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Nebula Capsule Air: World's Smallest Google TV Projector Reviewed
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Mar 3, 2025
The Nebula Capsule Air is the world's smallest Google TV projector...but does it make sense for you? Find out in Dustin's review! | Purchase at Nebula https://shrsl.com/4u7sn | Amazon https://amzn.to/3QilZBM or Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/42Qpya1 | Visit https://tinyurl.com/CapsuleAirPage for more information or visit the text review page for review notes and findings: Check out the DA Merch here: https://bit.ly/TWIMerch | Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/dustinabbott | On the Web: http://dustinabbott.net/ | Sign up for my Newsletter: http://bit.ly/1RHvUNp | Instagram: http://bit.ly/DLAinsta | Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1nuUUeH | Flickr: http://bit.ly/1UcnC0B | 500px: http://bit.ly/1Sy2Ngu Follow Craig @ https://www.instagram.com/craigstoffersen/ Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo: http://bhpho.to/1TA0Xge Adorama: https://howl.link/nt4zdz1goa7ql Camera Canada: http://bit.ly/DLACameraCan Sony Canada: https://www.thesonyshop.ca/?ref=abbott Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HrY64d Amazon Canada: https://amzn.to/3qG1p18 Ebay: http://bit.ly/DustineBay Into the AM Clothing: https://bit.ly/intotheAMda and use code DUSTIN10 for 10% off Fioboc Clothing: https://tinyurl.com/FiobocDA20 and us code DUSTIN20 for 20% off Make a donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/dustinTWI ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro and Concept
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[Music]
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[Music]
0:10
hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here today
0:12
to give you my review of the nebula
0:14
capsule air this is obviously a micro
0:17
projector very portable projector in
0:19
fact the capsule air is being marketed
0:21
as the world's smallest Google TV
0:23
projector and it is remarkably small as
0:26
you can see it's about the size of a
0:28
soda can it is Al it's definitely very
0:31
highly portable from the small size to
0:33
the fact that you have about 2 hours of
0:36
playback time built right into it with a
0:38
34w hour battery but my testing says
0:42
you'll also have to be pretty selective
0:44
about your lighting situation as 150
0:47
ansy lumens aren't going to compete with
0:50
much in terms of other light sources so
0:53
is the nebula capsule air worth around
0:55
$400 well I guess that depends on how
0:58
portable you need your entertainment to
1:00
be so let's jump in let's take a look at
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what it has to offer so as noted it is
1:05
extremely small and you can see that
1:07
just from the physical design but in
1:09
terms of those Dimensions it's 2.7 in in
1:12
diameter by about 5.5 in in length so
1:16
that's 68 1/2 by
1:18
139.7 mm you know frankly it's about the
1:21
size of a lot of lenses that I reviewed
1:23
along the way it weighs in at 1.4 lb or
1:26
635 G and ditto for the lens size there
1:31
it is the the actual displaying
1:33
technology is DLP and as noted it has
1:36
150 ANC lumens the native resolution is
1:39
1280x 720 or 720p it does support up to
1:43
1080p input it has a variety of uh input
1:48
sources here on the back including HDMI
1:50
and then USBC what it doesn't have is
1:54
any kind of headphone output or 3.5 mm
1:58
output for uh for audio it is rated at a
2:02
30,000 hour lifetime so you know
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probably mostly your lifetime it does
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support hdr10 and so you can do both SDR
2:10
and HDR content through that it has the
2:13
standard Google TV menu and then also
2:16
the standard Google TV setup which tends
2:18
to be very simple particularly if you've
2:20
done it before it's basically connect to
2:22
the Wi-Fi network it's logging into the
2:25
you know your actual Google account and
2:28
way you go and most of the the the rest
2:30
of the process is going to be set up and
2:32
what I do love at the end of that
2:34
process is that you end up with a kind
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of a user interface that will be matched
2:39
across a a wide variety of devices maybe
2:41
your home TV maybe if you have multiple
2:44
other type um you know if you have
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multiple projectors even you're going to
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whatever it is you're going to get that
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same kind of UI across all of them and
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so I do appreciate that the included
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remote uh does allow you to do a
2:57
hands-free voice control with the remote
3:00
and it's also again it's a standard
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button layout and so it's it's very
3:04
simple it's very easy to use if you have
3:06
any kind of familiarity with other
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Google TV uh type products it does
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include a stand that uh will attach
3:13
magnetically and will allow you to then
3:16
adjust up and down and so that you can
3:18
do a tilting and it even has a kickstand
3:21
to allow you to even if you're wanting
3:23
to project all the way up until you're
3:24
shooting at a 90° which you have the
3:27
capability of doing if you get the the
3:30
stand set up correctly the built-in
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sound projection is rated at 5 Watts
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it's Dolby audio it can be used as a
3:38
Bluetooth speaker and then of course
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because it is Bluetooth you do have the
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option of a Bluetooth connection to uh
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other Bluetooth speakers as a means of
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projecting audio and getting a bigger
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audio sound now in theory you can
3:51
project anywhere between a 30 and 80 in
3:54
display and so that is as close as 2 and
3:56
1/2 ft up to right under 7 ft for
3:59
display playing that I find that if
4:01
you'll stick to somewhere around a 45 in
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display somewhere in that range you're
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going to get the best performance it
4:07
does have autofocus and then also Auto
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Keystone Corrections all of that seems
4:12
to work really well now in terms of the
4:15
different scenarios that I I use the
4:17
projector in they're a little bit more
4:19
limited in this particular application a
4:21
projector this small really has one
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primary case use for portable
4:26
entertainment in a very dim environment
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and the darker the better so even you
4:30
know I might look at something like this
4:32
as a means of maybe displaying photos as
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as a photographer you know to see let
4:36
clients see photos but again unless
4:38
you've got a very dark room it's not
4:39
going to be incredibly useful for that
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and so really this is more about more of
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an entertainment device and best use in
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the dimmest conditions possible the
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picture isn't bad if you're using it in
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a dark room and you're projecting at a
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reasonable size and I would Define
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reasonable as being 50 in or under that
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uh you can display larger than that and
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it's it's not Terri but it does get more
5:00
washed out and all of the other case
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uses if you're in a brighter room it is
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going to look very washed out I don't
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consider it to be particularly useful in
