The CinemaX P1 sits just 10 inches in front of a 100-inch screen and less than a foot below the bottom. If you were to place a regular projector that close to a wall and shine the light upwards, it would obviously distort the image. So a short-throw projector has to pre-distort the image so that it looks rectangular on the wall, making the lens a pretty crucial component. As such, Optoma says the CinemaX P1 packs a "high performance glass lens" suitable for 4K UHD viewing.

At the back is an ethernet port (though you can also connect over WiFi), along with S/PDIF and aux ports for audio, a USB port and two HDMI 2.0 ports. There's another HDMI 2.0 and USB connection along the side for convenience, but unfortunately, the USB port doesn't deliver enough power to run an Amazon Fire Stick, for instance.

The other key component is the built-in NuForce Dolby Digital 2.0 soundbar (Optoma acquired HiFi company NuForce in 2014). It sits on the very front of the projector and packs two aluminum drivers, two woofers and a 40-watt amp, promising "crisp details with superior dialogue clarity." It supports Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and IFTTT, USB media playback and smart TV apps via an Android OS.

Installation

Setting up the CinemaX P1 was a pretty simple affair, but there are some very important things to know. First off, it's designed to project on to either a very flat wall or a custom screen. I originally planned to test it with the motorized screen in my apartment, but soon found out it was impossible.

There's a simple reason why: The projector is right next to the wall and shines straight up, amplifying any screen flaws. Motorized screens tend to develop slight, regularly spaced creases because they roll up so tightly. Those showed up for me as horizontal lines, so I thought there was something wrong with the projector.

Once I figured out that it was the screen, Optoma agreed to send me its ALR101 screen that's stretched to sit very flat in its frame. It also rejects ambient light coming from above and the sides, making the projector better for daytime usage. The drawback is a significant loss in total brightness (around 40 percent). Still, if you're getting any short-throw projector and plan to use it in a room with ambient light, I'd recommend as large an ALR screen as you can afford. If your room is generally dark, however, you can just project onto a flat white wall, as well.

After that, setting up the projector was fairly easy, though still trickier than just sticking a 4K TV on a stand. First, I needed to assemble the screen, which took a good two hours and wasn't clearly explained (Optoma needs to make a YouTube video for this). Also, I'd recommend two people to wall-mount the screen, as I dropped my test unit and scratched it slightly (sorry, Optoma).

Then I needed to figure out how high the projector would sit and install the screen at the correct height to match. Don't install the ambient light-rejecting screen upside-down, like I did, or you'll get an extremely dim image. Yes, I made all the mistakes during this installation.

As for color settings, I found that the CinemaX P1 wasn't quite accurate straight out of the box. I followed the settings from this French review, double-checked them with my X-Rite calibrator and found them to be within an acceptable range of accuracy.

Once you get the image roughly where it should be, you can use Optoma's canny SmartFIT feature. In that mode, it projects four blue dots on the screen then links to your smartphone. After you snap a photo of the screen, it electronically fits the image inside the frame.

The attractive but smallish remote works well, letting you easily adjust settings, control media and change the volume. My only complaint is that it looks exactly like my Fire Stick 4K's remote, so I was constantly mixing them up.

Performance