I just got done playing with the new Optoma HD7100 projector. This is a new unit offering the latest DC3 1280x720 DLP chip from TI. This unit is the replacement for the highly acclaimed H78DC3 and H79 projectors and retails for $3495. The first thing I noticed is that Optoma totally redesigned the unit. To start, they are now using a 1.3-1.62x short throw lens. The good thing about that is that it tends to have a bit more brightness than longer throw lenses. The bad news is that for those with larger rooms and/or smaller screens, the unit will have to be mounted rather close to the screen. The previous H7x series used a 1.59-2.15x lens by comparison. The new HD7100 does now have not only vertical, but horizontal lens shift, which is a new feature. This is not commonly found on DLP units, especially in this price range so that is another bonus. The case itself is smaller than its predecessors, and in my opinion much more attractive. It has a sleeker, more modern look as opposed to the very box-like look of the H7x series. The case is also smaller, but don’t let that fool you. It weighs a strong 14lbs. The case is still the off-white color, but it has more of a pearlescent look to the finish which “fancies” it up. It offers a good selection of inputs, including composite, s-video, 2- component, VGA and DVI. I wish in their redesign they would have used HDMI, but it’s not a deal breaker. The remote control is well laid out, and offers some nice quick access features like contrast, brightness, gamma and white balance. Another big plus to the higher level Optoma units is their 3 year warranty. This has that as well which gives the consumer piece of mind.

I plugged the unit in and got out my test equipment first. I did a full calibration on the unit as to optimize for testing and screenshots. There are presets for various color temps, including the standardized 6500k. When I measured the color temp of my test unit, it actually tested out about 7010k…a good 500k more than the theoretical. For grins I switched to a couple other presets, and they also were off by about 500. Moving on, I adjusted the white balance to get it as close to the 6500k standard possible and ended up with 6491k. After doing the remainder of standard adjustments I put in some test material.

The first thing I noticed was the extremely deep black levels. The unit is rated at 5000:1 on/off contrast, so this was no surprise. This helps to yield a really deep image, full of rich, saturated colors. This was the most impressive part of the unit. I did notice something I don’t usually see on similar DLPs…pixel structure. At first I thought I was seeing things as at the normal distance I make my observations from, it isn’t noticeable. For whatever reason, it was on this unit. I don’t know what was causing this, but I am guessing that this is due to the high quality optics and their resolving power (sort of a mixed blessing). I found it distracting and a bit frustrating as usually at my 1.75x viewing distance, it isn’t an issue. The unit has good brightness as well. There are 2 modes, normal and High Brightness. At the normal mode, it was plenty bright enough to light up normal size screens, and the High Brightness is good for those with larger screens or excessive ambient light. The main drawback on the High Brightness mode is of course fan noise. In normal mode, the fan is pretty quiet (although from memory a bit louder than the older H7x series). However in the High Brightness, it is quite a bit louder (not unusual) and wouldn’t be ideal to use for a critical viewing experience.

Back to the black levels. Again, they were very deep, especially as compared to others in this price range. However, the blacks almost seemed to be crushed and I couldn’t get a lot of shadow detail. One thing that is nice is Optoma offers adjustable Gamma (not just a couple presets but rather more adjustable levels). I did play with that as to try and help bring out more shadow detail, and I was able to make it better, but not perfect. I don’t want to make it seem like this is a big problem, but there are some other projectors in this range that do better in this regard.

Finding Nemo

Some "real people" shots:

I, Robot