Xgimi Horizon Ultra Review: An Exceptional 4K Jack-of-All-Trades Projector with Dolby Vision HDR Support

The Xgimi Horizon Ultra is the first of its kind–a long-throw or standard throw 4K projector with Dolby Vision HDR (high dynamic range) support. It features a crisp 4K image, high brightness, and unique light source, making the Horizon Ultra a worthy choice for a home cinema or living room. Because of its onboard Android TV for streaming from the likes of Disney+, excellent Harman Kardon speakers, and unique features such as an automatic lens dust cover, the Horizon truly lives up to the Ultra in its name. But is this the right 4K home theatre projector for you? Find out in our hands-on Xgimi Horizon Ultra review!

Xgimi Horizon Ultra Review Verdict

The Xgimi Horizon Ultra improves upon its already excellent predecessors, the vanilla Horizon and 4K Horizon Pro. It’s a 4K projector with pixel-shifting technology, meaning the Horizon Ultra utilizes a 1080p chipset but overlays images to produce a picture with a true 8.3 million pixels, or 4K resolution. Essentially, it’s a way of offering 4K visuals at a significantly lower price than a native 4K projector.

You’ll find support for HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision HDR standards. Until now, only a handful of ultra-short throw (UST) projectors like the AWOL Vision LTV-3500 included Dolby Vision video output which offers noticeably better color accuracy and contrast since its metadata is dynamic, for more lifelike visuals when compared with HDR10 with its static metadata.

But the real question is how the Xgimi Horizon Ultra looks for everyday use. Simply put, movies and TV shows look stunning. Watching “Ms. Marvel,” on Disney+ with Dolby Vision enabled, I was blown away by the rich, vibrant colors. Live-action content is crisp and clean with deep, dark blacks and bright whites.

Animated content is similarly gorgeous. The punchy color palette of “Moana” was lush without being oversaturated. Even 1080p standard definition videos looked solid, and standard definition 480p movies and shows like “Charmed” re-runs were still more than watchable.

Thanks to its high 2300 ANSI lumens of brightness and cutting-edge hybrid LED and laser light source, the Horizon Ultra holds up well even with lots of ambient light. This makes it suitable for use in a living room or game room, not just a light-controlled dedicated home theatre.

Many projectors forego 3D support, but thankfully not the Xgimi Horizon Ultra. It touts side-by-side or top and bottom 3D. In my testing, 3D Blu-rays of “Captain America: The First Agenger” and “The Avengers” looked crisp and clean, leaping off the screen, with no evidence of crosstalk.

Because of its low input lag of just 18ms at 4K 60Hz, Xgimi Horizon Ultra is a solid choice for gaming. I fired up Life is Strange and was pleased at its responsiveness. Whether you’re playing Spider-Man Remastered on your PlayStation 5, Halo on the Xbox Series X, enjoying living room gaming with Steam Link, or game streaming with NVIDIA GeForce Now and Xbox Game Pass, the Xgimi Horizon Ultra is more than up to the challenge.

Even online gaming like Diablo IV worked extremely well. Unless you’re a competitive gamer who needs a high refresh rate, low input lag display, the Horizon Ultra is a fantastic choice.

Where the Xgimi Horizon Ultra really shines is its slew of quality-of-life features. You’ll find a solid Harman Kardon speaker system which, while not as robust as a soundbar or receiver, manages to fill a small or medium room with ease. There’s an automatic dust cover that protects the lens when the projector is off, and lowers to become the speaker grille when the unit is powered on.

Additionally, the Xgimi Horizon features solid connectivity. There are two HDMI 2.1 ports, including one with eARC or enhanced audio return channel, for piping uncompressed audio tracks like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X from the projector out to a compatible soundbar or receiver.

The onboard Android TV operating system works well for streaming from apps like Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, or other services. Unfortunately, there’s no Netflix support. While you can sideload Netflix, it’s a limited app that can’t handle 1080p, so I’d recommend instead using an external streaming device like the NVIDIA Shield TV, Chromecast with Google TV, Fire TV Stick, Roku, or Apple TV.

Ultimately, the Xgimi Horizon Ultra is an exceptional jack-of-all-trades 4K projector that should satisfy cinephiles and gamers alike. It’s tough to find this sort of lethal combination in a projector: Fantastic picture quality, solid speakers, great gaming chops, and user-friendly design, all for under $2,000 USD which an absolute steal for a 4K home cinema projector.

