The Hisense C2 Ultra is a home theater projector, with an added twist: it has a rotating horizontal and vertical swivel, letting you adjust the unit's viewing angle as needed. This easy positioning is helped by the unit's full suite of image correction features, such as auto keystone, auto object avoidance, and autofocus. The unit also has a 1.67x optical zoom. It uses Hisense's TriChroma triple laser engine, and supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10+. It has a 40W 2.1 channel JBL sound system and supports DTS Virtual:X. The projector comes with the Vidaa Smart OS, with official Netflix integration. It's capable of projecting a 60-inch image at a distance of 4 to 6.7 feet, up to a 300-inch image at 20 to 32.5 feet.
Our Verdict
The Hisense C2 Ultra is great for watching movies. It's easily bright enough to be watched outside at night, even with some lights around. Its contrast is very good, showing deep blacks in most scenes. It also has an extremely wide color gamut, even in HDR. Finally, the unit is also quite accurate right out of the box, even if it's a bit too cold; purists can easily calibrate the unit if it bothers them.
Easily bright enough for moderately lit rooms.
Deep blacks in most content.
Very wide color gamut.
Fully featured projector, with official Netflix, Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support.
A ton of image correction features, with a rotating stand, makes for easy portability.
Very easy to calibrate.
The Hisense C2 Ultra is a great gaming projector. The projector's brightness is very strong, so colors hold up even with a couple of lights on, and the laser light engine covers a very wide gamut, making HDR games look vivid. It also supports Dolby Vision when gaming on an Xbox console. Contrast is pretty good, but the black floor still rises in dark rooms, so shadow-heavy titles won't look very inky. It's also responsive at all resolution and refresh rate combos, and especially so at 1080p @ 240Hz, making it a solid pick for console and PC gamers alike.
Easily bright enough for moderately lit rooms.
Deep blacks in most content.
Very wide color gamut.
A ton of image correction features, with a rotating stand, makes for easy portability.
Has a ton of resolution and refresh rate combinations, with low input lag.
Supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10+.
Changelog
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Updated Dec 03, 2025:
Retested the Hisense C2 Ultra's input lag; it is now much faster at 120Hz. We've updated the Input Lag text box, as well as the Gaming verdict and the Popular Projector Comparisons section.
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Updated Nov 11, 2025:
We mentioned the newly reviewed XGIMI HORIZON 20 Max in the Contrast section of this review.
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Updated Oct 08, 2025:
We retested the Hisense C2 Ultra with High Refresh Rate Mode disabled. Disabling it introduces frame skipping at 120Hz and 240Hz, but it also makes the 60Hz refresh rate modes much more responsive. We also confirmed that the projector does have an optical zoom. We updated the Gaming usage box, as well as the Optics and Input Lag text boxes.
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Updated Oct 03, 2025:
We made some minor adjustments before our official TBU 0.10 launch.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Hisense C2 Ultra is currently the top model in Hisense's C-Series Laser projector lineup, which also includes the Hisense C2, the Hisense C1, and the portable Hisense M2 Pro. The table below highlights the differences between each model.
| Model | Light Source | Brightness (ANSI lm) | Throw & Zoom | HDR Formats | Speakers | Max Refresh Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hisense C2 Ultra | RGB TriChroma laser | 3000 | 0.9–1.5:1, 1.67× optical zoom; gimbal stand | Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10 | JBL 2.1 (2×10W + 20W sub) | Up to 240Hz (1080p/1440p) |
| Hisense C2 (non-Ultra) | RGB TriChroma laser | 2000 | 1.2:1, digital zoom; gimbal stand | Dolby Vision, HDR10 | JBL 2.0 (2×10W) | Up to 240Hz (1080p/1440p) |
| Hisense C1 | RGB TriChroma laser | 1600 | 1.2:1, fixed lens (no optical zoom) | Dolby Vision, HDR10 | JBL 2.0 (20W) | 4k @ 60Hz |
| Hisense M2 Pro | RGB TriChroma laser | 1300 | 1.0–1.3:1, optical zoom; compact gimbal | Dolby Vision, HDR10(+ decode) | 2×10W | Up to 240Hz (1080p/1440p) |
Our unit was manufactured in April 2025.
Popular Projector Comparisons
The Hisense C2 Ultra is an incredible projector. It can do it all: easy to move around due to its gimbal stand and full suite of image correction features, all while being bright enough and colorful enough to handle even moderately lit rooms. Its contrast is also quite good, so it looks very solid in darker rooms. It's also pretty accurate right out of the box, and is easy to calibrate for those who crave even more accuracy. Finally, it's also a great gaming projector, with low input lag and wide resolution support. At its price point, not much competes with it; you might opt for the Anker Nebula X1 if you crave a projector with a handle and don't mind that the Anker is quite inaccurate out of the box. Alternatively, if you prefer a more classic 'install and forget' projector, the Epson Home Cinema 5050UB is even more accurate than the Hisense, but it lacks features and performs less well in HDR. Ultimately, the Hisense checks most boxes for most people.
For more, check out our recommendations for the best 4k projectors, the best projectors for home theater, and the best portable projectors. If you're really looking for a product to use outside, consider the best outdoor projectors as well.
The Anker Nebula X1 and Hisense C2 Ultra projectors perform very similarly, with the Anker having a very slight edge. The Anker is a bit brighter, with slightly deeper contrast, and is a bit more accurate out of the box, but they're extremely close. They're equally portable, but they go about it in different ways: the Hisense has a gimbal stand, which lets you fully adjust its viewing angle, while the Anker has an integrated handle and a motorized lens.
