Xgimi Horizon Ultra projector review: dazzling Dolby Vision …

XGimi Horizon Ultra Projector review: Dazzling Dolby Vision for under $2,000

MSRP $1,699.00

“Xgimi is ready again with the bright and beautiful Horizon Ultra that impresses for days with Dolby Vision support and smart features!”

Pros

• Dolby Vision HDR support

• smart auto picture adjustment

• glow in the dark room

• excellent color accuracy

• Compact, premium design

Shortcoming

• ok in bright rooms

• Setup is a pain for non-Android users

• sound could be better

When you slide the Xgimi Horizon Ultra out of its pristine, Styrofoam-lined Apple-esque packaging, there’s an obvious “ooh” moment. The $1,700 4K smart projector is certainly beautiful, and with its smooth faux leather cover and soft aluminum accents it even feels premium in your hands. “Beautiful,” “sleek,” and “soft” are not words I’ve used to describe a projector before, which immediately made me wonder how this objet d’art could cost less than two grand. is, and it can be stacked with features that even some higher-end projectors don’t have, most notably a little thing called Dolby Vision.

A first for a 4K long-throw projector, Dolby Vision – with the use of laser and LED lighting in what Xgimi calls “Dual Light” technology – creates an impossibly bright and color-accurate projector for the price, giving the Horizon Ultra gained a significant lead over the competition. It’s super compact without being a “portable” projector and it runs Android TV 11, which makes for fast and easy setup and operation.

It seems like Xgimi has done the impossible here, so let’s check it out.

lights Horizon Ultra: a projector with smarts

Like other Xgimi projectors, such as the cute and portable MoGo 2 Pro, the Horizon Ultra is a smart projector that’s easy to set up and use. Its Android TV 11 OS makes for a simple setup, especially if you’re an Android user as you can port all your apps, usernames, passwords and more to the projector in just a few taps. phone. Sadly, though, everyone else has to go through the long dance of finding and extracting login details for your streaming apps using the included remote and those horrible on-screen keyboards, something I don’t do. Desire Someone will fix it. However, if you’re not interested in Android TV and prefer to just connect your streaming device and bypass all that nonsense, there are two HDMI ports.

Determining and setting the image size is also very simple. As per the specifications, the Horizon Ultra is capable of throwing an image from 40 to 200 inches, and has a throw ratio of 1.2 to 1.5:1. I was able to get a 100-inch image size from about 100 inches (8.3 feet) away. But I also tried moving the projector a little further away to give a slightly larger image, that way I could use the projector’s optical zoom-in feature to more easily fine-tune with the remote. It worked well.

As mentioned above, the Horizon Ultra also has a ton of smart features that keep its weight down. Its auto-keystone correction is one of the best I’ve ever used. Upon startup and/or whenever the projector is rotated, it automatically adjusts and straightens the image for any vertical or horizontal angle you have, and it can even do this at some extreme angles. Autofocus keeps the image sharp and crisp, auto-screen alignment adjusts the image to the edge of the screen, and there’s also an image displacement adjustment if you need to rotate the image up, down, left or right. All of these features can be fully automated or manual, so you can easily adjust the Horizon Ultra’s image to suit your ideal screen and image size.

Additionally, the projector includes obstacle avoidance technology that detects things like art on your walls and will adjust the image size to avoid them. I found that it only worked with small items like light switches some of the time, and as useful as it is, I disabled it. The other feature I disabled was Intelligent Eye Protection, which is a good idea for people with small children and dogs as it detects movement in front of the projector and dims the bulb to keep little eyes safe. But it can be annoying as it gets triggered at any time or when anything passes in front of it.

Connectivity-wise, the Horizon Ultra has a wide range of options, including the aforementioned HDMI input (one with eARC), two USB ports, Chromecast, Bluetooth 5.2, and a LAN connection, should you prefer one over its built-in Wi-Fi. Should be given. 6. As for audio out, there’s a 1.5-mm port for headphones or a set of speakers, should you want to connect them, or there’s also an optical output. Oh, this might be a good time to mention that the Horizon Ultra has two 12-watt built-in Harman Kardon speakers that support DTS-Virtual:X (more on this later).

lights Horizon Ultra: BAccuracy, Color and HDR

In a completely dark room, the Horizon Ultra’s brightness and contrast performance is excellent, and very good in daytime too. For such a compact and reasonably priced projector, I was left wondering whether I was watching Dolby Vision content (which was definitely better) or other HDR content (it also supports HDR10 and HLG ). To be clear, we’re not talking rich, dense black levels like an OLED TV. So if that’s your expectation, you might be better off staying away from projectors altogether, or be prepared to mortgage your house. But for under $2,000, Xgimi has got something special here.

