CZUR StarryHub Q1 Pro smart projector review – A projector so smart, it makes the honor roll!

REVIEW – More than two decades ago, I was a fresh-faced, young college intern in a corporate IT department, and one my tasks involved test-driving what was the grandfather of the modern smart TV: a projector with a built-in computer.

Of course, this was 2004, which meant the projector I was evaluating ran Windows CE. Its greatest advantage was Windows file share support with CE versions of Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office. If you wanted a device that could load a PowerPoint without a computer handy, this was it.

It was also several thousand dollars, and my conclusion then wasn’t too far off from my conclusion today on the StarryHub Q1 Pro: It’s really cool, but it’s expensive, and it might be overkill – unless you have a need for one or more of its unique features.

⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $999.00
Where to buy: CZUR and Amazon

What is it?

The StarryHub launched in 2024 and is the first smart projector I’ve used since I test-drove that fancy Windows CE projector. My previous employer used projectors with standard digital and analog wired connectivity, combined with high-end Cisco videoconferencing hardware.

StarryHub offers an all-in-one solution: a projector, videoconferencing and presentation apps, and a wide-angle camera with multiple microphones for broadcasting and recording. While I’m not up to speed on the entire modern projector scene, a little research indicates that the StarryHub is pretty unique versus the competition. Most smart home theater projectors are oriented toward supporting every streaming service available, and don’t support Miracast or Apple AirPlay. More expensive projectors from Epson and LG support these wireless broadcasting protocols – and have brighter LED arrays – but neither have the built-in videoconferencing hardware featured on the StarryHub.

Although StarryHub is Android-based, it does not include the Play store, and there is no apparent way to sideload apps, so it’s limited to the apps CZUR has made available in the included app store.

What’s included?

Almost everything you need to get started is included in the box:

• StarryHub Pro projector
• 19V (150W) power adapter with grounded power cord
• USB A-A cable
• Wireless TouchBoard
• ClickDrop USB-C dongle

The power supply is very nice. The StarryHub requires quite a bit of juice to power its bright projection LED array and six-core ARM64 CPU, and the hefty 19V power adapter it includes seems to be made of quality components. Aside from its weight (which can be – and has been! – falsified with blocks of lead inside the power brick), the power LED stays lit after unplugging the adapter for several seconds. This is generally an indicator that the power adapter in question is fitted with large capacitors, which means it has better circuit engineering than cheaper products. The power adapter also hasn’t gotten particularly warm, even though I’ve used my StarryHub quite a bit for testing. This is also a good sign that the components are properly sized for the rated wattage. I’m really happy to see this from CZUR. It’s really easy to cheap out on an included AC adapter, so this is a win for me.

I’d like to see an HDMI cable included, too, especially at the $1,000 price point. I also really wish it included a dust cover, or at least a lens cap to protect the glass from dust and smudges when not in use.

You’re going to need a projection surface or screen to use this product. I purchased this 80″ portable screen on Amazon for a mere $25, which is right on the bottom end of what CZUR advertises as optimal for the best image quality. I also ended up getting a different 100″ screen on sale, which has been better for continued use of the StarryHub.

The StarryHub is quite a bit taller than a standard office projector, sitting at almost 10″ with the larger of the two feet extended. It’s designed to sit at the front of a conference room table, closer to the projection surface, so it shouldn’t block anyone’s in-room visibility unless it’s not being used and you have a really packed room. It’s easy enough to unplug and move out of the way, though, and appears designed for portability (CZUR offers a branded carrying case for mobile use).

Tech specs

There is also a slightly upgraded model available, the StarryHub Q1 S Pro. According to CZUR’s website, that model uses a brighter 2400-lumen (ANSI) LED array, a 4k camera, and smart audio tracking.

