Xiaomi 4k Laser Projector review (now with videos)

Always a gamble importing from China with no support infrastructure in UK/Europe.
 
hi, I believe issues such as white pixels, distorted color and slow starting were all caused by the same issue, which was a design flaw of the data ribbons near the center of the projector. I ran into these problems 6 months after I bought the projector. I managed to fixed the Xiaomi 4k projector problem recently by opening the cover and grind the plastic ridges off at the back of the cover (see pictures attached), the ridges put too much pressure at the grey data ribbon near the center of the projector hence causing the image problem.

Once the ridges are grind off, clean all the debris carefully, you can vacuum or rinse the cover with water. If you want to wash the projector cover, please make sure to keep the remote receiver dry (located at the back of the cover with the thin cable goes into the projector). Once cleaned and thoroughly dried, you can close the projector cover and put the screws back in place.

Leaving the cover open or semi-closed may attract dust in the long run and alter the airflow from the cooling fans.

Or course by opening the projector cover will void warranty, since I don't live in China and posting the projector there is out of option for me so I went ahead anyway, please be slow and gentle when you open the projector cover, it's very likely you will leave a few scratch marks on the cover when you try to pry it open.

Once the cover is back in place, my projector was able function normally, hope the above may help you guys fixing the same issue.

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The ridge with the red arrow is the most important one which presses on the ribbon, to be safe I have grinded off all the nearby ridges.

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Someone has also asked if its possible to replace the cooling fans with quieter ones such as Noctua fans. The three original fans in the projector are made by Nidec, after checking manufacturer's website, the fans are 80mm in size, running current is 0.18A, rated speed 3250 rpm, sound pressure 33.5db, max airflow 75 m3/hr.

I suggest to leave the original fans alone, even though there are quieter fans out there but the airflow is also about 1/3 less, which may not be sufficient to cool the laser lamp and motherboard, the laser lamp put out a lot more heat than your household 100w bulbs. If it was possible to make a silent projector I think Xiaomi would.

Cheers
Thanks for posting this.
A couple quick questions...
Is your projector still running well after your mod?
How hard was it to pry off the cover, and how exactly does it pop off?

Thanks again for sharing this. I have the exact same issue.
 
Thanks for posting this.
A couple quick questions...
Is your projector still running well after your mod?
How hard was it to pry off the cover, and how exactly does it pop off?

Thanks again for sharing this. I have the exact same issue.

Hi yes my projector is still running okay, after the fix the same issue happened a couple of times recently when the weather gets cold, maybe the cover was a bit stiff, I had to lightly press the corner of the top cover for the image to go back to normal, I suspect the contact between the data cable and motherboard is becoming loose overtime.

It took me a good 20 min to pry open the top cover, it was quite a tight fit, you will inevitably make some scratches when you open up the to cover. Just be patient and avoid brute force, and remember to remove the motherboard from the back of the machine before you pry open the top cover. Once the motherboard is slide out from the back, unscrew all the screws from the bottom, and use pryer to slowly pry open bit by bit.

There is thin wire attached to the front of the top cover, which is the power LED, you can detach the wire after you pop open the top cover. And reconnect it before you put things back. Don’t try opening up any of the internal components as they are all dust sealed.

There was a YouTube video on taking apart the non-4k model of the projector, the design is pretty much the same as the 4k model, see the video here before you try opening up the machine.



Cheers.
 
Hi yes my projector is still running okay, after the fix the same issue happened a couple of times recently when the weather gets cold, maybe the cover was a bit stiff, I had to lightly press the corner of the top cover for the image to go back to normal, I suspect the contact between the data cable and motherboard is becoming loose overtime.

It took me a good 20 min to pry open the top cover, it was quite a tight fit, you will inevitably make some scratches when you open up the to cover. Just be patient and avoid brute force, and remember to remove the motherboard from the back of the machine before you pry open the top cover. Once the motherboard is slide out from the back, unscrew all the screws from the bottom, and use pryer to slowly pry open bit by bit.

There is thin wire attached to the front of the top cover, which is the power LED, you can detach the wire after you pop open the top cover. And reconnect it before you put things back. Don’t try opening up any of the internal components as they are all dust sealed.

There was a YouTube video on taking apart the non-4k model of the projector, the design is pretty much the same as the 4k model, see the video here before you try opening up the machine.



Cheers.

So I had success with my xiaomi 4K laser so far.

