My review of the XGIMI H1

Found this "No Duty delivery in India" on H1 product on Aliexpress.

If people are interested - posting it here:

XGIMI H1 - Aliexpress -- Good deal with 3D glasses & wallmounts at about 64K INR.

i need to save more for this. lol.

I suspect this to be a scam.. There is no where you can escape 40% duty when you import to india..

However, if you are interested the India dealer has some deals (for lil more than you mentioned) to save money ;)..
 
XGIMI H1

It has been a long time since I posted here, and I thought I should post this review of the now not so new but very popular XGIMI H1. Given the high prices of even entry-level offerings from big name projector manufacturers like BenQ, Epson and Optoma in India, the number of people who can actually experience the big screen in India continues to be quite limited.
This is where the XGIMI H1 really caught my eye. It sells for Rs. 64,000 online, add customs and 3D glasses and wall mount to it and the total package ended up to 70k, or pretty much the price of an entry level 4K TV these days. A full-fledged 4K system is still a dream to most, as buying the 4K screen is the easiest part, the cost of acquiring material and so on is still not reasonable.

What is the XGIMI H1

The XGIMI differs from other DLP 1080p projectors is that it uses the new .47" DMD from TI, which is specifically designed for LED lit pico projectors. So there you have it this is a native 1080p projector, which runs a surprisingly stable android-based OS, and has LED backlight which means it never needs a bulb change (Realistically the LEDs will fail over time but it should be no different than the replacement cycle of most TV's these days).

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Mounted to the rear wall

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Remote Control


Notable features

  • Built in Harmon Kardon speakers with passive radiators on the bottom or I guess it would be the top if you ceiling mount it.
  • DLNA, Airplay and screen mirroring
  • A build in app store called APTOiDE rather than google play (apparently this is due to some licensing issue)
  • Youtube, Netflix, amazon prime and a few other streaming services can be found in the store along with a plethora of android apps
  • A Bluetooth remote with multi-axis gyros
  • 4K input compatibility (this is still a 1080p projector however)
  • Optical zoom (1.1x)
  • Motorized focus
  • DLP link 3D
  • Dynamic backlight adjustment
  • The projector can be controlled through an app on your phone as long as they're on the same Wi-Fi network

Setting it up

The remote being Bluetooth you cannot just point and expect it to work, you need to pair it first which is a bit annoying. This is a bit annoying as the screen is out of focus during setup however; there are audio instructions from the projector on what to do. Since the focus is motorized, it can be done from the remote, which is very convenient. The colours out of the box are terrible as is expected from most displays, they are over saturated and contrasty killing all shadow details. As I said this was not surprising at all, what was surprising is the controls to calibrate the colours. This is my first LED projector so I was completely confused, to add to the confusion there are two sets of menus with different labels, what is shown as brightness in one menu is Luminance in the other. There is no Gamma control. And most annoying off all some setting will show up differently in two different menus, for example I set up a custiom colour temperature profile, while it shows "user" in one menu the other displays "cold". Further the projector has separate RGB LEDs so you can adjust the intensity of the each colour separately under menu called LED luminance.. So yes there is a bit of a learning curve to get the colours just right. It doesnt have a dynamic iris to change brightness between scenes (I am not a big fan of these), however it has dynamic backlight colour. This is like the ambient light senor on a smart phone it reduces the brightness of the LED when the room get dark, this feature I really like as matching the brightness of the LED with the ambient light ensures the black floor is kept as low as possible.

Performance

All evaluation was done on a screen painted with black widow ultra screen paint. With the screen size under 80 inch this projector screen combination is bright enough to fight ambient light with ease. However I prefer running it a big larger 98 inches to be precise and at this size it does need some help, particularly if u have large windows like my house has. So despite its 900 ANSI lumen rating it is as bright as a 2000 lumen conventional projector. The science behind this eludes me.
To start I started playing a few videos on the built in youtube app. I immediately notices micro shudder, the image isnt as smooth as you expect it to be. However this was not noticeable by any of my friends but it's definitely there. This wasnt a good sign at all. So I immediately switched over to a HDMI source setting the screen to 16:9 input and played a simple overscan test image, ahhh the horror it was overscanning the image as the extreme edges were cut off. After diving through the various options I chose point to point as the ratio (this is pixel to pixel mapping). Now with a 1080p or 1080i image source there was no overscan, however if you feed it anything other than a 1080p or 1080i source you can not use this point to point to point mode and will have to use the 16:9 scaler which overscans. This is a big flaw in the onboard scaler, I havent seen any digital projector in recent times which is this bad at scaling. So unless you have external scaler like any HDMI compatible AVR this is no good, perhaps this can be fixed with a firmware update.

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HDMI overscan

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Dual picture setting menus


Next I played youtube videos through my Play Station to see if it still studders, happily this micro studder problem doesnt exist through HDMI. Playing through a few blue rays and watching satellite TV it was obvious that TI has done an amazing job on miniaturizing their 1080p DMD the image quality is as good as the bigger DMD's used in conventional projectors.
Sadly I do not own any 3D blueray movies so I couldnt test the 3D, I did try you tube SBS 3D videos they looked good. The only annoyance is that 3D doesnt automatically turn on when a SBS video is played it must be turned on manually. And if you leave the back LED backlight in dynamic it doesnt not automatically increase the screen brightness to compensate for the light lost by wearing 3D glasses.

