A Beautiful Dolby Vision Projector That Adapts to Any Room

Looking for probably the most fastest and absolute best tactics to create a large 200-inch display that appears remarkable in nearly any room for only $2000? The XGIMI Horizon Ultra, known because the “first 4K long-throw projector with Dolby Vision”, combines spectacular symbol high quality with an overly chic design, and calls for minimum effort to arrange.

We had our first demo at IFA 2023 in Berlin a couple of months in the past, and now, upon getting to take a look at it ourselves, we are assured recommending this as an ideal selection for any house cinema.

XGIMI Horizon Ultra

The XGIMI Horizon Ultra is a flexible and aesthetically satisfying projector that elevates your own home leisure revel in. Its chic design, user-friendly setup, and remarkable image high quality make it a standout selection for the ones looking for a top rate and obtainable projection resolution

Brand

XGIMI

Native Resolution

3840×2160

ANSI Lumens

2300

Projection Technology

0.47″ DLP x 1

Connectivity

Android TV 11

Throw Ratio

1.2-1.5:1

Audio

2 x 12W Harman/Kardon

Lamp Life

25,000 hours

Wattage

300 Watts

Image Size

40″-200″

Lamp Type

Laser/LED Hybrid

Ports

Audio Out: Mini Jack Audio Out: Optical HDMI 2.1 x 2 Network: RJ-45 USB x 2

Size

10.43″ x 8.82″ x 6.69″

Weight

11.5 lbs

RAM

2gb

Storage

32gb

Projection Method

Front, Rear, Front Ceiling, Rear Ceiling

Wireless connectivity

Wifi 6 Dual-band 2, Bluetooth 5.2/BLE

Input Lag

4K/60: 18ms

Supported Formats

HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision

Pros

• Auto-keystoning works rather well
• Wall colour adaptation is magic
• Excellent distinction and deep blacks
• 12W audio system are tough and feature a tight quantity of bass
• Brighter than its predecessor
• First long-throw Dolby Vision projector
• Works properly in just about any room

Cons

• Not reasonable
• Netflix calls for a minor workaround to set up
• Motorized entrance duvet would possibly introduce reliability issues

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As quickly as its motorized entrance duvet slides down, you might be greeted with an overly futuristic viewing revel in. With its upgraded computerized keystone correction, enhanced brightness, and clever wall colour adaptation that seamlessly blends even with our brown-hued partitions, the Horizon Ultra will also be added to nearly any room.

Key Features

Enhanced Brightness

With 2,300 ISO lumens, the Horizon Ultra gives a 27% build up in brightness when compared to its predecessor, the Horizon Pro. This stepped forward brightness is especially helpful in well-lit environments, even though it could actually lead to rather washed-out colours in such stipulations.

Dual Light Technology

The Horizon Ultra makes use of a zero.47-inch 4K DLP chipset with speedy pixel-shifting, supporting HDR10, HLG, and Dolby Vision HDR. This era guarantees top quality visuals and actual colour accuracy, attaining a large 95.5% DCI-P3 colour gamut.

Intelligent Screen Adaptation 3.0

The Horizon Ultra options enhanced Intelligent Screen Adaptation 3.0, enabling computerized reputation of image frames and seamless adjustment of image dimension and form to have compatibility a 16×9 space at the wall.

Wall Color Correction

The projector contains automatic wall colour correction, providing correct colour replica on differently-tinted surfaces. While the function’s effectiveness would possibly range in several lighting fixtures stipulations, it caters to customers with calmly coloured partitions. We put this to the take a look at with our brown partitions and have been very inspired!

Built-In Stereo Audio

The Horizon Ultra has twin 12W Harman Kardon audio system and DTS Studio Sound Technology, turning in pleasing audio high quality. While now not an alternative to a devoted sound gadget, those audio system be offering handy audio answers for quite a lot of setups without having to set up further {hardware}.

A Unique Design for the Modern Home

Where many conventional projectors recreation a lifeless, plastic, and bulkier design that would simply be incorrect for a relic from the previous, the XGIMI Horizon Ultra stands proud with a starkly other manner. Consider the likes of the $3000 BenQ HT4550i, that, not like its spectacular image high quality, follows the similar bland and uninspiring all-plastic construct that appears reasonable. For many, the dated design of such projectors turns into a hurdle when deciding if they are able to check out a projector for his or her setup. Where do you put this bulky piece of plastic to your in a different way thoughtfully designed house?

XGIMI understood those issues and made certain that the Horizon Ultra set new requirements for what a top rate projector must appear to be. Even when powered off, it serves as a dialog piece, now not a “what’s that huge thing on your table?” The design combines components of unfashionable and trendy esthetics, comparable to vintage Hi-Fi designs, very paying homage to a 1958 Zenith Model B-723R AM/FM Vacuum Tube Radio. Its eggshell white frame and lightweight grey cloth end give it that trendy minimalist contact, but it surely keeps its undying and unfashionable affect.

