The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro is a long-throw 4k XPR DLP projector built around a laser light source, aimed at an easy living-room setup. It supports Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and HDR10, and includes XGIMI's ISA setup suite, with features such as autofocus, auto-keystone, and screen alignment to simplify placement. It also includes wall-color adaptation and eye-protection behavior to help avoid shining the beam into someone's eyes during setup. It runs Android TV 11 with built-in casting support and has a 24W Harman/Kardon speaker system. For connectivity, it includes Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, two HDMI inputs with eARC on one port, plus USB for local playback and extra audio options like optical output and a 3.5 mm jack.
Our Verdict
For movies, the XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro delivers a really satisfying home theater look thanks to its combination of high brightness, strong native contrast, and vibrant color. In a dark room, it has enough contrast to give letterbox bars and darker scenes convincing depth, and it stays impressively sturdy in brighter, mixed scenes that make up much of real movie-watching. The caveat is that near-blacks in darker scenes can look slightly elevated, but overall it's an excellent performer for movie content.
Excellent overall contrast for a projector; strong depth in most movie scenes.
Very bright, so it still looks good on large screens and with some ambient light.
Wide, vibrant color gamut for HDR-friendly pop.
Near-blacks in dark scenes are raised.
Very high brightness can make rainbow artifacts more noticeable for sensitive viewers.
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro is a great big-screen gaming projector because it pairs strong image quality with real gaming features. It's extremely bright, colors look punchy, and contrast is excellent, so games keep solid depth in most scenes. It supports high refresh rates, and it feels much snappier at 120Hz (and above) than at 60Hz; stick to the faster refresh rates for the best experience. The unit supports VRR, but it introduces noticeable color separation artifacts when gaming, so your mileage may vary on whether you want it on or off. Still, overall, this is a very good projector for gaming.
Supports VRR and very high refresh rates (up to 240Hz at 1080p).
Feels snappy at 120Hz and 240Hz.
Strong image quality for games: bright, colorful, and excellent contrast.
60Hz input lag is noticeably worse.
With VRR enabled, you may notice extra color-separation artifacts.
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro is one of the brightest projectors you can buy for a living room setup. It has enough light output to remain impactful on a large screen, and its brightness uniformity is fantastic, so the image stays evenly lit rather than looking noticeably dimmer in the corners. It also maintains strong color light output, so bright scenes stay colorful.
One of the brightest projectors you can buy; great for very large screens.
Stays punchy in brighter rooms instead of immediately washing out.
Strong brightness uniformity for a clean, even image.
Higher brightness can increase rainbow artifacts for sensitive viewers.
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro has excellent native contrast, especially for a bright DLP. It holds up very well in the mixed-content scenes you'll watch most often, so blacks don't wash out as quickly once there's real light on screen. The main limitation is near-blacks, which look noticeably raised in darker scenes.
Excellent overall contrast for a projector; strong depth in most movie scenes.
The very darkest, near-black scenes aren’t as deep.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro sits just below the XGIMI HORIZON 20 Max in XGIMI's long-throw Horizon lineup. Like the 20 Max, it's built around an RGB triple-laser (laser-only) light engine with 4k XPR, and support the same HDR formats. Within the broader Horizon lineup, you'll find older LED-based models, newer Dual Light (laser+LED) flagships, and the Horizon 20 series, which uses RGB triple-laser (laser-only). Key differences across variants are the light source, peak brightness, supported HDR formats, ISA features, and I/O (e.g., HDMI 2.1/eARC, Wi-Fi generation). The table below highlights the main specs and features.
