Hisense didn’t seem to want to choose between pure performance and portability in its new 6000 ANSI lumen projector. And so the Hisense XR10 was born, and it’s quite simply a beast of a projector.
Design and build
There isn’t much else like it
The XR10 It stands out as one of the best looking projectors from Hisense. It has a modern tech/lifestyle vibe to it, all highlighted by the oversized projector lens that protrudes from the front.
Hisense chose to pack the XR10 with a lens system that packs 17 elements into a high-temperature-resistant package, and from a design perspective, it just looks great. There are a few tricks up its sleeve in this lens department, but it’s worth noting how cool the optics are on this projector.
The lens sits on the right side of the cube-shaped chassis. On the left is a set of sensors for calibration, as Hisense wants users to move the XR10 around freely without any issues. These sensors allow automatic screen, keystone and focus adjustment.
It looks like two buttons on the top, but it’s just the power/volume button and the light sensor. The volume dial has a small red indicator that adds a nice touch to the overall design.
The rear of the XR10 is minimal in design, but functionally not so much. There are three HDMI ports, two USB Type-A and several audio and internet connections. As for the HDMI ports, this may be overkill for those who plan to move the device around frequently.
One of the small touches that Hisense has put on the XR10 is the design emblem covered in transparent plastic. It’s more plastic underneath, but the internals are shaped like lightweight engine components. When the projector is turned on, three small RGB lights light up. It’s purely for aesthetics, but it’s a nice addition.
All these small design elements are brought together by huge machine-drilled plates on each side, and the whole XR10 looks truly unique.
Inner strength is simply latent, not absent
The XR10’s lifestyle looks might be enough to lure you in, or the central optical lens might seem like a gimmick for the look of quality.
I have seen enough of both product design methodologies, however XR10 virtually ensures performance without fail.
Inside is a three-color laser engine with a lifespan of 25,000 hours Hisense L9Q we recently reviewed. The engine is rated for Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HDR10 content with a contrast ratio of 6000:1. Hisense is able to achieve such an insane contrast ratio with an optional manual light suppressor called IRIS, which limits light like a camera aperture that controls the path of light.
The trade-off here is low brightness for high contrast. But there are seven levels of IRIS functionality, so you can fine-tune your experience. If you want full projector performance, wait until 6000 ANSI lumens. It’s incredibly bright and daytime viewing will never be a problem. If you want to get the best picture, obviously turn off the lights and adjust the aperture settings. If you want to watch something on the big screen, tilt it.
An internal liquid cooling system keeps things at temperature, which is not a common feature in consumer projectors. The system is a closed loop, so there will be no risk of leaks or problems. Compared to a fan-cooled system, the jet does well without engine noise. It makes noise when you sit next to it, but it won’t drown out any TV or movie sound.
Lens has a few other tricks as well. The XR10 brings lens swapping into play, so you can find essentially any angle. The range it has is insane. Hisense claims that the lens shift feature does not affect image quality, and I did not notice that it did. By habit, I still try to physically set up the projector for the best picture with as few adjustments as possible. But even at the most extreme angles, lens shift can push the image several feet in any direction.
All this is complemented by an image with 118% of the BT2020 color space and a screen size of up to 300 inches. I haven’t tested the XR10 on a 300-inch screen because I don’t have room for something that big.
However, I used the 120-inch ALR screen that I test most projectors with. A 300-inch picture makes sense for an outdoor space, but buying a large home theater screen will cost a decent chunk of change.
Performance
Surprise image
Using the XR10 left me a little disappointed. Not because it didn’t perform as expected, but because it performed better than I had hoped and gave me mixed feelings. I love the L9Q from Hisense and still use it as a mainstay in my small theater room.
Still, the XR10 produced a very good image, albeit a bit warmer than my short-throw projector’s image. Not a fair comparison, I know. But it goes to show that not only is the L9Q a beast of a UST projector, but the XR10 is a beast all its own, one you can carry around in a small duffel bag when it comes bundled.
Yes, it comes with its own suitcase.
At first, the installation was easy. It’s one area where Hisense has it right with the XR10. You can take the projector and mount it anywhere from a few feet to over 12 feet away. If the screen is available, it will select it and install the image for you. At the very least, it performs automatic keystone correction and focus adjustment with surprising accuracy on any wall. I didn’t expect it to stack so fast on my screen, but it closed quickly without requiring any adjustments on my end.
