AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro review: Dolby Vision & Audio help make this UST projector a winner

Home theatre projectors are as popular as ever. There is a wide variety to choose from, and like most anything else, you get what you pay for. Higher-priced projectors usually come in the form of an ultra-short-throw 4K laser projector that offers not only great quality but allows you to set them inches from your wall or screen. This allows for an easier setup with no need to mount them to your ceiling. Additionally, you don’t have to worry about people walking in front of the projector while you’re watching something.

Estimated reading time: 16 minutes

Our AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro review looks at a UST 4K Tri-Chroma Laser Projector with Fire TV that offers excellent Dolby Vision picture and Dolby Audio sound quality. Read on to see why it was an easy choice for an Editor’s Choice Award of 2023 here at Techaeris.

Quick Take

With Dolby Vision and Dolby Audio on board, the AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro UST 4K Tri-Chroma Laser Projector is one of the best ultra short throw projectors I’ve used. The Dolby Vision HDR is phenomenal, with true-to-life colours and a very crisp output. While the onboard sound is loud, you’ll want to hook this up to a home theatre speaker system for the best audio possible. It isn’t the most affordable UST 4K projector on the market, but it does offer excellent value for the price and often goes on sale. All told it was an easy pick as one of the last Editor’s Choice Awards here at Techaeris for 2023.

Specifications

The AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro UST 4K Tri-Chroma Laser Projector we reviewed has the following features and specifications:

Display Chip	TI 0.47 inch pico DMD
Light Source	Tri-Color Pure Laser
Resolution	3840 × 2160 (4K UHD)
Brightness	3000 Peak Lumens
Color Space	107% BT.2020
Lens	Customized Rich F2.0 pure glass lens with super sharpness
Projection Size	80-150 inches
Laser Life	25,000+ hours
Throw Ratio	0.25:1
Input Lag	15ms (4K@60Hz), 8ms (1080p@120Hz in Turboe Mode)
Keystone Correction	8 points
Contrast Ratio	2500:1
HDR	Dolby Vision, HDR 10+, HDR 10, HLG
Audio Output	36W Stereo
Audio Performance	Dolby Atmos, DTS Virtual X
Connectivity	• 3x HDMI (eARC on HDMI 2) • 2x USB 2.0 • 1x LAN Ethernet • 1x S/PDIF Digita Audio Out • 1x AV In • 1x Fire TV Stick Compartment
Wi-Fi	802.11a/b/g/n/ac (Dual-Band)
Bluetooth	Yes
Wireless Screen Mirroring	Yes
Functions	Wide Colour Gamut, 24FPS mode, Active 3D, MEMC, Auto Brightness Adjustment, Laser Outlet Blocked Detection, Eye Safety
Focus	Electric Focus
Noise level	≤ 27dB
RAM/EMMC	3GB/128GB
Software OS	Android 9.0
IP Control	PJLink, Control 4, SAVANT, Creston
Power Supply	100-240V@50-60Hz
Power Consumption	185W (0.5W in Standby Mode)
Dimensions (W x D x H)	599 x 353 x 145mm (23.6 x 13.9 x 5.7″)
Weight	9.5kg (21 lbs)

What’s in the box

• AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro UST 4K Tri-Chroma Laser Projector
• Power Plug
• Bluetooth Remote Control w/ 2AA batteries
• Fire TV Stick 4K Max
• AV Input Cable
• Cleaning Cloth
• Manual

Design

Like most 4K UST laser projectors, the AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro UST 4K Tri-Chroma Laser Projector is a pretty sizeable device. Largely rectangular in design, it narrows towards the front, giving it a look that will fit with most home decor. All told, this UST projector measures 23.6 inches wide, 13.9 inches deep, and 5.7 inches in height. As far as weight is concerned, it clocks in at 21 pounds.

The top and bottom of the projector curve down and up respectively towards the front of the projector. The AWOL Vision logo is printed in the middle of the down curve. In between the top and bottom, the front of the projector is gloss black with a thin gold trim piece, giving it a pretty classy look. Towards the far right is the LED indicator light. Towards the top of the bottom section that curves up is where the remote IR receiver and ambient light sensor are located. This section also has a grille motif and is where the speakers are located.