Powered by 2,300 ISO lumens of brightness (about 2,875 ANSI lumens, if you’re keeping track), I found the Horizon Ultra to be quite bright and vivid, even compared to higher-priced and brighter long-throw projectors , such as the $3,000, 3,200-lumen BenQ HT4550i I reviewed earlier. And like the HT4550i, brightness and contrast settings can be changed over a range of days, letting you find your preferred balance. All of this can be attributed to Combines LED and laser projection technology. And from my testing, considering the low 2,300 lumen rating, they’re on to something right here.

Never mind the cost-to-performance benefits, but the Horizon Ultra’s color is also fantastic, when compared to other, more expensive 4K long throw projectors. Out of the box, color reproduction is great and looks accurate no matter what I’m watching and from what source. The standard DCI-P3 gamut used by the digital cinema and film industry covers 95.5% of the gamut and up to 99% of Rec.709 when watching non-Dolby Vision UHD content such as Prime Video. wheel of time (I watched this series on my LG OLED), the blue sky of a big, sunny day looks beautiful and clear, the brick textures of the palace wall are vivid and lifelike, and the golden and orange swirls of One Power Just the right amount of brightness and saturation. Darker tones may certainly be darker, but they’re not bad.

To ensure you get the ideal brightness and color settings, the Horizon Ultra is pretty much foolproof and has auto settings for both brightness (based on the ambient light in the room) and color accuracy (it can measure the color of the wall or screen). There are adjustment facilities. are using it). Still, if, for example, you prefer a little more or less sharpness, brightness, contrast, color temperature or saturation, you can go to the Custom menu in Image mode and away you go.

But wait, did I yada-yada about the part where this thing does Dolby Vision? Because it happens. And it does it well. First of all, it is seamless. For example, when watching a Dolby Vision title, whether on Netflix, Disney+ or Blu-ray, a notification appears on the screen telling you that the picture has been optimized for it, which is automatically optimized for projector compatible TVs. Does it from. For years. The high-quality HDR standard allows projectors to capture additional scene-by-scene image information from Dolby Vision sources, which in street speak means more dynamic and accurate images. Additionally, you can also tell the projector your screen size and gain level for further Dolby Vision optimization.

Xgimi Horizon Ultra: Sgood performance

With built-in dual 12-watt speakers on the Horizon Ultra, you get a few sound-setting options. By default, it’s set to something called “Harman Kardon Original,” which, from the sound of it, is standard stereo sound. As for the built-in speaker, the sound is fine. It’s a fair amount of clear (things get messy if it’s too loud), it has good mids and highs, and will do the job in a pinch or until you get yourself a soundbar or, for the more serious, a projector. Regarding this, HDMI does not use eARC or optical port.

Then there’s the Ultra’s “DTS-Virtual:X” setting, which I can’t put my finger on. According to the DTS website, Virtual:X is considered “capable of delivering superior sound immersion and home theater experience with at least two speakers”. I’m not sure it’s pulling it off in the Horizon Ultra – I don’t think the speakers are powerful enough. On the one hand, when compared to the “Harman Kardon Original” setting, the sound separation does seem to be a bit wider, making sound effects like laser blasts and explosions seem more distinct, but I wouldn’t call it that by any stretch of the imagination. I will not do it. “Immerse.”

The dialogue is clear on both settings, to be sure, and that’s a good thing, but both settings are also sorely lacking at the lower levels. But look, if you’re going to invest even a few thousand dollars in a capable projector like the Horizon Ultra, do yourself a favor and get a soundbar or other sound solution; you will not regret it.

ground level

If you’re thinking of ditching your TV and going the projector route to give your living room setup a more theater-like feel, the XGimi Horizon Ultra and its reasonable $1,700-plus price is a great start for testing. Water. While it’s not a space-conscious ultra short throw projector, and you’ll need to take into account things like room size and furniture placement, the Horizon Ultra is compact enough to move around easily during setup, which with its Android TV OS Quite simple. And a laundry list of automatic image adjustment features that make it perfect for beginners.

But even if this isn’t your first rodeo, the Horizon Ultra holds its own with projectors priced at twice its price. With its combination of 2,300 ISO lumens of brightness, dual light system, Dolby Vision support that’s really only seen in high-end projectors, and advanced picture adjustment features for those adept at playing, the Xgimi somehow packs it all. And much more in one gorgeous package and I wouldn’t hesitate to put it at the top of your projector shopping list.