Optoma GT720 Projector - Image Quality-5

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Art Feierman

Optoma GT720 Projector: Bottom Line on HDTV Sports

Not bad at all, on sports. Oh, better blacks would produce a bit more sizzle even in those daytime football games and other sports, but, because most sports are devoid of really dark scenes, the GT720 does rather well. Oh, it lacks CFI - smooth motion, which many of us really like for sports, but, it does a nice job overall. The image is reasonably crisp as expected from single DLP projectors, even 720p projectors like this GT720.

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What does make the GT720 stand out, is the brightness. With this projector capable of over 2000 lumens, it's got twice the punch of what we consider a typical home theater projector. That's a good amount of brightness for your favorite family room, bedroom, or wall somewhere.

Here's what the back of our room looked like for the higher ambient light shots: Shutters were mostly open. The ceiling you see, is a very flat, very dark blue, and still reflects a lot of daylight. In addition, the side wall window's shutters (closest to the screen) were also partially open, as shown below. So, with all the back windows letting in a lot of light to the rear of the room, plus a little from that side window, and as you can see below, there's still a very watchable overexposed image, although it is definitely taking a hit to the contrast and blacks. Immediately below that, is a second shot of the same coach, just an exposure to match the image, which makes the rest of the room look really dark, but more closely resembles what the picture actually looked like to view.

GT720 hdtv football coach ambient over large

GT720 hdtv football coach ambient large

GT720 hdtv football coach darkroom large

Click to enlarge. SO close

The GT720 does well on a different kind of sports as well. I'm talking Wii Sports, and therefore other similar console games. The short throw lens you a pretty large image when placed within 4-6 feet of your screen wall. That seems to work out well. Besides when playing two player games, players are to the left and right as well as behind the projector.