Every year since 2022, projector dealer and distributor ProjectorScreen.com has hosted a UST Projector competition that puts the best UST (Ultra Short Throw) projectors into one room in order to identify the top performers of the year. A panel of independent judges (including yours truly) rates each projector on picture quality elements like brightness, contrast, black level and shadow detail, motion resolution, color accuracy and more. The event is called the UST Projector Showdown, and this year, the Showdown was held on Saturday, November 8th, 2025, at ProjectorScreen.com's headquarters in Riverdale, NJ.
While ProjectorScreen.com was the host, and all UST projectors in the competition were taken directly from store inventory, the event was organized and administrated by Phil Jones, owner of ProjectorReviews.com - a projector review and news site.
This Year's Contenders
The 2025 version of the Showdown featured eight different UST projector models from six brands, priced from $2,699 to $5,999 (MSRP). Three entrants returned from the 2024 UST Showdown - the Hisense PX3-Pro, Formovie Theater Premium and XGIMI AURA 2 - but with the latest software updates and improvements. The other five projectors were either brand new models or updated versions of existing models. Note that during the course of the event, it was determined that one of the projectors (the Nexigo Aurora Pro, Mk II) was not on its most recent firmware update, so it was retroactively eliminated from the results as its performance would not have reflected that of the current production version.
Seven of the projectors in this year's Showdown featured single DLP (Digital Light Processing) imaging chips while one, the Epson QS100, used three LCD chips, one dedicated to each primary color (red, green and blue). By using dedicated LCD chips for each primary color, the Epson avoids the RBE (rainbow effect) that single-chip DLP projectors exhibit, which some people find particularly bothersome.
Six models in this year's UST Showdown used a standard Triple Laser light array with individual lasers for red, green and blue primary colors, while the Epson QS100 used a single laser+phosphor light source and the XGIMI Aura 2 used a hybrid Dual Light 2.0 Laser+LED light source. The Nexigo Aurora Pro. Mk II was the only projector in the competition to use the latest ALPD 5.0 light engine. This combines a triple laser lighting system with additional LED elements to extend the color gamut. This offers higher efficiency while reducing a visual artifact known as "laser speckle." Like RBE, laser speckle is something that some (but not all) viewers find annoying.
All of the projectors in this year's competition were rated for at least 20,000 hours of use with no bulb replacement necessary. That's roughly 11 years if used for 5 hours per day. Even after that time, the image should be watchable, just notably reduced in overall brightness.
All UST projectors in the competition, other than the Epson QS100, could reproduce a full 4K (3840x2160 pixel) source by using 4-way (dual axis) pixel shifting of the DLP device. The Epson projector used a single axis pixel shift system which can reproduce twice the resolution of 1080p HD, but only half full 4K resolution. This did impact the projector's scores on tests related to sharpness and resolution but the Epson's extremely high overall brightness (4,500 Lumens) made up for this in bright room viewing conditions with a bright punchy image.
*As noted, the Nexigo was removed from the results after it was determined that it was not on the most current firmware release during the competition.
All projectors were set up with identical 100-inch ALR (Ambient Light Rejecting) projection screens from Spectra Projection and all projectors were fed an identical signal from professional video distribution equipment. For high quality source material, the show organizers used a Kaleidescape Strato V 4K media player, a Panasonic UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray Player, and a 4K test pattern generator.
After the main tests were done, the organizers reset each projector to its default factory settings and set each unit to its most accurate out-of-the-box picture modes for some additional "out of the box" evaluation. The event lasted for around 8-9 hours, after which the judges submitted their (our) scorecards for tabulation. In addition to the individual picture performance categories, each judge rated his top 3 picks in four categories: overall picture quality, best value, best for mixed use (bright room/dark room) and best for dedicated home theater.
And The Winners Were...
Without further ado, here are the judges' overall picks for each category followed by the full official scorecard from the event.
Overall, my scorecard and opinions were fairly closely aligned with the overall results, though I did favor the Hisense PT1 slightly more than the other judges, mainly because it offered a taste of the performance of the top dog, the Hisense L9Q, for less than half the price. And last year's flagship, the PX3-Pro offered even better performance than the PT1, for a little more money. Hisense pretty much invented the whole "Laser TV" category, and their experience shows in this year's crop of UST projectors. But they weren't the only ones to up their game in UST projector performance.
This year, the performance variations among models was much smaller than in previous competitions. This made picking a winner that much harder. While the Hisense projectors won me over with their excellent black levels, color accuracy and shadow detail, and these performance attributes were reflected in the overall results, each of the models in the competition offered its own unique strengths.
The Epson QS100 worked particularly well with the room lights turned up. The JMGO O2S Ultra, with its small size, advanced set-up features and included carrying case, made an excellent choice for those who want to take their projector to a second location like a summer home, a friend's house or an Armageddon bunker. And the XGIMI Aura 2 offered solid overall performance for the lowest price (just under $2,000 for Black Friday).
For those who want more detail, check out my thoughts on each projector on eCoustics.com and also check out the full results of the 2025 UST Showdown on ProjectorScreen.com's web site.
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