SIM2 introduces UltraNero 4S, 4S HC and 4S DUO at CEDIA Expo 2026
Three UltraNero 4S projectors at CEDIA Expo 2026, from a 7,000-lumen single engine to a 12,000-lumen DUO, and one of them, the 4S HC, has no SIM2 product page yet.
SIM2 brought three projectors to CEDIA Expo 2026 and has published specifications for two of them. The Italian manufacturer exhibited in Denver from 2 to 4 September, at booth 1646 plus a separate demonstration room, and in a news item on 3 September described the UltraNero 4S DUO as "one of three new projectors SIM2 introduced at CEDIA Expo 2026, alongside the UltraNero 4S and the UltraNero 4S HC".
All three sit on the same UltraNero laser DLP platform and split it three ways: output, native contrast and dual-engine scale.
The UltraNero 4S and the 4S DUO both have full product pages on SIM2's own site, so their specifications are on the record. The UltraNero 4S HC does not. Its existence is confirmed by the sentence above, but the figures circulating for it, up to 5,000 lumens, DLP 4K HDR-10, under 30dB and December 2026 availability, come from trade coverage rather than a SIM2 page. Treat the HC as announced but not yet documented. No pricing has been published for any of the three.
UltraNero 4S: brightness with the contrast tools attached
SIM2 rates the 4S at up to 7,000 lumens from a laser engine, DLP 4K with HDR10, over 95% brightness uniformity and operating noise below 30dB. The interesting work is in the contrast handling: DynamicBlack and ExtremeBlack are now stored separately for SDR and HDR rather than shared, and ExtremeBlack is active on every input rather than a subset.
Two preset modes ship with SIM2 colorimetry already applied, and the information menu reports the HDR mastering peak of the incoming signal, which is a small but useful detail for an installer setting tone mapping. Installation flexibility comes from motorised zoom with horizontal and vertical lens shift and five saved lens positions.
The DUO: two engines doing different jobs
The 4S DUO is the headline system, and it won a 2026 CE Pro BEST Product Award in the projectors category at the show. It stacks two native 4K laser DLP engines that are deliberately not identical: one tuned for highlight energy, the other with its own high-contrast optical configuration, lens and HDR calibration for shadow detail and tonal separation. Micrometric optical shift and warping hold them in convergence, and the EOTF and tone mapping were rebuilt to handle both. How stable that convergence stays over years of use, and whether the blend holds on real film content rather than demo material, is the question any two-engine design invites.
Combined output is up to 12,000 lumens with noise below 33dB. SIM2 is careful about the colour claim: measured gamut stays DCI-P3 while colour volume doubles. The "up to 30% more contrast and up to 50% richer colour saturation" figures are stated as perceived, not measured. One point of context: the DUO is not new, having premiered in Dallas in November 2025 and toured through 2026.
Where SIM2 sits against JVC, Sony and Barco
SIM2 is a small Italian specialist selling through dealers. JVC's D-ILA models still hold the argument on native contrast, and Sony's SXRD laser projectors compete on processing and reliability at scale. Both are LCoS, which structurally starts with deeper blacks than a single-DMD DLP. Native contrast is the number that comparison turns on, and SIM2 does not publish one for any of the three.
SIM2's answer is to attack the problem elsewhere: more light, aggressive optical and dynamic black control, HDR processing tuned in house, and now a two-engine architecture. That places it closest to Barco Residential, the other brand selling multi-engine installed systems through a controlled channel rather than a spec sheet. It is also why SIM2 insists these products must be seen rather than read about.
Sources
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