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brighter type
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environments so I'll give you a
5:11
breakdown of what I consider to be great
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about it and what's not so great about
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it in terms of actually using it my
5:18
experiences as using it so obviously
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under the great category I mean this is
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obviously incredibly small and portable
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and if it is the world's first this
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small to be a Google TV device you that
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is pretty impressive in and of itself it
5:32
is very easy to set up and I'll give
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that with a little bit of a caveat if
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you've been through the Google TV setup
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before um you know as a reviewer I've
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had to go through it a a number of times
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I've had to set it up in a number of
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displays and in you know offices and at
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the church for various things so I've
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been through this process probably at
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least a dozen if not more times and so
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if you're familiar with the process it's
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quite simple uh it can you know
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sometimes that process you can run into
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a few Google related Hang-Ups but
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typically it goes fairly smoothly and I
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do fear find that the most recent
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devices have been the best experience I
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don't know if it's I don't think it's
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just because my experience level is
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getting better I think that Google has
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maybe worked out a few of those Kinks
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and so the setup process is getting
6:17
better I'll also note that the autofocus
6:19
and auto Keystone correction work great
6:21
and typically if it gets moved at all it
6:24
will automatically engage that you do
6:26
have a button right up here at the top
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however if you want manually cause it to
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do its calibrations once again you can
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do that with an easy click there battery
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life is long enough at about 2 hours to
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typically to watch a a typical movie
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they do have an an actual accessory that
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you can buy that's a little bit of a
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tripod but it's also a a battery bank or
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power bank and so it'll actually double
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that up to about 4 hours and also give
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you a little more flexibility in moving
6:54
it up and down run you right under a 100
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bucks and so if it's something you're
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considering it's a accessory that will
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work with maybe some of their other
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capsule devices as
7:03
well it can I appreciate the fact that
7:06
it can be both uh charged and powered by
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USBC which obviously gives you a lot of
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different options and you know
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everything from vmount batteries to
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portable power Banks to an AC adapter
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you've got lots of options of getting
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extra power to this and so I appreciate
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that it really I can't hardly describe
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it without you feeling it it really is
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impressively wellb built it feels
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Very Metal it feels very tough I didn't
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intentionally drop it obviously because
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that would be kind of stupid however it
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does feel like it is tough enough to
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handle bumps and maybe even some drops
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it's not plasticky at all and so it
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actually is surprising when you first
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put it in your hand uh the density of it
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and also the quality of construction
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really really stands out I appreciate
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that the remote is uh again it's a
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familiar layout and it also is back lit
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it has the motion sensor in it and so
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when you pick up the REM to use it the
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back lighting will come on and so
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obviously that helps you in dark spaces
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and remember you want to be in dark
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spaces when you're using this remote I
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also appreciated the fact that it seemed
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to have no lag between the video and the
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audio when I connected via Bluetooth to
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my soundcore boom 2 plus portable
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Bluetooth speaker and So that obviously
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gave me much much bigger sound but I
8:22
also would appreciated the fact that
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there didn't seem to be a sync issue and
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so that's great the built-in sound is
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decent and again if you're totally about
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portability it will give you a
8:32
reasonable experience just don't expect
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it to equate to a you know like a full
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soundar much less a full home theater
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system but if you have reasonable
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expectations the sound quality is pretty
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good the same is true for the picture
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quality it is good enough for SDR or
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hdr10 if it is used in the proper
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environments and you're projecting at
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the proper size and as long as you don't