Xgimi Horizon Ultra Specs

• Resolution: 4K (with pixel shifting)
• Brightness: 2300 ISO lumens
• Display chip: 0.47″ DMDD
• Throw ratio: 1.2-1.5:1
• Screen size: 40-200 inches (60-120 inches recommended)
• Display technology: DLP
• Lamp life: 25,000 hours
• RAM: 2GB
• Onboard storage: 32GB
• 3D support (top and bottom or side-by-side)
• HDR support: HDR10, Dolby Vision, HLG
• Light source: Hybrid laser-LED dual light technology
• Lossless optical zoom, dynamic color adjustment module, dynamic iris
• Auto keystone, autofocus, intelligent eye protection, intelligent obstacle avoidance, intelligent wall color adaptation, intelligent screen alignment
• Dual 12W Harman Kardon speakers with DTS-HD and Dolby Audio support
• Connectivity: 2x HDMI 2.1 (1x with eARC), 2x USB 2.0, Ethernet LAN, TOSLink optical audio out, 1x 3.5mm analog headphone out jack
• Networking: Dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy)
• Operating system (OS): Android TV 11
• Input lag: 18ms at 4K 60Hz

Xgimi Horizon Ultra Video Quality

The Xgimi Horizon Ultra boasts superb image quality. The 4K resolution with pixel shifting technology makes for a crisp image. Its light source features a hybrid of laser and LED for the sharpness and contrast of lasers, with the color accuracy and brightness of LED. In my testing, it holds up. Even with some ambient lighting, the visuals look quite good. That’s in part thanks to its 2300 ISO lumens of brightness.

I appreciated its eye candy visuals; in scenes from “Ms. Marvel,” the Xgimi Horizon Ultra made colors pop and didn’t wash out details in dark scenes. Although the picture quality wasn’t quite on par with my LG C2 OLED, it was nearly the best I’ve seen on a projector.

“Star Wars: Rogue One” played brilliantly, with an image that seemed to jump off the screen. Thanks to its 99.9% Rec.709 and 95.5% DCI-P3 color space coverage, the Horizon Ultra provides a punchy but natural-looking image. While watching “Moana,” some scenes looked almost realistic despite being animated.

There are several color modes to pick from:

• Cinema
• Vivid
• Bright
• Performance
• Custom
• High Color Accuracy

In my experience, Cinema was the most color-accurate, but Vivid or Bright works well when combating ambient light, like during the daytime with the blinds closed. You’ll also find a few different display modes:

• Movie
• TV
• Football
• Game
• Custom

Most of the time, I left it in Movie mode which I found most color-accurate. However, for live sports Football works well, though it enables motion smoothing which leads to unnatural looks, dubbed the soap opera effect. With video games, I toggled on Game Mode.

I did find that the contrast wasn’t quite on the same level as a true home cinema projector like the BenQ HT5550 or Epson 5050ub. However, the fact that the Xgimi Ultra offers Dolby Vision HDR makes it a complete game-changer and compensates for areas where its picture could be improved, like contrast ratio. For the price (the Xgimi Horizon Ultra typically retails for around $1,699), it’s tough to find a projector with this combination of image quality, gaming performance, performance, and ease of use features.

Xgimi Horizon Ultra Gaming Performance

Although the Xgimi Horizon Ultra isn’t a dedicated gaming projector like the BenQ TK700STi or BenQ TK700 that’s capable of outputting a 4K 60Hz image with 4ms of input lag, its 18ms of input lag at 4K 60Hz isn’t far behind. The Horizon Ultra works flawlessly for casual gamers. I connected my PlayStation 5 and a Razer Blade 15 gaming laptop to enjoy big-screen gaming. Life is Strange looked lovely blown up to over 100 inches.

There’s a game mode with two options: Standard and Performance. In Standard, input lag is pretty low at around 30ms, but in performance, it’s the lowest possible with 18ms at 4K 60Hz. However, the latter disables any automatic image optimizations like keystone, so you’ll need to have the projector perfectly aligned with your screen. With its impressively low input lag, the Horizon Ultra is a great choice for all but the most hardcore gamers.

Xgimi Horizon Ultra Audio Quality

Like its previous projectors such as the Horizon Pro, Halo, and Halo+, Xgimi outfits the Horizon Ultra with Harman Kardon speakers. I found sound quality shockingly good–even with the volume at around 50%, it was enough to fill a medium-sized conference room. Moreover, the Horizon Ultra managed to pump out decent bass and treble, with punchy mids and highs. While there’s no built-in battery, the onboard Android TV OS, small form factor, and competent onboard speakers make the Horizon Ultra pretty portable. Nevertheless, I’d recommend taking advantage of its eARC HDMI port, which lets you send uncompressed audio from the projector to a connected eARC soundbar or receiver.

