The Optoma ZU506T-W is a laser-powered Installation projector that will cover most of your projection needs. The ZU506T-W at 5000 ANSI lumens and WUXGA resolution. WUXGA is 1920 x 1200 a full 120 lines of more vertical resolution than 1080. The ZU506T-W has a specified contrast ratio of 300,000:1 when extreme black is enabled. You will also find a great range of connectivity on the ZU506T-W. There are 2 HDMI inputs, Composite video, HDBaseT, and a couple of VGA ports.

The ZU506T-W is a great projector for so many different applications. Laser powered and 5000 lumens this will be a great upgrade for the dim projector sitting in your conference room from a few years ago. Having a vertical lens shift and 4 corners geometric correction, the ZU506T-W will be a great upgrade path for many products that have become dim and outdated over the years.

If you have a current installation in your classroom or conference room and you want to refresh it with a bright powerful image. This could be the option for you. The ZU506T-W has the brightness to fill a range of images as well as perform in ambient light conditions. It is equipped with a 1.6x zoom which will allow you to project from 3.28’ to 32.8’ feet. You can replace that dim image you see every Sunday at church. Revamp that conference room projector that is hard to read. No more shutting off the lights, so you can see what is on the screen. The ZU506T-W has a full range of installation features to allow you to have a great image.

4K Into the Spiderverse from ZU506T

In this review, we’ll start off with a brief overview. I will go through some of the highlights of the ZU506T-W as well as cover its wide range of special features.  I will go through the in’s and outs of its hardware, we will tour the remote and the control panel. We will also discuss picture quality and performance. Offering up example images to point out its performance and best for viewing settings.  In the end, we will sum it all up for you on the last page. Delivering all the pros and cons you need to make a well-informed decision and know if the Optoma ZU506T-W is the right projector for your business or education application.

We wish to thank Epson America for sponsoring this year’s Best Classroom Projectors Report. 

The Optoma ZU506T-W is a full-featured projector. Which is why you see it billed as a professional installation projector. Delivering a brightness of 5000 lumens, it offers up enough performance to deliver a large vibrant image. A great feature is the laser light source. This allows the ZU506T-W to deliver a great image for up to 30,000 hours. That is a really long time for a 5000-lumen projector. Just to think, products like this used to only have 1,000-hour lamps, not too long ago. That is years of presentations and classroom discussions. That’s 10 years of use if you use it 8 hours a day. As we know most conference rooms get used for 4 to 5 hours a day. This could last you 20 years! Talk about a great return on investment.

The Optoma ZU506T-W is available from multiple resellers for around $3000 dollars. A quick search and you can find prices from $2799 to $2999. Which is a great bargain as this could be the last projector you ever purchase. The Optoma is also backed by a 3-year warranty. 3 years or 20,000 hours. Not to mention 3 years of Optoma Express advanced exchange. Optoma is really putting together some great warranty offerings.

There are many installation class features on the Optoma. Its native resolution is WUXGA (1920x1200) however it will support a 4K signal on its HDMI 2.0 input. There are also connections to support integration into your AV control system. You have RS232 for serial control as well as an RJ45 network port. This allows you to be fully integrated with Crestron, AMX and many others. Whether its telnet or web control. The ZU506T-W has you covered.

For audio, there are even 2 10W stereo speakers. Which is very generous. Most projectors in this class may have 1 8W mono speaker. The Optoma ZU506T-W has a lot of advanced functionality as well, with 4 corners geometric correction and even a DICOM simulation mode to view Xrays for medical training.

The Optoma ZU506T-W Professional Installation Laser projector is packed full of functionality. Driven by a laser phosphor light source and a high WUXGA resolution, this could be a fantastic product to replace that aging XGA projector in the conference room.

Sony's new VPL-VW665ES true 4K Projector is a substantial improvement over its predecessor.

No, the VW665ES isn't a revolutionary new home theater projector.  Let me qualify that:  Perhaps you could count all Sony 4K home theater projectors as revolutionary, since they are the only game in town.  Compared to 1080p, 4K is "the revolution."  It's what we large screen folks have yearned for, and deserve, and NEED!

The Sony VPL-VW665ES is a "next gen" projector based on the older VW600ES.  The key differences are huge:  First, black level performance has been taken up a notch.  When I reviewed the older model, if I had a complaint it was really good black levels.  Certainly respectable,  but not dramatically better than the best $2500-$4000 1080p projectors.  This new Sony's black level performance on dark scenes is definitely a step up, and that changes the value proposition significantly.  The other significant area of change is simply supporting more of the advanced performance capabilities specified by 4K Blu-ray UHD.  The standards weren't set when the original 600 hit the market.   This includes at minimum, support for 4:2:0 color depth, and support for HDR.  In other words, better picture quality with a lot more dynamic range and color depth.  That's major.  Sweet!

OK, that gives you a "taste" of what's to follow.  Let me just say that I have been more impressed with the VW665ES in the first couple dozen hours of viewing, than I ever was with its predecessor (which was pretty impressive.)

So, let's get started with an overview, and a list of highlights.  From there we'll get into the goodies.