Hisense PL1 Ultra Short Throw Projector Review

The Hisense PL1 is a single-laser ultra-short throw projector with a DLP light engine, 2200 lumens, wide gamut color, and support for all HDR standards, HDR10, and Dolby Vision. It also has built-in Dolby Atmos audio with room correction and easy setup. It’s a great way to put a 120-inch TV in your room for around $2,500.

Ultra-short throw projectors are no longer in the realm of the exotic. A decade ago, you’d have needed $50,000 to put one in your home. Now, they are a mass-market item and though they aren’t the least expensive projectors out there, they are much more affordable than they used to be.

At a CEDIA Expo one year, I encountered one of the first affordable UST models at the Hisense booth. It was billed as a TV replacement and was comprised of a bundle with a projector, a screen, and audio from Harmon Kardon. I tried in vain to get a review sample but today, almost nine years later, I am vindicated.

I have here the Hisense PL1, a 4K single-laser ultra-short throw projector that puts an 80 to 120-inch image on your wall or screen. It has built-in audio with 30 watts of power, Dolby Atmos, sound modes, and room correction. It supports the latest HDR formats including HDR10, Dolby Vision, and HLG. And it sells in a price/performance sweet spot for $2,500. Let’s take a look.

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Ultra-short throw (UST) laser projectors come in two types, single and triple laser. Three lasers cost more (shocker) and deliver greater light output and a wider color gamut. Single laser models are a great way to save some money and sacrifice little if your room isn’t too brightly lit.

The Hisense PL1 has a single-laser light engine with a 0.47” DLP chip. Claimed output is 2,200 lumens which is plenty if you have a light-controlled room or a little ambient light and an Ambient Light Rejecting (ALR) screen. To maintain consistency for testing, I used it in my completely dark theater with a Stewart Filmscreen Studiotek 130. At maximum power, it filled my 92-inch screen and peaked at around 133 nits.

The PL1 supports HDR10, Dolby Vision, and HLG. It also has a wide gamut color that covers around 85% of DCI-P3. That isn’t quite the volume of a three-layer model, and Hisense offers several at higher prices, but it is enough to give HDR an impact. I also observed excellent contrast with the PL1’s effective dynamic tone mapping and active contrast options.

The picture is plenty sharp and on par, with other pixel-shifted DLPs, I’ve experienced. The base resolution is 1920 x 1080, and through an optical process, shifts twice per frame to achieve 3840 x 2160 addressable pixels. The shift is always active and cannot be turned off. I noticed no negatives to its operation. The lens is of decent quality and creates a picture that is sharp from edge to edge.

Like all UST projectors, the PL1 is a medium-sized box a bit wider than an AV receiver. It’s placed beneath the screen and the image is sized and squared by adjusting the projector’s position. Two leveling feet are provided for this. You also get a motorized focus adjustment. While you’d think this is a standard feature on all USTs, it is not. Many other models have fixed focus and less flexibility. The PL1, of all the USTs I’ve reviewed and tested, was the easiest to set up.

On top, you can see the lens and mirror along with two proximity sensors. They are there to prevent users from being blinded when they get too close to the light source. I found them a little overly sensitive during testing, so I turned them off from the menu.

In the back are two HDMI 2.1 inputs, one of which has eARC. You can pipe the audio out an optical port with multi-channel support or two-channel from a 3.5mm analog jack. The PL1 connects to your local network with either RJ-45 or Wi-Fi.

Hisense has incorporated full smart TV function into the PL1 with an interface that supports Google and Alexa. It comes with apps for major providers including Netflix. The remote covers this along with Amazon, Disney+, and YouTube via direct access buttons. It is backlit but only after you press a key. The buttons are differently shaped and easy to operate in the dark once you adapt. The remote pairs with the PL1 via Bluetooth so line of sight isn’t needed. You can also play music through the internal speakers via Bluetooth or Apple AirPlay.

To install the PL1, I placed a table below my screen and put it eight inches back. After a few tweaks of the leveling feet, I had a perfectly squared and sized image. Focus was easy to adjust using the remote. At first powerup, the PL1 walked me through the setup process which included connection to Wi-Fi. It offered to perform automatic geometric correction which I declined. Any warping of the image will reduce resolution and should only be done when physical means have been exhausted. The picture was sharp from edge to edge and evenly bright.

The PL1 defaults to its smart TV interface which has a selection of apps including Netflix which isn’t always a given in other displays. I pressed the input button on the remote to view test patterns through the HDMI input.

The menu is extensive and as I discovered, is a calibrator’s dream. It has a full color management system, 2- and 20-point white balance, gamma presets, and a gamma curve editor with 20 points of resolution. There are eight picture modes, all of which can be independently calibrated. You can also calibrate separately for HDR content and there are four more Dolby Vision modes. The laser has 10 output levels. The PL1 isn’t super bright so I maxed it for my tests and viewing. The claimed service life is 25,000 hours.

