// WIRED US/UK — MODA & SOCIETÀ
The Best Home Theater Projectors in 2026: XGIMI, Hisense, Leica, and More
I've seen some of the best movies and tested some of the best home projectors this year. Massively entertaining films like The Odyssey, Project Hail Mary, and Toy Story 5 have made 2026 a standout year for movies, and new home theater projectors like the Xgimi Titan Noir Max and the AWOL Vision Aetherion Max have upped the game in terms of beautiful, cinematic, color-accurate images at home.
I've been reviewing the best TVs and projectors for years. That's why I put these latest home theater projectors to the test, running benchmarks to check for vividness, brightness, skin tone variations, and whether dark scenes look too washed out. I watched countless Netflix movies and 4K Blu-ray films—all for the cause. My main takeaway? These top models are giving the local cinema something to worry about. Bring some popcorn and a comfortable recliner, and you're basically there.
For more TV recommendations based on our expert testing, check out our related guides, including the Best RGB TVs, Best TVs, Best Large TVs, Best OLED TVs, and Best Cheap TVs. If you’re really undecided, read our guide on How to Buy the Right TV in 2026.
Love WIRED? Add us as a preferred source on Google to see more of us.
Picking the best projector was not easy, especially since there's so much competition. The Xgimi Titan Noir Max won me over because of the dynamic, self-adjusting iris. As you watch a movie or show, the projector adjusts to allow more light in (for bright scenes) or closes to reduce light (for dark scenes). For example, during a nighttime sequence in the movie Hoppers on Disney+, the iris will close to make the blacks and grays look dark and richly detailed. That feature alone sets the Titan Noir Max apart.
But it’s also highly capable in many other ways. It has an outstanding 10,000:1 native contrast ratio and a 7,000-lumen brightness rating, which helped it blast through all of my benchmarks and test scenarios. An early morning scene in the movie The Creator looked exactly like I would expect it to in real life, showing texture on the seaside cliffs. Even in a sun-drenched room, battle scenes in the movie War Machine looked bright and clear—outperforming the Hisense XR10 model.
More functionally, it has four adjustable feet that allow you to adjust the height or even set the projector on a side table and angle it toward a wall.
One downside is that, like many projectors, it doesn't natively run a streaming OS like Google TV, but I prefer to connect a Blu-ray player or Google TV Streamer anyway.
I’ll never forget the first time I played the game 007 First Light projected on a wall in my house using the Hisense XR10. An ocean scene looked bright blue and realistic, thanks to the excellent color processing on this projector. I felt very little lag using the low-latency mode, and the built-in speakers (the best I've tested on a projector) never felt lacking.
The big and boxy XR10 is exactly what I would expect a high-end cinema projector to look like. It’s heavy at 23.4 pounds, but that’s because of its massive speaker and lens. Although I prefer the long adjustable legs on the Xgimi Titan Noir Max, the XR10 is stable and has a nicely subdued dark metallic look.