Barco's new Heimdall+ projector, launched at CEDIA 2024, is an exciting addition to the brand’s high-end residential projector lineup. It is designed to captivate home theater enthusiasts with its cutting-edge features. Available in two models—the Heimdall+ with a powerful 6,000 lumens output and the standard Heimdall offering 4,000 lumens—these projectors cater to various room sizes and preferences while delivering exceptional image quality.
The Heimdall+ and Heimdall are part of Barco’s broader strategy to enhance home theater experiences by integrating innovations from their professional cinema projectors into residential models. This approach brings a blend of luxury and advanced performance to home cinemas. Known for its leadership in commercial projection, Barco has successfully adapted its cinema technology, such as RGB laser light engines, to provide vibrant, detailed visuals that cover 100% of the BT2020 color gamut. This ensures precise color reproduction without sacrificing brightness, an essential feature for enthusiasts who want both vivid colors and sharp contrast in their home theaters.
At the core of the Heimdall series is the latest Texas Instruments native 4K DLP chip, which allows these projectors to deliver exceptional image clarity and smoothness, especially during fast-paced action scenes or live sports. The high brightness of the Heimdall+ (6,000 lumens) ensures it can handle larger screens or rooms with ambient light, making it an excellent choice for those seeking a dynamic viewing experience in bigger spaces. On the other hand, the 4,000-lumen Heimdall offers a more budget-conscious option for smaller rooms without compromising on the core features that make Barco a premium brand.
One of the standout aspects of the Heimdall series is its flexibility in installation and format compatibility. The projectors support various lenses, from ultra-short throw to long-throw options, meaning they can be adapted to fit almost any room configuration.
The series supports standard 16:9 aspect ratios and Cinemascope (2.35:1) formats, making it an appealing option for home cinema fans who want the flexibility to switch between different types of content seamlessly. Barco’s auto aspect ratio detection system ensures that no manual adjustments are necessary when switching formats, adding to the simplicity and ease of use, a trait highly valued by home theater enthusiasts.
For those who enjoy gaming or sports, the Heimdall series shines with its HDMI 2.1 compatibility, supporting high frame rates and 4K resolution. This feature makes the Heimdall+ and Heimdall particularly attractive to users seeking ultra-smooth and responsive gaming experiences or flawless sports broadcasting, making these projectors highly versatile beyond just movie viewing.
The positioning of the Heimdall+ in Barco’s lineup is particularly interesting. It sits below the flagship models like the Bragi and Njord but still offers many of the advanced features shared with these high-end units. This strategic placement makes it ideal for users who want an immersive home theater experience without stepping up to the very top of Barco’s pricing tier. In contrast, the Heimdall, with its 4,000 lumens, is designed to appeal to those with a more limited budget or those who may not need the extra brightness of the Heimdall+.
Barco’s attention to detail, both in performance and design, is evident in how the Heimdall+ balances high-end specs with user-friendly features. Its RGB laser light engine, capable of producing true-to-life colors, ensures an exceptional viewing experience. In addition, the projectors boast advanced connectivity, allowing them to integrate easily into smart home ecosystems, which is crucial for modern home theaters where automation and seamless control are expected.
The Heimdall+ and Heimdall projectors fill an essential gap in Barco’s home cinema lineup, catering to users who want top-tier performance without the excessive price tag of flagship models. With their 6,000 and 4,000 lumens outputs, respectively, these projectors are ideal for both larger and more modest home theaters. Their flexibility in installation, format compatibility, and gaming-friendly features make them a compelling choice for home theater enthusiasts who value image quality, ease of use, and cutting-edge technology.
As the first models in what is expected to be a larger Heimdall series, they demonstrate Barco’s commitment to bringing the best of commercial projection technology into the home, offering a cinematic experience that rivals even the best commercial theaters.