Flipping the projector around, you’ll find several ports across the back. When looking at the back, the ports from left to right are your optical S/PDIF, Micro USB debug, USB 1, RJ-45 (LAN), AV Input, HDMI 2 (eARC), and HDMI 3 ports. Below these is your standard power port. In the middle of the back is a removable TV stick compartment which is where the HDMI 1 port and a USB power-only port are located. Finally, the far right third of the back of the projector has a ventilation port.

The top of the projector is where you’ll find the power button towards the far right, near the front. The middle section is, of course, where the laser lens is located. On either side of the lens is a PIR sensor for eye protection and towards the front of the projector is the laser outlet blocked sensor.

As for the sides of the projector, they are pretty non-descript aside from the heat dissipation vents. The right side is where the second USB port is located.

The bottom of the projector has four adjustable feet, two towards the front and two towards the back. There are also four M6*15mm mounting holes if you wish to mount the projector for the ceiling.

The included remote is 6 1/2 inches long, 1 1/2 inches wide, and between 1/2 and an inch thick. Two AA batteries fit in the bottom, which is the thicker end. The AWOL Vision logo is printed near the bottom. From the top of the remote and working down, you’ll find the power, sound, file, cast, source, and settings buttons. Below this button set is the directional pad with a select button in the middle. Five more buttons sit below this and are the return, menu, home, mute, and light mode buttons. Finally, a horizontal volume rocker sits below those.

While larger than non-laser projectors, the AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro is well-designed and looks great sitting on a shelf in whatever room you choose to set it up in.

Setup

Electronics can be daunting to set up at times. With the AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro, it is relatively easy, albeit a bit time-consuming. First, you’ll need to find the right position to set it up for the picture size you want. As this is an ultra short throw projector, you will be setting it up close to your screen. Thankfully, there is a handy guide included in the user manual that helps you determine how far away from your wall or screen you should set it up.

Physical Setup

In my case, with a 106″ screen, I set the back of the projector up just under 10 inches away from my screen and just under 9 1/2 inches below the screen to get a 100″ image. Due to my screen being wall-mounted, I didn’t want to move it up to fill the full 106 inches for testing purposes. Depending on how big or small you want to go, you can set this up as close as 6 inches and as far as 20.2 inches for an 80- to 150-inch image size.

Before you set it up in front of your screen, you’ll want to install the included Fire TV Stick 4K Max into the TV stick compartment. It is straightforward to do.

Next comes the usual hookups: plug it into a power outlet and you are good to go. Before I did turn it on, however, I plugged the projector into my receiver via the HDMI 2 (eARC) port. I also used the S/PDIF port to connect the projector to my home theatre sound system. At any rate, once everything was connected, I turned on the projector using the included remote control. 

Projector Setup

Once you have placed the projector where you want it, setting up the AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro isn’t overly difficult. The projector walks you through most of it.

• Press and hold the power button on the projector for 2 seconds
• If the remote doesn’t work out of the box, hold down the Menu button on it and it will pair with the projector
• Select your language
• Select your projection mode
• Select your network (wired/wireless)
• Choose your time zone, including 12- or 24-hour mode
• Select your Default Source
• Agree with the User Agreement

Once you’ve done that, you’ll be taken to the AWOL Vision home screen. While it does run on Android 9.0, it is a custom interface and fairly straightforward.

