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Optoma HD72 Review
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The HD72 is a relatively small, lightweight home theatre projector that
comes in an attractive, high gloss white case. Its small size and white
colour make it particularly suitable for ceiling mounting on a white
ceiling, because it renders it virtually invisible in the room's
environment. One of the great advantages of front projection systems as
compared to big box rear-projection TVs is that, with a little planning
ahead of time, the entire video system can be made to disappear when
not in use. That way the room you use for home theatre does not need to
be dominated by an imposing altar to the video gods. Since big-screen
TVs are now rumored to be a leading cause of divorce in America, the
front projection alternative is the happy solution to marital harmony.
While on the subject of installation, we may as well point out some
limitations posed by the HD72: It has relatively limited throw distance
flexibility and no physical lens shift. For whatever reasons, DLP
projectors in general lag behind LCD projectors in delivering extended
zoom range and lens shift capability, making them less user-friendly
when it comes to installation. LCD projectors have made great headway
in home theatre market share in no small part because they simply fit
into a wider array of room configurations than do most DLP projectors.
The HD72 is no different in this regard. The 1.2x zoom lens will throw
a 100" diagonal image from a distance of at least 11.5 feet, and no
more than 13.8 feet. Since a 100" diagonal image is 87" wide, this
means that the projector will be at a distance of 1.6x to 1.9x the
screen width. That is a viewing distance many people find comfortable
for watching large screen movies. If you are among them, you will find
that the projector is situated very close to you. You might place it on
a low table between two seats, or you might ceiling mount it directly
above the seating area.
A less practical solution would be to place the projector on a shelf or
stand behind the seating area. That is because the HD72 has a built in
throw angle offset that equals about 1.5 inches of vertical rise per
foot of throw distance. So if you set up the projector at a distance of
12 feet from the screen for a 100" diagonal image, the bottom edge of
the projected image will be about 18" above the centerline of the lens.
In other words, if you set the projector on a rear shelf behind the
seats that is, say, four feet off the floor in order to clear the heads
of viewers, the bottom edge of the image will be 5.5 feet off the
floor. That is too high for most typical home theatre situations. You
could correct the problem by tilting the projector downward and
correcting the resulting trapezoidal image with keystone correction,
but that is a solution you should try to avoid if you can.
You might also think about putting it on a very high shelf and
inverting it. That may solve your particular problem geometrically, but
you must not place a projector upside down with the top casework in
direct contact with a shelf. Projectors are built to dissipate heat in
part through the casework, and if heat dissipation is inhibited,
overheating will result. .
So the simple fact is that many users of the HD72 will find that
ceiling mounting provides the happiest solution—it gets the projector
away from the viewers, and you can put it virtually anywhere on the
ceiling to achieve precisely the right image size you desire. And as
noted above, because it is small and white, it will virtually disappear
against a white ceiling when not in use. If you use the projector with
an electric or manually retractable screen, or a fixed, wall-mounted
screen with curtains, the system can be made to disappear when not in
use. That gives you the option to define the space as something
completely different than a dedicated video room. .
16:9 or 16:10?
Several of the latest widescreen projectors to come to market feature
the classic WXGA computer resolution format, 1280x768. The HD72 is one
of them. The aspect ratio of this format is 16:10. The advantage to
this format is that it will display both 1280x768 and standard XGA
(1024x768) computer outputs in full frame native resolution without
cropping or compression. For those using these signals this is a
significant advantage. If you view a lot of 768-line material you may
want to have your screen cut to a 16:10 aspect ratio so you can view it
full frame. With that set up, your HDTV material will be displayed in
1280x720, and there will be small black bars at the top and bottom of
the image.
On the other hand, if your viewing material is HDTV, DVD, and
television, you will want to use the 16:9 operating mode, which is
1280x720. In this mode, all signals that are not native 720-line are
scaled to 720 format. As a side note, one additional advantage to this
mode is that there is 24 lines of digital image shift up or down that
provide a similar function to physical lens shift. If you choose to
operate in 16:9 mode, you will want a conventional 16:9 screen. The
720-line image will fill the screen, and the extra few display lines at
the top and bottom (the small black bars) will fall invisibly onto the
screen masks or frame. Either operating mode works fine. But because
the HD72 gives you a choice of two operating aspect ratios, you must
think about how you want to use the projector before ordering the
screen.
