Until this complete pandemic factor is formally over, going to the flicks won’t ever be utterly secure, so it’s nearly as good a time as any to improve your property theater. Projectors are cheaper and extra succesful than ever, however there are some powerful choices to make, as XGIMI’s new Aura short-throw laser projector demonstrates. You’ll want much less room to create a large picture, however that comes with some compromises.

The $1,700 XGIMI Horizon Pro projector I reviewed again in July stays one of many best and most reasonably priced (comparatively talking) methods to deliver the movie show expertise into your property with a pair of wonderful sounding 8-watt audio system constructed proper in. It additionally provides Google TV, which gives entry to virtually each streaming service, proper out of the field. The solely draw back, and this is applicable to any conventional projector, is that it must be mounted throughout the room from what you’re projecting onto (be it a display or a wall) to generate a large picture. You’re then left with the scenario that anybody strolling throughout the room goes to cross the beam, block the projector, and quickly blind themselves.

Short-throw projectors resolve that downside by, because the identify explains, requiring only a quick distance from the wall or display to the projector to create a large picture. Pulling that off requires some intelligent optical methods, together with a customized lens that de-warps the picture because it’s projected from a low angle. It eliminates the challenges of conventional projector placement, nevertheless it additionally means you’ll be sacrificing among the automated conveniences that projectors just like the XGIMI Horizon Pro embody.

That’s One Big Box

When evaluating efficiency specs, there’s not rather a lot completely different between the XGIMI Horizon Pro and the brand new Aura. Both do 4K, and whereas the Horizon Pro provides 2,200 lumens of brightness, the Aura barely edges it out with 2,400 lumens. However, the Aura arrives in a field that makes you marvel if 4 projectors have by accident been delivered to your door.

The Aura completely dwarfs the Horizon Pro, which was a reasonably compact all-in-one projector, however not small by any means.

You can overlook about mounting the Aura to a tripod. It weighs in at simply shy of 33 kilos and has a particularly giant footprint. If you don’t have already got house obtainable for it on an unused TV stand or a hutch, you’ll need to issue within the extra value of a small desk or stand to perch it on.

On the facet you’ll discover a energy change and a extra simply accessible single USB port, along with some beefy followers used to chill the Aura’s laser lighting system. They’re a lot bigger than the followers included on the Horizon Pro, however given the Aura sits on the entrance of a room, away from individuals watching a film, the sound of the followers is hardly ever noticeable, and actually solely heard when the projector is powered off and the followers ramp up energy to shortly cool it down.

On the again of the Aura is the place you’ll discover the remainder of its ports, which embody a further pair of USB 2.0 ports, three HDMI ports (with one supporting ARC), a headphone jack, an optical out, a LAN port for tethered connections to the web, in addition to a microUSB port used for debugging. The Aura additionally makes use of an everyday energy wire with out a big energy brick on the cable—all that’s built-in into the projector.

Big Box, Big Sound

If there’s one massive benefit to the Aura’s dimension, it’s that it provides much more room for higher built-in audio system.

The XGIMI Horizon Pro featured a pair of side-firing 8-watt Harman Kardon audio system that weren’t solely loud sufficient to fill a room with sound, however so loud that I used to be by no means in a position to flip the amount previous 75% with out the sound being uncomfortably loud. As an all-in-one house theater system, the Horizon Pro was handy, nevertheless it meant that the audio system had been awkwardly positioned in the midst of everybody watching a film, so not solely was there no surround-sound impact, however not even stereo sound, and people sitting closest to the projector obtained an actual earful.

As sound goes, the XGIMI Aura is a a lot improved expertise. Built into the entrance of the projector (and hidden behind a material display) are 4 15-watt Harman Kardon audio system, a pair of tweeters and a pair of subwoofers that ship a extra convincing and satisfying house theater expertise. They nonetheless don’t present {surround} sound, however bass efficiency is noticeably higher than by the Horizon Pro, and the sound now comes from the entrance of the room so everybody watching is kind of listening to the identical factor on the similar quantity.

An Excellent Remote

The XGIMI Aura isn’t breaking any new floor with its included wi-fi distant: It’s the very same mannequin as was included with the corporate’s Horizon Pro projector, however that’s OK, as a result of it’s fairly good.

In addition to a beneficiant use of brushed steel on the again and backside of the entrance, the distant consists of all of the buttons you’ll must navigate Google TV, together with a Google Assistant shortcut, but additionally buttons for shortly accessing the projector’s adjustment settings, in addition to focus. But you’ll need to take care to not lose it, as a result of there are not any operational buttons on the Aura projector itself, other than energy.

Easy(ish) Setup

Setting up the XGIMI Aura is straightforward sufficient, however for those who’ve used the corporate’s conventional projectors, just like the Horizon Pro, you’ll discover a few of their handy automated options lacking.