I only ground down the one ribbing on the inside case ..see attached pic as that was the only spot I could see rubbing.

The case is a bit tricky to take off but not dangerously so. The hardest part for me was around the usb input on the side.

In the YouTube video the guy peels off the serial No. Sticker to remove a screw but in the 4K model you don't need to do that.

My xiaomi now boots up fast...I think better than before to be honest... And it seems to auto switch and lock on to my Apple TV faster too.

Thanks everyone for your help. I feel like I have a new projector again.
 

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Is there a model currently out now that supports both 3D and 4K HDR?
 
Yes, this one.
 
I can't find any source where this is listed as '4K HDR' and not just as a device that only 'supports' 4K HDR. Can you provide a legit link that is 100% trustworthy?
 
I tried following to address the white dots/blank screen startup/long delay issue.
1. Partially kept opened from the front left. Did not help.
2. Completely opened the case, removed the top cover and issue is still there.
3. Grinded all the ridges as mentioned in the forum. Still no help.
Looks like my issue is, already there is too much tension due to the white tape over the cable.

@angrybird Did you reflow the chip and solve the issue ? Which one iChip or Thine ?
 
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I tried following to address the white dots/blank screen startup/long delay issue.
1. Partially kept opened from the front left. Did not help.
2. Completely opened the case, removed the top cover and issue is still there.
3. Grinded all the ridges as mentioned in the forum. Still no help.
Looks like my issue is, already there is too much tension due to the white tape over the cable.

@angrybird Did you reflow the chip and solve the issue ? Which one iChip or Thine ?

for every user I spoken to, inc myself it was the ribbon cable being tight.

so loosening the case resolved it for me and others.

if you are unable to resolve it, maybe its tighter than everyone else? give me a pm with your phone number I will call you with details
 
Very tempted to buy an UST projector and I have been looking at this Xiaomi one.

Does anyone know if these issues have been resolved in recent versions or is it still an issue. I wonder what % of people have had issues, surely this couldn't go unnoticed by Xiaomi.

Anyone bought from gearbest or is there a recommended seller?

Did anyone import an ALR screen, any recommendations?
 
Very tempted to buy an UST projector and I have been looking at this Xiaomi one.

Does anyone know if these issues have been resolved in recent versions or is it still an issue. I wonder what % of people have had issues, surely this couldn't go unnoticed by Xiaomi.

Anyone bought from gearbest or is there a recommended seller?

Did anyone import an ALR screen, any recommendations?

I am not aware that its fixed, however the remedy is fairly easy to do, and being 4k laser & UST it will be impossible to get something with this spec at this price.

screen wise, you have three options, if you have totally black cinema room, with dark furniture \ carpet \ walls, then white screen works best.

grey screens are not great because it drops the brightness, and does not improve contrast of light rejection.

otherwise then ALR, the XY PET crystal screen is brilliant, I am selling mine as I am looking into a dedicated room now.

it does two things well: focus the light from the bottom and reflect it forward, you can see when the light is off the room does not light up

secondly, it rejects light coming from other sides and thus making sure the screen is not washed.

you can have a look, and if you like it, you can buy:

 
Hi
Has anyone bought a PET Crystal 120inch 4k ust ultra short throw ambient light rejecting ust alr from Fiona at Shenzen Telon Audio and Visual equipment via Alibaba?
I have negotiated a price for a screen with Fed Ex shipping for approx £620 plus pay pal fees. Don't know if I will have to pay any import duty though.
Just wanted some feedback before pulling the trigger as I haven't seen her company mentioned.
Thanks
 
for every user I spoken to, inc myself it was the ribbon cable being tight.

so loosening the case resolved it for me and others.

if you are unable to resolve it, maybe its tighter than everyone else? give me a pm with your phone number I will call you with details

i timed mine the other day and it took 10 minutes and 36 seconds to come on and be ready to use from cold.

Tempted to open it up and grind down the ridges on the top of the cover but as it stands i can wait 10 mins.

That said is the fact its pressing down on the ribbon likely to at some point damage it beyond repair ??
 
Hi
Has anyone bought a PET Crystal 120inch 4k ust ultra short throw ambient light rejecting ust alr from Fiona at Shenzen Telon Audio and Visual equipment via Alibaba?
I have negotiated a price for a screen with Fed Ex shipping for approx £620 plus pay pal fees. Don't know if I will have to pay any import duty though.
Just wanted some feedback before pulling the trigger as I haven't seen her company mentioned.
Thanks

I ended up with fees, a letter from shipping company at a later point,
yours will end up £650 inc paypal fees. then add customs and vat you will end up at £780 + the wait time was in the day about two- three weeks, but could be more now because of COVID situation.