The Hisense C2 Ultra is a bit better than the XGIMI Horizon S Max, mostly due to the Hisense's brighter picture, which is noticeable. Otherwise, both units are pretty similar, with a rotating stand, a full suite of image correction features, and similar contrast.
The Hisense C2 Ultra is noticeably better than the XGIMI HORIZON Ultra. While the XGIMI matches the Hisense on brightness and out-of-the-box SDR accuracy, the Hisense is far easier to calibrate, slightly more portable, has noticeably deeper contrast, and has a far wider color gamut. Plus, the Hisense is the superior performer when it comes to gaming, as it supports gaming at 240Hz in 1080p and 1440p, while the XGIMI is limited to 60Hz at all resolutions.
Although they're very similar in terms of features, the Hisense C2 Ultra is a bit better than the Hisense PX3-PRO. While the PX3-PRO's contrast is a bit deeper, the C2 Ultra is noticeably brighter. It's also much more portable due to its lighter weight, fully functioning image correction features, and gimbal stand. Finally, the C2 Ultra is also more accurate out-of-the-box.
We've independently bought and tested over 60 projectors, and we've published all the detailed results for each so you can decide which one to buy. These have all been tested under the same standardized methodology, allowing you to compare them side by side. We still have all these projects in our lab so we can continually go back and compare them to ensure our reviews are still accurate. All our test methodology is also public on our website, so you can validate the results yourself.
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Test Results
The Hisense C2 Ultra's brightness is excellent. It doesn't have any weaknesses; it projects vibrant colors and is extremely uniform. The unit is bright enough for moderately lit rooms, but, like any projector, it truly comes into its own in darker environments.
The Hisense C2 Ultra's contrast is very good. It excels in mid-APL scenes but falters a little in very high APL scenes, although it's still quite satisfactory. Overall, it delivers solid contrast in almost all scenes, no matter how bright they are. If you're looking for even better contrast than this, look up the XGIMI HORIZON 20 Max instead.
The projector is quite accurate in SDR right out-of-the-box. Its white balance is most problematic, as reds are underrepresented in many shades of gray, but overall it's still very decent. This does make the unit's color temperature too cold, however. As for color mapping, it's extremely solid, with only light yellows and some whites being off track; everything else looks mostly as it should.
The projector is easy to calibrate with a 20-point white balance and full color calibration. After a short calibration session, the unit's color temperature is exactly as it should be, with significantly improved white balance and color mapping.
The Hisense C2 Ultra's color gamut is incredibly wide. It portrays the entirety of the Rec. 709 color space used with SDR content and excels in the wider Rec. 2020 color space, although most colors are slightly off the mark, especially greens, and to a lesser extent, blues and yellows.
The Hisense C2 Ultra projector uses a Triple Laser (Red + Green + Blue Trichrome) light source that lasts more than 25,000 hours and needs almost no upkeep. It isn't native 4k, as it uses pixel shifting to simulate a higher-resolution image, but it still looks crisper than a regular 1080p projector.
The SPD shows the typical narrow RGB laser peaks. Practically, you get very saturated primaries and eye-catching color volume with minimal dimming over time and no lamp swaps. The primary trade-off is the potential for laser speckle on some screens, so keep that in mind if you're sensitive to it.
The projector uses a short-to-standard throw (0.90–1.50) with autofocus, auto-keystone, and optical zoom. There's no lens shift, so plan to center the lens and keep keystone off whenever you can to preserve sharpness and keep lag low. Some quick throw distances to help with your setup:
- 80″ → ~5.2–8.7 ft
- 90″ → ~5.9–9.8 ft
- 100″ → ~6.5–10.9 ft
- 120″ → ~7.8–13.1 ft
- 150″ → ~9.8–16.3 ft
- 200″ → ~13.1–21.8 ft
The Hisense C2 Ultra is quite portable for a medium-sized projector. This is mainly due to its rotating horizontal and vertical swivel stand, which easily lets you adjust the viewing angle no matter where you place it. It also has a full suite of image correction features, including auto keystone, auto obstacle avoidance, and autofocus.
Unfortunately, it doesn't have a built-in battery, so you'll need a power source of some kind if you want to take it outside. The unit has a 2.1-channel 40W JBL sound system. If you want something similar but smaller, look at the XGIMI Horizon S Max or JMGO N1S Ultimate instead.
Fan noise is noticeable at full brightness output. Still, it should be easy to mask with a soundbar or AVR at normal listening levels.
The Hisense C2 Ultra projector has a good variety of options when it comes to supported resolutions. A 4k/120 signal handshakes, but is downscaled under the hood. In order for the unit not to frame skip at 4k @ 120Hz, make sure to enable DLP Turbo Mode and High Refresh Rate mode when Enhanced Format - 240Hz is also enabled. The latter is necessary for 1080p @ 240Hz support on HDMI ports 1 and 2.
Input lag is decent, but it is especially quick at 240Hz. To play at 120Hz or 240Hz without frame skipping, enable High Refresh Rate Mode. Note that turning it on increases input lag at 60Hz, so leave it off if you mainly play at that refresh rate.
All results were measured with DLP Turbo Mode set to On and High Refresh Rate Mode off; disabling Turbo Mode changes the readings:
- 4K @ 120Hz: 20.7 ms
- 4K @ 60Hz: 28.7 ms
- 1080p @ 240Hz: 9.3 ms
- 1080p @ 120Hz: 18.7 ms
- 1080p @ 60Hz: 30.8 ms
This projector's eARC support is excellent: Dolby Atmos (DD+ and TrueHD), DTS-HD MA/DTS:X, and LPCM 7.1 all pass. ARC/optical handle legacy 5.1. DTS support in particular is great for those who love physical media, as they often use DTS for their primary audio tracks.