I explored the audio options and was impressed. Not only are there multiple sound modes, each with its own unique character, but there’s also automatic room correction. It takes only a few seconds to run it using the built-in microphone and it cleans up a bit of bass bloat while providing a decent sound stage and clear detail. My only complaint was that I could only turn it up to around 35 out of 100 before distortion became audible.

To calibrate for SDR, I started in the Theater Day mode which is close enough to spec to work without adjustment. I couldn’t resist trying out the CMS and gamma editor and they worked with precision. Ultimately though, I only needed to tweak the 2-point white balance with a few changes to the CMS to achieve an excellent image. I used the Active Contrast option set to medium.

For HDR10 content, I used the HDR Theater mode with no changes to color controls. Dynamic Tone Mapping was turned on for HDR10 and Active Contrast was again set to medium. Frame interpolation is turned on by default, I turned that off to remove the obvious soap opera effect. With adjustments complete, I turned to some TV and movie watching.

The PL1, and all Hisense UST projectors, are dubbed Laser TV and the term is appropriate. Their functionality is extremely intuitive and convenient. The PL1 starts up quickly and the image appears in less than a minute. When I powered up the connected Panasonic DP-UB9000 disc player, the projector came on automatically. HDMI CEC worked without any intervention from me.

I started with an HDR10 version of Blade Runner 2049. It’s loaded with difficult scenes that test any display’s black levels and ability to render detail in monochrome. The PL1 made this movie very enjoyable. Only a few bits early in the film looked a little gray; mainly the opening chapter in the darkened kitchen. I could see all the details, but it never got black. Brighter scenes though had a strong sense of dimensionality and texture. The resolution was superb with clean-looking closeups of facial hair, control panels, and dirty surfaces. The image was even tactile at times. The color was also satisfying. Flesh tones were natural, and it was easy to differentiate skin colors between actors of varying ethnicities. The orange monochrome of Deckard’s hideout hid nothing from me. Every nut, bolt, and speck of dirt was visible.

I spent some time trying out the different sound modes. The automatic setting from the room correction provided the best sound stage but I couldn’t turn the volume up too high before distortion set in. The dialog was clear and well-rendered as long as I kept the slider below 30. The loud effects were a bit harsh, but the bass had a good presence and feel.

Next up was Top Gun: Maverick in a Dolby Vision transfer. Contrast was better managed here thanks to the embedded tone mapping data. The PL1’s dynamic option for HDR10 is an improvement over unenhanced HDR10 but Dolby Vision is at another level. It is by far the best way to watch content on the PL1. Black levels were more satisfying with plenty of shadow detail and much less of the gray look I saw in Blade Runner. The warm tones of the Top Gun desert range were rich and vibrant. I’ve seen this film look warmer but the PL1 had enough extra red to make an impact. Again, the image was razor-sharp.

Babylon 5 has just been released on Blu-ray and it is something of a torture test for noise reduction and video processing. Watching a few episodes exposed the PL1’s weakness in this area. Its noise reduction options work moderately well but I could not completely remove the grainy look from this transfer. Granted, it has a lot of natural film grain. But the PL1 made it look a bit crawly. It is at its best when showing more modern digitally produced content, or film transfers that have been cleaned up in post-production.

I spent some time with the PL1’s integrated apps and found some good things. After signing into Netflix, I was able to freely switch between Dolby Vision and 4K SDR with almost no delay. This is one of the quickest switching displays I’ve yet reviewed, taking only a second or two to lock on. I had a few hiccups with the app though as it didn’t always refresh when returning to the menu screens. The network diagnostics in the PL1’s menu showed a strong Wi-Fi signal so that was not the culprit. I suspect that the built-in apps need an update.

I plugged in an Apple TV 4K and saw much better performance. I watched episodes of Formula One Drive to Survive along with a few shows on Discovery+ and had an excellent experience. On a display this good, it’s hard to tell the difference between disc-based and streamed content. As a TV replacement, the PL1 is aces.

My takeaway from the viewing tests is that the PL1 shines as a display but is a little weak in its peripheral features. Though its integrated streaming is thoughtful, I had better reliability from the Apple TV. The audio quality is good enough for a small room but if you want sound that befits the PL1’s excellent picture, a premium sound bar or stereo speaker setup with a subwoofer would create a better viewing experience.

To test the PL1, I set up my usual suite of benchmarks using the latest version of Calman from Portrait Displays. To measure color, I used an X-Rite i1 Pro Spectrophotometer and for luminance, an X-Rite i1 Display Pro tri-stimulus colorimeter. Signals were generated by an Accupel DVG-5000. HDR signals were generated by the same unit with an HD Fury Integral in the signal path.

SDR Tests

The PL1 has three movie-ready picture modes, Theater Day & Night, and Filmmaker. I started my tests with Theater Day. The laser output was set to 10, the maximum level and all dynamic contrast options were turned off.

This is a pretty good default chart. There are minor blue errors from 50 to 100% brightness, but these will be hard to spot in actual content. What makes me very happy is the gamma tracking. Aside from a tiny dip (too light) at 90%, it is right on the 2.2 reference. The PL1 hits its marks well.