The XGIMI Horizon Ultra maintains a minimalist external with its best vents positioned on the rear, the place you can additionally uncover its enter and output ports which come with a DC port, HDMI with EARC reinforce, two USB ports, LAN, a three.5mm headphone jack, and an optical port. For wi-fi connectivity, the Horizon Ultra makes use of WiFi 6 supporting dual-band 2.4/5GHz, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax, and Bluetooth 5.2 with BLE compatibility. It’s price bringing up that excluding for its energy button, there are not any buttons at the projector itself. As great as its integrated far off is, once in a while you need to make fast regulate adjustments at the projector itself with out attaining for the far off.

The magic of the Horizon Ultra lies in its skill to hide its true identification till it is powered on. When it is off, apparently as an unassuming, compact speaker. In reality, upon unboxing, chances are you’ll in finding your self questioning the place its exact lens is hidden. Is it constructed into the material? What is that this voodoo? Measuring 10.24 x 8.86 x 6.69 inches and weighing 11.46 kilos (5.2kg), the Horizon Ultra is considerably extra light-weight and compact than lots of the festival and is quite simple to transfer from room to room.

Things get thrilling whilst you energy it on. The entrance cloth duvet easily slides down to disclose its lens, making a hanging first influence. When you flip it off, the quilt silently slides again up, akin to the name of the game bookcase passage in a vintage thriller novel. Beyond protective the lens when now not in use, it is helping the Horizon Ultra mix into any room, taking a look extra like a standard, chic speaker. I’m certain we can see different manufacturers incorporate this into their long run releases over the following couple of years. However, you need to to believe that this motorized part, whilst leading edge, would possibly introduce a possible level of failure. Time will inform how properly it holds up.

To handle its small footprint, XGIMI selected to stay the ability adapter exterior. Its matching colour and top rate plastic casing upload to the projector’s general certain first impressions. However, there’s one notable downside: the mounted cable working from the adapter that plugs into the again of the projector is rather quick, measuring about 4 ft. This limitation is usually a problem, particularly if you are making plans to mount the Horizon Ultra at a better place, reminiscent of on a tripod or at the ceiling. In such instances, accommodating the fast cable turns into some degree of attention.

Beyond this, whilst many projectors be offering further mounting issues for extra safety, the Horizon Ultra has a unmarried shallow 1/4″ tripod mounting level beneath. As we examined, it does the activity for those who simply need to raise it off the bottom by means of a couple of ft, however we might suggest that you simply spend money on certainly one of XGIMI’s devoted tripods or ceiling mounts for added steadiness.

Who Is the XGIMI Horizon Ultra For?

While projectors were a staple for workplace or faculty shows, their transformation into a house cinema-grade revel in would possibly look like uncharted territory for lots of. For those that have not delved into the arena of house projection, they could ask: What roughly projector must I am getting? Where must I position it? How do I regulate center of attention or proper its alignment? What roughly rooms are they best possible fitted to, and do I want a devoted display?

Building off the luck of its predecessors, together with the Horizon Pro and the MoGo 2 Pro, the XGIMI Horizon Ultra is full of much more automatic sensible tech that objectives to simplify this adventure up to imaginable with out compromising on symbol high quality.

For starters, the Ultra is rather compact, simple to transfer round, and will also be tailored to more than a few setups easily. Whether you need it on a facet desk, fastened on a stand, or put in for your ceiling, it contains one of the vital best possible and quickest auto-keystoning options we have examined. Whether you would not have the room to set up it immediately directly on, or possibly you merely choose having it off to the aspect, despite the fact that you might be running with difficult angles, this projector has all of the computerized and handbook adjusts to provide the greatest and maximum spectacular symbol with minimum effort or earlier figuring out of projector settings.

To really put this adaptability to the take a look at, I knew my small NYC rental would not do justice to the display sizes the Horizon Ultra can reach. Instead, I enlisted the assistance of my oldsters who had the distance to see what this projector may in reality do.

Their basement has a number of expansive empty partitions, eagerly looking forward to one thing to undertaking onto. There was once only one fear: the partitions have been painted in a mild tannish/brown coloration. Certainly now not my first colour selection, however hi there… beggars cannot be choosers. While the Horizon Ultra’s Intelligent Wall Color Adaption guarantees to regulate its colours and white steadiness for lighter-colored partitions, wouldn’t it cross the take a look at on those darker partitions?

Up till this level, my oldsters were content material with a 48″ 4K Samsung sensible TV from a couple of years in the past. It nonetheless runs nice, however for as huge of an open sitting space as they’ve of their basement, it felt very small.

With a couple of mins of setup, we had the brand new projector able to move, with a large 150″ viewing revel in filling just about all of the peak in their 9-foot ceilings. The Intelligent Screen Adaptation 3.0 labored properly for essentially the most phase, regardless that it did take it a couple of tries to acknowledge the quite distinctive form of our wall which incorporates a slight drop down which it incessantly didn’t totally steer clear of.

From observing reside baseball, films, displays, news, and naturally your random YouTube video, the whole lot regarded sharp, colourful, and strangely brilliant. Let’s simply say, it briefly turned into my dad’s new favourite factor. To little marvel, when requested if I may stay the projector over for a couple of extra days of checking out, there wasn’t any pushback.

