Optoma HD25-LV Projector - Physical Tour 3

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Art Feierman

Optoma HD25-LV Lens Throw

The manual lens has a 1.2:1 zoom ratio - typical for most low cost DLP home theater projectors.

For a 100 inch diagonal, 16:9 screen, the projector (measured from the front of the lens), can be placed as close as 10 feet 10.5 inches to 13 feet 1 inch.

This type of throw distance is also very typical for a DLP projector. This gives you just over 2 feet of placement flexibility for a screen of that size. Looking at a larger or smaller screen, you can calculate the distances easily from the numbers above. (A 10% larger screen - 110" diagonal would have distances 10% greater for both closest and furthest away...)

HD25-LV Projector - No Lens Shift

No lens shift for the Optoma HD25-LV, so mounting or placing the properly is critical if you don't want to have to use keystone correction (which does slightly degrade the picture).

The projector does offer Image Shift, however, which can come in handy.

This Optoma HD25-LV has less lens offset than many past Optoma projectors (and a number of other DLP models with no lens shift). That's a good thing. For that same 100" diagonal screen, the Optoma HD25-LV, when ceiling mounted, needs to be placed (measured from the center of the lens) almost exactly 8 inches above the top of the screen surface - or if on a table, 8 inches below the bottom of the screen surface.

Most previous Optoma projectors had a lot more offset - typically more like 18 inches worth. This configuration on the HD25-LV allows more folks to own and properly place the HD25-LV in their rooms. Unlike those projectors with that extra offset, the HD25-LV should work in most rooms with 8 foot ceilings, with all but the largest screens.

Anamorphic Lens - Wide Screen

Not surprising, no support for an anamorphic lens, which makes perfect sense.

It is incredibly unlikely that anyone would want to pair an anamorphic lens with a $999 home theater projector, or even a $1500 one, considering that an anamorphic lens typically is around $2000, and with a motorized sled, more like $3000 or more.

This is doubly true now that projectors with lens memory can be purchased, saving the need for considering an anamorphic lens. (Both Lens Memory, and Anamorphic lenses have trade-offs). You have more pixels in use with cinemascope movies (widescreen) with the anamorphic lens, but, you are giving up 1:1 pixel mapping which has to add some softness.