As with any projector, the scale of the picture the Aura produces depends on how far you place it from a wall or display. What’s completely different right here is that at a distance of simply 17 inches, you may create a picture as much as 150 inches in dimension. You’ll want to ensure the projector’s straight strains are positioned completely parallel to the wall or display, and the Aura features a set of 4 adjustable ft so you may guarantee it’s stage and on the correct angle to fill what you’re projecting onto.

The Horizon Pro would robotically produce an almost completely aligned rectangular picture that was even good sufficient to keep away from obstacles on the wall like gentle switches, however adjusting and perfecting the projected picture from the Aura is a handbook course of.

To make it simpler, XGIMI features a handbook keystone correction device with eight factors that may be adjusted one after the other till a wonderfully rectangular picture with straight edges is produced (the Horizon Pro provided simply 4 factors) however you’ll be spending extra time adjusting the bodily positioning of the Aura itself and these correction factors than you do with XGIMI’s different projectors.

That consists of focusing, too. With the Horizon Pro, double-tapping the main focus button on the distant triggered the projector’s auto-focus performance, which did a superb job at producing a crisp picture. With the Aura, hitting that button simply brings up a handbook focus possibility that’s adjusted utilizing the left and proper navigation buttons on the distant. You’ll need to depend on your eyes to know when the picture is completely in focus.

Netflix Is Still a Hassle

As helpful as having Google TV because the Aura’s working system is, the projector is sadly not a Netflix-approved system. That implies that whilst you can obtain and use streaming companies like Disney+ or Amazon Prime from the Google Play Store, the Netflix app will shortly generate an error that forestalls you from streaming any of its content material. There are workarounds to the issue, together with installing other apps that present entry to Netflix, casting from a tool like a smartphone, or just connecting and utilizing an accredited Netflix system just like the $50 Chromecast dongle.

Beautiful Picture

Not solely does the XGIMI Aura produce extra lumens than the Horizon Pro—2,400 in comparison with 2,200, respectively—the beam additionally doesn’t need to journey 12 ft throughout a room to the projection floor, dropping brightness alongside the best way.

As a end result, the XGIMI Aura produces very vibrant, properly saturated photographs, even on the beige painted wall I exploit as a display. Visibility is barely higher within the daytime than with the Horizon Pro, nevertheless it’s nonetheless nothe place close to the extent of brightness and distinction you’ll get from an LCD or OLED TV in a brightly lit room. In the daytime you’ll nonetheless need to shut curtains or blinds when utilizing the Aura, because the optimum use circumstances are nonetheless full darkness.

Brightness and distinction are glorious in a really darkish room, and undoubtedly outperform the Horizon Pro with a comparably giant picture. However, even with cautious handbook focus changes, the picture from the XGIMI Aura by no means feels as crisp because it does from the corporate’s lengthy throw projectors that provide autofocus capabilities. It’s one other downside of the optical methods used to make short-throw projectors attainable, however general the Aura does produce a really sharp picture, and if I didn’t have the Horizon Pro available to make direct comparisons, I in all probability wouldn’t have had any considerations with the Aura’s sharpness.

One final thing to notice—and that is one other facet impact of how a short-throw projector works—is that you just’ll need to make sure that your projection floor is as easy and flat and uniform as attainable. I assumed the wall in our household room was, however as you may see within the picture above, it’s most actually not completely flat, and people imperfections actually present up within the projected picture. The “Yoga for Mental Health” textual content seems to barely dip, and no quantity of repositioning or keystone correction was in a position to take away this.

These imperfections within the wall aren’t noticeable when utilizing the lengthy throw Horizon Pro. The Aura additionally made a gap within the wall the place an image hook had been eliminated particularly noticeable. It appeared as a black gap, the place because the Horizon merely stuffed it with gentle, making it more durable to see.

Are the Trade-Offs Worth it?

At $2,500, the XGIMI 4K Aura is a full $800 costlier than the XGIMI 4K Horizon Pro, and whereas it’d seem to be the Aura provides a greater expertise on all fronts, with improved sound, higher brightness and distinction, and the truth that you’ll by no means need to stroll by a projector beam once more, the trade-offs that include its know-how are onerous to disregard. Getting the proper image is an actual problem, and can presumably embody additional upgrades, like a correct display.

For most customers in search of a 4K projector, the Horizon Pro remains to be a superb all-in-one answer that’s simple to setup and calibrate, and straightforward to improve with higher audio system if that’s essential to you. However, to provide a large picture, you’ll want a pretty big room to place the Horizon Pro a minimum of 12 ft from a wall or display. The Aura wants simply 17 inches of house to provide the movie show expertise at house, and for those who’re in a small rental or condo, that alone may be the one promoting level that basically issues.