June 30, 2022 Update: The Formovie T1 has been named Formovie Theater for U.S. markets. It offers an AndroidTV operating system, instead of the proprietary FengOS, and a new color management system (CMS). Otherwise the Formovie Theater and Formovie T1 are the same.
November 3, 2023 Update: The $2,999 Formovie Theater won Best UST 4K Projector for the second year in a row at the 2023 Laser TV Showdown.
Formovie Theater
British high-end loudspeaker maker Bowers & Wilkins has partnered with Fengmi to provide an integrated sound system for their Formovie Theater / T1 4K UST Laser Projector. UST stands for Ultra Short Throw, which means that the projector can display a very large image at a very short distance from the screen as illustrated in the photo.
Related article: Samsung The Premiere LSP9T UST Projector Review
Nearly every TV manufacturer is now offering UST projectors, and because they sit front and center of the room, there’s an opportunity to bundle sound bar capabilities into one box.
It seems projector companies without audio know-how are partnering with established audio brands for credibility.
Although, it’s quite intriguing to learn that Bowers & Wilkins has partnered with a relatively unknown China-based brand. However, they’re not the only ones. Previously, we reported on Dynaudio providing audio systems for the JMGO 01 and JMGO U2 UST Laser Projectors — another company based in China.
Bowers & Wilkins Sound
The Bowers & Wilkins stereo sound system features two forward-firing 70mm glass-fiber Low/Mid frequency drivers and two 20mm titanium tweeters, all mounted in rigid ABS+GF enclosures, located at the outer edges of the front baffle to ensure good dispersion.
The two bass/mid drivers are ported to each side of the projector and feature Bowers & Wilkins Flowport technology which minimizes turbulence by incorporating dimples on the speaker surface, while the tweeters are protected by the proprietary, high transparency speaker mesh.
Bowers & Wilkins specified a high-quality, 2 x 15W, TI (Texas Instruments) amplifier and Dolby MS12 decoder while also including discrete sound modes specially tuned by their engineering team.
The built-in B&W system is designed to provide impactful sound with crisp dialogue, uncolored midrange, and good bass extension, projected into the room beyond the confines of the speaker enclosure.
Dolby Atmos and DTS HD decoding is also provided. Although no additional audio processing details are provided, it is assumed that the projector employs downmixing and virtual surround processing to provide a Dolby Atmos/DTS HD listening experience from its two-channel configuration. Also, with the projector’s HDMI-eARC port it can pass Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD bitstreams to a compatible external audio system if desired.
Formovie Theater Features
The core video features of the Formovie Theater / T1 UST include:
- Product name: Fengmi Formovie Laser TV T1 / Formovie Theater
- Processor: MediaTek MTK MT9669
- RAM: 3GB DDR4
- Built-in Storage: 64GB eMMC high-speed flash memory
- Imaging Chip: TI (Texas Instruments) single DLP chip (exact size/model not provided)
- Resolution: 4K UHD via XPR Pixel Shifting.
- Laser Light Source: ALPD® RGB+ 20,000 hour use life.
- Light Output: 2800 ANSI lumens max white light output
- Native Contrast Ratio: 3000:1
- Wide Color Gamut: BT.2020
- Screen Size: 80 to 150-inches. The T1 can project a 100-inch image from a distance of 20cm (approx 7.9 inches)
- THX Certified: Formovie laser projectors were the first ultra-short throw models to receive THX certification.
- HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+ compatibility.
- Motion Processing: MEMC smooth motion.
- Control: Voice Remote provided.
- Connections:
- HDMI 2.0 (3) – HDMI Input 3 is eARC enabled.
- USB (2)
- Headphone 3.5mm (1)
- Digital Optical Audio (1)
- Ethernet (1)
- Wi-Fi
- Fan Noise: Less than 28dB
- Dimensions: 550 x 349.2 x 107.5mm (21.7 x 13.74 x 4.32 inches)
- Weight: 9.8kg/21.6 pounds
Pricing & Availability
The Formovie Theater is available for $2,999 at ProjectorScreen.com.
Tip: The Formovie Theater has won Best UST projector two years in a row at the 2022 Laser TV Showdown and 2023 Laser TV Showdown.
Related reading: Every UST Laser Projector Compared
