I’ve tried and tested an array of home projectors over the years, and now we’re certainly introducing you to the big one with the XGIMI Horizon Pro, which shines bright in both the minimal style of its design and the ease of setup, plus it offers a stellar viewing experience in pure embracing clarity.
The Horizon Pro is an easy-to-use 4K HDR projector that’s about to shift and vastly enhance your entire Home Entertainment viewing experience. Find a big wall in your home or pick up one of those simple to install pull-down projector screens, and then plug in and set the unit where your head isn’t blocking it – up on a shelf behind you for example and switch on. Even from those early stages, the XGIMI Horizon Pro will start doing its thing with Auto Keystone Correction, which means it’ll focus to the right spot on your ‘screen’.
The unit itself is compact and easily portable, but also comes with a solid remote control to access and adjust any of the pre-set settings it needs for what surface you’re giving it. In truth, you don’t need to adjust too much unless you’re being specific about what you’re after but the it’s there if you’d like to. Also, it’s worth nothing, that the Auto Keystone Correction will auto-focus but you can also manually correct the screen angle to fit the space you need. It’s incredibly simple as well.
How big is the screen, and how good is the sound?
XGIMI’s Horizon Pro offers you the chance to have anything from a smaller 60” screen to a massive 150” and it keeps its clarity at every distance. I tested it out with TENET and The Mandalorian at the largest setting it would go to, and both were kept crisp and clear (scroll down for video proof!) It’s also how we started Season 3 of The Mandalorian, and who doesn’t want a huge – yet tiny – Grogu up there on your living room wall? I had a quick look at Top Gun Maverick, and those plane chase/fight sequences are as immersive as they would be the cinema and I know you can feel this on a standard TV, but this is next level escapism.
Another bonus, and you’ll know this if you’ve traversed the ‘at home’ projector world before, is that the Hi-Fi Harman Kardon 8W sound and speakers are built in, so you don’t have to worry about attaching to external speakers like other projectors usually will, it’s all in the package. You get cinematic sound right through from streaming services to Oscar-winning films, and you can choose a variation through a small selection, like you get on your TV already. i.e., Movies, Sport, Office, etc, via an easy-choose mode setup via your accompanying Remote Control.
So what can I watch, and is it TV or movies?
Well, the Horizon Pro works through Android TV which then offers you basically everything Google can present or muster, but personal favourites at the moment are generally Disney+ and Prime Video. While Netflix isn’t installed as a pre-set, they’ve recently offered a way to add the app as well, and comes as an extra installation leaflet, and that was quick to sort out as well. So, with this level of streaming choice, there’s a wealth of entertainment to scroll through and enjoy.
My personal tip would be to try and get the projector up, above and behind you, if possible, but for the purposes of this test you can see, and check out the videos and photos, mine was literally to one side of my sofa – mainly due to space restraints, so you can see that any angle you have to work with should be adjustable – as mentioned above by using the Keystone Correction options.
A bit of technical info
If you’re into your stats and tech specifics, it uses true 4K UHD (obviously depending on what option you’re streaming from – always choose HD), the ultra-bright projector is 2200 ANSI Lumens, and for me worked well in both daylight and (obviously) at night. The shot from Andor and thw Marvel Studios logo video (below) were in the day, with The Mandalorian and TENET being watched at night.
A reminder that those Harman Kardon speakers are dual 8W in the unit, and with that it’s a big yes to DTS HD, DTS-Studio Sound, Dolby Audio, Dolby Digital, and Dolby Digital Plus, keeping that sound coming through as you’d want with the big movies. Then there’s the ISA Technology, standing for Intelligent Screen Adaption, which aids screen alignment, focus and even obstacle avoidance, so you get to see everything up there in front of you. Not forgetting the mentioned and installed Android TV of course, which comes with the services discussed above.
The unit itself has 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage and mirroring display with Chromecast built-in and Airscreen. In terms of Input Ports, there’s two HDMI options (one is eARC supported, which means a slightly higher connection quality), two USB ports and a LAN, on the Output side you’ve got a spot for an Optical Cable and even a headphone one, which is a nice addition (and something I find a lot of modern devices still need). Obviously, it’s also Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled, and with that the option to connect to external speakers and headphones via a Bluetooth 4.2/5.0 BLE connection. Both these things should be standard with any quality device, in my humble opinion, and here it’s very welcome.
I actually hooked up the PS5 via one of the HDMI slots and after a few screen adjustments, which are simple to tweak, FIFA 23 and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture looked exactly as I’d want them to. In truth, I’m not always a fan of the purity/excessive realism of HDR modes but thankfully here you can change that to what you like, and then the only issue with wiring things might be to do with space in your home, but (like everything else I tried) it wasn’t complicated to get working.
Summary
If you’re looking for a long-term investment on a high quality Home Entertainment projector, this would be a terrific choice. Perfect for setting up that home cinema experience for the finest TV series’ and award-winning films, and everything else. We’re in an era where 4K UHD is the way, and lucky enough to be at that standard more regularly, so this is easy to recommend. I had high hopes with the XGIMI Horizon Pro, based on what XGIMI were promising from the unit, and those aspirations were hugely hit and excelled the expectation with style and assurance.
The XGIMI Horizon Pro* currently has 26% off direct from XGIMI, with Klarna Options: uk.xgimi.com/products/horizon-pro
*The Horizon Pro product was offered on a trial for reviewing, but these are my own opinions on my experiences – and I’d recommend again!
critical popcorn 