Optoma H27: The Speed Of Sound And Light

DLP projectors are becoming a favorite among home theatre buyers thanks to the intense quality of picture that they support. The majority of the population can’t see the darn rainbows anyway so why not give in and check out the new Optoma H27.

The price of this baby is extremely low and now thanks to companies like Optoma, the DLP projectors are competing with the LCD projectors and its an all out war! The Optoma H27 costs roughly $1300 US and has features that will put most other projectors in this price range to shame.

It’s becoming harder and harder to buy a projector these days knowing that a better and lower priced projector is right around the corner. With new projectors popping up every couple minutes you keep waiting, but there is no need to worry, the H27 should keep you happy for quite some time.

I mentioned earlier that there may be a few watchers out there who are “rainbow sensitive�, and I didn’t want to hurt their feelings, but the Optoma H27 can probably accommodate to these rare buyers. The H27 incorporates a six-segment color wheel allowing for the screen to refresh quicker and therefore reduce the chance of people seeing rainbows. This is virtually unheard of for most DLP projectors that are even close to this price range.

It may not have the brightest power, with 850 ANSI lumens, but since it was created for home theatre use this shouldn’t be too much of a concern. Simply make sure that you reduce the ambient light in the room to as little as possible. Sounds like a dumb thing to say but all those television watchers out there sometimes compromise in order to watch The Price Is Right with the curtains open (so quit your complaining).

The contrast ratio of the H27 is simply amazing spitting out 2500:1 of pure blackness. I decided to give it the Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events test and the prophecy was fulfilled. This movie is filled with dark scenes and the H27 came through on all counts (no pun intended). The H27 provided great black levels in the scenes where Jim Carrey is driving his speedboat around the ocean, the water is very black and everything else is saturated with the correct colors.

I saw no effect of the picture bleeding and colors blending anywhere and so I must conclude that I love this machine. Maybe this is why Optoma chose not to go with an overly powerful lamp and therefore leaving sufficient brightness without over-compensation. The projector lamp by the way is covered under a 90 day warranty so you don’t have to worry about getting faulty equipment and there are absolutely no questions asked. Along with the projector lamp the rest of the parts are also covered under a 2-year warranty including labor. Hopefully this will encourage other companies to do the same because the last the thing any buyer wants is to replace the projector lamp considering the price you have to pay.

The H27 has a native resolution of 854x480p, it must has some shortcomings, and projects a true wide-screen. The inputs are all there including DVI so no matter what the scenario you will be able to make a connection.

Personally I think that this is one of the better products that Optoma has come out with in a while and I give it 4 out of 5.