Fire TV Stick Setup

However, to maximize your content consumption, you’ll want to switch to HDMI 1 and set up the Fire TV Stick 4K Max. Again, it is pretty straightforward and requires the Fire TV Stick remote for initial setup. Once set up, I was able to configure the AWOL Vision remote to control the projector, Fire TV Stick, and the volume on my receiver with no issues. To set up the Fire TV Stick, complete the following steps:

• Choose your language
• Connect to your wireless network
• The Fire TV Stick will update at this point (if one is available)
• Once it updates and restarts, sign in with (or create) your Amazon account
• Next, you’ll be given the option to pair the Fire TV Stick remote with the projector but I couldn’t get it to work. As mentioned above, I could use the AWOL Vision remote to control the Fire TV Stick once it was set up.
• Choose your streaming services to install on the Fire TV Stick
• Enable Parental Controls if you wish
• Review the Welcome to Fire TV screen
• Select which profile is watching Fire TV

Once you’ve done that, you’ll be shown the Fire TV home page and you’ll be good to go!

Display

For the more technical readers out there, the AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro UST 4K Tri-Chroma Laser Projector uses the TI 0.47-inch pico DMD display chip.

I’ve tested quite a few 4K projectors over the past few years, and there is no question that the laser projectors offer up a better 4K picture overall. Of course, you won’t notice a difference unless you have two or more projectors set up side by side. With 107% BT.2020 coverage, the AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro offers a nice, crisp 4K display with decent colours and contrast.

For the record, I use a standard very light grey fixed projector screen and it worked well enough in my basement setting. An ALR (ambient light rejecting) screen is suggested for ultra short throw projectors and would presumably make the already great image just that much better, especially in a more brightly lit room. This UST projector also has Dolby Vision, HDR 10+, HDR 10, HLG support for better colours and 60Hz motion compensation technology (MEMC) for smoother framerates while watching sports or other content with a lot of action.

Dolby Vision is the star of the show here. When watching programs that support it, as well as select Xbox Series X games, the colours were absolutely amazing. I watched Netflix’s Life on Our Planet and was suitably blown away by the sharpens and colours projected by the LTV-3000 Pro. One comment my son did make though was that the colours seemed a bit muted as we’ve been using a Samsung projector which has sometimes oversaturated colours. Once I showed him a few Dolby Vision videos on YouTube and explained the difference, he agreed that the colours on this projector were more accurate and life-like.

While 3000 lumens isn’t the brightest out there, it is equal to or brighter than a lot of other 4K projectors, making it suitable for different locations. My main setup is in my basement so it’s not a huge issue. While we typically watch movies or TV with the lights dimmed, the LTV-3000 Pro was bright enough for comfortable viewing even with all the lights on.

The projector should last you for years as well based on the 25,000-hour light source life span. If you were to use the AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro for 4 hours a day, it should last you just over 17 years. Lasers are also dangerous for the human eye and the LTV-3000 PRO also has an integrated automatic light dimmer, powered by advanced IR sensors, detects any presence over the light source and immediately dims the laser, effectively shielding your eyes from damaging radiation.

Display Settings

While I stuck with the default settings given the excellent out-of-box quality, there are plenty of settings that you can access and change to get the picture exactly right for you. These can be accessed using the settings cog on the remote for the projector. Adjustable display settings for the projector itself include: 

• Image Mode: Dolby Vision Dark, Light, or Vivid
• User Settings: Brightness Contrast, Chroma, Tone, Sharpness
• Advanced Settings: MEMC, Low Delay Mode, Noise Reduction, Dynamic Contrast, Advanced Black Level, Gamma, Color Temperature, White Balance, Color Correction, MPG, HDR, Wide Color Gamut
• Zoom Mode: Auto, 4:3, Movie expand 16:9
• 3D Settings: Off, Frame Packing, Side-by-Side, Top-and-Bottom
• Dolby Vision: Screen Size, Gain

As you can see, there are plenty of options for fine-tuning the picture quality to your environment and preferences.

Screen Adjustment

While most projectors offer up 4-point or angled keystone correction, the AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro has an 8-point correction, based on your needs. The 8-point correction option adds four more points in addition to each corner, one in the middle of each edge of the image. I found that the 8-point correction was easier to use as opposed to fiddling around with the feet to get a precise rectangular image on my screen. While I could get close with the feet and angle of the projector, having eight points to further adjust the keystone made it super easy to get a nice rectangular image.

Software

While the AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro UST 4K Tri-Chroma Laser Projector has an onboard OS, Fire TV is what really drives your media consumption.