Hardware design and features

The projector

The StarryHub uses a large, 0.47″ DMD chip for the actual image display, which a bit of research reveals is considered the best choice where image quality and projector brightness are of particular concern. The larger chip in the StarryHub is a bit like the difference between a DSLR and a quality point-and-shoot digital camera: the larger surface area of the chip is more expensive to manufacture, but it results in larger pixels, and thus a sharper image. You can read more about DMD DLP technology here.

The 2200-lumen LED array powering the projector’s bright output boasts an advertised lifespan of 30,000 hours of use, but this will undoubtedly vary in real-world application. I really wish the StarryHub used some sort of user-replaceable LED array. Traditional projectors use replaceable lamps…when the LEDs burn out on my StarryHub, it will sadly turn into a very fancy doorstop.

The bottom of the projector is ventilated and has two different sizes of flip-down foot bar to adjust the height of the projected image. It’s a good idea with any projector to use at least the shortest foot option – this increases airflow under the projector, and all projectors generate quite a bit of heat. While LEDs do output significantly less heat than a traditional metal halide projector lamp, the computer components and LED array will certainly output a bit of heat while in use, and better airflow means longer lifespan of all the components.

The ridged design of the enclosure looks really cool, but it is a major dust magnet. A fluffy microfiber dust cloth will be your best friend with this thing. It doesn’t appear to be for any functional purpose, so I think I’d probably be okay with a flatter enclosure shape with a matte finish, mostly because it’s so much easier to keep clean. When the StarryHub is sitting in a customer-facing conference room, it’s a small point worth considering.

If you just have basic projection needs, the HDMI 1.4 input is plug-and-play. I tested it with my HP laptop and my Wii U, and both worked great. I did have a strange issue the first time I connected the Wii U, and HDMI input stopped working entirely on the StarryHub. A quick reboot was all I needed to get back in working order.

One very important note: it does not appear the HDMI implementation in StarryOS supports HDMI A/V receivers. I tried a couple different cables and settings with our Denon receiver, and while the StarryHub detected HDMI input from the receiver, it was evidently unable to properly negotiate the connection. Bluetooth audio does work, but when I tried using a basic Bluetooth soundbar (no separate subwoofer) to watch video content from the built-in Chrome browser, the audio was intermittently cutting out on full-screen, full-motion video content.

To put a finer point on the StarryHub’s Bluetooth audio support: the beginning of A-Ha’s Take On Me hiccupped several times during the full-motion intro, but as soon as the hand-drawn animation sequences started, the audio had no problems. When the video wasn’t full-screen, it played smoothly. Newer video content – like HD livestreams from earlier in the day, just posted to YouTube – struggled much more, even without full-screen video. I had a similar experience with AirPlay casting from the Plex app on my iPad – my Blu-Ray rip of Return of the Jedi looked great, but every so often, when the video content was particularly complex, the audio hiccupped. I had no problems playing from the StarryHub’s speaker, so this is definitely an issue with Bluetooth audio, and it may be something that can be improved in StarryOS.

The wireless TouchBoard

Input is primarily handled by the included wireless touchpad-keyboard combo device (the TouchBoard). This is a well-engineered piece of hardware. It uses a very nice glass touch surface that doesn’t smudge too easily and has no friction at all, and it’s sized well for my small hands. I can thumb-type with it without overextending my thumbs. My husband tested the keyboard, and reports it’s large enough for comfortable use.

The touchpad physically clicks (tapping is also supported), which I really like. On the back of the touchpad are a power switch, three pogo pin contacts, and a label with pairing and basic usage instructions. The touchpad docks on the top of the StarryHub – this not only charges it, it also enables a data connection, so you can use the touchpad for input even when the battery is dead (or it’s turned off). This is very nice for a conference room device. If someone forgets to dock the touchpad and the battery dies, you can still get through a meeting with the docked touchpad. The dock also features auto wake/sleep – docking the touchpad tells the StarryHub to go to sleep; undocking wakes it. This can be disabled in the StarryOS system settings.

Above the glass touchpad is a bar of controls with etched labels (visible even when the touchpad is off).

