XGIMI launches the HORIZON Ultra at an New York Event

XGIMI, due to its non-traditional approach to designing home entertainment projectors, is quickly becoming a leading projector manufacturer globally. So, I was excited when XGIMI invited Projector Review to their product launch event in New York City. At the event, XGIMI unveiled their new flagship projector, the HORIZON Ultra, which boasts several XGIMI-designed technologies and unique features for a great viewing experience in most environments. 

While you can purchase a 100” for less than $10,000 and 85” for under $2000, there are environments where a large flat panel may not be the best solution. Try hauling a giant flatscreen TV up a flight of stairs in a New York apartment building. Projectors can deliver a massive image from a compact package that can easily be moved from one location to another. This also makes them a great option for rentals, dorm rooms, and military barracks.

The goal of XGIMI is to broaden the user base of projectors beyond the traditional market, so projectors like the Horizon Ultra include all features found in traditional flat-panel TVs, including Android TV, and built-in sound systems. In addition, they are ultra-compact units that can be quickly set up in any room and can be projected onto a screen or even a colored wall.

XGIMI has always been focused on expanding the projection market to include those users who don't typically seek out projectors. Many people assume that a projector has to be hung from the ceiling or mounted on a shelf in the back of a darkened room.

In the past few years, we've had the pleasure of reviewing several projectors from XGIMI, and their unique designs, excellent picture quality, and great user features have earned them numerous awards from Projector Reviews and other review sites worldwide.

We are in the process of reviewing the HORIZON Ultra, but quickly discuss some of the notable features and technology found in this amazing smart laser projector.

The XGIMI HORIZON Ultra utilizes a newly developed Hybrid laser source technology called Dual Light that combines the benefits of Laser and LED light sources into one compact package.

XGIMI stated that three factors impact projection picture quality: brightness, color accuracy, and color gamut. Bright projectors struggle to reproduce accurate colors. While RGBB LED projectors can accurately reproduce a vast array of colors, they are usually not very bright.

Tri-laser projectors can deliver high brightness and a wide range of colors but often produce noticeable color fringing and speckle.

The Dual Light combines an RGBB LED with a red laser to produce a bright, color-accurate image. The HORIZON Ultra is XGIMI's brightest display to date. XGIMI states that the HORIZON Ultra can deliver 2300 ISO Lumens, which is 77% brighter than its predecessor, the HORIZON Pro, while delivering class-leading color accuracy.

Delta E (ΔE) is a metric used to quantify the difference between two colors. A lower Delta E value indicates a smaller perceptual difference between the reference and reproduced colors, indicating higher color accuracy. A Delta E, less than 3, is considered 'Excellent' and imperceptible by the human eye. The XGIMI says the color delta E of the HORIZON Ultra is around 1, which is outstanding. We are in the process of reviewing the Horizon, and we are impressed with its color reproduction.

The HORIZON Ultra includes a dynamic iris to maximize brightness in ambient light and contrast in a dark space. It also improved the projector's dynamic contrast when viewing both SDR and HDR content. 

The HORIZON Ultra supports HDR10 and HLG and is also the world's first standard throw 4K home projector to support Dolby Vision. Content mastered in Dolby Vision contains dynamic metadata that the HORIZON Ultra can use to adjust its brightness and contrast scene-by-scene. This ensures that each HDR scene is displayed optimally. Many UHD Bluray discs and popular streaming services support the format, including Netflix, Disney Plus, and HBO Max. 

To simplify setup, and picture quality in a wider variety of rooms, the XGIMI HORIZON Ultra includes Intelligent Screen Adaption Technology 3.0 (ISA 3.0), which is a combination of upgraded software and optics.

Automatic optical zoom, autofocus, and keystone correction work together to deliver a perfectly aligned and distortion-free image, without the hassle of manual adjustments. An all-new Wall Color Adaption feature automatically adjusts brightness and colors to optimize the image when projected on a colored wall.