One of the new television unveilings at CES this year was Hisense’s L9Q, the latest evolution of the Chinese company’s L9 Series of laser TVs first introduced in 2014. Offering five immersive screen sizes ranging from 100 to 150 inches at 4K UHD resolution, L9Q touts the most compact laser TV console (as small as a 12-inch laptop). Its proprietary TriChroma triple-laser light engine emits up to 5,000 lumens with a 5,000:1 contrast ratio and is the first to achieve 1,500 nits full-screen brightness. Each L9Q is paired with one of the company’s Ambient Light Rejection (ALR) screens. The L9Q also supports Dolby Atmos, DTS Virtual X, and eARC for quality surround sound.

We spoke with Mark Major, Hisense USA’s senior manager of Laser TV, about the L9Q’s benchmarks and he says the light engine, which operates with Texas Instruments’ DLP, covers 110 percent of the BT.2020 color space (or 151 percent of DCI-P3). Such wide color gamut can display life-like visuals and impressive color accuracy.

The L9Q boasts an industry leading short throw ratio of 0.19, which is a measure of how far the laser projector has to be positioned from the screen. Other manufacturers, like LG and Samsung, also have laser TV with similar throw ratios. Note that vendors often refer to their laser TVs as laser projectors.

The ultra-thin ALR screens come in two choices suitable for different environments: Fresnel or lenticular. The Fresnel flavor can amplify the projected laser light, whereas the lenticular flavor cuts down the ambient light from above. Hisense also offers a version that rolls down the screen and retracts the console into a narrow cabinet-like base that could blend into the living room.

According to the press release, L9Q is outfitted with a 6.2.2 surround sound that is a first for laser TVs and has a 15-inch tilted sound bin designed to create immersive sound. AI is also used with the light sensor to adapt screen brightness to match the ambient lighting.