• Touch Panel/Keyboard toggles between touchpad and keyboard input modes. This feature will also automatically switch when selecting text input fields anywhere in the OS and available apps (including websites in Chrome). In keyboard mode, the touchpad is illuminated, which reveals a very nice ANSI keyboard etched on the underside of the glass. The modifier keys function like you’d expect on a physical, rather than virtual, keyboard: you must tap-and-hold to use the modifier.
• V-, V+ control the volume of the StarryHub’s built-in speaker.
• Focus triggers the built-in autofocus, which works very well. This feature will also automatically trigger if you move the projector more than a few inches. Pressing and holding the focus button enables manual focus.
• Signal Source makes it easy to switch between StarryOS, HDMI input, and the wireless screencasting app. It’s not necessary to have the wireless screencasting app open to cast to the StarryHub, and a new screencasting device will automatically add itself (up to four devices simultaneously), so I’ve found the StarryOS and HDMI options to be most useful.
• Home functions as the Android home button – it will jump back to the StarryOS home screen. Note this will disconnect any wireless devices.
• Back functions as the Android back button, which is pretty self-explanatory. This is very useful when navigating apps.

Moving the mouse cursor to the bottom of the screen (while in StarryOS and any Android apps – not while screencasting or using HDMI) will bring up the standard Android system menu bar. This gives one-click access to back, home, task switcher, screenshot, and volume buttons.

Along with the TouchBoard, StarryHub has native support for human interface devices (HID) via both Bluetooth and USB. I’ve successfully used a Bluetooth keyboard, a USB keyboard, a wireless media center remote with airmouse and keyboard (using a USB dongle), and a wireless trackball (using a USB dongle); all worked seamlessly, including media and navigation controls. The back button on my trackball worked in Chrome, as well as in StarryOS as the system back button.

If you think you (or other users of the StarryHub in your office) will need to use keyboard input even semi-frequently, invest in a nice, durable Bluetooth keyboard. It’s impossible to touch type on the TouchPad keyboard, which means you’re constantly looking up and then back at the keyboard while inputting text.

The touchpad is really nice and feels great, but it seems StarryOS is configured to use the touchpad like a touchscreen, rather than like an external touchpad. This means that two-finger clicking doesn’t do anything – you have click-and-hold to access context menus (to remove the default Chrome homepage bookmarks, for example). I’ve also had a terrible time with scrolling everywhere in StarryOS – my scroll gesture is often misinterpreted as a zoom gesture. Touchpad gestures beyond basic pointing and clicking (and the three-finger swipe gesture to access the task switcher) are frustrating enough that I don’t use the built-in Chrome browser, unless I need it. This should all be fixable with the input driver used with the touchpad, so hopefully we’ll some improvements from CZUR.

My other criticism of the touchpad is a personal preference – I really dislike “natural” scrolling for anything that isn’t a real touchscreen. I’d like an option in the TouchBoard settings to enable traditional scrolling.

Videoconferencing hardware: The camera, microphone, and speaker

Because the StarryHub is designed as an all-in-one videoconferencing device, it includes a speaker, a (very) wide angle HD camera, and a circular microphone array. The camera includes an auto-tracking feature, which adjusts the camera view to follow one or more people. This is useful when you’re broadcasting from a larger conference room for a small meeting. The auto-tracking feature can be disabled in the StarryOS system settings.

The microphone array is high-quality, judging from my tests using Teams. Call quality obviously varies pretty dramatically depending on numerous factors – my test call was over Starlink, and the StarryHub performed just as well as a laptop. I ran my tests in a reasonably large bedroom suite, and the microphone array was able to clearly pick up my voice from every corner of the room. I think the StarryHub will perform admirably in any conference room with a capacity of 20 or so – I’m not sure how well it would do in a larger room.

Both the microphone array and the speaker are optimized for speakerphone use, which means they are not good for general use. I’ve been using the built-in speaker with my Wii U and to play random test content, and the sound is about on par with a really good quality laptop audio system. There’s no real subwoofer, so lows are muddy. Because it’s optimized for voice, though, mids and highs sound very good. You just aren’t going to get booming, theater-quality sound out of the StarryHub.

