This Soda Can-Sized Projector Saved Bedtime in My House

My toddler has a eternal case of FOMO, which suggests bedtime is a wrestle every night time time. I’m not usually an advocate for having a TV in a child’s room, nonetheless the Anker Nebula Capsule Air has flip right into a helpful addition to my bedtime arsenal of storybooks, lullabies, and decided pleas for my son to fall asleep.

The $400 Capsule Air is the smallest and arguably basically probably the most spectacular of Anker’s Nebula transportable projectors. It’s roughly the size of a soda can (or, in my case, a can of Sugar-Free Pink Bull) and weighs merely 1.4 lbs. Whereas it couldn’t match into your pants pocket, as just a few of its promotional provides suggest, it’s nonetheless very small and acquired’t take up loads home in a bag or on a closet shelf.

See Capsule Air at Nebula

See Capsule Air at Amazon

The setup is simple as a result of the projector operates like a teeny Google TV. It provides entry to all the identical previous streaming apps. Most importantly for my family, it comprises the PBS app, which affords all my little one’s favorite reveals, equal to Metropolis Island, Sesame Avenue, and Alma’s Methodology.

Like completely different tiny projectors, you’ll want to remember that the farther once more you place it, the larger the show display will get. Spherical 8 ft from the wall will get you 100 inches of show display home. It’d take some experimentation with the house to get the show display measurement correct.

It moreover has an HDMI enter to connect a sport console or a laptop computer pc—wonderful for gaming or as a secondary show display for a laptop computer pc in a pinch. I plugged in my Xbox Assortment X and carried out some Halo Infinite throughout the consuming room in opposition to the wall. So, you probably could make sport night time time an element, as long as you don’t ideas not participating in in 4K.

There’s one factor nice about having a transportable smart TV it’s possible you’ll pull out of a bag every time and wherever needed. The Capsule Air affords barely beneath two hours of battery life and prices by way of USB Form C. Nonetheless, Nebula moreover equipped me with the Power Monetary establishment Tripod ($90), which supplies one different two hours of use and acts as a further sturdy base extending as a lot as 33 inches.

The picture prime quality is surprisingly sharp, projecting at a call of 1280 x 720. The color accuracy is often first price, and HDR handles darkish scenes pretty properly. Suppose you want larger picture prime quality in a barely higher package deal deal. In that case, I’d possibly go for the Capsule 3 Laser, which affords 1080p determination and is solely barely greater—nonetheless at $750, it’s virtually double the value. For my use case, the Capsule Air struck the correct stability.

After watching what felt like an infinite episode of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, I tilted the projector on the tripod to face the ceiling. We switched to at least one factor further pleasurable—YouTube films of stars throughout the sky set to lo-fi beats. Minutes later, my son had drifted off to sleep, counting the celebrities.

Initially, I anxious that the Capsule Air’s 150 ANSI lumens will not be shiny enough. Whereas it doesn’t perform its best in daylight or well-lit rooms, it truly shines in full darkness. It was shiny enough for cartoons, stars, and some late-night gaming in my office. In the event you occur to do have the lights, you’ll see that the colors tend to wash out a bit. Nevertheless throughout the context of kids’s leisure, my three-year-old didn’t care. He was merely amazed that his cartoons had been someway beamed to his wall. Washed out colors or not.

Previous bedtime, the Nebula Capsule Air is a unbelievable transportable projector that I can merely see someone taking with them on journey or tenting journeys. It’s lightweight, versatile, and affords pretty good picture prime quality for its price. Whereas it is not going to be as shiny or extremely efficient as completely different projectors and won’t be sufficient to interchange your OLED TV, the size and ease of use make it one in all my favorite units I’ve examined all 12 months. Plus, it made my little one assume I was a bedtime wizard, conjuring an infinite show display from “My Magic Soda Can.”

See Capsule Air at Nebula

See Capsule Air at Amazon