Projectors, once you experience them, you just can’t get enough of it. There’s something satisfying about the texture of a projected image. The wall in my living room is off-white, big and calling out for projected images. Even if I put a 72-inch TV against this wall, it will look dinky.
Confession: News channels rarely get TV time at home because most of that is consumed on the mobile phone. For me, a TV or projector is for watching films with family members, watching a cricket match with friends or playing a few games. Even though movie theatres are thankfully doing better business than a few months ago, many of my friends keep asking what would be a good projector to have. You just can’t keep buying bigger television sets because the price curve points northwards.
Helping you reach a decision
The last two years have allowed me to experience and review plenty of projectors and the one currently under scrutiny is the Optoma GT1080HDR short-throw projector.
First, some explanation because that will help you plan a purchase. There are a plenty of specs when it comes to projectors but the important criteria are ease of set up, audio, image quality and, of course, pricing. You can buy DLP, LCD, LED, LCoS and laser projectors but it’s the first two that are commonly used at home while laser is becoming a popular option. Sky is the limit when it comes to buying projectors and that’s particularly felt while choosing a laser option.
The GT1080HDR uses DLP or Digital Light Processing technology. Both DLP and LCD projectors are lamp based, which obviously degrades over time but are more affordable. When we say degrades, we are talking about beyond 15,000 hours on the GT1080HDR.
Further, DLPs tend to be smaller, portable, offer good contrast and inky blacks while LCDs tend to have a slightly sharper image. Laser projectors are not lamp based. Unlike lamp-based projectors where a bulb emits light through a colour wheel to produce the image, laser projectors generate only the exact colours needed for an image. In the latter, pictures are brighter and come at quite a cost.
Let’s talk about the surface because it plays an important role in the quality of the projected image. I have an off-white wall with a very smooth texture. Every tiny bump on the wall reflects light and creates small shadows, which ultimately chips away at quality and brightness. In case you have a wall that’s rough, getting a cheap screen will help. Also, projection screens brighten an image noticeably.
So for me, the GT1080HDR makes an easy fit for my wall, which can easily accommodate 120-130 inches of projection.
The remote control is well designed
The experience
Setting up the projector is very simple. Place it on the table, adjust the front screw to level the image and manually adjust the focus. All of this will take hardly five minutes. When Optoma says short throw, it means it.
With short throw projectors you get a huge image but the projector needs to be one and two and a half metres away from the screen. Compare this with traditional projectors in which you need four to five metres for the light to pass through a lens and fill a screen. Short-throw options reduce the distance by reflecting light off internal mirrors before it goes through a lens and creating the same big image while remaining closer to the screen.
I needed to keep it around two metres away to get the best image. As the projector keeps running, it gets slightly warm, which is natural. So, it’s best not to keep it near your head while watching films. To change the size you need to physically move the projector. Overall, a reasonably simple set up.
What matters is picture quality. This one offers 4,000 ANSI lumens, which is an important indicator. Here it means that pictures are reasonably bright and clear even with most of the lights left on… some sunlight can stream in. It uses a six-segment RYGCWB (red, yellow, green, cyan, white, blue) colour wheel in which the white panel is partly responsible for the projector’s high brightness.
Most of the content I watched was via Google Chromecast and Blu-ray disc. The picture modes available are primarily meant for watching films or playing video games. To produce smooth motion, projectors need a high refresh rate. This is how many times a new image can be drawn every second. Here it’s 120Hz, which is quite good for watching sports content or playing games. There are plenty of inputs available. Overall, you get good contrast and sharpness.
Among the colour modes —Cinema, Game, and sRGB — I found the last one most pleasing. But if you are playing games, do change the mode because it helps brighten up dark areas, making it easy to spot details hiding in the shadows. Speaking of gaming, I am most impressed by car-racing-style games. Though first-person shooters are also quite good but some more sharpness would have helped.
All this brings us to the 10W speaker. It’s loud enough to fill a bedroom but I suggest you get a soundbar if this machine is meant to be kept in the living room.
Should you buy it?
By all means; it’s very easy to set up and operate. The remote control has dedicated buttons to choose picture source instead of making you scroll through a list. Be it Hang ’Em High or Free Guy, movie watching is popcorn-worthy fun. Overall, Optoma GT1080HDR short-throw projector offers pleasing and engaging colours. For its price, it has a very likeable picture.
At a glance
It’s a DLP projector that offers 4,000 ANSI lumens
Device: Optoma GT1080HDR
Price: Rs 150,000
High notes
• Easy to set up
• Excellent colour reproduction and contrast
• Good for content that has plenty of motion
• Versatile remote control
Muffled notes
• Speaker is loud enough for a bedroom but not the living room