Unlike home theater projectors, the StarryHub has no audio output (other than Bluetooth), so there’s no way to add higher quality audio while still making use of the StarryHub’s many features.

USB 2.0 peripheral mode

The StarryHub supports a special peripheral mode, which turns the projector into a USB camera, microphone and speaker. When this feature is enabled, you can use the included USB A-A cable (with an integrated A-to-C adapter) to connect the projector to your computer. All three functions work as universal plug-and-play USB devices, so they should work automatically in any modern operating system and software.

The ClickDrop USB-C dongle

The StarryHub ships with a USB-C device called the ClickDrop. This is an 802.11-based dongle which uses a DisplayPort signal over USB-C to offer one-click streaming from a supported device. This is particularly useful for streaming from Linux, which has poor-to-nonexistent wireless display support. It worked great with both my Steam Deck and an HP laptop with USB-C DisplayPort support. You’ll need to check your laptop’s documentation (including online) to confirm whether its USB-C port(s) support DisplayPort. You can also read more about the technology here.

I tried (with low expectations) to use the ClickDrop with my Purism Librem 5, but it unfortunately didn’t work – and I’m unsure on whether this is because the hardware is unsupported, or because Purism has yet to add support to the kernel.

Because the ClickDrop doesn’t include pass-through USB-C PD for providing power while in use, it won’t work with the Nintendo Switch. The next generation of the ClickDrop should include pass-through charging if possible, since some smaller laptops – and all tablets and phones – might only have one USB-C port available.

The other nice feature of the ClickDrop is its support for remote input control – once a device is streaming with the ClickDrop, the StarryHub’s remote control can be used as both mouse and keyboard to control the connected device.

Software design and features

Screen adjustments

Unlike a more traditional office projector, all focusing and other adjustments are performed in software, rather than through any hardware controls. The autofocus has been perfect in my tests, but the automatic keystone correction wasn’t particularly accurate. Manual correction is easy enough through StarryOS. I do wish the keystone correction tool used a grid as the background. This would make it easier to more precisely align it on a screen.

Wireless screencasting

Native (no app required) Wireless display connectivity is facilitated through several available options: Miracast (Windows 10/11, some Android devices), Apple Airplay (MacOS, iPhone and iPad OS), Chromecast, and DLNA. Each of these options can be disabled.

Modern operating systems make this very easy, with native support as noted. With both my MacOS 10.14 and Windows 10 devices, the StarryHub immediately showed up as an available wireless display device, using AirPlay and Miracast, respectively. I was even able to connect a Windows 10 Mobile handset without too much effort (which made me really miss Continuum).

Chromecast is also supported, and I was able to cast a YouTube video from Edge on my Windows 10 desktop to my StarryHub with one click. It was a seamless experience: my StarryHub woke up from standby and started playing the video. I haven’t really played with screencasting since the earliest days of the Chromecast, so this was a pleasant surprise.

I even got a bit more adventurous, and fired up Windows Media Player to try old-school DLNA streaming. A few clicks later, and my StarryHub was awake and playing obscure avant garde like it was 1995!

When the StarryHub is asleep (rather than off) – the blue power LED pulses to indicate sleep – it remains active on the network, so you can cast to it remotely, and it will wake up and load up whatever you’re streaming.

The wireless screencasting features alone make this a pretty sweet device. I can see this being particularly useful for holding tech support and training workshops, because I can connect anything and everything to it for live demonstrations.

I will note something: I tried streaming a major live YouTube broadcast from a Windows 10 device using Miracast, and the video buffered way too much. I loaded the same stream in the Chrome browser which ships with StarryOS and had no problems. Streaming realtime audio and video involves enough network overhead that you might end up with a better experience using the built-in apps for live video streaming and teleconferencing.

