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Forget OLED TVs — this new laser projector beams a 200-inch image and it’s crazy bright
Looking for a new home theater projector? You might want to hold off for another week or two — Hisense is right on the cusp of dropping the ultimate beamer.
Announced first at CES 2025, the Hisense L9Q is a projector lover’s dream. According to Hisense, it can cover 110% of the BT.2020 color gamut and put out “an industry leading” 5,000 ANSI lumens of brightness.
It’s probably the most hotly awaited projector coming in 2025 — and, officially, Hisense says it will start shipping later this month.
This is the projector… sorry, laser TV… to buy in 2025
While we’ve yet to get it into our labs for testing, we had a chance to check the L9Q out at a Hisense preview event back in April and were impressed with what we saw.
Hisense’s proprietary LPU technology and triple-laser light engine are the brains and brawn behind the L9Q.
Hisense’s proprietary LPU technology and triple-laser light engine are the brains and brawn behind the L9Q. With their help, Hisense’s top projector put on an impressive show with thousands more lumens with greater color accuracy than the competition.
During setup, the L9Q’s Auto Screen Alignment and Manual Keystone Correction features allows you to put the projector anywhere within two feet of the wall and automatically dial in the right settings.
The total projection size can reach 200 inches, but you’ll need to put the projector about 25 inches back from the wall. If you don’t have that much space, you can still get a very reasonable 100-inch picture from just 12 inches away from the wall.
In terms of classification, the L9Q is an ultra-short throw (UST) projector, but Hisense has taken umbrage with us calling it a projector in the past — they prefer the term “laser TV” because it comes with a built-in ATSC TV tuner. That, I admit, is pretty handy to have, especially if you plan on using this as a living room TV replacement.
If over-the-air broadcasts aren’t your bag, then you’ll like its built-in Google TV smart platform for instant access to the best streaming services. You can also screen share using Chromecast and/or Airplay2 or connect a game console to either of the two HDMI 2.1 (ALLM) ports or either of the two HDMI 2.0 ports.
From an audio perspective, the L9Q has a 6.2.2 surround sound system (a first for laser TVs) and supports Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual X. This system didn’t necessarily blow us away when we heard it, but maybe that was because it was in a large ballroom and not a smaller-sized home theater where there’s more room for reflections.
Still, most folks will probably saddle the L9Q up with a multi-channel audio system of their own, so it’s not something that I’m overly critical of.
And it’s coming sooner than you think
While writing this story, I reached out to a Hisense representative to see if I could get an exact launch date for the L9Q. It’s been on pre-order since we saw it in April, with many retailers like B&H listing it as “coming soon”.
The L9Q will start shipping later this month for $5,999.
Hisense
While we didn’t get an exact date, we can be the first to report that the L9Q will start shipping later this month for $5,999. That’s $500 more than the L9H launched at last year, but it’s still around what you’d expect for a ground-breaking UST like the L9Q.
If $6,000 isn’t in the budget, last year’s L9H is now $4,499 at Best Buy . I’d still recommend the newer model as it boosts brightness from 3,000 to 5,000 lumens, but if you’ve got a light-controlled space for it, the older model should still look great.
Looks like I better start preparing my basement — and my wallet — for the Hisense L9Q.
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