Leica Cine Play 1 review: home cinema meets design statement

Introduction

Home cinema projectors are rarely the most graceful of gadgets, so usually get stashed out of sight once the credits have rolled on your latest movie night. The Leica Cine Play 1, on the other hand, deserves permanent exhibition. This 4K shiner stands out with an all-metal chassis, compact footprint and an industrial design worthy of wearing the famous Red Dot logo.

Like the ultra-short throw Leica Cine-1, the Cine Play 1 shares much of its inner workings with a model from Hisense – in this case the C2 Ultra. Except the German lens specialist has supplied its own aspheric glass here, and with some home-grown image processing and focus adjustment tech that promises to deliver a superbly sharp image. A bright triple laser lamp should deliver impactful HDR content, too.

At $3795/£2949/€3490 it commands quite the premium over short-throw 4K DLP rivals that are similarly coffee table-friendly, such as the Xgimi Horizon S Max and even smaller LG CineBeam Q. Can a focus on picture quality justify the extra cash?

Design & build: deserves to be on display

Projectors have come a long way from the white plastic boxes of a decade ago that’d look more at home in a classroom than a home theatre setup, but the Leica Cine Play 1 still stands out from the crowd. The compact cube is encased in aluminium, with uniformly perforated sides for plenty of airflow over the DLP chip and laser light source. The glossy black front panel, which holds the lens, is the only fingerprint magnet – and you really shouldn’t be poking your digits anywhere near the lens glass anyway.

The Cine Play 1 arrives pre-mounted to a tabletop stand, making it a great choice for a more temporary home cinema setup. It tilts for picture adjustment, but doesn’t swivel. The way it integrates the power cable to cut down on wire tangles going into the projector itself is really slick. Leica will sell you a matching floor stand for £335/€395, which can do the same thing.

Combined, the projector and tabletop stand weigh under 10kg. I could easily shift it between rooms, and the thick rubber base ensured it stayed steady wherever I put it down. Leica anticipated owners would want to relocate the Cine Play 1 pretty regularly, so it comes with a separate carry case for the external power brick and bundled remote control.

You’ll only find a physical power button on the projector itself; everything else is controlled using the remote, which feels equally high-end. The metal body is cool to the touch, it doesn’t overwhelm you with buttons, and the streaming service shortcuts are to ones you’re actually likely to use. The buttons aren’t backlit, though, and it swallows two AAA batteries instead of anything truly luxurious like solar or USB-C recharging. Still, the way pressing a release catch on the rear pops the battery tray out of the bottom of the remote is rather slick.

Features: finding focus

All the inputs are found on the projector, rather than the base. One of the two HDMI ports supports eARC, and there’s a digital optical audio connection for outputting audio to a soundbar or surround sound system. The two USB3 ports can play pretty much any file format you’d care to mention if you’ve got a library of offline content. AirPlay and screen casting are on board for wireless playback, too.

Ethernet is on board in case your router can’t supply the built-in Wi-Fi with enough signal for stutter-free streaming, and there’s a 3.5mm headphone port for personal listening. I could see the latter coming in handy if using the projector in a home office or bedroom while the rest of the household is trying to sleep.

That’s not to say the integrated speakers aren’t up to the task, either. Two 10W full-range drivers get decently loud and go a reasonable job with hectic action scenes. It was adept at delivering clear dialogue, too. Bass is merely OK, as there’s no built-in subwoofer like you get with the Hisense C2 Ultra. If you want more impactful audio a home theatre system is the way to go.

Happily the Cine Play 1 was very quiet in operation, so I never felt the need to crank the volume to drown out a noisy cooling fan. Even broadcast TV shows were enough to drown it out for the most part.

Setup & Interface: viva la VIDAA

Power on the Cine Play 1 for the first time and it automatically calibrates the projection, adjusting focus, zoom and keystone. It also accounts for obstacles like picture frames. It’ll remember your settings, so will only need to calibrate again if you move the projector. Do that while it’s on, and it’ll take about 35 seconds to refocus, which isn’t quite as fast as some rivals.

