Nebula achieves this level of performance by employing several different technologies. The X1 is the industry's first projector to use a patented U-shaped laser optical path, delivering brighter visuals and richer colors while reducing the projector's volume by 50%. This innovative design ensures an exceptional viewing experience with enhanced clarity and sharpness.

The X1 utilizes a double-pass light diffusion (DPLD) technology, sending the laser's light through the color phosphor wheel twice before it’s projected onto the screen. Diffusing the light twice with a single-color filter enables the X1 to achieve over 90% uniformity in both color and brightness, resulting in natural, true-to-life visuals.

Nebula's engineers have developed an industry-first internal liquid cooling system for a home entertainment projector, similar to those found in high-end gaming desktop computers. The liquid cooling system improves heat dissipation by 30%, reduces the projector's size by 30%, and lowers noise levels to 26 dB, ensuring optimal performance, quieter operation, and a more compact design for long-lasting, reliable use.

This liquid cooling system, combined with a single, large fan at the rear, enhances heat dissipation and doesn’t rely solely on fans, resulting in a cooling system that generates only 26 dB of noise (at one meter), equivalent to a whisper. For reference, 26 dB is less than the typical ambient noise level of a living room.

The X1's 14-element all-glass lens produces a high-quality, low-distortion image that won’t yellow over time. This multi-element lens features electronic optical zoom and is capable of displaying a large image up to 300 inches diagonally, while maintaining excellent overall image quality.

The X1 features another first: a built-in micro-gimbal that can automatically tilt the image up and down via a 25° motorized adjustment with optical zoom. This advanced design allows the projector to achieve precise image alignment even when placed off-angle or on the floor. This feature ensures smooth and stable projections, making it ideal for homes where space is a premium and every degree of adjustment matters.

Every home theater lover understands that being able to generate a great-looking picture is only half of what makes a stellar home theater experience. To have an immersive movie experience, you also need great sound to fully engage with the movie. Most projectors fall short in terms of audio performance, but the X1 is different. This projector features four side-firing speakers, made up of two 15 W drivers and two 5 W tweeters, along with two passive radiators, delivering sound that surpasses most other projectors. And Nebula didn't stop there. For even more immersive audio, they created optional lossless Wi-Fi satellite speakers.

The Nebula X1 supports Dolby Vision HDR content. One of the biggest advantages that Dolby Vision brings to the X1 is the ability to utilize dynamic metadata for optimal viewing. The X1 also features HDR10 for broad content compatibility. HDR10 uses static metadata, which applies a single set of settings across the entire video.

Nebula is the largest Google TV projector brand globally. The Nebula X1 is powered by Google TV OS, which offers significant advantages compared to other smart projector operating systems. For anyone who has used an Android device, Google TV will provide you with a very familiar and robust smart OS experience, offering access to over 10,000 applications via the Google Play Store. Also, Google TV delivers seamless access to a vast library of streaming services, apps, and more, all within an intuitive and user-friendly interface.

A key benefit of Google TV on Nebula projectors is the inclusion of the official Netflix application. This ensures a smooth, optimized, and fully supported Netflix experience, complete with all the latest features and the highest possible streaming quality without the need for sideloading or complicated and unreliable workarounds. With the official Netflix app, you can dive into your favorite movies and shows with reliable performance and easy navigation, right out of the box. The integration of Google TV also brings features like built-in Chromecast and Google Assistant, further enhancing the smart capabilities and convenience of your Nebula projector.

The Nebula X1 chassis is rectangular and features a retractable (and addictive to use) pop-up handle on the top of the projector. The color scheme remains the same as the Mars series, featuring two-tone gray on all Nebula projectors.

The sides of the unit are completely flush with grills for the cooling fans and speakers. At the bottom of the case, more cooling vents with rubber feet are found. The X1 measures (HxWxD) 9.7 × 7.3 × 11.1 inches (245.5 × 186 × 282 mm) and weighs 13.7 lbs (6.2 kg).

To turn the projector on, press the power button on the remote control or the top rear of the projector. It takes about 30 seconds to start the projector from the OFF position, compared to 7 seconds from the STANDBY position.

The projector offers several controls, including a Power On/Off switch, located on the top rear of the unit. In front of that switch are a Menu toggle and a Navigation control with a Return button to the left and a button for Auto Image Correction to the right. Above these controls is a Volume control. The remote controls everything else. If you don't have the remote handy, you can control and adjust the projector using the mobile phone application.

