
I remember years ago when we talked about good quality projectors the first thing that came to mind was the operation to export a kidney to pay for it... Jokes aside the prices were really prohibitive and these devices were only affordable for wealthy people, also because the purchase of a projector did not exclude the purchase of a television, brightness being always a big problem; practically impossible to see well unless in a completely dark room. Today things have changed, the prices are affordable, the darkness necessary for good vision is no longer absolute and therefore the panorama has definitely changed. There are many interesting products even under € 500 and today I want to talk to you about one of these, the Fengmi Formovie S5 a mouth-watering Xiaomi mini projector. Fengmi It is an ecosystem brand Xiaomi which guarantees us quality and advantageous prices. Let's go and see its characteristics
Topics of this article:
CONFEZIONE
The first thing that surprised me in a positive way is the packaging and wrapping. The product will arrive with an external box (always the product box) that contains the actual box perfectly packed by a bubble container so it will be impossible to be damaged during transport.



Inside we will find:
- Fengmi Formovie S5 Projector
- 65W charger with Type C output (Chinese plug)
- Remote control with 2 AAA batteries included
- Little manual






DESIGN AND SIZE
Aesthetically I find it a truly premium product, even if the price doesn't tell. Half of it is covered with this fabric-like material and half is polycarbonate of excellent workmanship. The dimensions are ultra compact, in fact we are talking about 17.5cm x 17.5cm x 830Gr of weight. In short, you can take it anywhere, even to a friend's house to spend an evening projecting your favorite film or TV series on the big screen. Below we find a grill that serves for ventilation, via the fan present, and the standard attachment to be fixed to a tripod, therefore maximum versatility of transport and positioning.



TECHNICAL FEATURES FENGMI FORMOVIE S5
Let's start immediately from brightness, a fundamental parameter for a projector! We are at 1100 ANSI lumens which are starting to be an interesting value especially if they are real (and in this case they are). Unfortunately in the jungle of low cost projectors I have often seen absurd values, 5000 ansi on projectors that cost €60… well, don't trust them too much. I have tried several devices in this price range and I think I can say that this value is not reached by any other. Tested in a room with almost daylight conditions and I assure you that the visibility of the images was very good, already excellent in dim light without the need for a really dark room.
The native resolution is 1280 × 720 but the manufacturer gives it as FullHD, 1920x1080p thanks to an excellent image interpolation and the result is really excellent. Videos will also be played in 4K!
As a chip we find a DMD 0,23 and a source laser instead of the classic LED. All this translates into good brightness, contrast and overall image quality. Probably the best projector in this price range.
The audio is provided by 2 speakers 5W Denon, while the image latency is 12ms. Great value if we use it to watch movies and TV series but obviously not good if we want to use it to play video games.
As for the projection size it ranges from approximately 40" if fixed to 1m away up to 120" if placed at approximately 3m
Below is an in-depth technical sheet:
Technology | DLP |
---|---|
Brightness | 1100 ANSI Lumens |
Type of optics | ALPD Laser |
Contrast | 1500:1 |
Resolution | Full HD, 1080p |
HDR | HDR 10 |
BlueTooth | 5.0 |
Audio | Denon Dolby Audio + DTS-HD |
Speaker | Denon 2x5W |
Projection ratio | 1.21:1 |
Noise | |
Projection size | 40-120 inches |
ROM | 16GB eMMC |
RAM | 2GB DDR4 |
Shot put | 0.83 kg |
Dimensions: | 175x175x50mm |
Doors | HDMI 2.1, USB 3.0, Type-C, 3.5mm audio |
OS Language | Chinese/English |
GATE
The inputs and outputs are as follows:
- HDMI 2.1 (input)
- USB 3.0 (input)
- USB Type C (charging)
- 3.5mm audio (out)

There aren't many but they are essentially what you need. An optical output is undoubtedly missing but we could not claim to have everything. Through HDMI e USB we will have access to any multimedia content we need and with audio output from 3.5 mm or the connection BT 5.0 we will be able to connect many audio devices, even those of excellent quality.
The possibility of making it work also via is excellent power bank thanks to its very low consumption (40W average in use). So with a power bank from 65w you will have no problems whatsoever and you won't even need an electrical outlet nearby.
We must remember that we also have 2 5W Denon speakers that for the less demanding will be fine for listening to the audio of our videos. The audio comes from the grill that is under our S5, so the best position for listening is to leave it free, it is not good to place it on a table even if it is made in such a way as not to be completely covered even in this position

SOFTWARE FENGMI S5
On the software we find the real sore point of this product, that is the software that is exclusively for Chinese use, therefore practically unusable for us. We could only manage the settings by changing the language from Chinese to English and this operation could already be complicated. But do not worry that I will give you a hand, proceed in this way:
- Start your Fengmi S5, connect the remote control by pressing the highlighted buttons and continue forward through the subsequent screens until you get to the Wi-Fi connection. Below is the image sequence that you will find






- At this point we will set the English language in this way: click the button with the 3 lines on the remote control (the one to the right of the 3 below) and this screen will open.

