuration parameters.
The final tab simply shows the current input status, plus firmware version and serial number (if you click through). It's for information only.
Overall, there are some gaming monitor-style options within the GamePix 900's menu. It would be nice to have a few buttons on the projector itself in case the remote runs out of power or is mislaid. But otherwise the menu system is reasonably well arranged and includes a decent level of features. You're probably not going to tweak a projector as much as a high-end gaming monitor.
For testing, we hooked the Philips GamePix 900 up to a Dell XPS 17 notebook, which has NVIDIA RTX 3060 graphics on board and a screen with a 3,840 x 2,400 resolution, making it a great platform for testing a 4K projector. We set the screen to 3,840 x 2,160 for the GamePix, which is this projector's native resolution. An HDMI connection (with a USB C adapter on the notebook) attached the Dell to the projector. A 100in floor-standing screen completed the testing setup.
We wanted to assess maximum real-world brightness of the projector, so we enlisted an Extech LT45 LED light meter to measure this. With the projector 200cm from the screen, we filled the screen with a white page and pushed the brightness up to maximum and then recorded the level of illumination in the four corners of the screen and the middle. All tests were performed in an otherwise entirely dark room.
Projectors are a new area for KitGuru to review so we don't have comparisons for these results yet. However, it should be underlined that the ANSI Lumens rating of 1,000 for the GamePix 900 is not the lux rating you should expect on a projection screen. It's the light output at the bulb. This is lower than some projectors we're familiar with, but also means that the GamePix can offer 30,000 hours of LED lifetime, which is on the higher side. To put that in perspective, it equates to over 3.4 years of continual usage, which should effectively mean the LED light source will last the lifetime of your usage of this projector. Considering that projector bulbs used to go all the time a few years ago, and they can be hard to replace, this is reassuring.
For our illumination test, you'll notice that the screen is brighter at the bottom than the top, which will mostly be because our projector stand was a lower than the edge of the screen and pointing upwards. The rating to take most notice of is the middle one of 511 lux. It's also worth mentioning that at maximum brightness the screen image was very washed out and you would never want to use it at that level.
At default half brightness, however, the GamePix 900 produced a gobsmacking image. We started off with static high-resolution photographs to assess the level of detail and colour. The reproduction was stunning, with sharp pixels and great colour range.
Next up was 4K video playback, with similar results. Rich colours, plenty of detail, and smooth motion. Gaming is the real focus (the clue is in the name), though, so we tried a few titles. At 4K, we played League of Legends, where the huge projected diagonal provided an incredible space for the map. We then tried Rainbow 6 Siege and CS:GO at lower resolutions (1440p and 1080p) to max out the frame rates with less taxing games. The result was fractionally less smooth than a 240Hz gaming monitor with adaptive sync, but still incredibly fluid. Although the pixel response is slower than most monitors, the lag wasn't noticeable.
Overall, the Philips GamePix 900 offers incredible image quality. For gaming and media enjoyment, performance is top notch.
The Philips GamePix 900 lacks some physical features. We would have liked to have at least some control capability on the unit itself, in case of problems with the remote. There is a decent level of adjustment with the remote available, however. The projector could also have benefited from more inputs than just the single HDMI, if you wanted to connect a console or gaming PC alongside a set-top box or other media player. The USB port is for power only, and automatic focus and keystone adjustment are also missing.
But then there's the image quality, which will help you forgive most of these omissions. At 4K, the detail is superb and colour is great at all resolutions. The 240Hz refresh at 1080p makes for smooth gaming when ultimate detail is less important. Overall, the performance is excellent, particularly at the introductory price of £495.
The Philips GamePix 900 is available from Philips for £819 (reduced to £495 at time of publication).
Pros:
- Excellent colour and detail.
- 4K resolution.
- 240Hz refresh at 1080p.
- HDR10 support.
Cons:
- No control buttons on unit itself meaning you're stuck if you lose the remote.
- No automatic focus or keystone.
- USB for power output only.
- No adaptive sync.
KitGuru Says: The Philips GamePix 900 offers excellent image quality, but lacks a few features and connectivity is limited. At the discounted price, it's exceptional value, and even at the regular price it's well worth considering.
