Dangbei DBOX02 Pro Review

Minimal effort, cinema-quality projection. That’s what Dangbei’s modern addition to the DBOX02 line offers. DBOX02 Pro is a 4K gaming projector that wants to take over your living room with powerful speakers, a huge projection size and extremely malleable automatic keystone correction. It’s an attempt to replace your TV and Hi-Fi system with something completely compact and stylish that won’t collapse when the sun shines.

While there are plenty of TV replacement projectors on the market competing for space in your home entertainment system, few are skilled enough to play as well. That’s right there Dangbei DBOX02 Pro comes in.

Smooth and shiny on the front, this mostly matte black cube has subtly rounded edges and a slightly curved facade. It’s a current aesthetic that proudly boasts a bit of a charming retro vibe, without being overwhelming with buttons and dust-catching grapefruits.

The projector itself sits on a seamless base that grips it on both sides. Allows 360-degree rotation and 120-degree tilt for ceiling projection. There’s also no need to twist the little legs to get the perfect angle, as the DBOX02 Pro comes with impeccable InstanPro AI automatic keystone correction and a focus function that makes it incredibly uncomplicated to pan around the image without having to fiddle with manual keystone correction. By rotating it so that the image moves across the wall, you can watch the trapezoid automatically update in real time to ensure everything is perfectly aligned – it’s truly magical.

It’s not a portable projector per se, compared to the Xgimi Halo or MoGo 4 that I tested, but compared to the average short-throw TV replacement in our best gaming projector guide, there’s a bit more freedom to change up your theater setup. If you have four meters (13 feet) of space in your living room, you can get a projection of 150 inches, or even 300 inches if you’re lucky and have up to eight meters of space.

The ceiling mount option allows for a full home theater experience while still being able to swivel when needed, which is certainly helpful in some very specific circumstances that I have neither the imagination nor space for. However, all this means that you can get a truly cinematic experience with the DBOX02 Pro, without wasting too much power.

When it comes to image quality, you expect velvety, high-resolution images, excellent color support and, above all, brightness comparable to the intensity of a thousand suns glowing white. This doesn’t deliver cinema-level blacks – even the best gaming projectors struggle with this – but when the sun shines through the curtain, you can be sure it won’t impact your viewing experience. When I tested it, it wasn’t very clear in the UK (as usual). The DBOX02 Pro really impressed me with its unwavering lumens. Dealing with the extremely vivid sun in High Performance mode can be loud as the fans boost the speed significantly, but you shouldn’t need to rev them too often.

The same goes for gaming mode, especially if you opt for the highest refresh rate, but turn up the speakers and forget about the fans, because man is it worth it. The inclusion of HDMI 2.1 means that at native resolution you can achieve a refresh rate of 120Hz, which is more than enough for most current gamers. Upgrading to 1080p allows you to boost the frequency to 240Hz to get the most out of any high-powered gaming PC you’re running at higher frame rates.

However, the decisive factor always begins and ends with reaction time. Sitting at 10 to 20 ms in gaming mode, the DBOX02 Pro doesn’t quite beat our current king of gaming projectors, although it can still dance with the best of them. Professional gamers will want to opt for something like the BenQ TK700STi and its 4ms response time, but for the benefit of dedicated processors they will sacrifice the usability and high-quality multimedia features of the home entertainment hardware that the DBOX02 Pro offers. Keystone also works in gaming mode, which, while it doesn’t improve response times, isn’t as common a feature as you might expect on gaming projectors.

Picture 1 With 2

Clicking through the menu was a bit of a hassle, as game mode only becomes available once an HDMI device is connected. Accessing this setting once you’re in HDMI mode isn’t as intuitive as I’d like, as the only way to find it in HDMI mode is to exploit the larger side button on your controller/clicker/remote/zapper (I’m fascinated by what people call it). You’ll have to do this from time to time, but at least it means you won’t get locked into gaming mode, wasting power while simply streaming videos.

Other than that, navigating the operating system is generally uncomplicated, and there are plenty of useful features that prevent eye damage, allow HDMI devices to wake it up, and vice versa. I don’t rate the one-click dust removal feature because it just blows the dust out to the entire room, but it’s nice to have the option (I suppose you could take it outside for self-cleaning).

Picture 1 With 3

Google TV wouldn’t be my first choice because the older Android OS would have fewer ads at launch, but did we expect less from current technology than Blade Runner-style ads? Put like a lobster in a slow-simmering capitalist pot, none of this is enough to dampen one of the most versatile gaming projectors I’ve tested.

It’s swift, it’s pretty, it can withstand daytime darkness, and all at two-thirds the price of other 4K projectors. It’s not a miniature throw, which means you’ll have to find a potentially awkward mounting spot away from the wall you’re projecting onto, but a little effort in the initial setup will go a long way here. The rest of your problems will quickly melt away as you immerse yourself in the 300-inch fantasy world of your choice.

If you’re looking for a uncomplicated, malleable gaming projector with almost no noticeable gaming lag, I can definitely recommend this beast of a home entertainment experience.

Best gaming platforms 2025