- You will be on the settings icon, move with the right cursor and enter the screen with the icons, select the second blue one (triangle type). At this point another menu will open, here go down to the fifth line and press the right cursor that will select the English language. At this point go back and you will have the settings screen in English.




- Always on this screen, at the top, you will find a warning that the operating system needs to be updated, obviously update


- Once updated it will restart and you will always be on the home page. With the cursor keys you can scroll left and right but you will only find Chinese content.
Click on the top right button on the remote control (the one with a sort of blue-red-yellow A) and the settings of the new operating system will open.




- On the left you will find the macro sections and on the right the settings of these sections: Common, Network, Image, Sound, Auxiliary, System, Peripheric.
- In the common menu you can browse your input devices (USB and HDMI), browse files also in the integrated memory, use the wireless screen
- In the Network menu you will find your Wi-Fi connection, speed test and BT device connection

- The image menu is one of the most important, here you can set many parameters, auto and manual, including the way the projector will be installed (front/back supported, above/below suspended). I find the “Image Motion Compensation” menu important, which you can use if the videos you are watching are particularly “fast”. In this case, games, sports, etc. you can set it to “high” and it will generate additional frames to avoid the annoying dragging effect.




- In the Sound menu we can set the audio parameters

- The auxiliary menu will allow us to set the focus and keystone correction manually or automatically.

- In the system menu we find details about the operating system, updates, language, screensaver, etc.

- The last menu is the peripherals one and here we can add and remove BT and Wireless peripherals

Having said that there are many and detailed menus available, we must also say that to make the best use of our projector it will be necessary to use an external device such as Amazon Firestick, Tv box, Notebook, etc. The most convenient solution is undoubtedly the fire stick that for just over €30 will allow us to view all the streaming we need. You can of course also connect USB devices on which you have films and in this way you will not even need another external device. As soon as you connect a USB device a message will appear to confirm the reading of this device.

A truly amazing thing is the projector's ability to reset the focus and keystone correction very quickly, in fact you can move it when it is on, put it in any position and in the blink of an eye it will rearrange the image perfectly. It is also capable, in a completely automatic way, of avoiding obstacles and therefore moving the image to project it in the best point of the wall with the best size. Remember that to obtain the maximum and best size, or 120″, it will have to be placed about 3m from the screen/wall. You can also move it further away and obtain a larger projection size but obviously at the expense of image quality.
FENGMI FORMOVIE S5 VIDEO QUALITY
The video quality is really impressive for a device of this price. 1100 ANSI Lumens they are all visible, giving great brightness to our projection even in low light conditions, good contrasts and beautiful colours! All this is obviously facilitated by having a source LASER and not a LED as almost all competitors in this price range have. Also the compatibility with HDR10 certainly helps to have a really excellent image quality. Another fundamental parameter to consider is the contrast ratio of well 1500:1, a value that perhaps it does not really reach but comes close, keep in mind that LED projectors of this level do not reach half of this value.
Let us remember that the maximum definition is FULLHD but will be able to easily play content in 4K.
Another fundamental variable to take into consideration is the maximum noise level which is around 30db so it can be said to be absolutely silent. Already from about a meter away you will hear practically nothing, which is essential to fully enjoy your multimedia content.
Now I'm posting an example of how our Fengmi Formovie S5 looks but the test was done on a white wall so not on a special sheet. I'll show you the result in the dark (not total, let's say at dusk with open windows) and turning on the light from the room. Take the demo video that I attach here with a pinch of salt for obvious reasons of shooting, framing, etc.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
To give a final judgment on the product it is obviously essential to evaluate its quality/price ratio. Our Fengmi Formovie S5 list price €635 which is a good price considering its excellent technical specifications which translates into very good video projection and good audio quality. But the really exceptional thing is the fact that we can find it at a significantly reduced price, in our case on the site NOTHINGPROJECTOR (who we thank for sending the sample) even to €389, with a discount of more than €30, using our exclusive discount code XMDS5. The shipment will be from a European warehouse in about 7 working days without the risk of incurring annoying customs duties. Under these incredible conditions, my heartfelt advice can only be to buy it with your eyes closed.