The pre-calibration gamut chart is also reasonably close to the mark. The blue grayscale pulls magenta and cyan slightly off their hue targets and 20% red is a tad under-saturated. But these are extremely minor errors that will be hard to spot in any content. Based on the initial results, the PL1 is suitable for use without calibration in its Theater Day mode.

I spent quite a bit of time trying out the gamma editor and the 20-point white balance control before simply tweaking the two-point RGB sliders and calling it a day. The PL1 is a calibrator’s dream with well-engineered and precise controls. Visually, there is little difference after adjustment but it’s always worth doing if you can make an improvement.

In addition to the grayscale tweaks, I also made a few changes in the CMS. I tried to balance the color luminance levels but found that the brightness and saturation sliders interacted too much. I made a few adjustments to secondary hues for a positive result. Yes, the before and after charts are very close but there is a slight visual improvement.

HDR Tests

The PL1 offers the same set of picture modes for HDR10 signals with individual calibration memories, very nice. Again, I used the Theater mode, HDR Theater to be exact, and found it had nearly perfect grayscale tracking. The EOTF changes depending on the Active Contrast and Dynamic Tone Mapping settings. To get the best HDR luminance tracking, set Active Contrast to medium and turn DTM on. The tone-map transition is still a bit more gradual than the reference, but this configuration renders the best shadow detail and the brightest highlights.

The one thing a single-laser projector sacrifices is color gamut volume. The PL1 manages to go a little beyond Rec.709 in HDR mode but not as much as its three-laser stablemates, all of which cost more. HDR color accuracy is solid in every case except yellow which goes a tad orange at the highest saturation point. I saw this only rarely in content, so it is forgivable. The Rec.2020 chart shows similar behavior. Bottom line: the PL1 has enough wide gamut color for HDR but is not as colorful as most three-laser displays.

Brightness & Contrast

I measured the PL1’s output from 10 feet back using a 92-inch Stewart Filmscreen Luminesse with Studiotek 130 coating, gain 1.3. In all cases, the laser output was set to its maximum of 10. Here are the SDR results:

Theater Day calibrated

• White – 127.7083 nits
• Black – unmeasurable
• Contrast – unmeasurable

Vivid

• White – 232.1705
• Black – unmeasurable
• Contrast – unmeasurable

I searched through the menus to try and find the option that turns off the laser when a zero-level black field is displayed but came up empty. The PL1 has an unmeasurable black level because of this. I tried displaying an info bug but that sent the black level very high for an unfair result. In practice, contrast is quite satisfying and made even better when the Active Contrast option is set to medium.

The HDR results are nearly the same:

HDR Theater

• White – 133.3125
• Black – unmeasurable
• Contrast – unmeasurable

HDR Vivid

• White – 231.5426
• Black – unmeasurable
• Contrast – unmeasurable

Obviously, the same thing is happening in HDR mode. The laser always shuts off when a 0% black field is displayed making black level measurements impossible. For HDR10 content, I found the best contrast and detail rendering with Active Contrast set to medium and Dynamic Tone Mapping turned on.

SDR Settings

• Mode Theater Day
• Contrast 48
• Brightness 48
• Color 47
• Tint 0
• Sharpness 5
• Color Temp Warm 1
• Color Tuner – Hue Saturation Brightness
• R 0 0 0
• G 0 1 0
• B 0 1 3
• Y 1 0 -1
• C 0 9 1
• M 0 2 2
• Offset RGB
• -2 -1 1
• Gain RGB
• 3 3 -3
• Gamma 2.2

HDR & Dolby Vision Settings

• Mode HDR Theater / Dolby Vision Bright
• Active Contrast Medium
• Dynamic Tone Mapping On (HDR10 only)

For all content, I recommend leaving motion interpolation off, it’s turned on by default. Active Contrast works well for SDR and HDR on medium and Dynamic Tone Mapping should be turned on for HDR10. Dolby Vision content embeds tone mapping information in the content which the PL1 renders correctly.

The Hisense PL1 Ultra Short Throw Projector is a great value in TV replacements with a jumbo image, easy setup, and a great picture.

At $2,500, it’s hard to fault the Hisense PL1 Ultra Short Throw Projector. It makes a couple of sacrifices in light output and color gamut volume to be more affordable, but you know that going in. The picture is razor sharp and bright enough for light-controlled or dimly lit rooms. The setup is super easy; I was able to get the picture squared and focused in just a few minutes. It was the quickest installation for me of a UST projector yet. I was impressed by its quick powerup and rapid signal changes too. And it seamlessly integrated with my Panasonic disc player through HDMI CEC. The built-in streaming apps are nice to have but could use some usability updates. And the internal speakers, while delivering a wide soundstage and balanced frequency range, are a bit volume-limited. Some better internal amps would be the likely fix.

Taken purely as a projector, the PL1 is a good value and an excellent display. It can easily replace your TV with a 120-inch jumbo image and provide hours of enjoyment. Highly Recommended.