I have one for sale right there, get in touch we might be able to work out something. I could even look for delivery options.

i timed mine the other day and it took 10 minutes and 36 seconds to come on and be ready to use from cold.

Tempted to open it up and grind down the ridges on the top of the cover but as it stands i can wait 10 mins.

That said is the fact its pressing down on the ribbon likely to at some point damage it beyond repair ??

you do not need to do that, all what you need is rubber feet stands stuck inside so the projector body does not push against the cables, if done right, then the projector will turn on right away
 
I ended up with fees, a letter from shipping company at a later point,
yours will end up £650 inc paypal fees. then add customs and vat you will end up at £780 + the wait time was in the day about two- three weeks, but could be more now because of COVID situation.

I have one for sale right there, get in touch we might be able to work out something. I could even look for delivery options.



you do not need to do that, all what you need is rubber feet stands stuck inside so the projector body does not push against the cables, if done right, then the projector will turn on right away

oh right that sounds much easier. Don’t suppose you have any info of what you used and how you did it as I need to sort mine.

it works fine once it’s one and “warmed up” but it’s just getting to that stage
 
oh right that sounds much easier. Don’t suppose you have any info of what you used and how you did it as I need to sort mine.

it works fine once it’s one and “warmed up” but it’s just getting to that stage

don't think it will get worse if you are ok with the waiting,
I had to wait anyway with an old bulb based projector so it's not a big deal.

opening it is very trivial however as above if you can live with it, then leave it
 
Hi yes my projector is still running okay, after the fix the same issue happened a couple of times recently when the weather gets cold, maybe the cover was a bit stiff, I had to lightly press the corner of the top cover for the image to go back to normal, I suspect the contact between the data cable and motherboard is becoming loose overtime.

It took me a good 20 min to pry open the top cover, it was quite a tight fit, you will inevitably make some scratches when you open up the to cover. Just be patient and avoid brute force, and remember to remove the motherboard from the back of the machine before you pry open the top cover. Once the motherboard is slide out from the back, unscrew all the screws from the bottom, and use pryer to slowly pry open bit by bit.

There is thin wire attached to the front of the top cover, which is the power LED, you can detach the wire after you pop open the top cover. And reconnect it before you put things back. Don’t try opening up any of the internal components as they are all dust sealed.

There was a YouTube video on taking apart the non-4k model of the projector, the design is pretty much the same as the 4k model, see the video here before you try opening up the machine.



Cheers.

Hello,
I am new to this forum.
I would like to thank you and everyone for sharing your wonderful experience.
For the last 2 days, I was searching for a solution to almost the same problem.
I bought the Fengmi 4k Cenema projector and got it last April. I admit, it was working perfectly and I was very pleased with 4k quality and brightness.
Suddenly, in the past 3-4 days, when turning off the projector, it was doing update every time I switched off. This was something strange, the last time the update and rebooting happened, the projector lamp is not starting at all.
The power indicator button is turned on for few seconds, then blinking 3-5 times and then off.
I tried every method to boot it in recovery mode, but not starting.

I am not sure if the problem is hardware issue as described earlier here or it is only software issues?

As per recommendations by some members here, I tried to open the cover, I removed all screws and tried to pull out the cover, unfortunately, it is not coming out, and it is so tight??
I am not sure if there are more screws to be removed or there is a trick to open the cover and check the ribbon inside?

I know from you post that you been able to open the cover and repair it. Can you please share with us how you been able to open the cover?

Your support and help from you or any of the members are highly appreciated. As you know, we won't have any support from Fengmi or Ali Baba.

Many thanks in advance
 
Hello,
I am new to this forum.
I would like to thank you and everyone for sharing your wonderful experience.
For the last 2 days, I was searching for a solution to almost the same problem.
I bought the Fengmi 4k Cenema projector and got it last April. I admit, it was working perfectly and I was very pleased with 4k quality and brightness.
Suddenly, in the past 3-4 days, when turning off the projector, it was doing update every time I switched off. This was something strange, the last time the update and rebooting happened, the projector lamp is not starting at all.
The power indicator button is turned on for few seconds, then blinking 3-5 times and then off.
I tried every method to boot it in recovery mode, but not starting.