Going back to the projectors smart features screen mirroring worked well from my iPhone, the touch pad interface on the phone app makes browsing and inputting test a breeze, the Bluetooth remote it comes with becomes a motion activated remote you have to shake it vigorously to get it in and out of this mode.

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Picture with the lights on

Conclusion

If you have been waiting for the big screen experience in your living room and things such as lamp replacement and ambient light have been stopping you, this projector has a lot of promise. It is sad that it does need further refinements in its firmware, but all is not lost if you have to time to tweak it then it does project some great images.
is it better to buy this over optoma 142x , benq tw5300 .
 
I came across this link on aliexpress https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...-and-TAX-more-detail/2841046_32844945902.html

Doesn't look like a scam as it is from the Xgimi Official Store, and the theory of collecting multiple orders and shipping them together to avoid custom duty seems reasonable.
If you collate multiple orders and ship them together, it wont save customs duty or shipping as customs duty is on landed price of the goods and shipping is on volumetric weight. If nothing else, it should ideally increase costs as it will then need an import license from the receiver end.
 
Expecting a 4K native resolution capable projector from Xgimi, with same brightness as H1.. for a little more price.. Think would make it a fantastic option..
 
Here are some pics after re-working on the screen..

These images were clicked around noon time.. The living room isn't completely dark, but not much direct light hitting the screen..

I used win 7 wall paper to capture images, as i couldn't tweak the camera better..

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@elangoas which video player it is?.Trust it is running with HTPC.is it Kodi? Share your htpc hardware config aswell I am looking for upgrading gpu to 1050 from 610
 
You mean buying the xgimi H1? Well it's a question of what you want. The two projectors you have mentioned cost less to buy. But the LED lamp makes the xgimi better if you intend to use the projector like a television.
quality wise do u think it is better then ep tw5300 or optomo gt1080 darbee
 
quality wise do u think it is better then ep tw5300 or optomo gt1080 darbee
I haven't seen the optima GT1080 so I can't say, but the optima is a short throw projector, so if you need a short throw then there is no point comparing it to the xgimi. The Epson has slightly lower native contrast but I doubt you will be able to tell the difference unless you have a dedicated movie room. To me all entry level projector are more or less the same and when it comes to DLP's manufacturers just incorporate the ti reference design. In lamp based or single laser based designs they'll play around with the colour wheel in led designs there's nothing to play with maybe a custom HDMI input board at the max. The manufacturer who can produce the reference design at the lowest cost wins. So I would urge you to buy the cheapest entry level projector that meets your minimum specs, and look out for unreliable models which should be obvious from user reviews.

In the past there was a big difference between competing technologies, where only Panasonic was able to pull off great affordable lcd projectors. Today there is no big difference that why you will find people swearing by pretty much any brand (the brand that they own). So I wouldn't sweat it too much. Looks at lamp replacement costs and overall reliability and check if your sensitive to the colour wheels.
 
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Hi,
I want buy Xgimi PJ but i didnt decide which one i choose.
H1 $800 - H1S $1000
H1S is some expensive.
h1s 1100 ANSI - Auto Focus - 1.2.1 protection ratio - Glass lens
Is there worth the price difference?
Thank You
 
Hi Xgimi fans, happy to join with you guys and sharing my experience...

;)juz today got my H1 1100 Ansi lumens(manual focus model)....Awesome experience..Sharing few pics .Screen not yet bought.so projected in normal wall(beige color).Pics taken during 4.30 pm.and 6.00pm with some sun light.
 

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Hi,
I want buy Xgimi PJ but i didnt decide which one i choose.
H1 $800 - H1S $1000
H1S is some expensive.
h1s 1100 ANSI - Auto Focus - 1.2.1 protection ratio - Glass lens
Is there worth the price difference?
Thank You
I would suggest to go with manual focus instead of Auto.
 
Hi,
I want buy Xgimi PJ but i didnt decide which one i choose.
H1 $800 - H1S $1000
H1S is some expensive.
h1s 1100 ANSI - Auto Focus - 1.2.1 protection ratio - Glass lens
Is there worth the price difference?
Thank You

If you have short distance (say <= 10feet) between the screen and the projector, then H1s is a good option.. Also the throw ratio being less than H1, you should be able to get bigger picture.. No idea on the benefit of glass lens..

H1s seem to have edge over H1 in comparison video between H1 & H1s..

Hi Xgimi fans, happy to join with you guys and sharing my experience...

;)juz today got my H1 1100 Ansi lumens(manual focus model)....Awesome experience..Sharing few pics .Screen not yet bought.so projected in normal wall(beige color).Pics taken during 4.30 pm.and 6.00pm with some sun light.

Congrats.. It is an excellent projector.. What screen are you planning for ?
 
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Bro base
If you have short distance (say <= 10feet) between the screen and the projector, then H1s is a good option.. Also the throw ratio being less than H1, you should be able to get bigger picture.. No idea on the glass lens..

H1s seem to have edge over H1 in comparison video between H1 & H1s..



Congrats.. It is an excellent projector.. What screen are you planning for ?
Hi Elango i am not ready to go with DIY ...and ordered Elite 120"16:9 which fits my living room hopefully....Auto locking model cost 9.5k..I compared with other screen like insight, Elcor and other brandswhich is little costlier than Elite....
 
For excellent sound that won't break the bank, the 5 Star Award Winning Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 Bookshelf Speakers is the one to consider!
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