BrilliantColour™
The HD72 uses TI's new BrilliantColour feature, and the implementation
is impressive. The system gives you the option to set BrilliantColour
in increasing levels of intensity from 0 to 10. At the lowest setting
colour looks weak, and the maximum setting colour seperation is
overdriven to the point that it is unnatural. But users will find it
easy to locate a setting somewhere in the middle of the range of
options that delivers rich, pleasing and natural colour. There is also
a separate colour intensity control labeled "True Vivid" which
ostensibly enables the picture's "vividness" to be enhanced. Selection
options are in the range of 0 to 3. Though some users may like the
effect, we found increasingly vivid to look increasingly unnatural.
In addition to the controls over colour seperation, there are three
preprogrammed options for colour seperation—0, 1, and 2, which
correspond to warm, neutral, and cool respectively. The 0 setting is
better for classic black/white films, 1 is best for colour film and
video, and 2 may be preferred for computer display. For those who want
to get into the adjustment of gain and bias on red, green, and blue,
these controls are available as well.
In short, the HD72 gives the user a uniquely wide range of
precalibrated, menu-driven options for adjusting the colour
characteristics of the image. It is exceptionally easy to use and fun
to experiment with. The novice will find it easy to obtain great
results without worrying about serious calibration, and the videophile
will have the controls necessary to tweak as desired.
Performance
The HD72 delivers a sharp, high contrast image with abundant colour
saturation. The picture is highly competitive with the LCD 1280x720
products that sell in the same general range of street prices. As such
it is the first DLP product in this resolution class to acknowledge
competitive realities and price accordingly. As far as image quality
itself is concerned, it sets a new benchmark in price/performance in
720p resolution.
The HD72 has two lamp operating modes—normal and "brite." When
calibrated for cinema settings, normal mode on our test sample produced
385 ANSI lumens, and brite mode boosted light output to 500 lumens.
Brightness uniformity measured a very good 90%, with light level almost
uniform across the left and middle areas of the screen, and fading just
slightly to the right side.
Fan noise is low in normal mode, and becomes more noticeable in brite
mode. This is not the quietest projector we've ever heard, but audible
noise is about typical of most home theatre products these days. One
quirk worth noting is that in Image AI mode, the lamp output varies
with the scene content, and the fan's rotation speed will vary with the
lamp output. So if the projector is located immediately behind and
close to the audience, it is possible to become conscious of and
distracted by the varying noise level of the fan. This is another good
reason to consider ceiling mounting this particular model.
While the image is highly competitive, it is not flawless. Nobody
should expect or demand perfection at such a low price. The most
noticeable image flaw in the HD72 is that manifests more image noise
than its LCD competition in scenes that are prone to noise. However,
this is typical of DLP projectors in general, and is not a unique fault
of the HD72. When placed side by side with 720p DLP projectors that are
much higher in price, the HD72's noise attributes are similar. So in
citing this flaw, it should not be taken out of context. Basically, we
wish most DLP projectors had less visual noise. But on the other hand,
we wish most LCD projectors had better shadow detail. There is always
something for the reviewer to nitpick about.
One less significant but nonetheless irritating nuisance was that there
was very little range on the HD72's remote. The projector would not
respond to a bounce off the screen when the screen was only eight feet
away. We had to point the remote at the projector to get it to respond,
and the range for direct line-of-sight reliable response was about 12
feet. The good news is that the projector's IR sensors respond reliably
to the remote when it is pointed directly at the top of the projector.
So you can ceiling mount the unit directly above the seating area and
simply point the remote upward with no worry that the IR sensors will
not see it.
Conclusion.
The Optoma HD72 is a formidable competitor in today's home theatre
projector market, delivering particularly outstanding image quality for
the money. We have marked it down a bit in features and ease of use due
to the limitations imposed by the 1.2x zoom lens, the lack of lens
shift, and a limited range remote. The performance rating is docked 1/2
star due to occasional image noise. But we can enthusiastically give
the HD72 a solid five stars for value. And if the HD72's throw distance
and fixed throw angle fit the geometry requirements of your particular
home theatre, then the limitations we have cited in this regard are
irrelevant to you. In that case, the HD72 will be a truly dynamite home
theatre solution, delivering one of the best images we've yet seen
anywhere near the street price range of £1300.
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Optoma HD72