I had a bit of a frustrating time trying to get it to focus. The focus adjustment works fine by itself, but making my own adjustments was more difficult than it should have been. During the automatic process, calibration wheels appear all over the screen, but when you manually capture them, they disappear. So essentially, you can’t manually adjust the focus with any reliability. I went back and forth between the main screen and the focus adjustment to dial things in.
Once assembled on your screen or cinema wall, the XR10 looks great. It’s 4K with all the features Hisense likes to pack. I tend to turn most of them off because I find that improved sharpness, AI image recognition, and brightness enhancements can pollute the image in a few ways. But to each his own.
I still recommend playing around with each image setting; no two people have the same preferences.
The stacked image looks fantastic, and the XR10 really shines when you use IRIS to add more contrast than burn out dark details. This, of course, reduces the brightness. With the IRIS set to level one, you’re not looking at a 6000 or even 5000 ANSI lumen image. In fact, the XR10’s default brightness level 7 is as bright as the L9Q at level 8 when running on its own operating system. In fact, you get an extra step of brightness with the XR10.
In practice, turning the IRIS up significantly reduces the halo around your image. This means that less light is transmitted. You can tell because that halo is starting to fade. He does not disappear, but plays a lesser role in blowing dark scenes.
I’ve found that setting the projector to the brightness that gives me the best color reproduction – about 8 – and then using IRIS to control the brightness is the best way to get a good, consistent image. Ultimately, you still can’t get a bright image without washing out some contrast, but the XR10 comes closer to that cinema image than I expected.
But what this means is that you have to sacrifice a bright image for more contrast, because projectors can’t just pull contrast out of thin air. There is always light and it has to go somewhere. This light eats dark colors.
Still, the XR10 does a phenomenal job of producing a sharp, colorful image.
In my room, I had to place the XR10 a little further away and zoom in on the image. That’s because the optimal place for the XR10 to sit and project a 120-inch image is about 10 feet from the screen — right on my couch. So I moved it behind the couch. You can mount it on a tripod, mount it on the ceiling, or simply place it on a table and angle it with its adjustable feet. The only reasonable option for my location was a tripod. It’s not ideal, but it works.
Getting it can also take some effort. The XR10 itself weighs 23 lbs. The tripod I used was one of the more substantial ones meant for heavier cameras. Still, you can buy a special tripod for the projector, and as long as you’re lugging around the projector around the weight of a sack of potatoes, I’d still consider it portable.
He doesn’t have a Google TV…
Being the nitpick that I am, I ran an HDMI cable from the AVR to the front of the room. So I got access to my streaming devices and audio setup. Without it, there are two issues.
The first, although not really a problem, is internal noise. Hisense’s Devialet powered speakers are great for this. I had no issues with them and there were plenty of options to stack them. However, any image the XR10 can deliver in a dedicated space deserves dedicated audio.
Second, the XR10 doesn’t actually run Google TV like most of the company’s other projectors. Hisense went with VidaaOS, which is very similar to Google TV, but a little tighter for my taste. It also came with a bunch of apps already installed, many of which I will never use. The mainstays are Netflix, YouTube, YouTube TV, Peacock and a few others. But that’s only 5% of what VidaaOS comes preloaded with.
It works well and is pretty intuitive, but a creature of habit like myself would prefer to connect to Google TV or something a little too stimulating.
Final thoughts
The XR10 sits in an odd spot because it offers this crazy package of both quality and portability, but these types of buyers seem to be from different groups.
Still, Hisense has packed plenty of tech into the XR10 so it can be used both ways. I’d be more than happy to mount it on the ceiling and take the time to capture audio and video. At the same time, it is designed to be taken and set up in a different part of the house or outside for a movie night. While portable projectors require some performance sacrifices for this experience, the only downside to the XR10 is that you need nearby output to do so.
And it doesn’t come cheap. The XR10 carries an asking price of $6,000, though it can still be had As low as $5,500. A lot goes into this price, like the massive lens array, liquid cooling, and internal IRIS construction.
If portability speaks to you, the XR10 might actually be the best projector you can get, allowing you to pick it up and move it around without a problem. After testing and using it for a while, I can’t really see a downside when it comes to pure performance. Of course, if you want something from Hisense that you can leave in place for similar image performance, the L9Q has been a great ultra-short throw option. It really comes down to the form factor.
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