The out-of-the-box HDR color reproduction was also very good. Like SDR, the most accurate picture mode was ISF NIGHT. Picture adjustments like Contrast, Brightness, CMS, and RGB adjustments are applied to the HDR and SDR versions of that picture mode. For HDR content, the projector provides several dedicated modes, such as NEBULA MASTER, STANDARD, VIVID, SPORT, MOVIE, GAME CONFERENCE, ISF DAY, AND ISF NIGHT MODE

While the color temperature measured was close to 6,500K, a slight red bias was present, which was quickly corrected using the projector's 2-point grayscale adjustments. A quick adjustment to the gains in two-point grayscale resulted in RGB Balance. Once the RGB balance was adjusted, the color tracking was very good. Most of the colors had delta errors below 3. I fine-tuned Red and Blue further using the projector’s CMS adjustments.

To accurately track most red shades, the brightest reds were slightly oversaturated. After adjustment, the MOVIE mode’s brightness was very close to what it was before the unit was calibrated. The MOVIE mode’s grayscale was spot on once calibrated for SDR When viewing HDR, I did not feel the need to make any further color adjustments.

In the scene with the Riddler standing in the shadows of the mayor's office the X1 displays a very respectable black level without crushing all the black details. The X1 not only shows the Riddler standing out from the dark background but also preserves the dark area details in his jacket and shirt at a level I rarely see in a DLP projector. You can see for yourself in the slideshow above in the shot of the penguin standing in a snowstorm the X1 proved more than capable of handling the most challenging content I fed it, displaying excellent black levels as well as dark and light area details.

Not everything was perfect. For example, when watching movies like James Cameron’s True Lies, some darker scenes or even scenes with both bright and dark area details looked processed and over-sharpened at times. This could be the projector highlighting the haphazard AI upscaling used in the creation of the 4K master, but it seemed to stand out more on the X1 than on other projectors in this price range.

During our testing, we found that in most cases, leaving the projector’s black level settings in AUTO mode is good enough, measuring about 3,000:1. If you want to deepen the black level performance, especially when watching SDR movies in the dark, I would set the projector's iris at its minimum setting. To double your contrast, you either need to double the brightness or reduce the black level.

We measured a respectable native contrast of 4700:1, which is in line with Nebula’s stated 5,000:1 native contrast. Doing this will result in a significant loss of brightness. For example, when we used the same content and changed the projector's iris mode from minimum to maximum, we found the projector to be 70% brighter.

To evaluate the Nebula X1’s SDR performance, I used several broadcast television programs and one of my favorite movies, “Lawrence of Arabia”. Except for the CONFERENCE mode, which is intended for the most challenging lighting situations only, I found the color performance of all the projectors' picture preset modes to be quite good. That said, for movie content, I found the MOVIE preset picture mode and the ISF DAY modes to be incredibly similar. Since the ISF modes are code-locked for adjustment, I ended up using the MOVIE mode for calibration. However, out of the box, when viewing SDR content in a room with some ambient light, I used the ISF DAY mode, and in the dark, I chose the ISF NIGHT mode.

The Nebula X1 supports the following active 3D formats: Frame Packing, Side by Side, and Top and Bottom. 3D content looked excellent, largely due to the X1’s excellent brightness.

The Nebula X1 supports HDR10, and HLG and Dolby Vision. The dynamic metadata provide in Dolby Vision content, it is often considered superior to static metadata found in HDR10 material because it provides more granular and detailed information about video content, enabling more precise analysis and automation

The Nebula X1 includes several preset HDR modes. The most accurate HDR10 modes are the MOVIE and ISF DAY modes. The Nebula X1 Pro will automatically switch into either SDR, HDR10, or Dolby Vision mode based on the encoding of the movie, show, or game. The projector’s HDR modes are identical to its SDR modes. There are also three (3) Dolby Vision modes. I used the DOLBY VISION BRIGHT mode when viewing both bright and dark rooms.

The HDR dynamic tone mapping of the Nebula X1 is excellent. Colors are saturated but not overly, and highlights are bright without reducing details in the darker areas. When viewing HDR10, there was no need to adjust the settings when switching between dark and bright scenes. Nebula claims the X1 can reproduce 110% of the Rec. 2020 color gamut which ensures the X1S can display the expanded colors found in HDR content.

