Price

Selling for £1599, the Hisense C2 Ultra sits at the higher end of the lifestyle projection market, and is something of a considered purchase. The same model sells for USD $1,999 Stateside, and AUD $2,999 in Australia.

Key rivals in the lifestyle space would include the £1,519 Xgimi Horizon Pro, and the bargain priced Xgody Gimbal N6 Pro, just £109.

Design

• Integrated gimbal stand
• Two HDMI ports
• Backlit remote control

The C2 Ultra is larger than many next generation portable laser beamers, but still relatively compact. With a footprint of 247 x 247 x 286 mm, it combines projection unit and gimbal stand into one singular form.

The ensemble can rotate 360 degrees horizontally and tilt vertically by 135 degrees, which means you can point it at a wall, a pull-down screen or even the ceiling, and start watching.

The finish is a smart gunmetal grey. It looks premium, and feels suitably substantial. An IMAX Enhanced badge sits alongside a ‘Sound by JBL’ endorsement.

Cooling air exits from the rear, with sound left and right. The unit is surprisingly civilised in operation. There’s a low hum, which the onboard speaker system comfortably masks during normal viewing.

Connectivity comprises two HDMI 2.1 inputs, one with eARC support. The spare is handy if you want to hook up a games console or media streamer. There’s also twin USB ports, an optical digital audio out, Ethernet LAN and a 3.5mm audio output.

The supplied remote mirrors the projector’s metallic styling and includes direct access keys for Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and YouTube. More importantly, it’s backlit, which is helpful when the lights go down.

Features

• VIDAA smart TV platform
• Bluetooth support
• HSR240 motion enhancement

Like Hisense TVs, the C2 Ultra runs the VIDAA smart platform. The key difference in execution is the lack of any live, linear TV feed. The interface is content-led and straightforward to navigate. On the homepage there’s a familiar rail of installed apps including Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV+, YouTube, NOW and Paramount+.

Scroll further down and you find curated recommendations, alongside transactional movie options from Rakuten TV, plus a collection of FAST (Free Advertising Supported TV) streaming channels.

The absence of Freely is disappointing, though, particularly as Hisense was an early advocate, debuting the TV-over-internet platform on most of its 2026 televisions.

Ease of use is high, helped by a raft of intelligent functionality. Auto Magic AI Adjustment handles autofocus and keystone correction quickly and accurately. There’s also a manual four-point correction if you prefer to tweak geometry yourself.

Obstacle avoidance, screen alignment and auto eye protection are all included. Wall colour adaptation is particularly useful for casual viewing, automatically compensating for non-white surfaces, to better maintain colour fidelity.

Gaming support is comprehensive. The projector is ‘Designed for Xbox’ with HSR240 mode, which uses motion‑adaptive frame blending and interpolation to simulate smoother motion from high-frame rate sources, plus auto low latency (ALLM) and a quoted 12ms input lag in DLP Turbo mode. Competitive gamers will still prefer a monitor, but for shoot ‘em ups on a truly grand scale, the Hisense is enormous fun.

Wireless support includes AirPlay, Apple HomeKit and Bluetooth 5.3. The projector also integrates with Control4 smart home systems, allowing it to slot neatly into larger automated AV systems.

Picture Quality

• 3000 ANSI lumens brightness
• Dolby Vision
• HDR10+ Dynamic

Rather than relying on a single block, the C2 Ultra uses separate red, green and blue lasers – and the approach pays dividends. Rated at 3000 ANSI lumens, this projector is genuinely bright. I used it comfortably in a brightly lit living room without feeling that the image was being washed away by indirect sunlight.

While no projector can deliver decent black levels in daylight, the C2 Ultra can still punch in less than ideal home cinema conditions. Dolby Vision goes some way to helping HDR material retain depth and intensity, without becoming garish.

Colour performance is exceptional. The projector boasts 120 per cent of the BT.2020 colour gamut, and serves up as evidence, a wide and richly saturated palette.

Animated material is a particular beneficiary.

Watching Arcane on Netflix in Dolby Vision is a mesmerising experience. The projector splashes vibrant blues, metallic textures and subtle gradations of shadow with impressive finesse. Fine detail remains intact even during darker sequences. Just gorgeous.

At the heart of the C2 Pro is a DLP imaging system, which uses a pixel shifting to achieve UHD resolution. It may not be native 4K, in the SXRD sense, but resolution looks subjectively excellent. Pictures are pixel-dense and cinematic, whether you are watching 4K content or HD broadcasts being up/side-scaled.

A 1080p stream of WWE Raw looks exceptionally clean and detailed, free from obvious artefacts or artificial sharpening.

Native 4K material allows the projector to truly flex. Finnish WWII action movie Sisu is really immersive, with excellent texture and dimensionality – crisp without visible ringing or noise, while skin tones remain natural.

You’ll need a big room to make the most of the C2 Ultras talents though. A 100-inch image requires a throw distance of around 2.6 metres, and the projector can theoretically scale all the way to 300 inches. The 1.67x powered zoom helps during setup.

Picture presets offer variation without becoming gimmicky. The HDR10+ Dynamic mode adds a welcome boost to colour intensity and highlights, without pushing skin tones too far into artifice. It’s probably the most immediately crowd-pleasing setting for modern blockbuster content.

Black level performance also warrants plaudits. This Hisense delivers convincing contrast and dynamic pop. A native contrast ratio of 2000:1 helps anchor bright HDR highlights against satisfyingly dark shadows.

Sound Quality

• JBL-designed stereo sound system
• DTS Virtual:X

Audio is typically an afterthought when it comes to projection, so it’s always nice to report when models buck the trend. Here, Hisense has implemented a stereo system designed by JBL (who tend to know a thing or two about sound).

It combines twin 10W drivers with an integrated 20W woofer capable of reaching down to around 50Hz. DTS Virtual:X processing adds an extra dollop of scale and spaciousness.

The result is surprisingly robust. Dialogue is clear and well projected, while mid-bass has presence and treble crisp. Because speakers fire from the front and sides, the soundstage sounds wider than you might reasonably expect.

Watching action flicks, the presentation is energetic and full-bodied, and soundtracks have scale. The C2 Ultra can comfortably fill a medium-sized room without requiring help from additional external speakers.

There’s even tuning options. Sound presets cover Theatre, Music, Speech, Sports and Late Night listening. Bass Boost and DTS Dialogue Clarity modes are useful additions, while a seven-band graphic equaliser allows even deeper tweaking.

Of course, serious cinephiles will still want a dedicated surround system, but the onboard sound here is certainly good enough reason to postpone that upgrade.

Should you buy it?