Fire TV

The AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro UST 4K projector ships with a Fire TV Stick 4K Max. It was my first experience with the Fire TV interface and it was very easy to use. A large tile across the top scrolls through new content (and is something I could do without). Below this are the game, search, home, live and my stuff icons. To the right of this are your installed streaming service tiles, a tile for the appstore, and a settings cog. Below these, you’ll find rows as you scroll down for recently watched, recommended shows and movies, as well as some sponsored content. There’s not much to it and it’s easy to figure out and navigate to find the streaming service and/or content you want to watch.

EShare

You can also cast content to the AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro projector by installing an app called EShare on your smartphone. Once installed, you can cast and share content from your phone to the projector with ease.

Performance

Once set up, the projector boots up in about 20 seconds, which is relatively quick for this type of projector. Once on, the interface is as responsive as one would expect. It is also pretty quiet while in use — partly likely because the projector is a decent distance in front of you as opposed to beside or overhead. The AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro UST 4K Tri-Chroma Laser Projector has an electronic focus option if you need to re-focus it but I found the initial focusing was just fine and I never had to go back and re-adjust it.

The LTV-3000 also has a dedicated gaming mode with lower latency. While not ideal for competitive gaming, I had no issues with using the projector for casual gaming and didn’t notice any real lag in games like Forza Motorsport or even Call of Duty: Warzone 2 while playing on my Xbox Series X.

If you’re into 3D, the AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro also supports Frame Packing, Side-by-Side, and Top-and-Bottom 3D but we didn’t test it out due to not having any easily accessible content or 3D glasses to do so with.

Sound Quality

The AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro UST 4K Tri-Chroma Laser Projector features 36W stereo speakers. In addition, it supports Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual X. Unfortunately, while the projector does get quite loud, I couldn’t easily find an adequate setting or balance to suit my tastes. It is adequate in a pinch, but to truly take advantage of Dolby Audio, you’ll want to connect it to a home theatre system. I felt the audio being outputted by the projector through my home theatre system was better than other projectors I’ve used in the past due to the settings. I heard more detail in games I’ve played before and for most movies and TV shows, the surround sound seemed far better and far more enveloping. On that note, I have scored this an 8.5 for the internal speaker but coupled with a decent home theatre system it’s an easy 10.

There are some sound settings that you can adjust by selecting the settings button on the remote. These include:

• Sound Mode: Standard, Music, Movie, Sports, User
• Equalizer Detail
• Advanced Settings
• Output Device: Speaker, Bluetooth, HDMI eARC, S/PDIF
• Audio output Format (if Internal Speaker is not selected): Auto, PCM, Bypass
• DTS VIRTUAL X toggle (for internal speaker)
• Dolby Atmos toggle (for internal speaker

While minimal, there is a slight difference between the Standard, Music, Movie, and Sport modes for the internal speakers, especially when you play around with the DTS VIRTUAL X and Dolby Atmos toggles.

Finally, you can also pair a device to the speaker via Bluetooth to stream music, however, it’s just as easy to do so from the projector itself depending on what app you use. In the case of Spotify, installing the app and logging in provided another avenue to listen to music while hanging out in the basement.

Price/Value

Ultra short-throw projectors have a wide range of prices. With an MSRP of $3999, the AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro UST 4K Tri-Chroma Laser Projector is roughly in the middle. Given it supports Dolby Vision and Dolby Audio, at that price it does offer up solid value for the price. Even better, it does go on sale quite frequently and at the time of this review, is $500 off.

Photo Gallery

Wrap-up

If you’re looking to up your home theatre game and are after a 4K UST laser projector, the AWOL Vision LTV-3000 Pro UST 4K Tri-Chroma Laser Projector is a great model that you should consider, especially with Dolby Vision and Dolby Audio support. With plenty of ports, great quality onboard sound, and Fire TV to access most of your streaming service content natively, you really can’t go wrong with this Techaeris Editor’s Choice of 2023.

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Last Updated on March 13, 2024.