The Optoma UHD55 is an ideal instance of simply how a lot the common-or-garden beam field has developed over the previous couple of years. In line with a fast-growing variety of reasonably priced house leisure projectors, it combines assist for each 4K and excessive dynamic vary photographs with a startlingly vivid mild output, sturdy gaming options, and even built-in video streaming assist. The times the place a projector at this value might solely be anticipated to passively ship uninteresting photos from solely exterior sources that you just’d want to observe in close to whole darkness are lengthy gone.
Making an attempt to accommodate all of the calls for of recent house leisure life, although, can pose fairly a problem for a projector’s image high quality – particularly on the comparatively reasonably priced finish of the market. So has Optoma managed to get the UHD55’s function and efficiency stability proper?
Worth
The Optoma UHD55’s £1400 / $1799 / AU$2799 value is fairly reasonably priced for a lamp- (moderately than laser-) based mostly DLP projector that helps 4K and HDR playback. Particularly one with a built-in streaming system and sufficient mild output to doubtlessly stay watchable in pretty vivid rooms.
There are 4K HDR projectors that price much less as of late, however the majority of these don’t again these core image options up with the type of impressive-looking secondary picture specs claimed by the UHD55.
Design
Though its dimension and sculpting are fairly run of the mill, the UHD55 manages to be a quick dresser because of its crisp white end, a nifty combination of textures on its prime edge and an uncommon however attractively ‘gadgety’ optical lens shift wheel that hangs partially over the window you utilize to entry the lens’s zoom adjustment. Focus is adjusted utilizing a hoop across the lens’s entrance.
The lens is promisingly massive and offset to the proper, whereas a big quantity of grilling across the projector’s sides fortunately manages to let loads of lamp warmth out with out letting out a lot mild.
The projector’s underside, in the meantime, carries easy screw-down ft that can assist you get its photographs beaming to the proper top in your wall or, ideally, display.
The UHD55 ships with an unusually small distant management that’s simple to lose down the couch, but in addition simple to make use of when yow will discover it. It’s brightly backlit, too, making it usable in even essentially the most blacked out film room.
Options
Working our means from the Optoma UHD55’s outdoors in, it’s nice to discover a projector this reasonably priced offering vertical picture shifting that can assist you get photos in the proper place with out having to mess about with image-distorting keystone correction.
The massive lens delivers a throw ratio of 1.21:1-1.59:1 and a strong 1.3x degree of optical zoom, whereas connections embody two HDMIs, three USBs (one for 5v output or service use solely), a VGA port, an RS-232C management port, a 12v set off port, an optical audio output, and a 3.5mm phono audio loop by.
These latter ports alert us to the presence contained in the UHD55 of a built-in audio system. That is rated to 10W, greater than you get with most built-in projector sound methods, however it solely feeds right into a single mono speaker.
The HDMIs assist 4K at 60Hz or HD at 120Hz, making the projector doubtlessly enticing to avid gamers. An attraction it bolsters by protecting enter lag to an impressively low 16.9ms when working in its Enhanced Gaming mode.
Turning our consideration to the UHD55’s innards, it makes use of a single-chip DLP optical system delivering a claimed 4K decision. In fact which means that a 4K picture is created by a number of flashes per body of a less-than 3840 x 2160 roster of the DLP’s digital mirror units. Some will argue that this isn’t true 4K, however the Client Expertise Affiliation within the US reckons it qualifies, whereas our personal experiences counsel it could actually ship a a lot closer-to-true-4K picture than different ‘pseudo’ 4K approaches.
Past the helpful bodily picture set-up instruments mentioned already, the UHD55’s menus embody a surprisingly subtle, multi-point picture geometry adjustment that doubtlessly permits you to compensate for bulges in your wall, in addition to a sequence of wall color compensation choices.