This may just be a function of how Android handles app switching, but switching back to StarryOS from wireless screencasting disconnects all wireless devices. If you’re having a party where people are streaming videos to the StarryHub, you can use the home button on the TouchPad to quickly reset to StarryOS so different people can stream full-screen.

Four-way video input

One of the StarryHub’s special features is its four-way input, which can work simultaneously with the wired HDMI input and the various methods of connecting wirelessly. This is pretty cool, but I’m not entirely sure how useful it is, unless you’re planning on setting this projector up in some kind of operations center where multiple televisions are an infeasible solution.

Two-way video is probably more useful, since you could show a presentation with a live demonstration of a particular device. My example here is using an old MacBook Air (MacOS 10.14), Surface (Windows 10), and 10th Gen iPad (iPad OS 18). The iPad’s portrait display works great when connected after the other two (which are both widescreen).

The speaker icon on the iPad’s output indicates that the iPad’s audio is currently playing through the StarryHub. It’s easy to swap to different audio streams using the wireless touchpad. By default, the most recently-added device will control audio.

CZUR Share (desktop and mobile app)

As noted previously, CZUR has an app for iOS and Android called CZUR Share, which makes it easy to share your device’s entire display (and audio) CZUR’s StarryHub desktop application, CZUR Share, is designed with businesses in mind: it supports old, unsupported versions of both Windows and MacOS. Windows 7 support is good, but not perfect. Aero Basic is flipped on, presumably to support CZUR’s audio-visual casting solution.

One missing feature from the CZUR Share desktop application: multiple monitor (multimon) support. I have a nice desktop computer which uses a wired network connection, which means I can’t use Miracast to stream from it. I have to use CZUR Share instead, and the lack of multimon support means my desktop’s primary monitor (a 4k display) is always selected, and the StarryHub definitely struggled to play Plex fullscreen at such a high resolution. I really would like to be able to select which monitor to share.

Across all platforms (desktop and mobile), the CZUR Share app makes it easy to share files with the StarryHub (including using it as a local file share for quickly sharing files among those present).

Native file support

StarryOS lacks support for many common file formats. I had trouble with H265 (HEVC) – the video played without audio in the built-in file browser. I was able to play MP4 and H.264 without issue; AVI isn’t supported at all. MP3s worked fine, but since this isn’t really meant to be a media device, I didn’t test music support further – leave a comment if you’d like me to test something specific!

On the productivity side of things, there is native PDF support. If you use the preinstalled Office app, it will open Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files from the file browser. If you uninstall the Office app, the file browser appears to make use of Office online to load files, and my attempts to authenticate from this view failed, which makes this a potential solution for secure access in a shared environment.

Plain text, CSV, and markdown are unsupported. I think it would be interesting if the StarryHub offered some kind of lightweight text editor with git support. This would enable rapid development and code prototyping in a collaborative environment, even when people happen to have no laptop available.

I also tested some common image formats. JPG, PNG, and GIF are all supported, but I don’t recommend trying to use this with GIF memes for anything – I loaded up a Billy Madison meme, and the file browser’s image viewer really couldn’t handle the animation at full screen. The thumbnail in the file browser app was animated and smooth, however. TIF is entirely unrecognized. SVG is a recognized, but unsupported format – the file browser’s image viewer utility attempts to load SVGs, but fails.

I think that for professional StarryHub users, the best way to ensure your presentation works is to stick with the most common formats – PDF and PowerPoint. For videos, H.264 is high quality and works great – both MP4 and MKV played fine.

USB mass storage support

Since StarryOS is Android-based, USB mass storage is supported natively. The StarryHub includes a USB 3.0 port, which is plenty of bandwidth for playing large HD videos (for example) from thumb drive or external SSD. This is great for on-the-fly presentations, especially at expos and conventions. The file browser app shows the mass storage immediately, and displays an eject button for removal. Make sure to always eject USB mass storage devices from the file browser app, to avoid accidentally corrupting stored data.