I am not sure if the problem is hardware issue as described earlier here or it is only software issues?

As per recommendations by some members here, I tried to open the cover, I removed all screws and tried to pull out the cover, unfortunately, it is not coming out, and it is so tight??
I am not sure if there are more screws to be removed or there is a trick to open the cover and check the ribbon inside?

I know from you post that you been able to open the cover and repair it. Can you please share with us how you been able to open the cover?

Your support and help from you or any of the members are highly appreciated. As you know, we won't have any support from Fengmi or Ali Baba.

Many thanks in advance
It would be greatly appreciated if any member can put his/her recommendations.

Thank you a million
 
don't think it will get worse if you are ok with the waiting,
I had to wait anyway with an old bulb based projector so it's not a big deal.

opening it is very trivial however as above if you can live with it, then leave it

seems to have got worse today as the screen is black apart from a few dots I can see around the Mi logo at start up.

looks like I’m going to have to open it up after all of you don’t mind sending me details on what you bought and the the guide you used please

thanks
 
Ok so I’ve sanded it down on the inside but clearly not enough.
I ended up stripping it down and putting it back together without any of the screws underneath and it is working like new.

it’s gone from showing the display in over 10 mins to 30 seconds max now.
 
Anyone have calibrated colour settings that works well with an ALR screen?
 
Has anyone managed to send a RGB Full PC(4:4:4) 8 bits signal in 4k 60hz?
The only way to get rid of all the video processing is by sending an RGB Full PC signal and it is not possible.
Definitely if we could get that, the image would be perfect.
 
Update...after I did the following 2 things, the projector is turning on in 1-2 mins from a cold start. Though not perfect but ok.

1. Removed the one end of the white tape (that is over the black ribbon cable)and released much of the tension. Then stick it back. Now its much loose.
2. Removed all screws from the housing. The projector is not closed anymore. The housing is just lightly sitting over it.

Since my projector is inside an enclosed pedestal with ventilation system, its ok without any screws. If yours is kept outside, there might be issues with catching dust and aesthetic point of view.

If anybody have success with a professional permanent repair, please let us know. Unfortunately, the warranty is not available (I tried Xiaomi US. They said no). But, if its purchased thru a credit card, the extended warranty can be claimed after the first year.
 

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Update...after I did the following 2 things, the projector is turning on in 1-2 mins from a cold start. Though not perfect but ok.

1. Removed the one end of the white tape (that is over the black ribbon cable)and released much of the tension. Then stick it back. Now its much loose.
2. Removed all screws from the housing. The projector is not closed anymore. The housing is just lightly sitting over it.

Since my projector is inside an enclosed pedestal with ventilation system, its ok without any screws. If yours is kept outside, there might be issues with catching dust and aesthetic point of view.

If anybody have success with a professional permanent repair, please let us know. Unfortunately, the warranty is not available (I tried Xiaomi US. They said no). But, if its purchased thru a credit card, the extended warranty can be claimed after the first year.

mine had the black like I’m exactly the same place. Mine is on top of the tv unit and pushed back together just without the screws. It’s been working perfect since I did that and from cold is on and running the home screen in around 30-40 seconds
 
Hello Guys, i have managed to find a permanently solution on the problems of the UST xiaomi mijia 4K projector after 1 month of investigating on a defective one (i am projector technician,also i have my own blog and make repair & review articles).

The problems that appears to this model on this specific malfunction are
-does not boot or late on boot
-dots on the screen
-half screen vertical white lines

I am going to make a full repair article with photos and full descriptions the next days to my blog, unfortunately i can not post the article and the link of my blog because is against the forum rules (i post a screen review i made few days ago and the moderator delete the link of my review and close the thread:(), but i will try to post here too some photos and the instructions of the repair.

The problem is a defective and poor quality part on the optical block. It has to be change. There is no problem on the flat cable or something like that i have read in a lot of posts. The flat cable is absolutely fine.

The challenge was to find that part. After a lot of search i realize that this projector does not have any kind of support on parts like the most brands and on the other hand, if i find it, the new part is going to brake after a few hundred of hours again, as it is probably have been made by the same poor material. So i decide to design end make my own. It tooks me a lot of tries to find the right material (a material to have a great durability on the heat) and i create it on a laser CNC. I have made and some improvements on the design that had to be there in first place but is was not.

When this part is been replaced, all the problems will be gone and the projector will never suffer again by these ever again in the future (the build of the rest projector it seems very solid).


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