| Model | Light Source | Resolution | HDR Formats | Setup / OS | Ports (highlights) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horizon 20 Max | RGB triple-laser (laser-only) | 4k (XPR) | Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, IMAX Enhanced | ISA 5.0; Android TV 11 | HDMI 2.1 (eARC)×1 + HDMI×1, USB×2, Wi-Fi 6, BT 5.2 |
| Horizon 20 Pro | RGB triple-laser (laser-only) | 4k (XPR) | Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, IMAX Enhanced | ISA 5.0; Android TV 11 | HDMI 2.1 (eARC)×1 + HDMI×1, USB×2, Wi-Fi 6, BT 5.2 |
| Horizon S Max | Dual Light 2.0 (RGB laser+LED) | 4k (XPR) | Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG, IMAX Enhanced | ISA 5.0; Android TV 11 | HDMI (eARC)×1, USB×2, Wi-Fi 5 |
| Horizon S Pro | Dual Light 2.0 | 4k (XPR) | Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG | ISA 5.0; Android TV 11 | HDMI (eARC)×1, USB×2, Wi-Fi 5 |
| Horizon Ultra | Dual Light (laser+LED) | 4k (XPR) | Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG | ISA 3.0; Android TV 11 | HDMI×2 (1×eARC), USB×2, LAN, optical out, Wi-Fi 6 |
| Horizon Pro | LED | 4k (XPR) | HDR10, HLG | ISA (earlier gen); Android TV 10 | HDMI×2, USB×2, LAN, optical out, Wi-Fi 5 |
| Horizon | LED | 1080p | HDR10, HLG | ISA (earlier gen); Android TV 10 | HDMI×2, USB×2, LAN, optical out, Wi-Fi 5 |
Popular Projector Comparisons
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro is extremely bright for real living-room use, has standout native contrast for convincing depth in darker scenes, and keeps colors looking punchy thanks to its strong color light output. It's also one of the more gaming-friendly projectors you can buy, with high refresh-rate support and VRR for smoother motion and fewer tearing issues. Still, the Hisense C2 Ultra is a bit more versatile when it comes to room placement due to its wider throw ratio. If you're chasing the very best black levels in the darkest, near-black scenes, the Valerion VisionMaster Pro 2 can pull ahead in some scenes due to its great dynamic contrast, and the more expensive XGIMI HORIZON 20 Max has better native contrast, but overall the 20 Pro is one of the strongest all-around picks if you want one projector that can handle movies, sports, and gaming.
Check out our recommendations for the best 4k projectors and the best projectors for home theater. If you'd prefer to shop for a projector that you can use outdoors, check the best outdoor projectors instead.
The Hisense C2 Ultra and XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro are very closely matched. The XGIMI has slightly better image quality, but just barely. The Hisense, in turn, is a bit better for gaming due to its lower input lag at 60Hz and 240Hz, although the XGIMI is a bit better at 120Hz. The Hisense has a wider throw ratio, giving you more options for where to place it around the room.
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro is better than the XGIMI HORIZON S Max. The 20 Pro is brighter, has better contrast, and supports VRR alongside higher refresh rates. It also has full eARC passthrough support. In turn, while the S Max is limited to 60Hz when gaming, it does have lower input lag at 60Hz than the 20 Pro.
The Valerion VisionMaster Pro 2 and XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro are closely matched. The XGIMI generally has better image quality as it's brighter and has better native contrast, but the Valerion has one of the better implementations of dynamic contrast amongst projectors we've tested, evening the playing field. For gaming, they trade blows: the Valerion has lower input lag at 60Hz and 240Hz, but the XGIMI has lower input lag at 120Hz. The decider might be out-of-the-box accuracy, where the XGIMI has the edge. Still, it's close.
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 XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro is an extremely bright projector overall. Its measured White Light Output and Color Light Output are high enough to hold up well on a large screen, and it maintains a punchy image in a dark room or a dim living room with some ambient light. Brightness uniformity is also fantastic, so you don't get distracting hot spots or obvious falloff across the screen, although there is some minor vignetting. On the downside, that level of brightness can make rainbow artifacts more noticeable to viewers sensitive to RBE, especially in high-contrast content and UI elements.
Our measurements are from the 'Movie' Picture Mode, but here are brightness measurements taken in other modes:
| Picture Mode | WLO | CLO |
|---|---|---|
| Movie Luminance Boost On | 2466 lm | 1739 lm |
| Standard | 1972 lm | 1998 lm |
| Vivid | 1948 lm | 1958 lm |
| Game | 1956 lm | 1967 lm |
| Sports | 1957 lm | 1968 lm |
| High Power | 3927 lm | 2304 lm |
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro's native contrast is excellent overall, with results that remain competitive across average picture levels, which matter more for real viewing than extreme full-black conditions. This makes it a good fit for movies and games where the content is frequently mixed rather than dominated by near-black frames. It doesn't perform as well with near-blacks in darker scenes, but it quickly becomes fantastic when the scene has some light into it.
The projector covers Rec. 709 essentially fully, so SDR content looks saturated and lively without pushing colors out of bounds. HDR color is also very strong for a projector, though it isn't quite as wide as the XGIMI HORIZON 20 Max; it's extremely close.
Out of the box, the XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro is quite accurate in SDR in its 'Movie' Picture Mode, but it's not perfect. Grayscale is a bit cool, with a noticeable blue push in brighter whites, so highlights and some skin tones can look slightly bluish. That said, most colors are very accurate overall, tracking close to the Rec.709 target without obvious oversaturation, so most movies and TV look natural right away. Gamma is also fairly close to the 2.2 target, though a lot of scenes end up a touch too bright, which can slightly flatten shadow depth.
