IFA: Projectors for gaming and movies
Projector specialist XGIMI is targeting cinema and gaming enthusiasts with its home cinema projectors, promising ultra-short latency and a large lens shift.
(Image: Ulrike Kuhlmann, c't / heise medien)
XGIMI's Horizon 20 series has grown: The Horizon 20, 20 S, and 20 Pro are now joined by the Horizon 20 Max. All four can handle the HDR formats Dolby Vision and HDR10+ and offer Filmmaker Mode and IMAX Enhanced as picture presets. They achieve low latency in gaming modes, and all Horizon models also have a lens with a generous lens shift, optical zoom, and autofocus.
For gamers
According to the manufacturer, the top-of-the-range Max model with RGB laser technology delivers a peak brightness of 5700 lumens. This means that it should also hold its own in brighter environments and offer rich colors thanks to the laser LEDs. In addition, the Horizon 20 Max can dynamically adjust its refresh rate to the input signals (Variable Refresh Rate, VRR); it accepts up to 240 images per second and automatically reduces the latency to 1 millisecond for 1080p/240 Hz feeds and 3 milliseconds for 4K/60 Hz.
(Image:Â Ulrike Kuhlmann, c't / heise medien)
Xgimi advertises the projector accordingly for gaming enthusiasts. At the IFA, the projector showed a clean, colorful, and high-contrast display in gaming use. The smart projector can also be used for video streaming. For this purpose, it has the common streaming apps from Netflix & Co. available under its Google TV interface. Unfortunately, the new model no longer has the elegant front that electrically slides in front of the lens at the touch of a button.
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For home cinema enthusiasts
The XGIMI Titan model is new to the range. The DLP projector impresses with its large vertical and horizontal lens shift of ±100 percent and ±40 percent, respectively. It also has a large optical zoom range (projection ratio of 1.2 to 1.8:1). This should allow the projected image to fit into the screen even under difficult conditions. A chip programmed by XGIMI (FPGA) should ensure distortion-free, clean reproduction.
(Image:Â Ulrike Kuhlmann/c't, heise medien)
According to the manufacturer, the Titan has been developed for event rooms, AV installations, and corporate environments. However, with its features, the Titan is also recommended for demanding home cinemas. Two HDMI signal inputs are available, one of which has an eARC audio return channel. There are also two USB ports, one as USB 2.0 the second with USB 3.0 for higher bandwidths.
The projector achieves its 4K resolution with a large 0.78-inch mirror chip (Digital Mirror Device, DMD) via pixel shift. The dual-laser light source consisting of red and blue laser LEDs and green phosphor LEDs is said to provide a luminous flux of 5,000 lumens and achieve a dynamic contrast ratio of 5,000,000:1. It is also designed to minimize the flickering in the projection, known as laser speckle, which is common with laser projectors. The rainbow effect of the DLP projector, on the other hand, could be seen by viewers sensitive to it.
At the IFA stand, XGIMI demonstrated the flexible positioning options of the Titan by automatically moving the projection on a large screen; the image remained sharp at all times, and the projected globe was round. The Titan is due to go on sale at the end of the year, but the manufacturer has not yet announced a price.
(uk)
