Best Optoma Projectors

Optoma GT1080Darbee: Diverse Short-Throw Full HD Projector

Need a versatile projector with the short throw, large screen, good brightness, flexible connectivity, and don’t want to spend a fortune? Then, the Optoma GT1080Darbee will definitely top the list. This 180p projector features the high contrast and bright lamp, can be used in a small condo apartment or in the backyard, has full 3D compatibility, and is easily adjustable.

The projector can be used for different purposes including gaming, TV- and movie watching, screen mirroring, etc. It’s very responsive, has good speakers, and is promised to last for long.

Design

The grilled sides and front panel, large lens placed in a half-open funnel, and side connection ports make the GT1080Darbee stand out among many of the competitors. The focus control wheel and the navigation buttons are located on the top and are well outlined for easy operation.

The projector is quite compact is 12.4 inches wide, 8.8 inches deep, and 4 inches high. Its low weight (just 5.5 lbs) lets shift it around easily to find the optimal placement. The included remote has the ergonomic shape and protruding buttons that can be backlit for navigating the projector in the dark room.

Features

The primary highlight of the Optoma GT1080Darbee review is the proprietary technology of image processing and enhancement called Darbee. The DLP technology ensures good contrast and deep blacks while the Darbee mode produces more small detail and textures. The projector supports the 28,000:1 contrast on the 1-million pixel screen of the native Full HD resolution. The 3D is supported in two modes and can be produced through both HDMI ports (version 1.4a).

The Optoma GT1080Darbee manual shows the projector has a long lamp life varying from 5,000 hours in the Vivid mode to 8,000 hours in the Dynamic Black mode. The brightness makes 3,000 lumens in the dark room. The projector can produce the image from 30 to 300 inches; with the short-throw technology enabling the 100-inch screen from just 4 feet distance.

The connections are versatile including the HDMI, audio and video RCA ports, 12V trigger, and USB for power. The HDMI connections are MHL-compatible. The wireless connection goes through the relevant devices enabling the TV and movie streaming and screen mirroring with mobile devices. The integrated speakers have 10W capacity and produce the mono sound. The input lag makes 16ms, and the projector’s noise is usually below the 30 dB.

Performance

The high contrast of the Optoma GT1080Darbee projector combined with the sRGB color scheme results in a balanced and detailed picture. The Darbee mode activated, the shades become deep and distinct, the gray uniformity is very high. Whites are solid and don’t feature cool hues. The color mapping is very accurate, with distinct highlights.

The 3D image is full and balanced, with a little of “blur artifact”. The 3D picture preserves the high resolution and detail, and vivid color. The brightness is generally even over the screen making the picture vivid and natural.

The Game mode provides highly dynamic and bright image especially with the Darbee mode on. There’s almost no flare produced and the motion is consistent and sharp.

The Optoma GT1080Darbee 1080p projector works well with multiple sources including Blu-ray players, gaming consoles, streaming devices, etc. The sound produced by the device is quite loud though doesn’t feature much bass. The working noise is very low and is audible only in the silent scenes.

Optoma HD27e: Good Choice for 3D Movies and Games

The Optoma HD27e is a compact (3.7 x 11.7 x 9 inches) functional device, which copes well with its main task in a room with moderate exposure. Fast response and high-quality built-in sound make this projector a good option for games. The remote control is comfortable to use, but it has to be aimed accurately. Every user gets a 1-year warranty from the date of original purchase and 90 days on the lamp.

Design

The white body frame is quite compact and ribbed side contributes to good ventilation. Despite all these, the sides have to be wiped quite often (as the dust is accumulated on them). Two HDMI 1.4 (one of them supports MHL technology), USB Type-A, VESA 3D Sync, a 12V trigger, and a standard 3.5mm mini-jack can be seen on the rear panel of the Optoma HD27e projector. All of them strictly perform their functions.

