Next, I watched some scenes from LOTR Fellowship of the Rings to check if that dark shade would make its presence felt and potentially ruin the experience. Prime Video narrowed the footage a bit and yes, I could see that spot if I was searching for it, but it had no impact on the video whatsoever. I also watched the new Peripheral series and again, the image quality is very good. But I have noticed that the colors were on the cooler side with the blue being slightly dominant.
And it became more obvious after I projected the image next to a Dell U2515H which is very color accurate. It is possible to calibrate the colors if you prefer a warmer tone and potentially more accuracy in terms of color.
The manufacturer says that the XGIMI Horizon Pro can reach up to 2,200 ANSI lumens which is excellent for a projector in this price range. And after watching some movies and playing some games, I can say that the brightness level is more than suitable for pretty much any type of application if you have the shades on and if you’re using the projector sometimes in the afternoon. Even during the day, you can use the XGIMI Horizon Pro to watch videos surprisingly fine, but it’s a projector, so the contrast will suffer.
Should you calibrate the projector?
If you find the cooler color effect annoying, then it is possible to calibrate the image by choosing Custom from the Image Mode. I am a lazy person, so I just took the advice from SoundandVision.com and calibrated the image accordingly to their guide. And yes, the color definitely got warmer – you can see for yourself the difference.
But I have to admit that I liked the Movie preset a lot more. Yes, color accuracy is important but not really for a projector (at least not for me). It’s important when you’re editing images and videos, which is why I keep the Dell monitor and a MacBook for work. Now let’s talk about the HDR support. I know it’s there, but I can’t enable it since XGIMI decided to let the chip decide when to enable it and when to keep the footage in SD. I did play some movies as you’ve seen in the previous section that they looked fine but, since you don’t really have control over this function, either just let the default Movie preset do its thing or simply calibrate the colors after your own liking.
Gaming with XGIMI Horizon Pro
I don’t have a PS4, nor an XBox, but I do have a decent PC that recently got updated to a 6800xt, so it should handle 4K gaming just fine. And it does so without breaking a sweat, especially taking into account the 60Hz limit. I mirrored the Dell monitor to have an idea about what to expect in regard to the latency and, after enabling the Game mode, I don’t see a difference in reaction between the Dell U2515H and the XGIMI Horizon Pro.
So, if you’re fine with the 60Hz cap, the projector will work really well, being more than able to display a proper image – saw no freezes, artifacts or any other issues. But know that some of the features that enhance the gaming experience are not going to be supported. For that, you need a proper gaming display (or TV). Still, for casual gamers it’s more than fine and in 4K, you can see a surprising amount of detail, as long as your GPU is good enough.
The Audio Quality
I usually take brand names with a pinch of salt, so even if I saw that the XGIMI Horizon Pro uses Harman Kardon speakers, I kept my expectations in check. I should have been more optimistic because the sound is actually good, but it does depend a lot on the position of the projector. If it’s in front of you, with enough space in between the walls and the projector, then you don’t really need any other audio system in a small room, the speakers will be more than enough.
But, if it’s behind you or on the side, then it’s going to sound weird. As for the volume, the speakers on the XGIMI Horizon Pro can go quite loud without distorting the sound – it’s not going to replace a good audio system in a larger room though.
The Conclusion
If you’re looking for a very good image quality and need to move the projector around a lot, then the XGIMI Horizon Pro is one of the best options out there since the automatic adjustments work so well. But make sure that you actually need the 4K version because unless you go above 100 inches, then the non-Pro version is just as good and, of course, it costs a bit less. But, if you want a true cinematic experience, then the image quality is very good, the sound is better than expected and the software is very responsive. If you don’t mind the 60Hz, then it’s equally as good for gaming as well.
XGIMI Horizon Pro
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Pros
- Very good build quality
- Automatic focusing and keystone adjustment
- 4K resolution (non-native)
- The remote control is perfectly integrated with the interface
- Good color accuracy - can be calibrated
Cons
- There is a slight shade on the top left corner when the image is dark
- I did notice the rainbow effect (normal for DLP projectors)