What Hi-Fi? Verdict
A healthy price – but there is a performance drop, too
Pros
- +
Solid build and styling
- +
bright, colourful images
Cons
- -
Lacks absolute detail
- -
black levels could be better
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Despite costing £600 less, the Optoma HD83 ports a similar form to the Sony VPL-HW30ES. The spec sheet ticks all the boxes, too, with two HDMI inputs, a 1920 x 1080 resolution, claimed 50,000:1 contrast ratio and 1600 lumens brightness.
Two pairs of RF 3D glasses and the 3D emitter are included – the RF connection between glasses and projector aims to deliver a more robust connection.
Certainly, we have no great issue; its 3D performance is so-so, with reasonable depth and largely free of crosstalk.
Some image gripes
That said, we do have slight gripes with the image generally. The HD83 struggles to uncover detail in the darkest scenes, while overall detail levels can't match the competition even allowing for the jump in price.
It's much happier with bright, colourful scenes: The Hangover Part II has a very palatable picture, with clean whites and eye-catching colours – that need to be kept the right side of saturated when setting the projector up.
The HD83 will rightly tempt those on a precise budget thanks to solid performance, but in strict value-for-money terms, there are better options in both price directions.
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