TCL A1 Projector Review: HAL 9000 Look-Alike Is Affordable, but Flawed

6.9 / 10 SCORE TCL A1 $400 at Amazon Pros Great speakers Clever handle/stand design Relatively bright Cons Lack of upward throw means you need to use digital keystone Is it… staring at me? Mainstream TV companies occasionally dabble in the projector market, and while Sony has had good results with its high-end models, other brands can have limited success. TCL, a company best known for its big TVs, also manufactures a little projector, the A1, and it's… a bit odd. It does a few things differently than most projectors and, while I'm all for trying new things, in this case the results are decidedly mixed. Keeping in mind the list price is only $500 (and it's currently down to $400 at Amazon), its performance is pretty mild. Certain aspects of its image are decent, while others are not. Perhaps oddest of all is the lack of an upward throw, which I'll explain more about below, but basically it means you're required to use keystone correction. That's something I typically recommend av ... Read full article.