Review: BenQ GV50 Ceiling Projector
Portable projectors offer flexibility and the freedom to watch Netflix anywhere and from any angle—including looking straight up at the ceiling from your bed. When I tried this setup using the small, battery-powered BenQ GV50—which the brand markets as a ceiling projector—it worked well. I can’t say the picture quality or even the sound were spectacular, but the projector is indeed capable of project-it-anywhere portability.
Though the GV50 is a ceiling projector, it also works fine against a wall or using a projector screen. It’s versatile and uses the built-in Google TV operating system, so you can use just about any streaming app. And though it’s cheaper than portable-projector competitors, like the Soundcore Nebula P1 (6/10, WIRED Recommends), you’ll make some compromises in picture quality, sound, and speed. In the age of 4K and eventually 8K video, this projector is stuck in the distant past of 1080p video and doesn’t even support HDMI eARC for pass-through audio or Dolby Atmos. Instead, you are stuck with lower-quality ARC 5.1 surround sound that only supports Dolby Audio.
Still, I ended up liking the GV50 for its portability, and I tried it out in various spots in my house. At its current $599 price, it’s a good buy, as long as you’re aware of and OK with its trade-offs.
Portability as a Priority
The GV50 looks like a large gray and white seashell, and it tilts vertically and horizontally. The build quality is not outstanding, made from a cheap-feeling plastic. Alas, aesthetics are not what BenQ is after here; first and foremost, the GV50 aims to be a functional and highly portable low- to midrange projector. And it’s successful in that pursuit: At 4.6 pounds and 8 inches tall, it’s easy to move. It has a small strap on the top for portability ease, though the strap would be easier to grasp if it were a little bigger. When you’re not using it, you might store the projector in BenQ’s protective carrying case ($59) that has a place for the remote and the base.
You can slide the projector up or down on the base for a vertical shift up a wall or ceiling. For a horizontal tilt, you can fold out the base’s two feet and point the projector at a slight angle on the ceiling. No matter the direction, it’s easy to slide around but also stays put.
The projector only has one HDMI port, which you can use for ARC 5.1 pass- through audio or connecting to another source, like a gaming console. There’s a USB-A port and a USB-C port, both for connecting a thumb drive or a hard drive (or charging a gadget), plus a 3.5-mm port. The GV50 does not have an Ethernet port and uses Wi-Fi 5, which is older and not as widely compatible or as speedy as modern standards like Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7. I had some connection issues with my Google Nest mesh network where the projector couldn’t connect.
Aside from needing to complete a system update that took about 45 minutes, setup was ultra-smooth and mostly involved using the Google Home app to scan a QR code and install the apps. The GV50 used auto-keystoning to map to my projector screen, and it worked well. When I used the projector on a wall and on the ceiling, the keystoning also worked—I only made a few minor adjustments to the size. The GV50 remote uses the typical, intuitive BenQ layout with a Home button in the center, a setup button that’s easy to find, and shortcut buttons for Netflix, YouTube, and Prime.
Not only can the GV50 run on battery power, but it also has plenty of settings to manage its efficiency, including powering down automatically after a set period. I found Battery mode to be marginally helpful, since I use the device in my house, connected to a wall outlet, but the capability does add portability should you want to use the projector while camping or living anywhere else that outlets are sparse. You can use the projector on battery charge alone for a few hours, but the device will dim a little bit to save power.
Picture Quality and More
The GV50 is not trying to be a cinematic marvel by any means, but the projector failed my typical Spears & Muncil benchmark tests. I noticed the skin tone tests were about average for a midrange model like this, not showing much tonal variation. In the demo reel tests, the 1080p quality and lack of good contrast and brightness were much more obvious. A red cactus and yellow flower lacked vividness, and trees in the foreground of a mountain scene looked too dark and mixed into the inky black background. Butterflies that should have looked bright and colorful looked dull, flat, and a bit lifeless.
When I switched to streaming from my iPhone 17 Pro and an iPad 12.9-inch, the GV50’s slow processing speed became an issue. While both Google Cast and Apple AirPlay were functional, the playback was choppy and jittery. If I tried to fast-forward, the stream would pause or fail altogether due to the paltry 2 GB of RAM and 1.5-GHz processor.
The GV50 meets 92 percent of the older Rec. 709 color gamut spectrum, and there’s no info about the more current BT.2020 standard. The lack of color accuracy was obvious during the opening scene of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on Disney+. What should be a burst of vivid color when an alien octopus bursts on the scene did not look vivid, rich, or detailed.
When I watched Masters of the Air on Apple TV, I was immediately turned off by the picture quality. The 1080p resolution and poor contrast were immediately obvious, even though I connected the GV50 to a high-end surround sound system with Polk floor-standing speakers. During chaotic aerial battles, planes seemed to fly from all directions, but I could barely make them out amid clouds and deep blue sky. It almost seemed like there was a thin gray coating over the screen, with the picture quality of a lower-end budget television. “Picture modes” that add more vividness or brightness didn’t help much.
I was surprised, though, that the movies Awake on Netflix and The Creator on Fandango at Home—which I use to test darker scenes in movies—looked OK. I could make out the texture of the rocky cliffs in a beach landing scene of The Creator.
To test video games, I played Red Dead Redemption 2 on the Xbox Series X. Surprisingly, this older game didn’t look too bad and felt responsive, even though the GV50 is not really meant for high-octane gaming sessions. A lakeside town in the game looked murky and atmospheric in a good way.
Should You Buy It?
For anyone hoping to have a cinematic look for ceiling projections or on a projector screen, the GV50 is not a great choice.
But that doesn’t make it a hard pass for every person. I loved fun, novel features, like the ability to stargaze at the ceiling. To do this, I used the Stellarium website on my laptop and cast it to the GV50. I was amazed that the real-time image showed what was actually above me in the sky. It’s also functional for situations when you need to move the projector quickly to a different location. While the GV50 is not ideal for home cinema projection or quick-reflex gaming, it’s fun, affordable, and highly portable.
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