What was once maximum spectacular? With the lighting became off you would utterly put out of your mind that the partitions have been brown within the first position, and we did not even want to use a display or repaint the partitions to reach it.

When switching backward and forward between its Intelligent Wall Color Adaption off and on, it is stunning to see the way it handles those coloured partitions.

Viewing Experience

Picture Quality and Versatility

The Horizon Ultra helps symbol sizes between 40” and 200” and has a versatile throw ratio of one.2-1.5:1, taking into consideration more than a few placement choices. Unlike many conventional projectors with 2:1 throw ratios that require two ft of distance for each and every foot of symbol width, the Horizon Ultra will also be located a lot nearer to the display, providing higher flexibility, particularly the ones in smaller areas.

The projector’s image high quality is attributed to its “Dual Light” projection gadget, which mixes the brightness and sharpness of laser projection with the colour accuracy and distinction of LED projection. This is meant to cut back viewing fatigue regularly related to overly brilliant and sharp laser projectors.

Beyond answer and brightness, the Horizon Ultra shines with its 95% protection of the DCI-P3 colour gamut and reinforce for HDR10. The symbol high quality is colourful with out showing overly saturated. Cinephiles and the ones with intensive revel in with different projectors it will be ready to nitpick and establish shortcomings, however to my quite untrained eye, I believed the whole lot regarded nice.

The Horizon Ultra additionally excels by contrast efficiency, particularly when put next to earlier XGIMI fashions. It delivers spectacular element in darker scenes with out muddying the visuals. While this would possibly not idiot someone into considering that it is an OLED TV, it gives remarkably deep blacks, offering an unbelievable cinematic viewing revel in.

In films like Interstellar, main points are introduced to existence with surprising readability, from the pores on Matthew McConaughey’s face and the person hair strands on Anne Hathaway to the delicate movie grain all over.

We additionally watched a mixture of different content material together with the Minnesota Twins vs the Chicago White Sox, Fionna and Cake, and a few Dolby content material demos, the place the whole lot merely regarded “wow”.

Gaming Experience

Although missing 120Hz reinforce, for avid gamers, the Horizon Ultra remains to be a cast selection, boasting a minimal latency of 18ms at 4K 60Hz—an important development over its predecessor the Horizon Pro’s 35ms enter lag. The Gaming mode will also be enabled within the projector’s enter settings however it is routinely activated when the projector detects a gaming supply like an Xbox or Playstation. In our take a look at with Forza Motorsport on an Xbox Series X, the immersion reached a brand new stage, making it a very good selection for racing sims.

Audio Performance and Considerations

Even essentially the most funds bookshelf audio system help you reach a extra complete audio setup, however as a integrated resolution, the audio system listed below are nonetheless nice. The twin 12W audio system be offering just right bass and high-definition audio, offering quite a few energy to fill a big room. However, believe that the projector’s placement flexibility would possibly lead to the audio system being off to the aspect quite than within the heart.

Remote and User-Friendly Interface

The far off regulate is a mix of aluminum and plastic, turning in a top rate really feel and at ease grip. It makes use of a integrated microphone for Google Assistant to regulate or seek for content material.

The far off options devoted buttons for energy, settings, and navigation, making a streamlined and user-friendly interface. It assists in keeping issues minimum with again and residential buttons, quantity regulate, and a button for starting up the car keystoning function. Despite the projector’s cinematic manner, it was once a letdown to see that the far off lacks any backlighting, making it very tricky to use in dimly lit environments.

Elegance at its Best

The XGIMI Horizon Ultra stands proud for its spectacular options, chic design, and user-friendly setup. It breaks unfastened from the normal, uninspiring projector aesthetic, providing a recent and engaging addition to any room. While it would possibly not surround all of the high-end options of a few competition, its well-rounded nature guarantees a very good viewing revel in for more than a few content material.

Despite some minor quirks with the far off and gear adapter, the Horizon Ultra feels meticulously designed and is poised to set a brand new same old for long run releases within the trade.

XGIMI Horizon Ultra

The XGIMI Horizon Ultra is a flexible and aesthetically satisfying projector that elevates your own home leisure revel in. Its chic design, user-friendly setup, and remarkable image high quality make it a standout selection for the ones looking for a top rate and obtainable projection resolution

Brand

XGIMI

Native Resolution

3840×2160

ANSI Lumens

2300

Projection Technology

0.47″ DLP x 1

Connectivity

Android TV 11

Throw Ratio

1.2-1.5:1

Audio

2 x 12W Harman/Kardon

Lamp Life

25,000 hours

Wattage

300 Watts

Image Size

40″-200″

Lamp Type

Laser/LED Hybrid

Ports

Audio Out: Mini Jack Audio Out: Optical HDMI 2.1 x 2 Network: RJ-45 USB x 2

Size

10.43″ x 8.82″ x 6.69″

Weight

11.5 lbs

RAM

2gb

Storage

32gb

Projection Method

Front, Rear, Front Ceiling, Rear Ceiling

Wireless connectivity

Wifi 6 Dual-band 2, Bluetooth 5.2/BLE

Input Lag

4K/60: 18ms

Supported Formats

HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision