Though big screen Ultra High Definition televisions can offer premium quality viewing, there's nothing quite like a projector for an authentic cinema experience in the comfort of your own home. UHD projectors can be very expensive though, which is where Optoma believes it can help. Its new UHD60 projector flies under the $2,000 dollar mark, with support for High Dynamic Range, high contrast and onboard stereo sound.
Sony became the first company to release a projector capable of throwing an image onto a screen at four times the resolution of Full HD 1080p displays back in 2012, with a model priced at £16,799 (which converted to around US$26k at the time). And the company sounded on our sonar earlier this year with a HDR-compatible 4K model that carries an equally eye-watering suggested retail price of $25,000. Optoma's UHD60 retails a fraction of that cost, at $1,999.
There are less pricey Sony UHD projectors of course, and even cheaper 4K throwers from other brands, including Optoma. But the UHD60 does seem to undercut most of the models currently available while still managing to include higher end features.
The projector is built around a Texas Instruments 4K DLP UHD chipset that offers 3,840 x 2,160 native resolution at up to 24 frames per second and at 3,000 lumens, which translates to an image containing 8.3-million-pixels that can be displayed at up to 140 diagonal inches (though the projected screen size does run all the way up to 300 inches).
It's compatible with the HDR10 open standard for cinema-like colors from a REC.2020 gamut, and can even convert standard dynamic range to high dynamic range for enhanced contrast and improved detail. Speaking of contrast, the UHD60 has a feature called Dynamic Black that offers 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio.
Placement flexibility comes in the shape of 1.6x zoom and 15 percent vertical lens shift, and there are built-in 4 W speakers. The unit sports two HDMI ports – one 1.4 and the other 2.0 – as well as VGA, SPDIF audio out, USB and 3.5 audio in and out.
The UHD60 is aimed directly at consumer home theater installations, and is available from retailers now. Optoma has also revealed a slightly more expensive model designed for both corporate and home use. The UHD65 is priced at $2,499 and offers improved contrast, better color and image processing technology that's said to eliminate motion blur and judder.
Source: Optoma
