I have had this thing in my living room for two weeks now, and honestly, it is still the first thing I notice when I walk in. But to understand why I was so keen to get this home, rewind to January.
Every year at CES Las Vegas, the biggest consumer electronics show on the planet, there is always one thing I laser in on, and this year it was not a TV or a phone or the latest foldable. It was this beast of a projector from Hisense.
So now that I have tried it in a non-brand-controlled environment, where does it shine and where does it fall short? 7 Tech Editor Shaun White reviews the Hisense XR10 Laser Projector.
Brightness, Picture and Setup
The biggest reason people avoid projectors is daylight. You pull the blinds, kill the lights, and still end up squinting at something washed out. The XR10 does not have that problem.
Hisense rates it at 6,000 ANSI lumens, and most projectors sit around 2,000 to 3,000, so this one is literally double that. In our living room with afternoon sun coming through, you can absolutely tell.
The colour is insane. Black levels and shadow detail are genuinely impressive for a projector. And fast motion — think sport, action scenes, quick pans — is completely smooth with no blur or smearing.
Getting it up and running was surprisingly easy too. Plug it in, it straightens the image automatically, and lens shift physically moves the lens inside the unit so even if you cannot get it dead centre, it still lines up perfectly. Anywhere from 65 to 300 inches.
Sound and Build
The audio was developed in partnership with Devialet, a high-end French brand that sits firmly in Bang & Olufsen territory, and it fills the room properly, not in a “good for a projector” kind of way, just genuinely good.
It is also remarkably quiet for something pushing out this much light, which comes down to a liquid cooling system rather than the usual fans. That also keeps the brightness consistent across a long session rather than fading as it heats up, which is a nice bonus.
And it looks the part too. Dark, bold, that big exposed lens sitting front and centre. It looks like what you would get if a proper hi-fi brand designed a projector from scratch. It is a statement piece.
The Cons
It is heavy, so this is not something you will be moving around. It is also a long throw projector, meaning it needs to sit a fair distance back from the wall. In saying that, not as far as other long throw projectors. But if you are really tight on space, a short throw would suit you better.
And then there is the price, which at $10,000 is a serious outlay. Not for everyone, but for what it delivers, it is genuinely hard to argue with. Hisense also caters to more budget-conscious buyers, with the C3 laser projector starting from around $2,999 and offering features like 4K picture quality, access to popular streaming apps, and the ability to project an image up to 300 inches, so you can get the big screen on a budget.
If You Want Something a Little More Wallet-Friendly
Samsung The Freestyle 2nd Gen (around $800–$1,000)
It is worth knowing that Samsung just announced the next generation of this at CES this year, which means the 2nd gen has come down nicely in price. It is small enough to sit in your palm, runs Samsung’s smart TV platform, and you can point it at a wall, a ceiling, pretty much anything. Picture quality is not in the same league as the Hisense, but for something you can genuinely pick up and move anywhere in the house, it is hard to beat.
LG CineBeam Q (around $2,499)
This one is a bit of a looker. Compact, 4K, laser-powered, and it comes with a rotating handle so you can tilt it to project onto basically any surface including the ceiling. LG’s webOS gives you Netflix, Disney+, and the rest without needing to plug anything else in. A proper step up in picture quality from the Samsung.
XGIMI Horizon Pro (around $2,799)
XGIMI has been quietly winning over home cinema fans for a few years and this is a good example of why. 4K, Harman Kardon audio built in, Android TV, and genuinely smart auto-alignment that takes the setup headache away completely. Available at JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman, so no hunting around for it either.