Of course you can take over manually if you like, with the full gamut of lens controls in the settings menus. Leica’s back-end UI is very easy to navigate and doesn’t overwhelm you with modes and options. It has all the picture quality options you’d expect, including noise reduction, upscaling for low-res content, and motion processing for smoothing out film judder.

There’s also a dedicated game mode, which lowers input latency and lets you prioritise refresh rate over resolution. Serious gamers wanting 4K/120p will have to look elsewhere, but I think 240Hz play at Full HD is a more than fair compromise. A black level booster, frame rate counter and aspect ratio adjustment are all pretty standard fare.

The smart TV system, meanwhile, has been carried over pretty much wholesale from Hisense. VIDAA has all the usual streaming suspects, including Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and YouTube, but catch-up services will vary by region. Unfortunately the UK unit I was testing didn’t have any, so you’ll need to add a streaming stick or set-top box for things like BBC iPlayer or ITVX. The app store isn’t exactly stuffed with big-name services either, with Spotify and Sky Now TV among those missing.

At least the homepage is customisable, so you can put frequently-used apps front-and-centre. I didn’t need the full-width carousel advertising VIDAA’s features, but appreciated the content recommendations further down the page. Everything feels responsive and streaming apps load satisfyingly quickly.

Picture quality: see the light

The Cine Play 1’s DLP chip and laser light source combo can spit out a 4K resolution image from as little as 1.3m away from a wall, if you want a TV-rivalling 65in size; go as far as 10m and it’ll project a whopping 300in picture. There’s some pixel shifting in play to get that UHD resolution, but you’d never know without measuring equipment. This projector delivers wonderfully crisp and detailed images.

Leica’s custom lens has helped it produce an outstanding level of sharpness and clarity, despite my office not having the greatest amount of clear wall space and so having to use a bit of object-avoiding keystone and scaling.

I didn’t have access to an ambient light rejection (ALR) projector screen, either – but the Cine Play 1 still delivered impactful images both during the day and at night. It wasn’t ever going to manage black levels on par with an OLED TV, and even with the lights off I thought contrast was decent rather than outstanding – but darker scenes still had a nice amount of punch. Colours looked natural, with plenty of gradation between hues.

IMAX mode is a highlight, being very well calibrated from the factory, and quickly becoming my go-to for late night movie watching. HDR footage also shined brightly in all the right places, with Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HLG formats all supported.

Brightness in general is great given the size of the projector. Leica claims a 3000 nits peak, and it was easily intense enough to use in the brightest of daylight conditions with a few metres to the projection surface. I found I could dial back the laser intensity at night to eke out some extra contrast in the darkest scenes. The automatic picture modes will do this to some extent, but I preferred to keep things consistent.

The only thing I had no control over was the DLP rainbow effect, which I thought was a little more prominent than I’d like for a projector in this price range. I noticed them most on bright objects against dark backgrounds, with fast motion also being a factor. Not everyone notices DLP rainbows, but if you do I’d recommend a visit to a Leica showroom before clicking the buy button.

Leica Cine Play 1 verdict

The Cine Play 1 has quite a lot in common with Leica’s camera range, in that there might be more keenly-priced alternatives, but few can match it for top-tier build quality and minimalist design. I also think the £500 higher asking price than the Hisense C2 Ultra is justified by Leica’s extensive lens know-how, which really does translate into a wonderfully sharp image.

It’s not a slam dunk, as the smart TV system doesn’t really cater to every country the projector is sold in and the DLP projection isn’t immune from rainbows. But you’ll either have to pay even more cash, or compromise on portability, to find a projector that is.

In all other respects this is an accomplished compact projector, and one worth considering if portability and poise are high on your priorities list.

Leica Cine Play 1 technical specifications

Display type	DLP
Display resolution	3840×2160 (via pixel shifting)
Light source	laser (25,000hr lifespan)
Brightness (claimed)	3000 lumens
Connectivity	2x HDMI, 2x USB3, digital optical, Ethernet, 3.5mm output
Smart TV OS	VIDAA
Dimensions	242x261x229 mm, 6.7kg (projector only)