Summary: 2005-09-15 06:21:33 We have had several days to try out the exciting new Optoma Movietime Video Projector and have even visited a few friends at home. From a picture size of six feet to over fifteen feet, the quality was fantastic. A thrill was showing the fifteen foot image on the white wall above a fireplace in a room with a vaulted ceiling. Just plugging the projector into the wall outlet and putting it on a chair turned the room into a true home theater. The built in sound system and speakers were more than enough for enjoyment. I also feel that the built in DVD player adds to the exceptional picture quality because there are not wired or analog connections to introduce loss...you get direct digital perfection.
The contrast (deep blacks) on this machine are as good as any I have ever seen. The color saturation (rich reds, blues, etc) is so intense that colors literally sparkle like they do on Plasma screens much smaller.
The sharpness is excellent. You can even place this machine on the floor and still have proper viewing area height. They have designed the lens so that you don't have to be far back to get big pictures. For example, only six feet back will produce a six foot picture. Worried about having to have a darkened room? That will always give the best picture, but this unit has so much brightness (even on the bulb saving mode!) that you can enjoy video with normal brightness in the room. This was not possible with low light output projectors of the past. And it is whisper quiet, so you don't hear it running. The user menus are very straightforward and easy to navigate. Right out of the box, without any tweaking or adjustments we had a GREAT picture and perfect performance. The only thing I haven't figured out is how to automatically turn off the subtitles on DVD's. I can do this with the flick of a switch, but I may call Optoma on that question.
Another great experience was plugging in the cable TV box. High definition quality without paying high definition prices. And then connecting our camcorder into it...DVD quality pictures that we had just taken at the Media Super Sunday and at area restaurants singing and enjoying Anna's birthday. Even the dark scenes look good because this projector has a special circuit (new technology) to boost contrast in dark scenes.
Did I tell you about the beautiful carrying case included? It is padded for protection, very rugged, and looks embroidered with big "MOVIETIME" logo printed in. It will hold everything you need including remote, power cable, instruction manual, and accessory plugs. Has a velcro strip to secure projector from moving inside.
The projector has so many nice controls on the topside that you can forget the remote control and still do most functions.
Does this sound like they have thought of everything? Well, they HAVE. And read the effusive professional and user reviews on this machine and read the few user opinions here and you will know that Optoma also thought of just about everything when designing the machine that will change the scope of home theater.
We just tested the machine in our basement on our old crank down beaded screen. We got a fourteen foot (!) wide picture with the full eight foot height from floor to ceiling. Thrilling, as we watched "The Aviator" and were totally immersed in the screen experience. Sharp, vivid, and engulfing with the projector sitting on the floor. We did add a cheapie Radio Shack subwoofer/surround sound unit (on sale for half price at 49.95) to add the deep bass needed for the Dolby Digital Sound.
If you have been thinking of buying a new TV or getting into home theater....think no longer. This unit has only been out a month, but I have researched every available professional article, every post written on forums about audio-visual by users, and all are raving about this great new machine. It has a full warranty for a year and is backed up with excellent customer service.
To see this machine pictured from every angle and a lot more information about it, go to:
www.ausmedia.com.au/Op...
Note that this is an Australian web site, so pay no attention to the high prices quoted.
Finally, here are my first thoughts on this machine, after removing it from the box:
Weighing only seven pounds and taking up less space than a portable typewriter, this machine is revolutionary and will add new meaning to my new pet phrase "Have Projector Will Travel".
THE MIND BLOWING OPTOMA MOVIETIME DV 10 PROJECTOR!
My wife had to tell me to calm down after I unpacked the Optoma Movietime DV 10 that just arrived. I was acting like an excited kid, and why not with all that was hitting my eyes...like a beautiful shipping box with crystal clear photos and information, a very impressive and useful carrying case, and the actual machine-which looked smaller than I had imagined and a real eye catcher like a neat foreign car. A fine looking and versatile remote control, an easy to read user manual and other accessories rounded out the package.
I placed it on the coffee table near my Sharp XV-Z900 that sits at the rear of the room (now in its third year of use and on a second bulb), plugged it in and pressed the on button. I knew immediately from the Optoma start graphic that I was in for a treat. You simply pop a DVD into the top lid and close and it starts playing without any command. I began with Toy Story 2. Vivid and crystal clear. Then an old Sinatra favorite film, "Pal Joey" which looked nicer than I remembered. Then the Jerry Lewis "Nutty Professor" that has reds, blues and purples in the opening scene that are so intense that your eyes feel like your mouth does when eating a great piece of pepperoni pizza.
BUT the exciting test was "Lost In Space", because this is where the finer picture qualities were evident. I was quite used to seeing this on my Sharp, as it was my favorite demo for sound and action when people came to see our home theater set up. I was not prepared for what followed and I started jumping around (Anna said "calm down" two more times...but she was jumping up and down by then herself!). The gray frame bars I saw in the past were dark black and almost imperceptible on my Stewart Grayhawk 8 foot diagonal screen (BTW, the projector was only eight feet from the screen and filled it!). The jet blacks in outer space were awesome and the intensity and color of the sharp, noise free images were nothing less than exciting. Even the sound was damn good (no subwoofer hooked up yet) considering it was coming out of two small stereo speakers built into the Movietime. I had the video set to "Game", which is one of five pre-set choices and that seemed to give the most punch. I noticed that the brightness was only about forty percent up on this setting and it was plenty bright. I raised the picture to shine on our white plaster ceiling and believe it or not that looked even better.
I am sitting here still in my bathrobe and have much more testing and comparing to do and will report again. In the meantime, I say "look out" to the other projector manufacturers. This Optoma beauty is going to raise the bar for home theater and portable home theater tremendously!
PS. A sexy feature I liked is how the volume drops and then SLOWLY comes back up when you make any adjustments on the machine.
PPS. These sell for around $1,500.00...far less than most rear projection TVs and far superior. The folks at Best Buy and Circuit City won't point you in the direction of this projectors and others like it because their profit margin is very low on these.
For the technically minded, some important specs:
Uses the latest Texas Instruments DLP chip, the Dark Chip2
Contrast Ratio: 4000 to 1
ANSI Brightness: 1000 lumens
Lamp Life (200 watt bulb): 3000 hours in econo mode
Aspect Ratio: 16 x 9 native
Resolution: SVGA (854 x 480)
Speakers: Two five watt stereo
Color Wheel: 7 segment (including white); 4x speed
Noise level: 27db
Image size: 48 to 359 inches
Dimensions: 14.5 x 4.6 x 10.7
Weight: 7.8 lbs.
Warranty: 3 years
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