Nebula Capsule 3

Compared a few portable projectors for use in my van. I want to remove my ceiling-mounted TV because I keep bumping my head on it, so I'm looking for something easy to set up and compact. Pairing this with a 40-inch Pile self-standing screen. I compared the Aurzen Boom Air and Nebula Capsule 3. Overall, I like the Nebula Capsule 3 and will keep that. - Picture Sharpness > Nebula - Brightness > tied between the two - Sound > Nebula (Clearer and fuller) - Overall projector noise > Nebula (you can hear the fan in the Aurzen) - Cost > Aurzen Boom Air - Overall value > Nebula If you can get the Nebula on sale, spend the extra 100 dollars for a better overall product. - Smaller footprint and more portable, especially for travel and camping. - Built-in battery makes it super easy to whip out and get your video up and running. no fuss.

It works well and I'm impressed with the video and sound quality. Setup was very easy, and the Google TV Interface is very intuitive. I'm planning on using this projector while camping on a 40" screen. So power is important to me. In measuring the power, it needs 20 volts, so not all USB battery banks will work. On the watts end, I measured 36 watts on standard while the interior battery was charging. After the battery was charged, it dropped down to 26 watts. On eco mode with a charged battery, it drew 15 watts. The automatic focus and keystone works well too, and actavates each time the unit is powered on. Also, dispite some of the reviews and comments, it does have a zoom function, but it's well hidden in the settings mune. As for the brightness, it is perfectly fine on smaller screens.

Great projector, good clarity of the projection, great software and great sound in the speakers. This is the perfect travel companion.

Extremely happy with the size and quality of this projector. The picture clarity and color is excellent up to the edge of its limits, specifically in the dark. Light does reduce picture brightness and quality respectively to how bright it is. It's extremely portable, but I do recommend getting a screw in stand to help position the screen better. The obstacle avoidance and depth detector works well. There is a bit of delay when using the remote, so account for that. The sound is decent but connecting a Bluetooth speaker is preferable.

This gadget along with my Eufy 11s robovac have got to be my top 2 favorite purchases/investments this year, if not this decade. I've been eyeing portable projectors on and off for a few years now because I don't own a TV and don't want to bc I find them clunky and easily outdated. So I tend to watch videos on my laptop instead. That's gotten hard on the eyes over the years and not so great for when I have guests over. I've only had this little powerhouse for less than a week but I'm already in love! I'm pretty indecisive, esp with large purchases, so I looked at a lot of options before opting for the Nebula b/c it's kind of expensive relative to some of the other pocket projectors out there. But over the years, it's the one that keeps popping up at the top of review articles/lists and had the full gamut of things that I was looking for. So I finally bit the bullet and I am SO, SO glad that I did! The Pros: - Truly Wireless: I've seen other options that didn't have bluetooth compatibility or issues w/airplay or screen mirroring. Not this guy. I've read other reviews have issues with some of the apps but maybe I'm just lucky or don't use as many as others b/c I've had no problem finding, downloading or playing from the apps I typically use. For background, those are: Amazon Prime Video, Rakuten Viki, Youtube, Hulu, Netflix, Disney+, and ESPN. - Crisp video quality: I'll upload a pic once I remember to take one soon but it's defo been great video quality for me! - Strong Battery Life: it lasts about as long as advertised, ~4hrs give or take and that is pretty darn good! When I'm binging and need battery to go longer I just plug in my portable battery pack and voila! Hours more play time. - Great Audio: powerful speaker quality, didn't have to connect it to my bluetooth speaker even once (in fact, it doubles as a bluetooth speaker on its own!) - Automatic Keystone Correction: the automatic correction isn't always perfect, esp if you try to project from an angle but it's still pretty cool that it has it as a built in function! And there's an option to override it and adjust manually as well. - Good Heft: it's got a good weight to it. That's not to say it's heavy or inconvenient at all but it has a weight that feels sturdy and non-flimsy to me. The Con: - No zoom in/out function so it's not quite as simple as placing it anywhere you want and getting the size & straightness you want. Still, given it's small size and sturdy weight, it's still pretty convenient once you fiddle around and get the right balance/location for it. - The cooling fan can be quite loud (almost as loud a traditional/old school projector) so when you're navigating around before playing a video you can definitely hear it and that kind of annoys me but it's not an issue at all once you start playing a video and the audio drowns it out. - Tripod sold separately - not a huge deal (see note above re: zoom) and I know most projectors don't include one either but for the price it would've been nice to have included and would've made the initial set up a lot more seamless.