Xgimi Horizon Ultra Android TV Experience

The Xgimi Horizon Ultra sports Android TV baked in. It’s the full version you’d find on one of the best Android TV boxes, like the NVIDIA Shield TV. Therefore, I was able to install most of my favorite apps, including Amazon Prime Video, YouTube TV, Peacock, Paramount+, Hulu, Disney+, Plex, and Max. You can even install music streaming apps like Spotify or Tidal. And Android TV games or game streaming apps including Steam Link, Nvidia GeForce Now, or Batman: The Telltale Series run like a champ.

Disappointingly, Netflix isn’t available. That’s not because it’s incompatible but because Netflix is extremely selective about licensing its apps. A helpful booklet provides instructions for loading a version of Netflix. But limitations on its streaming resolution mean you’re better off using an external streaming device for watching Netflix.

Image Adjustments and Installation

As a “lifestyle projector,” the Xgimi Horizon Ultra does everything well, from displaying movies to showing off games. Similarly, it’s engineered to be easy to use.

I liked its autofocus and auto keystone, which made getting a crisp, rectangular image simple, even with the unit not perfectly centered with the projector screen. Additionally, you’ll find a useful obstacle avoidance feature that can move the image if, say, you’re projecting on the wall and there’s a light switch in the area where the light source is shining. Intelligent screen alignment ensures that the projector image fits nicely on a screen.

There’s an intelligent eye protection feature which is quite handy, particularly if you’re using the Xgimi Horizon Ultra on a coffee table and have young kids or curious pets around. While a good projector screen is crucial for the best possible picture quality, the Horizon Ultra sports a wall color adaptation option so you can shine it straight on a wall.

One of my favorite features is that the speaker grille doubles as a dust cover. When the projector is off, the lens is covered, but when powered on, the lens protector lowers to become the speaker grille. It’s a small touch, but means you won’t have to worry about heavy dust accumulation or lens scratches while transporting the device.

There is a threaded tripod mount, so you can put the Horizon Ultra on a tripod or ceiling mount. You can install the Xgimi Horizon Ultra for projection in several ways:

• Front
• Front ceiling
• Rear
• Rear ceiling

There’s a helpful auto vertical flip option you can enable. Whether you have the Xgimi Horizon Ultra ceiling mounted, on a table, or projecting from the back of the screen, you can get a great image.

Xgimi Horizon Ultra ease of use features:

• Auto keystone
• Autofocus
• Intelligent eye protection
• Intelligent screen alignment
• Intelligent obstacle avoidance
• Intelligent wall color adaptation

Xgimi Horizon Ultra Design and Build

On the front of the unit, you’ll find the lens (which is concealed behind the dust cover when not in use) and speaker grille.

Around back, you’ll find a power button, 3.5mm headphone jack, TOSLink optical audio output, a pair of HDMI ports including one with eARC, dual USB ports, an Ethernet LAN port, and a barrel jack power connector.

The top of the device is branded with Xgimi.

Both sides are smooth soft-touch plastic.

The bottom doesn’t have adjustable feet, instead opting for a raised platform which keeps the projector stable. There’s also a threaded tripod mount, so you can ceiling or tripod mount the Xgimi Horizon Ultra.

Xgimi Horizon Ultra Review: Final Thoughts

Ultimately, the Xgimi Horizon Ultra is an outstanding 4K projector. It manages to do nearly everything well. I loved its bright, beautiful image which brought movies to life, low input lag for gaming, and features like auto focus and auto keystone which made setup a breeze. The onboard speakers punch well above their weight class, but I preferred using the eARC connection with my Vizio Dolby Atmos soundbar.

While the Android TV OS is pretty solid, its lack of Netflix isn’t ideal–thankfully, there’s an easy fix by simply using an external streaming device. Although the Xgimi Horizon is pretty compact and portable, it doesn’t include a built-in battery. Granted, this would make it significantly heavier and bulkier. Contrast could be slightly improved, but Dolby Vision HDR makes the Horizon Ultra a serious contender to even high-end dedicated home theatre projectors. I’d have also liked a backlit remote, but of the projectors I’ve reviewed, nearly none but the BenQ v7050i provided that. If you’re in the market for a projector and want a jaw-droppingly good picture, the Horizon Ultra can absolutely deliver it.