App support

As previously mentioned, although StarryOS is built on Android, it does not support sideloading random Android apps. CZUR’s bespoke app store is currently limited to a handful of apps:

• Microsoft Teams
• Zoom
• Google Chrome
• Microsoft Office
• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Excel
• Twitch
• TikTok

Still available are Skype and Skype for Business, but Microsoft just announced the permanent shutdown of both services, so I expect these apps to be removed from the store sooner rather than later.

The StarryOS app store doesn’t require any authentication, so anyone with access to the projector can install apps from the store.

Other thoughts on the OS and software

Additional features

To help with potential technical problems, CZUR has included a couple useful tools in the StarryOS Settings app. In the Network section, there’s an Internet speed test, which can help you quickly determine whether your Internet connection might be a factor in any challenges you may with videoconferencing. It does not keep a history of results.

CZUR has also included a really nice Feedback tool in the System section. I once worked in tech and handled customer feedback and bug reports directly – using a tool like this for both support and suggestions makes it a lot easier for you, as the user, to properly categorize your message – and it ensures your message reaches the correct destination much more quickly.

Since the StarryHub is a business-oriented device, this also makes it easy for less technical users to report bugs.

Room for improvement

Most crucially, StarryOS currently lacks any security to speak of, aside from a four-digit PIN for enabling file sharing through the CZUR Share desktop application. Once setup on the local network, anyone with access to that network can stream to the StarryHub. This is dangerous in a business environment, where someone might surreptitiously access the projector to display inappropriate (or even illegal) and unwanted content. The wireless streaming app does allow a confirmation prompt before streaming, but this is minimal. I think the OS needs to include more security – perhaps a six-digit PIN for initial streaming pairing, with transparent authentication once configured. There should also be a PIN lock (six digits minimum) for the OS, which can prevent unauthorized remote access and code execution.

There’s another overlooked security feature, since the StarryHub is very much designed for business use: it has no security ports. There should be a physical security slot on the projector, and possibly even on the TouchPad – this hardware is expensive, and it’s a theft target, especially if it’s put in a publicly-accessible conference room, like at a hotel or convention center. You’ll need to use stick-on security cable anchors to keep the StarryHub from walking away.

It’s a bit glaring that the built-in file browser app doesn’t support SMB or CIFS, which enable accessing Windows file shares on a local network. This seems like a big miss for an office-oriented device. I know this is supported in Android with the CIFS Documents Provider, so hopefully it’ll be added at some point.

As a business device, the StarryHub needs to support Cisco WebEx alongside Teams and Zoom. It might also be worth adding Discord and Slack to the StarryHub app store. I don’t use Google’s apps and services, but it would make sense to add the Google Workspace apps for one-click access.

That said, there is one big downside to using apps, rather than the web browser, to load content: if this projector is installed in a conference room, people will inadvertently log in with their own account information, and if they don’t remember to log out, information security is an immediate concern. With the available Microsoft Office Android app suite, a user logging into Teams for a meeting will leave the contents of their OneDrive for Business accessible in any of the Office apps. Even though I’m currently using my StarryHub at home, I ended up uninstalling the preinstalled Office app (which is a viewer; separate apps for working on Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents are available in the app store)

This problem might be easy to overcome, though. If StarryOS can essentially “deep freeze” the installed apps, so any user settings (including credentials) are wiped when the application is closed, the apps can be used normally while maintaining the security of each user’s information.

Another issue I noticed is that apps stay running, which I expect with standard Android – but it can lead to a lot of unnecessary resource consumption in a shared environment, where people might forget to quit unused apps. Along with freezing, it might be helpful to allow disabling app multitasking (at least to some degree), so the StarryHub’s resources are available for projecting and streaming.

