The NexiGo Aurora Pro is an ultra-short throw (UST) 4k HDR laser projector and is NexiGo's only UST model. It has Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support for an immersive HDR viewing experience. Due to its UST capabilities, it can project content at an extremely short distance from the screen or wall: it projects an 80" image at a distance of 3.9" and up to a 150" image at a distance of 17.3". It has three HDMI 2.1 ports and can passthrough advanced audio formats through its eARC port. It's also capable of gaming at 4k @ 120Hz and 1080p @ 240Hz. It has Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi 6 support and comes with the Android TV smart interface with full Miracast and AirPlay integration. Finally, it comes with an integrated 60W sound system.
Our Verdict
The NexiGo Aurora Pro is very good for watching movies. It's bright enough for rooms with a few lights, has incredible brightness uniformity, and has excellent contrast, so it excels in dark rooms. It has an extremely wide color gamut, but sadly, the projector isn't quite bright enough to make them pop. However, the projector's pre-calibration accuracy is poor; you'll need to calibrate it if you care about color accuracy.
-
Good peak brightness, with incredible uniformity.
-
Excellent contrast for an amazing dark room experience.
-
Extremely wide color gamut.
-
Ultra short throw capabilities, so you can place it very close to the wall or screen.
-
Has poor pre-calibration color accuracy.
-
Can't project bright, vibrant colors.
-
Android TV smart OS is barebones.
- 7.9 Movies
- Updated Aug 21, 2024: We initially experienced severe calibration and frame-skipping issues with this projector. After factory resetting it twice, the colors improved, and the frame-skipping problems were resolved at 1080p @ 240Hz. We've updated the review with the new results and new comparisons.
- Updated Aug 14, 2024: Review published.
- Updated Aug 12, 2024: Early access published.
- Updated Aug 08, 2024: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Jul 25, 2024: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
- Updated Jul 17, 2024: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We bought and tested the NexiGo Aurora Pro. This projector has no variants and is the only model in NexiGo's UST Laser Projector line.
You can see the label here.
Compared To Other Projectors
The NexiGo Aurora Pro is a very good UST projector; it performs well due to its good brightness, extremely wide color gamut, and excellent contrast. It's also capable of gaming at 1080p @ 240Hz without skipping frames, making it a good gaming option. Unfortunately, the projector's color accuracy is poor pre-calibration, and it comes with a barebones Android TV implementation with no streaming apps. It's also rather buggy; our initial firmware update broke the unit's colors and gaming performance, and we had to reset it twice before it started working as it should. Still, when it works well, it's one of the best-performing projectors at its price point and is especially enticing for users wanting the best home theater experience or gamers wanting a great projector for dark rooms. We recommend getting a streaming dongle if you care about streaming apps. For those who want a unit with a functioning smart OS, the Formovie THEATER is an alternative, but the NexiGo is better overall due to its brightness and gaming features.
Check out our recommendations for the best 4k projectors, the best projectors for home theater, and the best short-throw projectors. If you'd prefer to shop for a cheaper product, look up the best projectors under $1,000 instead.
The NexiGo Aurora Pro is better than the Formovie THEATER. They're similar projectors with equally excellent contrast, but the NexiGo is notably brighter. The Formovie has a wide color gamut, but the NexiGo's is incredible; this leads to a more colorful image on the NexiGo, even if neither projector is bright enough to project vibrant colors. Regarding color accuracy, the Formovie has a slight edge both pre- and post-calibration, although they're both underwhelming out-of-the-box. However, if you care about smart features, the Formovie is the better choice, as it comes with a fully featured smart OS, while the NexiGo has a barebones Android TV implementation with no apps.
The NexiGo Aurora Pro and Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS800 have different use cases. The Epson is far brighter than the NexiGo; this makes the Epson more versatile when it comes to lighting conditions, as it can handle even moderately-lit rooms. The NexiGo, in turn, has noticeably deeper contrast, making for a more pleasant viewing experience in dark rooms. Out of the box, the Epson is far more accurate than the NexiGo, although you can calibrate them to a similar level. However, if you care about smart features, the Epson has the edge, as it has a fully-featured smart OS, while the NexiGo has a barebones Android TV implementation with no apps.