The UHD55’s 4K decision isn’t the one large quantity on its spec sheet. It additionally claims a severely excessive peak brightness of 3600 lumens and an much more promising distinction ratio of 1,200,000:1. This latter determine, although, would be the results of a heady mixture of optimism and dynamic mild administration, that means you’ll nearly actually by no means get near such a distinction ratio throughout real-world viewing. Two dynamic image modes are supplied: Dynamic and Eco+.
Optoma UHD55 tech specs
Show Expertise DLP
Decision 3840 x 2160 by way of double flashing
Display dimension As much as 302.4 inches
Brightness 3600 Lumens
Mild Supply Lamp
As with most HDR-capable projectors, the UHD55’s HDR format assist consists of the HDR10 and HLG codecs, however not the extra superior Dolby Imaginative and prescient or HDR10+ methods. The 3600 lumens of claimed brightness ought to assist the projector get extra affect out of HDR than many projectors – supplied the distinction lives as much as its billing as properly.
The excessive brightness can also allow the UHD55’s photos to stay watchable in ambient mild, in addition to serving to to fight the inevitable dimming impact you get if you don (not included) glasses to make the most of the projector’s 3D capabilities.
Optoma claims the UHD55 can cowl a formidable (for its cash) 97 per cent of the DCI-P3 digital cinema spectrum. This bodes properly for the UHD55 avoiding the washed out, flat colors you may get with very vivid shows that don’t carry a commensurate color vary.
Essentially the most shocking factor concerning the UHD55 is how sensible it's. It runs a customized model of Android TV, and may be related to your community by way of Ethernet or wi-fi. This customised Android system doesn’t assist Google Play Providers, although, and whereas it’s doable to get apps for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube, these apps haven't been optimised for the projector and so ship sub-standard outcomes. You’d be higher, in all honesty, including an exterior streaming stick if you wish to stream into the projector.
You may as well play recordsdata from USB sticks, and a Inventive Forged system/app is available that can assist you share content material – together with paperwork in addition to photographs – from Android, iOS, Home windows, MacOS or Chrome units. There’s even assist for each the Alexa Good Residence or Google Motion (Residence) Digital Assistant voice management methods. Although actually, with the primary streaming system being so ineffective, we don’t discover ourselves feeling inclined to make use of any of the UHD55’s sensible options all that a lot.
Image
Whereas the Optoma UHD55 talks a very good discuss, its photos aren’t constant sufficient to make it the house leisure hero we had been hoping for.
The UHD55’s most basic drawback is its underwhelming black degree response. Darkish scenes and darkish elements of the image look distinctly gray moderately than black, instantly denying them the type of immersive naturalism and sense of depth the projector is able to delivering throughout vivid scenes and pictures. Particularly because the greyness can successfully crush delicate particulars in darkish scenes out of the image.
That is very true when utilizing the Vibrant preset the projector defaults to with excessive dynamic vary content material. Nevertheless, whereas switching the projector to its a lot much less vivid Eco mode takes the sting off the darkish scene greyness, it additionally takes a lot brightness out of the image that it not seems to be like HDR.
The most effective stability between black ranges and brightness with HDR sources is achieved utilizing the UHD55’s Dynamic or Eco+ modes, which manipulate the projector’s brightness in response to the picture content material being proven. Each of those presets make the picture immediately and massively extra satisfying. In reality, the distinction they make if you toggle to them throughout a darkish scene is so profound that it feels such as you’ve instantly wiped a glob of outdated chip fats off the lens.
Sadly, although, the aid you immediately really feel from shifting to one of many dynamic image settings proves quick lived. You shortly begin to discover that the picture doesn’t look steady prefer it did in Vibrant mode, because the dynamic iris retains adjusting mild ranges so aggressively that you would be able to clearly see jumps within the picture’s brightness at any time when there’s a pointy lower between a darkish and light-weight shot, and vice versa.
In reality, when there’s a pointy lower from a darkish to a really vivid shot, the UHD55’s response when utilizing its Dynamic or Eco+ modes may cause the image to really flash like a bolt of lightning earlier than settling right down to a extra steady degree.
