Yaber Y61 projector hands-on: An ultra-portable, 5,500-lumens home theatre projector

The Yaber Y61 is one of the smallest projectors that I have seen for a while.

It has a native LED resolution of 1280 x 720p with an aspect ratio of 4:3/16:9, and it will support 1080p. It will project from 45 inches to 200 inches with an optimum size of 70 inches. I found that a display size greater than 100 inches distorts the output somewhat.

In the box, there is a power lead, an HDMI cable, a short 1:3 AV cable, and remote control. There is also a small lens cloth and an instruction manual.

The projector itself is nice and compact with dimensions of around 6in x 8in x 3in. it weighs three pounds. There are two threaded holes: One to mount the projector on the ceiling, and one for the base adjusting screw.

This screw will not retract fully into the housing, so be careful when putting the projector back into its box.

On the side of the projector are VGA, HDMI, and USB port, audio output, and an AV port. The top of the projector has buttons to change channels, volume, change the input source, and invoke the menu.

I am quite impressed with the sound output on the Y61. I do not think you will need an external speaker, as the on-board 3W stereo sound is high enough for large rooms. I used the speaker projecting from a table that gave a good depth of sound.

However, Yaber says that due to copyright this wireless projection does not support Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu — even though the fire stick can be plugged into the HDMI port.

The copyright is due to the HDCP protocol. As Amazon fire TV is HDCP compatible, you can, however, play Netflix via the Amazon fire.

Yaber recommends to use the projector for home cinema projection — and not for presentations. It also recommends using the 5500 lumens projector in a dark environment for best results.

I found that the projector can easily cope with PowerPoint presentations, static images, and videos where the color replication is good. It also works in daylight conditions — if the day is not too bright the image can be seen easily.

Screen mirroring to my Android device did not work well with the cable, or by Wi-Fi, even though I went through the steps in the user guide to allow USB debugging, and the screen showed that I was connected.

I also could connect using Wi-Fi — but, yet again, I could not mirror. I suspect that this feature is better optimized for iPhone as the user guide seems to suggest.

The thing that really lets this projector down is its power lead. It does not appear to go completely into the socket, which means that every time the lead is jogged, even slightly, the projector loses power.

If you want a compact portable projector for your home entertainment or deliver reasonable quality image-rich presentations in smaller meeting rooms, then give the Yaber Y61 a try. For under $140 (use discount code ZDSCD30 to save $30), its a nice addition to your home theatre array.