The Hisense C2 Ultra is a home theater projector with an added twist: it features a rotating horizontal and vertical swivel, allowing you to 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 awesome for watching movies. It's easily bright enough to be watched outside at night, even with some lights around. Its contrast is great, 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. It also supports Dolby Vision when gaming on an Xbox console. Contrast is great, but the black floor still rises in very dark scenes, 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+.
The Hisense C2 Ultra is easily bright enough for a large screen in a living room, and it holds up well with a few lights on. Its image is very uniform, so you do not have to worry about dark corners or obvious hotspots. You still achieve the most cinematic look in a dim room, but you don't need to black out the space for it to look good.
Very bright even in its most accurate mode.
Fantastic brightness uniformity.
The Hisense C2 Ultra’s native contrast looks great in most real content, especially once you’re out of the near-black range. In mid-bright and bright scenes, it keeps shadows nicely separated, holds onto depth, and gives the image a punchy, high-contrast look that works really well for both movies and games, particularly in a dimly lit room. The main limitation is in very dark scenes with only small highlights, where blacks can look more dark gray than truly black, but outside of those edge cases it delivers consistently great contrast.
Excellent native contrast that gives movies and games a strong sense of depth.
Blacks are raised in near-dark scenes.
Changelog
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Updated Jan 14, 2026:
We updated the Native Contrast text box after a recent adjustment to our testing. We also touched up Our Verdict.
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Updated Jan 14, 2026:
We mention the newly reviewed Valerion VisionMaster Max in the Native Contrast section of this review.
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Updated Jan 14, 2026:
We've modified the text in our Brightness and Native Contrast text boxes as a result of our latest test bench and added a Sequential Contrast test. We've also added Brightness and Contrast performance usages in the Verdict section.
- Updated Jan 14, 2026: We've converted the review to Test Bench 0.11, which renames our Contrast test to Native Contrast, and adds a Sequential Contrast test box. We also added new Brightness and Contrast performance usages in Our Verdict. See the 0.11 changelog.
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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 excellent, 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 XGIMI HORIZON 20 Max is a bit better than the Hisense C2 Ultra. The XGIMI is brighter, has better contrast, and runs a bit quieter. Both are excellent for gaming, but their strengths are slightly different: the Hisense is clearly faster at 60Hz, which is great if you mostly play 60fps console games, while the XGIMI is just a touch quicker at 120Hz and 240Hz, though that small difference is hard to notice in practice.
The Anker Nebula X1 and Hisense C2 Ultra projectors perform very similarly, with the Anker having a very slight edge in image quality, and the Hisense being better for gamers. 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. For gaming, it's no contest: the Hisense has high-refresh rate support, and low input lag.
The Hisense C2 Ultra is an upgrade over the smaller Hisense M2 Pro. They both have very good contrast and a remarkable color gamut. However, the C2 Ultra is much brighter, leading to a more immersive viewing experience than the M2 Pro. It also has lower input lag at 4k @ 120Hz for a more responsive, high refresh rate gaming experience, along with full eARC passthrough and an extra HDMI 2.1, making it a better multimedia projector. On the other hand, the M2 Pro has better input lag at 4k @ 60Hz, while it also has much better color accuracy out-of-the-box, though both projectors even out on this front after they're calibrated.
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.
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. Our measurements are taken in Filmmaker Mode after calibration, so they reflect an accurate, slightly dimmer picture than the brightest presets, yet the projector is still easily bright enough for a large screen in a moderately lit room and remains very uniform across the image.
The table below shows how bright the unit is in its other picture modes. Standard, Enhanced, Sports, and Dynamic all sit in the same high range, so you do not give up much light when you switch between them. Cinema Day stands out because its color brightness is almost as high as its white brightness, making it the best choice for a brighter room. In contrast, Cinema Night is intentionally dimmer and better suited to a fully dark, theater-style setup.
| Picture Mode | WLO | CLO |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 2206 lm | 1202 lm |
| Enhanced(ACR) | 2210 lm | 1204 lm |
| Cinema Day | 2151 lm | 2096 lm |
| Cinema Night | 1375 lm | 1349 lm |
| Dynamic | 2107 lm | 1109 lm |
| Sports | 2209 lm | 1220 lm |
The Hisense C2 Ultra has great native contrast in most real-world content. Once you have any meaningful amount of midtones in the frame, it keeps shadows clearly separated from highlights, so movies and games look punchy and three-dimensional even in a dim room. Where it's less convincing is in the darkest near-black scenes with only tiny highlights, where blacks can look more dark gray than truly black. Still, it rebounds quickly as scenes get even a little brighter, and that's where its contrast performance really shines.
If you're looking for even better contrast than this, look up the XGIMI HORIZON 20 Max or the Valerion VisionMaster Max instead.
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 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 projector utilizes a Triple Laser (Red + Green + Blue Trichrome) light source that lasts over 25,000 hours and requires minimal maintenance. 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 allows you to easily adjust the viewing angle regardless of 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 offers a wide range of supported resolutions. A 4k/120 signal handshakes, but is downscaled under the hood. 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 enabling it increases input lag at 60Hz, so leave it off if you primarily 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.