Much more distractingly, the UHD55’s over-eager dynamic mild management system doesn’t solely trigger distracting mild degree leaps when there’s a pointy lower, you possibly can at occasions additionally see distinct shifts in brightness inside a single shot if one thing enters the picture that considerably adjustments its brightness degree. As Betty Ripsom’s mum waits forlornly outdoors the college for her daughter in It Chapter 1 on 4K Blu-ray, for example, somebody walks throughout the body in entrance of her at one level, inflicting the complete picture to obviously dip in brightness on the UHD55 earlier than it pops again up once more as soon as the jaywalker strikes off the opposite facet of the picture. These type of in-shot inconsistencies are much more distracting than the lower jumps, and sadly each points crop up with irritating regularity throughout just about any HDR movie.
At this level we should always stress that in Dynamic and, particularly, Eco+ mode, the core of the UHD55’s photos is definitely fairly sound. Distinction goes from poor in Vibrant mode, for example, to no less than respectable, which additionally helps the projector promote its 4K detailing and sharpness extra emphatically. The spectacular readability isn’t accompanied by any tell-tale indicators of over-aggressive sharpness processing, both; all the things seems to be clear and pure.
The UHD55 handles movement exceptionally properly in its default settings too, mildly ‘calming’ the type of judder 24p sources may cause with out making the picture really feel synthetic or beset by undesirable processing unwanted side effects.
Having much less black degree greyness to compete with within the Dynamic or Eco+ modes additionally helps colors in vivid scenes usually seem with extra vibrancy, dynamism and authenticity than they do utilizing the Vibrant mode. Optoma’s huge color gamut claims are clearly extra than simply advertising hype.
Given how vivid and vibrant the UHD55’s image can get, it runs surprisingly quietly whereas, as predicted, the UHD55’s excessive brightness makes its photos extra watchable in ambient mild than these of many house leisure rivals.
Its photos are affected impressively little for such a light-weight cannon, too, by DLP’s so-called ‘rainbow impact’ fleeting color stripe drawback.
The UHD55’s core black degree and light-weight management points imply, although, that it could actually’t adapt to darkish room film nights in addition to we’d like. And whereas its lack of rainbowing is sweet, different elements of its color efficiency spotlight once more how tough/inconceivable it's to choose a single, constant UHD55 image setting that works for each picture state of affairs a movie usually throws up. It is because, throughout darkish scenes, the Dynamic or Eco+ modes you'll want to deploy to take pleasure in something like a convincing distinction efficiency trigger color saturations to look a lot flatter and extra pale than they do in vivid scenes. And the one method to restore color punch throughout darkish scenes is to modify to the Vibrant preset – which suggests placing up with this mode’s washed out black ranges.
Ultimately, we discover that the sunshine and color stability points related to the UHD55’s Dynamic and Eco+ settings really drive us to choose the Vibrant preset for many film viewing, regardless of its substantial black degree limitations. So we by no means really feel fairly as happy with the image as we should always.
Sound
Regardless of having a bit extra energy to its identify than most projector sound methods, the UHD55’s audio ought to nonetheless be regarded as an audio answer of final resort.
For starters you possibly can inform it’s only a mono speaker answer because it lacks the readability and scale of presentation you’d usually get with a stereo set-up. And because the sound struggles to flee past the confines of the projector’s bodywork, it doesn’t actually ever sound prefer it’s coming from the photographs it’s speculated to be accompanying.
An absence of bass leaves dense soundtrack moments sounding a bit tinny, too, however its potential to go fairly loud and ship dialogue with shocking readability does imply that it's no less than usable for very informal (suppose sporting occasions or Love Island…) viewing.
Verdict
Whereas the Optoma UHD55 can look nice at occasions, when the photographs you’re watching play to its strengths, its hyperactive mild adjustment system and below-par native black ranges in the end make it inconceivable to choose an image set-up that delivers the type of consistency required for a very immersive house leisure expertise.
SCORES
- Image 3
- Sound 3
- Options 4
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