I realize the StarryHub isn’t really designed for the home theater crowd, it would be really cool to see entertainment apps added to the store. CZUR could put these apps behind a “business mode” toggle with a password/PIN lock (or something similar) to prevent employees from using the conference room projector as a distraction, but Android apps like Plex, Prime Video, Hulu, and Netflix would really open up the consumer market for this projector. My experiences so far with remote video streaming point to consistently better performance when streaming video directly from the projector. This makes sense from a technical perspective, and further adds to the justification for adding entertainment apps to the StarryHub’s curated app store.

In the meantime, the built in Chrome browser is up-to-date and loads mobile sites by default, so it should be serviceable for using the web frontends of all your favorite streaming services. I tested Plex a bit, and discovered that the lack of native HEVC support required me to force Plex to transcode the video – Plex could play the audio, but no video.

A note on Teams

I’m unsure if the Teams app for StarryHub is up-to-date, but my experience using it as a consumer (without M365) was pretty atrocious. Testing between two consumer (personal) Microsoft accounts was impossible without a laptop handy to wrangle the StarryHub’s Teams account. The Android Teams app that’s installed couldn’t see (and thus approve) new message requests, so I had to use a laptop to set up the initial chat conversation. Then the Teams app failed to add my second account to a meeting. I ended up using the meeting URL on both the StarryHub and my remote test account, and it was frustrating that it took so many steps (and devices) to get things working.

I don’t think this can be blamed on the StarryHub, and the Android app is so limited that I think it makes more sense to run meetings from a real computer, and just add the StarryHub as a participant. If you plan on using the StarryHub in a conference room, you can make a dedicated account for easier meeting management. In an M365 environment, you should be able to just add the StarryHub’s Teams account to meetings.

If you don’t have M365, you should make sure everyone in the meeting (including the StarryHub’s Microsoft account) is added to each other’s Teams contacts before trying to use the StarryHub’s Teams app. If you plan on using Teams a lot for videoconferencing, you’ll have far fewer frustrations by using USB 2.0 peripheral mode with either wireless or HDMI, so you can manage all the Teams stuff from a regular computer. The auto-tracking feature of the camera works when it’s used as a USB camera, and I expect that audio tracking feature of the StarryHub Q1 S Pro does, as well.

Final thoughts

If you made it all the way to the end, congratulations! This one was really a doozy, but that’s mostly because the StarryHub is packed with a whole lot of features and capabilities.

If you’re a small business looking for an all-in-one videoconferencing solution for a small-to-midsize conference room, this is a great piece of hardware. I think its strongest features will really shine for professionals who do a lot of presenting and demonstrating. It’s travel-friendly and small enough to fit in a carry-on (although you’ll want a padded case of some kind to protect it!). Because it has everything you need onboard, you can show up at a meeting or sales pitch with nothing but the StarryHub and be ready to go – no fiddling with connections or drives; only a moment to boot and autofocus, and the StarryHub is ready to help you wow your audience.

It’s pricey, but it’s also much more functional than anything else on the market, and it gives you everything you need in a single package with a relatively small footprint. Just make sure to be aware of its security limitations, especially when traveling.

The poor Bluetooth audio implementation and lack of any digital audio output means this projector will not be all that useful as primarily an entertainment device. The good news is, what it’s lacking could theoretically be added by CZUR – some stuff is probably fixable in software and firmware, and CZUR could expand the hardware capabilities with USB 3.0 accessories. For the time being, if you mostly want to stream HD video content, there are superior high-end projectors available with wireless casting support.

What I like about the StarryHub Q1 Pro

• Excellent wireless screencasting capabilities
• Quality construction
• Great videoconferencing hardware
• Best all-in-one solution for professional users

What needs to be improved?

• Bluetooth audio performance during video playback is unacceptably bad for entertainment use
• Inadequate security for business use, especially when traveling
• No HDMI A/V receiver support
• CZUR Share Windows app doesn’t allow choosing which display to share

Price: $999.00
Where to buy: CZUR and Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by CZUR. They did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.

Check out these other reviews!

• Dangbei Freedo portable projector review
• JMGO PicoFlix projector review – finally a portable projector that can actually play long movies!