Optoma Pico - Performance
5/8/2009 - Art Feierman
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Optoma Pico PK101 Brightness
Optoma claims a massive 11 lumen output for the Pico. Eight to twelve lumens is about what most of the manufacturers are claiming. We measured the Pico and it hit its claim.
The Optoma Pico actually measured 11.1 lumens set for full brightness, and dropped to 7.3 lumens in the standard brightness setting. Unless battery life is an issue, I can't imagine anyone using the low brightness setting.
This photo (right) shows an image projected from the Optoma Pico, approximately 30 inches diagonal. The image is from the movie Down Periscope - standard DVD) with the room darkened. This shot gives you a pretty good idea of how little ambient light is present in the room, mostly light leaking in from the closed blinds below the screen and reflecting off of the walls.
Sharpness
There are two limitations affecting the sharpness of the Pico. The first is its inherent, relatively low resolution - half of VGA (480x320), (similar to many newer smart phones in terms of resolution - including being the same as the Apple iPhone, which it can work with. The second limitation, the focus and lens combination. The focus itself has very little play in it, and it is very hard to get it to its sharpest. That said, if you keep the distance from your screen fixed - such as using the Optoma Pico with a mini-tripod, and fiddle with it a bit, you can hone in and get it as sharp as it is capbable of.
Light Leakage
None!
Audible Noise
Completely silent. No fan, no moving parts (other than the manual focus and volume controls).