Features

The Optoma HD27e review demonstrates that the specified model has the following specs:

• It supports Full HD 3D and can be used with 3D glasses DLP-Link and VESA RF that make it possible to fully enjoy the 3D feature.
• The 3D mode can be customized, as the Standard and Custom modes are available.
• It works quickly with games; the delay is only 16.4 milliseconds when the Enhanced Gaming mode is turned on.
• The brightness of the lamp is on average 65% of the maximum when activating the Eco mode.
• Lamp resource is 3.500 hours in the Bright power consumption mode and 12.000 hours when Dynamic Black is turned on.

Performance

The 10W mono speaker provides high sound quality for such a compact projector, as well as sufficient volume for a small or medium-sized room. The noise is heard during the movie interludes with a fading sound in the Bright lamp mode. When talking about the Eco mode, the noise is quiet and hardly noticeable with any background sounds. Even without additional settings (right out of the box) the Cinema and Reference modes give realistic colors along with a good level of contrast and volume of the scene. Contrast and a sense of depth in the Game mode are not as good as in Cinema, but the image quality is good enough for everyday use in the living room or your backyard. The image will be completely located above the center of the lens when installing the HD27e on a table, and its lower border will be 18% of the image height above the center of the lens.

Optoma UHD51A — High-Contrast Short-Throw 4K Projector with Quiet Operation

Here’s the detailed Optoma UHD51A review. The projector features native UHD quality, HDR10 compatibility, enhanced color mode, versatile connections, and regulation mechanisms. This device creates a high-quality image on a short distance while preserving the sharp detail on the large screen as well.

The high zoom capacity and keystone regulation make up for various installation positions, while the size and weight factor might become an issue in tight spaces. The native sound is quite loud and distinct adding up to the high value of this middle-priced 4K projector.

Design

The Optoma UHD51A has a distinctive design that reminds of other Optoma models while retaining an individual look. The body is black, with the grilled front panel and sides and shiny top panel. The horizontal aluminum strip and the alike lens rim make an individual accent. The device is quite big (5.1-inch tall, 15.4-inch wide, and 11.1-inch deep) and heavy at 11.7 lbs requiring a sturdy mounting stand for the wall or ceiling installation.

The top panel contains the operational buttons and zoom and focus regulating dials (the latter can be hidden under the sliding panel). The backside houses the connection ports (HDMI, USB, VGA, mini-jack, etc.). The remote is a small black bar with the minimum buttons, which are quite tall and intuitive to use.

Features

As can be read in the Optoma UHD51A manual, the projector is equipped with DLP chipset and the 2,400-lumen lamp with the 4,000-15,000 hour resource. The color matrix is based on the DCI-P3 technology and supported by the 6x RGBRGB wheel producing over 1 billion colors. The device is fully compatible with HDR10 and implements the Rec.2020 format.

The resolution is the native 4K representing 8 million pixels simultaneously. The Ultra Detail and Dynamic Black technologies enable the contrast ratio of 500,000:1. The projector also supports the 3D video format.

The projector can create the 30 - 300-inch display at 3.4 - 26.4ft. It has the 1.3x manual and digital zoom and the vertical regulation of the lens and focus.

Connectivity is represented with two 2.1 HDMI ports, three USB type-A ports, the LAN input, audio input and output, the VGA port. The UHD51A is compatible with Alexa and Echo voice command devices.

The speakers produce the stereo sound at 10W. The inner fan noise is rated at 28 dB.

Performance

The variety of the picture modes brings flexibility and provides the optimal settings for the different conditions of use (environment light, content played, and consumption). The utmost clarity and color accuracy and saturation are provided in the Cinema mode while the Bright mode can bring some halo around the peaks in the HDR. Both SDR and HDR formats feature a lot of detail and well-textured shades.

The Optoma UHD51A projector is compatible with numerous devices and is easy to set up. The graphic interface is easy to navigate and informative. Hooking up the Alexa or Echo device, you can control the volume, power on and off, input switching, and USB media via the voice commands.

The sound quality is good, with the distinct stereo separation and clear dialogs. The volume can be adjusted quite high to fill the middle-sized room. The integrated fan works quietly becoming slightly louder in the heavy-load Bright and Cinema modes.