Px1-pro Review

[Nicol Allphin]

TheHisense PX1 TriChroma laser light source is capable of reproducing an extremely wide color gamut. The PX1 can deliver 107% of the BT2020 color space far exceeding a flat-panel TV's color range. However, most content is still shot in Rec709 or DCI-P3, so Hisense does a good job properly utilizing the projector's extended color gamut.

The Hisense PX1 has eight preset picture modes for SDR and seven presets for HDR (two THEATER modes in SDR and only one in HDR). The VIVID, GAME and SPORTS modes are the brightest and are designed to fight through high ambient light. These more brilliant modes are cooler in tone but not so much that it becomes problematic. The Theater Day, Theater Night, and Filmmaker modes are very warm, making skin tones slightly reddish.

I found the PX1's STANDARD mode an excellent option, especially when watching SDR content. Out of the box, its color temperature was only a few hundred degrees off my target of 6500K. The colors are slightly over pronounced, but not so much to be a distraction. This is especially true in rooms with some uncontrolled light sources. In these environments, the increased color saturation was a benefit.

In STANDARD mode, the Grayscale out of the box was better than average. When measured, the color temperature was just a few hundred degrees off my target of 6500K. The image was slightly cooler than desired, especially at higher IREs.

In the USER picture preset, the gamma measured lower than my target of 2,2, resulting in a slightly elevated black level in my room on my matte white screen, but this was easily corrected using the GAMMA CORRECTION and BRIGHTNESS adjustments.

We calibrated the STANDARD picture preset. The default COLOR TEMP setting of Medium was fairly close to 6500K, so we just had to make some quick adjustments to the WHITE BALANCE to produce a good Grayscale. I increased the RED GAIN while slightly reducing the BLUE GAIN.

I've reviewed the PX1-PRO, rated at 200 lumens brighter than this model. It's not a huge difference, so I expected that the PX1 would perform similarly to the PRO model. And the PX1 completely met my expectations. The projector's black level was quite good, but it is still closer to dark gray than deep black to see details and not crush the blacks.

Users who want the deepest blacks possible from the PX1 should consider purchasing an ALR higher-gain screen. This type of screen highlights deep black levels and wider viewing angles over maximum ambient light rejection.

The PX1 should be paired with an Ambient Light Rejecting (ALR) screen. Since Hisense does not include a matched ALR screen with their Laser Cinema series projectors, they effectively leave the choice of the screen up to the consumer. Hisense sells its own ALR screens, which I'm sure they would recommend. I'm in the middle of moving my testing lab to a new location, so my Hisense screen is currently unavailable for use. I just finished a review using the Epson SilverFlex Ultra 120-inch ALR screen, so that's what I paired with the PX1 projector.

The TriChroma triple-laser light engine faithfully recreates a rated 2,000 lumens peak brightness, which is lower than previous Hisense UST models I've reviewed. These ratings should still allow users to achieve good highlights with decent black levels and shadow details, especially when viewed in a light-controlled space.

How close did the PX1 come to hitting its manufacturer's brightness rating? To determine the PX1's brightness capabilities, I set the projector to SPORTS mode, the brightest picture mode, the light level to 10, and the HDR turned off at my source. I then took three to four readings about 15-20% out from the center of the lens.

As time progresses and technology improves, newer projectors can show the value of HDR more and more. Seeing the difference between HDR and SDR on a projector is often challenging. Still, like the PRO version of this projector, HDR content looked better on the Hisense PX1 than many other 4K HDR projectors I have reviewed.

The PX1 supports 4K HDR10/HLG. Each projector's preset mode is tuned differently depending on the content users view (SDR or HDR). The presets change names depending on whether the content is in 4K HDR or SDR.

The Hisense PX1 has yet to receive a firmware update allowing the projector to process Dolby Vision content. Based on the age of this product and the fact that Hisense upgraded the PX1-PRO, L5G, and L9G models months ago, it seems unlikely that the PX1 will be receiving this capability.

To get the best overall results when watching HDR content, turning off the projector's light sensor produced the best overall results regardless of the lighting conditions. Adjusting the projector's ACTIVE CONTRAST mode can be very beneficial. Since this mode has multiple settings, I recommend playing around with them depending on the type of content displayed. Or, if you prefer to set it and forget it split the difference and turn ACTIVE CONTRAST to its MEDIUM setting.