Update II: I exchanged the unit in the hope that the new one would behave better with respect to simultaneous streaming and bluetooth connection to an external speaker. No dice, unfortunately. The problem still exists , sadly. This has nothing to do with the available wireless bandwidth as far as I can tell. The Capsule is connected to a 5GHz wireless-N network which provides 30-40 Mbps at the location of the machine; measured using speedtest.net on an iPhone 5S. Furthermore, the internal battery lasts about 2 hours, most definitely not 4 when playing video, and that's on the 'dim' screen setting. Funny enough, even when it is plugged into the wall, the battery keeps draining when watching a video and using the internal speaker. This was definitely unexpected and reminds me of old Android phones that weren't able to charge while using the GPS due to that component's current draw. You'd hope that a projector would run indefinitely when plugged in ... not so much. So, back to 3 stars. Update: I am adding a star (and a half, 3.5 starts total) based on customer service and the fact that I was able to isolate what looks like a firmware bug. The streaming (Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube) problems described below only occur when the box is connected to an external bluetooth speaker or headphone set; no problems using the HDMI port, or playing files from storage attached via USB. This is a bummer, of course, since bluettoth connectivity is able to sidestep the small speaker built into the unit. It's a 100% reproducible bug; I used an Anker Premium Stereo Speaker and Anker Soundbuds to test this, so all three being from the same company, there shouldn't be compatibility issues, you'd think. Let's see if Anker engineers can figure this one out. We do like the Nebula, so here's to hoping that this issue can be fixed. Original Review: Let me start with the good. The device is well made and feels very solid. Great packaging as well, for those who care;-) It is ultra portable, has an HDMI input, can mirror the screen of your iPhone (either via HDMI or AirPlay, the latter shows some lag, so no good for gaming), and plays video from a USB-connected storage device. Since it is based on Android and has built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, it can run applications, such as those used to stream video content either from a local server or the internet (Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube, Plex). With its built-in rechargeable battery and speaker, it is really something I could see myself bringing on a trip. While the built-in speaker isn't anything to write home about, it will keep the kids happy enough; a nice feature is the ability to connect an external Bluetooth speaker or headphones (see firmware bug described in the update). Sadly, not all is well at this point. First thing after receiving the Nebula was installing Netflix, Amazon Video, Youtube, and Plex after upgrading to the latest firmware version. Despite the Nebula being placed in the same room as the WiFi router, which is connected via a high-speed cable modem to the internet, streaming failed within 60 seconds for all of the above-listed apps; I tried clearing the cache and also rebooted the device, no improvement. I imagine that this has something to do with the buffering algorithm. I even lowered the streaming quality within the Amazon Video app, and it still didn’t change the behavior. I should mention that streaming to a Roku, a FireTV Stick, iPads, and iPhones never results in buffer problems despite those devices being located nowhere near the WiFi router. I didn't find an option to manually enter a DNS address to see if that might help. Needless to say that one of the key features of the device is the ability to operate it in a portable / standalone fashion. If none of the streaming services work, not even streaming DVD-quality video (not HD) from a local server using Plex, what's the point? I reported the problem to Anker and hope to hear back from them shortly. We have several Bluetooth speakers from Anker which we are very happy with, and I have had a good customer service experience with Anker in the past, which was one of the reasons why I went with the Nebula. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this can be resolved since the product has a lot of potential.

Great product. Not sure how long it will last but the picture quality was much better than I expected. Portability was also very convenient.

My first projector and I really love this. Incredible features and performance for its size. The auto focus, keystone, and object avoidance is amazing. I put up a screen on my wall and it will automatically fit the image to the size of the screen, which I recommend getting. Otherwise you will have to move the projector closer or further to get the size you want. Obviously works better in low light environments. The sound is impressive and I don’t ever need to get it close to max to be able to hear everything clearly. I love that I can Bluetooth to another speaker if the projector needs to be offset and you want the sound coming from in front of you like a TV would. Google TV is a little laggy. MY ONLY COMPLAINT and eats at me sometimes is there’s always a “light box” being projected regardless of image shape. It’s hard to describe but there’s always a larger dim light that doesn’t keystone or change with the actual picture that gets corrected. So you’ll see a dim box of light in whatever shape it happens to be based on projector placement and your perfect picture inside of that.