XGIMI HORIZON Ultra: The first 4K projector with Dolby Vision

Luca Fontana

1/9/2023

Translation: machine translated

XGIMI is causing a stir with a technological world first for projectors. The Horizon Ultra is said to be the first Dolby Vision-capable 4K projector. I had a look at it.

The Digitec and Galaxus editorial team reports directly from Berlin from IFA 2023. You can find all the news and background information published so far in our overview:

If I had to make a comparison, I would describe Xgimi as the "TCL of the projector industry". In other words: a Chinese manufacturer that researches, develops and produces all hardware in its own factories - and has rolled up the market from behind in recent years. This has the advantage that the projector components are perfectly harmonised with each other.

The new product that Xgimi presented for the first time at IFA is correspondingly exciting: the Horizon Ultra 4K. According to the manufacturer, this is not only the world's first 4K long-throw projector to support Dolby Vision. It is also a projector that boasts a technological world first: the combination of LED and laser projection.

But that's just the beginning.

The future: dual light technology

The combination of LED and laser projection is described by Xgimi as a "technological breakthrough". You need to know: Projectors use either LEDs or laser modules as their light source. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. I have explained RGB LEDs in detail here. Simply put:

• LEDs have a higher (better) colour fidelity and are usually more pleasing to the eye
• But they shine less brightly and are at a disadvantage compared to laser modules during the day.
• Laser modules, on the other hand, shine brightly but exhaust the eyes more quickly due to their narrow wavelength band.

And yes; it shines brightly too. The little wonder box achieves around 2300 ISO lumens. That's not the brightest projector I've ever seen. But bright enough for most living rooms, provided you use a screen that gets additional brightness and contrast out of every projection.

The Xgimi Horizon Ultra is not a native 4K projector. The high resolution is achieved via pixel shift technology. In simple terms, two images are projected one after the other for each frame and shifted slightly before the next frame is displayed. This all happens in a fraction of a second. For you, it looks as if the 8.3 million pixels of a UHD resolution are being projected simultaneously.

If you want to know exactly how this works, here is an exciting article I wrote on the topic:

Simple setup - within 6 seconds

• Auto Keystone Correction
• Intelligent Screen Alignment
• Intelligent Obstacle Avoidance

Check it out:

Look:

At the stand, I was unfortunately unable to find out exactly which white point is calibrated. However, when I pressed around in the projector menu, I found out that the picture mode shown to me was "Cinema". As a rule, this corresponds to a warm tone with white point D65 - or at least something similar. Nice.

And the Horizon Ultra looks beautiful too

The Horizon Ultra, which weighs around five kilos, also looks beautiful. Very much so, in my opinion. First of all, it's not huge: 265 × 224 × 170 mm (height × width × depth). The material feels slightly leathery. Except for the front, where there is an elegant fabric cover that hides two 12-watt speakers from Harman Kardon.

In addition:

• 2x HDMI inputs, one of which is eARC-capable
• 2x USB inputs
• 1x LAN input
• Wifi 6 dual-band support (2.4/5Ghz)
• Bluetooth 5.2

By the way, the fun will cost around 2000 francs/euros. The projector should be available from October, also in our shop. A test is also being planned, but I can't promise that it will be ready right at the start of sales. However, I will endeavour to do so. If you have any special requests or suggestions for the test, now would be the time to put them in the comments column 😁.

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.

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