The NexiGo Aurora Pro is better than the Hisense PX1-PRO. The NexiGo is brighter and has far better contrast and a wider color gamut, leading to a noticeably more vibrant image when compared to the Hisense. However, if you care about color accuracy, then the Hisense has the edge, as it's decently accurate out-of-the-box, and you can calibrate it to fantastic levels; the NexiGo, in turn, is rather poor out of the box and is harder to calibrate than the Hisense. If you care about smart features, the Hisense has the edge as it comes with a fully functioning Android TV implementation. The NexiGo projector is barebones, without any apps; we recommend a streaming dongle.
The NexiGo Aurora Pro is noticeably better than the Samsung The Premiere LSP7T, although the Samsung is slightly more accurate out of the box and comes with a fully functioning smart OS. The NexiGo requires a streaming dongle for apps, as it otherwise comes with a barebones Android TV implementation with no apps. Otherwise, the NexiGo is brighter, has better contrast, has a wider color gamut, and is even capable of gaming at 1080p @ 240Hz.
The NexiGo Aurora Pro is better than the XGIMI AURA in all ways but one: smart features. While the XGIMI comes with a fully functioning Android TV 10 smart OS, the NexiGo has a barebones implementation of Android TV, with no apps, and requires a streaming dongle to stream content. Otherwise, the NexiGo has the edge in every category: it's brighter, has better contrast, has a wider color gamut, and is even capable of gaming at 1080p @ 240Hz without skipping frames.
Test Results
The NexiGo Aurora Pro is big and heavy and requires an outlet to function, so it isn't made with portability in mind. It has no automatic image correction feature, so you'll need to manually adjust the focus and image geometry. The projector has two adjustable feet towards the front of the unit, letting you adjust the vertical projection angle. This model has a 60W speaker system with two 15W woofers and two 15W tweeters.
This projector uses a laser light source, which, according to the manufacturer, requires no maintenance and will last for 25,000 hours or more. It's not a true 4k projector, as it uses pixel shifting to create a higher-resolution image. This offers better quality than a pure 1080p projector but isn't as good as a native 4k projector. It's a UST projector, so it can project an 80" image at a distance of about 3.9" and up to a 150" image at a distance of 17.3".
This projector has good peak brightness. It's bright enough for a pleasant experience in rooms with a few lights. Its brightness is also incredibly uniform outside of barely noticeable darker corners. Unfortunately, its colors are only alright even though it has a wide color gamut; its colors don't fully pop in brighter scenes, especially next to its whites.
The projector has excellent contrast and performs exceptionally well in darker scenes, leading to deep blacks when watching content in a dark room. Its relative contrast performance drops as the scenes get brighter, but it's still very good overall.
The projector has poor pre-calibration image accuracy. Its reds and blues are overrepresented and its greens are underrepresented in most shades of gray. Regarding gamma, most scenes are too dark, except for very dark and some very bright scenes, which are slightly too bright. The color accuracy is sub-par; yellows, greens, cyans, and whites, in particular, deviate from what they should be, especially when they're undersaturated. Thankfully, the color temperature is perfect, as it's right on the 6,500K target.
The NexiGo Aurora Pro has full color calibration and 11-point white balance calibration, and it's much more accurate after adjusting these settings. Reds and blues are still overrepresented in the brightest grays; otherwise, the white balance is good. The color accuracy is also good, with whites being the outlier as they still have noticeable accuracy errors. Otherwise, most colors are now mostly what they should be, although greens lean a bit too much towards blue. Finally, the color temperature is still effectively perfect.
The NexiGo Aurora Pro has an extremely wide color gamut and covers all of the Rec. 709 color space, although its whites lean towards purple. It performs nearly as well in the wider Rec. 2020 color space, although with more accuracy errors, as whites, purples, blues, cyans, and grays are severely off the mark.
The NexiGo Aurora Pro has Android TV built-in and supports Miracast and AirPlay for casting. Unfortunately, a recent firmware update removed the operating system's app-style home menu, leaving you with a reduced user experience; we recommend a streaming dongle for the best overall experience.
