Unlike a TV you more or less just hang on a wall and start enjoying, a projector requires a bit more attention to get perfectly positioned, calibrated, and focused before the movie starts. XGIMI’s new MoGo 2 Pro will make some of those steps invisible to the user, so setup is easier and less obtrusive.
If you’re permanently mounting a projector in your home theatre, you really only have to go through the calibration process once, during installation. After that, assuming nothing changes, the only thing to fuss over on movie night is which film to watch. But in recent years, portable projectors have grown in popularity, turning any room, the backyard, or even a campsite, into a makeshift movie theatre. They’re compact and relatively affordable, but every time they’re moved or relocated, they have to be recalibrated to ensure the projected image isn’t warped or out of focus.
Most portable projectors can make keystone corrections and focus adjustments automatically, but they require a special calibration image to be momentarily shown on screen as adjustments are made. It’s a minor inconvenience before a movie starts, but a genuine annoyance in the middle of a film (which can be necessary if the projector gets bumped or falls out of focus as components warm up and expand).
XGIMI’s projectors have always streamlined the setup process with the company’s Intelligent Screen Adaptation Technology — or ISA, for short — including adjusting and shifting the projected image so that it misses obstacles like light switches or artwork when using a wall as a temporary screen. At CES 2023, the company plans to introduce an upgraded model, the MoGo 2 Pro, which includes the next generation of XGIMI’s ISA technology.
The 6.5-inch tall, 1 kg projector can display 1080P HD images up to 200 inches in size with 350 lumens of brightness (you’ll want a completely dark room to create a well-saturated projection that large) but its bigger selling points is XGIMI’s ISA 2.0 tech. Leveraging a new 3D time-of-flight depth sensing module, the projector can automatically make keystone and focus adjustments without interrupting the content on screen, with more accuracy and speed than previous models. If focus drifts over time, it can fix it automatically without the audience realising, and it can quickly recalibrate the image if the projector accidentally gets bumped or misaligned, although that’s probably a little more obvious to those watching.
XGIMI hasn’t revealed pricing info for the new MoGo 2 Pro yet — that will be announced at CES 2023 in Las Vegas next month — but the previous version sold for around $US900 ($1,249), and we’re not expecting a sizeable price jump, despite the new features.