Chinese projector company Xgimi has finally lifted the lid on its heavily anticipated Horizon Ultra home cinema projector; and, as suspected, it is a world first. The 4K projector has plenty of tricks up its sleeve, thanks to an innovative new light source system, and a rather suave new design.
Visually, the Ultra marks a stark departure from the other Horizon projectors. Instead of a rounded gunmetal-grey cube, Xgimi has opted for a much more stylish unit. Covered in a faux leather and fabric finish, the manufacturer made a big deal of the aesthetics during its launch at IFA in Berlin. The sandstone (beige to the uninitiated) colourway that coats the device is nicely understated and more inviting than the drab metallic grey found on the Horizon Pro, and it should blend in nicely with your living room – it is designed to be plonked on your coffee table after all. The icing on the proverbial projector cake is the automatic sliding lens cover, that smoothly retracts when the projector is powered on.
That being said, beauty is skin deep, and the Xgimi needs to impress when it comes to picture and sound. Thankfully, the Horizon Ultra features plenty of fancy display tech on board that should take it beyond the realm of its siblings. Xgimi is using pixel-shifting technology to achieve a 4K image here, and while it's not native, it still has plenty to offer. Inside the Horizon Ultra is a first-of-its-kind Dual Light source that combines both LED and laser and XGIMI touts various picture qualities that it attributes to this new technology.
Xgimi claims that it allows for enhanced clarity, brightness and colours, as well as more comfortable viewing with less image noise. However, the headlining feature here is Dolby Vision certification, with Xgimi staking the claim for the world's first long-throw projector with Dolby Vision support. Brightness is especially one of the major highlights of this unit, with a claimed figure of 2300 ISO Lumens on this unit.
The projector should also sound pretty good, with speakers tuned by Harman Kardon built in. Built-in projector speakers tend to be a bit disappointing, of course, but in a brief demo at IFA, they seemed functional, if not groundbreaking. Xgimi assures us that HDMI eARC is present too, ideal for hooking it up to a soundbar or AVR.
Moving on to the various smarts of this projector, the Horizon Ultra is packed to the gunwales with additional functions and features. It has Android TV (version 11) built in for native streaming – though Netflix appears to be quite a prominent omission on this platform, so be warned. Xgimi's Smart Environment Adaptation is also on board, which can adapt the picture for various scenarios; this includes colour correction if you are not projecting onto a white wall, colour adaptation for various points in the day to ensure consistent colours throughout various stages of natural light, and position correction which helps to straighten up and focus the image even if the positioning is askew. These options should make for easier setup and more streamlined use – something we can truly get behind.
The Xgimi Horizon Ultra is set to launch on the 15th of September for £1749 / $1699 / AU$3499. Pre-orders are open now on Amazon and Xgimi's online store.
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