The Nebula X1’s HDR performance is balanced, displaying video that is bright and draws you into the displayed image. I was able to compare both the HDR10 and Dolby Vision versions of True Lies and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and the difference was noticeable but not dramatic.

The Nebula X1 is one of the most impressive projectors I’ve reviewed across many classes of projectors. Whether for portable, lifestyle, or home theater use, this projector appears to have it all. From advanced hardware to performance worthy of some of the best home theater DLP projectors available under $5,000.

Let’s talk about what the most important feature in a projector is, and that’s the X1’s picture quality. To start with, the Nebula X1 is an incredibly bright projector, boasting a brightness level that, in my testing, exceeded 4,000 lumens.

For a portable projector that is unbelievable, but it’s even remarkably impressive for a home theater or lifestyle projector, and I guess that’s really what this projector is: a lifestyle projector on steroids. The X1’s stunning brightness means that this projector can display a vivid image across a range of challenging environments whether it’s in your living room with small amounts of uncontrolled ambient light sources to the backyard for movies or games at dusk when there is still plenty of light that would crush most video projectors but not the Nebula X1.

When you combine the X1’s brightness with Nebula’s 14-element all-glass optics, the image that this projector displays is so tight from corner to corner with almost no visible optical distortion. However, Nebula doesn’t stop at great optics; it also includes an optical zoom with a throw ratio of 0.9:1 to 1.5:1.

The entire optical assembly is mounted on an internal motorized gimbal that allows the lens assembly to swing up or down with a range of 25 degrees. The Nebula X1’s optical image assembly not only displays a best-in-class on-screen image but also features convenience features like auto focus, zoom, and tilt, which are free from the artifacts and reduced image quality you would surely experience if these same features were achieved digitally. To be sure, the X1 also comes with a range of digital correction tools, including both auto and manual options, such as auto screen fit, bump correction, and 4-corner geometric adjustments. There is no other portable or home theater projector with the extensive list of image correction features, including both analog and digital, that the Nebula X1 offers.

Picture quality is more than just brightness; it’s also equally about color and black level performance. The Nebula X1’s out-of-the-box color performance is excellent, even though the reds are a little oversaturated on some content. What’s nice is that the X1 is incredibly quick to color calibrate. With just a few minutes and some quick adjustments to the projector’s red and blue settings, we were able to achieve a Delta E of 0.9.

The projector's 5,000:1 native contrast, combined with its six-bladed dynamic aperture, allowed me to achieve very good black level performance with dark and light area detail that simply blew me away. While it’s not the deep, inky blacks of LCOS, it does achieve some of the best black level performance I’ve seen in a DLP projector.

Valerion VisionMaster Max

The VisionMaster Max is another premium Lifestyle projector that retails for $3999. The X1 and VisionMaster Max both feature triple-laser light sources, which offer similar brightness and can deliver over 100% coverage of the BT.2020 color space. However, the VisionMaster Pro2 rated native contrast of 4.000:1, where the X1 offers 5,000:1 native, all glass lenses.

Both models support HDR formats like Dolby Vision and HDR10, but the VisionMaster goes further, supporting HDR10+ and offering IMAX Enhanced certification. The Nebula X1 offers ISF certification. When it comes to smart features and connectivity, both projectors offer access to popular streaming services, voice control, and Google TV OS, as well as a native Netflix application.

The projectors feature auto keystone correction, object avoidance, and a motorized lens with optical zoom, enabling greater placement flexibility without compromising image resolution. Regarding gaming performance, the VisionMaster offers much lower input lag and includes several additional game-related features and settings.

While both projectors offer excellent onboard sound, the Nebula X1’s external wireless speaker package and the ability to use the on-projector speakers as a subwoofer, essentially creating a 4.2.1 sound system, along with wireless microphones for presentation or karaoke, provide the X1 with an advantage.

The Nebula X1 offers features not found on any other projector, like the RGB lasers' liquid cooling system, which allows the projector to run incredibly quietly at around 26 dB. Nebula is also the only projector manufacturer to build a gimbal for the projector's optical assembly, offering 25 degrees of range in its unit, which takes image correction to the next level of speed and flexibility.