Content encoded in SDR still makes up most available movies, television shows, and games. The PX1 displays this type of content extremely well. SDR content color is rich, and brightness levels are higher. There is a lot of SDR content where it's clear that the engineer mastering the final product did so with skill and care. There is also a lot of content that is just a crappy transfer from a DVD master. The PX1 out-of-the-box picture preset modes do an enviable job handling content on both ends of this spectrum. For most movies, FILMMAKER mode did a great job. Also, as I mentioned in the COLOR section above, the PX1 allows users to fine-tune the projected image in great detail.

Most TV shows and live broadcasts will likely continue to be produced in HD for several years, so good 4K upscaling is a critical feature of any projector. The PX1's upscaling is excellent. Whether I watched 720p sports from ESPN or 1080p Blu-ray content, it all looked terrific.

Motion Estimation Motion Compensation (MEMC) technology uses an advanced, algorithmic technique to predict where a frame is in video content and, through the algorithm, inserts an additional frame between each original. MEMC is a type of frame interpolation technology designed to smooth out the blur when watching content that requires a clearer image, such as sports and video games,

The FILM mode is designed especially for movies shot in 24p, and it eliminates 3:2 pulldown for more cinematic motion. When I viewed 30p and 60p material, I set the PX1 to CLEAR mode and did not notice too many motion artifacts.

The PX1, which uses the same sound system as the PX1-PRO, is one of the better-sounding ultra-short-throw projectors I have reviewed. This projector offers audio performance similar to the much more expensive Hisense L9G.

The PX1 sounds better than many other ultra-short-throw projectors and does so without adding audible distortion at higher volumes. The digital signal processing Hisense uses provides an expansive simulated surround experience rather than sounding as if the audio is coming from the projector's speaker cabinet.

The PX1 is a very quiet projector. Even set to its highest light level, I could barely hear the unit's fan from my sitting position during quiet scenes. This low amount of noise from the projector's cooling system is a testament to Hisense's design and heat management skills.

The PX1-Pro's image is more refined and natural without needing to do as many adjustments right out of the box like other RGB USTs. If you have a dedicated, light controlled environment yet yearn for the many benefits of RGB TriChroma lasers and everything it brings over lamp and phosphor based standard throw projectors, then this is the ultra short throw for you!

The Hisense PX1-Pro is the Home Theater version of their prior UST, the L9G Tri-Chroma laser TV, which features true Red, Green and Blue laser diodes as its light source to produce greater than BT2020 colors on screen.

The reason for not including a fixed screen and size is because it is designed for dedicated home theaters, so in most cases this will not need an ALR (Ambient Light Rejecting) screen surface to reject ambient lighting from windows, lights, etc.

You should be able to use your existing dedicated theater screen, which is usually a white screen of neutral gain up to about a 1.3 gain, but be careful as higher gain screens may cause hotspotting. Standard, lower gain grey cinema screens should work well too, if you would like to help the black floor even more, but make sure you take into account that you will also lower the peak brightness with these grey screens by the same factor, so native contrast will be the same.

One thing to keep in mind by using a traditional projector screen, instead of one engineered for UST projection is that you may be lighting up your ceiling by virtue of the angle of reflection. A traditional projector screen will diffuse light in all directions, whereas a specialized UST screen surface will take the light coming up from the steep angle of the projector and direct it outwards specifically towards the audience.

If you do decide to use it in a room with ambient light or wish to watch something like sports with lights on, then there are numerous options available for ultra short throw ALR projection screens - just contact the experts here at ProjectorScreen.com to find the right fit for you!

Hisense has always prided itself on the aesthetic design of their ultra short throws because they know these devices are meant to be the centerpiece of your media or living room. You can tell they put that thought into the PX1-Pro.

While not as sleek, Hisense further differentiated it from the L9G by giving the PX1-Pro a more boxy design. The protrusion on top is angled to avoid light bouncing off the projector and back at the bottom the screen, though functional, it gives the unit a clunkier look and feel.

At a rating of 2,200 lumens the Hisense PX1-Pro isn't the brightest ultra short throw projector out there which makes sense because this device was designed with home cinemas in mind where the ambient light in the room is better controlled. This allows for ultimately a lower black floor and in theory, better native contrast

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