Optoma HD8200 Projector – Image Quality – 5

Posted on March 29, 2009 By Art Feierman

The next set of comparison images is from Space Cowboys. This is a very dark scene with Clint Eastwood, on Blu-ray disc. The photos are intentionally way overexposed.

Space Cowboys Comparison

HD8200

Sanyo PLV-Z3000

Sony HW10

Sanyo PLV-Z700

Panasonic PT-AE3000U

Epson Home Cinema 6500UB

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Look for the blacks in the shades, and the details in those shades in the form of the white trim. (At this level of overexposure, don’t even worry about the skin tones, as in these type of photos they always look terrible, and way oversaturated/too high contrast).

Satellite Comparison

HD8200

Epson Home Cinema 6500UB

Sony VPL-HW10

PT-AE3000U

Mitsubishi HC6500

Sanyo PLV-Z3000

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Again, from Space Cowboys, this is a cropped image. The right side is very bright (so dynamic irises will not be effective). The HD8200 (top left) has respectable shadow detail in the dark areas of the satellite, but the overall dark areas come out darker than on many other projectors, losing some shadow detail.

The re-entry image below, is a tough shadow detail test. Projectors with weak black levels and average shadow detail ability tend to generate an image where much of the right side of earth, looks to have that flat, lacking in detail look. All projectors pick up some of the brighter features on the right side, while better ones, pick up a lot more and usually have richer blacks as well. In this regard, the HD8200 projector does a pretty good job on shadow detail, but not exceptional, however, it also does not look as washed out as some other projectors, that have good shadow detail, but mediocre black level performance.