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kind of exceed those limitations I'll
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say that it works pretty well the
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included tilting stand I think that it
9:01
works well it's it's a really simplistic
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easy device to use and so very easy to
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just pop that on there and then to have
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that flexibility for you know rotating
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it and getting it to work at different
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viewing angles so that's great even if
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you don't want to use that I appreciate
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the fact that it's got standard quarter
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inch threads on the bottom and so you
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can mount that onto a lot of things a
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tripod a stand um you know quick release
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plate could be put on there and you can
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throw it onto other things and so it
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gives you a lot oft options on getting
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that up and so to getting at a a better
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angle for projecting I also appreciate
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the fact that there's a lot of
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redundancy here in terms of the controls
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there are some top-mounted uh touch
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controls that you can use obviously you
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can use the included remote and then
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also there is a nebula app that is free
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that you can download and you can
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control everything from within the
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nebula app as well so again three
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different options there and that further
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extends the portability of it so all of
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those are things that I think are great
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about it so what's not great I was
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actually disappointed with the amount of
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brightness and so I had to recalibrate
10:07
my expectations into a device this small
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as opposed to a lot of the other
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projectors that I have tested 150 an
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lumens is not particularly bright
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however within this class if you're
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using Apples to Apples for these kind of
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micro projectors this is standard if not
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better than usual and so the amount of
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brightness is is standard for the class
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but if you it's not not it's very it's
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very likely if you're looking at the
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promotional photos that you're going to
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say wow I expected it to be brighter and
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that's true that's marketing for you and
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so again it's it's it's okay if you use
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it within the right environment but it's
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not if you do otherwise it also does not
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have the 3.5 mm headphone or audio
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output and I do wish that it had that
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it's it's just a I I'm appreciative that
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you don't have Bluetooth lag with a
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bluetooth speaker at least with the
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combination that I tested but one way to
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eliminate that possibil is to have that
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simple 3.5 mm output and then it also
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gives you a little bit more versatility
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in you know connecting into a non
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Bluetooth enabled type device so I I
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wish that was there I think that you can
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get a case but there is not a case that
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is included with it and so I do miss
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that so my conclusion is this I think
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the nebula capsule air requires you to
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have realistic expectations if you are
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primarily concerned with portability and
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toughness you want a fully integrated
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entertainment solution you know
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something that actually has Google TV
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and all the built-in apps and you know
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all of those various options you can
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cast to it you can do any number of
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things it's a really really well
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integrated entertainment solution it's
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surprisingly versatile and it definitely
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gives off a very premium feel if you
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want versatility of brightness however
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then this is not a great pick it needs
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to be used in a fairly dark environment
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if you want to avoid a washed out
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picture and so I would say buy
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accordingly and so if you are looking
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for a portable device that is brighter
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you're going to be wanting to look at
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something that's probably at least in
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the you know 5 to 700 uh anti lumens
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rating area to give you more versatility
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but if you above all just want
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versatility you're working with a small
12:15
space forh perhaps then this is a really
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nice little option and often with anchor
12:21
products in any of their brands you can
12:23
get them with discounts and coupons and
12:26
get that price down to a little bit more
12:27
affordable level check out thep deson
12:29
below for a little more information on
12:31
that as always thanks for watching have
12:33
a great day and let the light in
12:37
[Music]
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