After calibration, the XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro delivers excellent SDR accuracy. The white balance is very tight, and the color temperature lands essentially on target, so whites look neutral instead of tinted. Gamma is also very close to the 2.2 target, giving the image a more consistent sense of depth without making midtones look washed out or overly dark. Where it falls a bit short of reference is color accuracy: it's still great, but there are some lingering color errors that keep it from being as perfectly dialed-in as the best-performing projectors after calibration.
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro uses a single-chip 0.47-inch DMD with XPR pixel shifting. It isn't native 4k, but it still looks noticeably sharper than a standard 1080p projector. Because it's a single-chip DLP design with color-sequential primaries, some viewers may see rainbow artifacts (RBE), especially on high-contrast edges and subtitles. The 20 Pro can still show this in real content, and it can be particularly obvious in UI elements and menus. There isn't a true fix beyond reducing brightness/contrast and avoiding the highest power modes if RBE is distracting.
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro has a very flexible optical setup for easy placement. You get a motorized 1.2–1.5:1 zoom with autofocus, plus a wide lens-shift range of up to ±120% vertical and ±45% horizontal, letting you center the image without tilting the chassis.
Although the XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro isn't a travel projector, it's easy to move around and set up in different rooms. The rotating base and swivel body make it quick to aim the image up or down, and setup is mostly hands-off thanks to autofocus, auto keystone with obstacle avoidance, and smart screen alignment. The motorized zoom also helps you fine-tune framing without nudging the chassis. That said, it's still a fairly chunky unit at about 11lbs with no built-in battery, so it's better for occasional room-to-room use than true grab-and-go portability.
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro is reasonably quiet in its normal picture modes, with a steady, low-pitched fan noise that fades into the background once you're watching something. At maximum brightness, it's still fairly controlled, but the fan ramps up noticeably if you enable 'High Power' mode, and that extra whoosh can be easy to hear during quieter scenes. If you're sensitive to projector fan noise, stick to the standard lamp settings and only use High Power/Boost Luminance when you really need the extra light output.
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro has a straightforward set of connections for a living-room projector. You get two HDMI inputs (one HDMI 2.1 and one HDMI 2.0), with eARC on the HDMI 2.0 port for sending audio back to a soundbar or AVR. It also includes USB ports for local media playback, plus both a 3.5 mm analog output and an optical digital output if you're connecting older audio gear. Wireless support is modern with dual-band Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, but there's no Ethernet jack, so you'll be relying on Wi-Fi for streaming.
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro accepts 4k signals up to 60Hz, and it will also take 4k @ 120Hz and 1440p inputs, but those higher-refresh signals are scaled internally rather than displayed natively. For actual high-refresh gaming, 1080p is the way to go: 1080p @ 120Hz works properly, and it even supports ultra-high refresh rates up to 240Hz at 1080p.
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro supports VRR, with a very wide range that can drop to under 20Hz and go as high as 240Hz at 1080p, and up to 120Hz at 4k. That said, the VRR implementation is still pretty new for projectors and comes with quirks: with VRR enabled, you may notice more color-separation artifacts in some content, especially when your frame rate is bouncing around. If that becomes distracting, the simplest fix is to cap your frame rate for steadier pacing or disable VRR to return to the more typical presentation.
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro delivers great responsiveness in its high-refresh modes. At 120Hz, input lag is low enough to feel snappy for most gaming, and at 240Hz, it feels slightly more responsive, which is especially nice for fast PC titles.
At 60Hz, though, it's noticeably slower. It's still fine for slower-paced single-player games, but it won't feel as fast as a good gaming TV or monitor. Also, keep in mind that while it accepts 4k @ 120Hz, it scales that signal internally, so if you want true high-refresh gaming, 1080p @ 120Hz (or 1080p @ 240Hz on PC) is the way to go.
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro offers a ton of audio passthrough options. With eARC, it passes Dolby Atmos (both DD+ from apps and TrueHD from discs), DTS:X, DTS-HD MA, Dolby Digital Plus, and up to 7.1 LPCM. Over regular ARC (and optical), you're limited to Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1, so there's no lossless formats or multichannel LPCM. Overall, you won't have any issues passing through your audio format of choice when watching content.
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro supports 3D, including Side-by-Side, Top-and-Bottom, and Frame Packing formats.
- Power supply
- Power cable
- Remote control
- 2x AAA batteries
- User documentation
- Carrying case
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro runs an Android TV smart platform with Google Play app support and built-in Chromecast, so streaming is straightforward without needing an external stick. It also has a built-in 2×12W Harman Kardon speaker system (24W total), and ARC/eARC over HDMI makes it easy to pass audio to a soundbar or AVR if you want a more serious setup.