Optoma HD37 Home Projector Review – Performance Posted on July 2, 2015 By Art Feierman 1. Optoma HD37 Home Projector Review - Overview of the Optoma HD37 Projector - HD37 Projector Highlights2. Optoma HD37 Home Entertainment Projector – Special Features - Dynamic Black - HD37 Projector - Handling 3D - MHL on HDMI - HD37 Projector has Lens Shift3. Optoma HD37 Home Projector – Special Features 2 - ISF Certification - HD37 Lamp Life - Digital Zoom - HD37 has a 10 watt speaker4. Optoma HD37 Projector Review – Hardware Tour - HD37 Hardware Overview - Lens and Lens Controls - Control Panel - Inputs and Connectors5. Optoma HD37 Projector Review – Hardware Tour 2 - HD37 Remote Control - HD37 Menus - HD37 Lens Throw Range - HD37 Lens Shift Range6. Optoma HD37 Projector Review – Picture Quality - Out of the Box Picture - Picture Modes - Skin Tones - HD37 Black Level Performance - HD37 Dark Shadow Detail7. Optoma HD37 Projector – Picture Quality 2 - HDTV and Sports - HD37 Projector: Overall Picture Quality 8. Optoma HD37 Home Projector Review – Performance - Optoma HD37 Brightness - Zoom Lens Position re Brightness - HD37 Projector - Brilliant Color - Eco Mode vs Full Power - HD37 Sharpness - Audible and Image Noise9. Optoma HD37 Projector – Calibration & Settings - Optoma HD37 General Settings - Optoma HD37 Lumen Output and Color Temp at 100 IRE (mid zoom): - Optoma HD37 Post-Calibration - Optoma HD37 Color Temp over IRE Range (Post calibration): - Mike's General Calibration Notes10. Optoma HD37 Projector – Advanced Calibration Information - Color Management Settings - Mike's CMS Calibration Notes - Calibration Charts (Before and After) - HD37 Calibration Summary11. Optoma HD37 Projector: Summary - Picture Quality - HD37 Brightness - HD37 Projector: Home Entertainment or Home Theater - HD37 Value Proposition and the Competition12. Optoma HD37 Projector: Summary 2 - Optoma HD37 Projector Warranty - HD37 Value Proposition and the Competition - Optoma HD37 Pros13. Optoma HD37 Home Theater Projector – Specifications HD37 PROJECTOR REVIEW – PERFORMANCE: Brightness of color modes, Effect of Zoom lens and Eco Mode, Sharpness, Audible Noise, Image Noise Optoma HD37 Brightness HD37 Brightness in Lumens – Zoom Lens at Mid-point Picture Mode Brightness in Lumens Color Temp of White (100 IRE) Cinema 1475 6450K Reference 1228 6471K Vivid 1314 7376K Bright 1475 6471K, User 1314 7339K A quick look at the numbers in the chart, and you notice a few things. Other than switching Bright mode to Native lamp color temp, all the modes are within 150 lumens of each other – less than 15% variation, which is slight. Also there are three groups of modes in terms of brightness. If you look at Vivid and User mode, they are essentially identical, indicating that when Mike did his measurements before calibration, User was based on Vivid mode, as they share near identical numbers. User takes on the life of the last mode where you modified settings. Calibrated: Optoma HD37 – Best Mode: 1475 lumens Need more lumens? Well, of course we quote mid-zoom. At full wide angle, you get 1637 lumens – roughly 10% more, not enough for anything but a just noticeable difference. Setting the Color Gamut to Native gives colors a lot more punch – might help a lot with ambient light, but it doesn’t measure significant extra lumens. BTW, With Mike’s calibration settings Color saturation is set for 24. If you switch to Native, that will drop to something like -6. Zoom Lens Position re Brightness Effect of Zoom Lens Setting on Brightness (Bright mode) Zoom out (closest to screen – wide-angle) 1637 lumens Mid-point on Zoom 1475lumens Zoom in (furthest – telephoto) 1226 lumens Going from adjusting the projector’s lens for the closest distance possible for your screen size, to the furthest position (50% further back), results in a loss of about 25% of brightness. So that’s your brightness penalty if you choose to place the projector as far back as it can go to fill your screen. Merely going from wide angle to mid-point on the zoom, however results in a modest drop of 10%! These are fairly typical differences for a 1.5:1 zoom in home entertainment and moderately priced home theater projectors. HD37 Projector - Brilliant ColorA simple way to describe Brilliant Color is to say that it is a suite of settings and image enhancement algorithms, provided to DLP projector builders by the DLP folks at Texas Instruments. Manufacturers ultimately decide how to integrate. Here Optoma, for example offers ten different settings options. Some other companies offer only On and Off, or perhaps three settings. Mike, our calibrator usually reported that one extreme or the other had mediocre to lousy color balance. Effect of Brilliant Color Settings on Brightness Brilliant Color = 10 (max) 1475 lumens Brilliant Color = 5 (Reference mode) 1295 lumens Brilliant Color = 1 (minimal) 1228 lumens The HD37 defaults to 10 setting for maximum pop to the image in Bright and Cinema. Unlike some older Optoma’s and others with multiple Brilliant Color modes, the difference between maximum and minimum is modest – only 17%. We’ve seen projectors where Brilliant Color turned off, delivers maybe only 1/3 of the lumens of Brilliant Color at max. The implementation is the manufacturer’s choice, but TI – maker of the DLP chips provides the basic Brilliant Color technology. Consider the 1 setting on the HD37 to be Off. Eco Mode vs Full Power Effect of Lamp Mode on Brightness Bright Lamp 1475 lumens Eco Mode 1133 lumens Once again Mike measured using Bright mode. He found Eco mode dropped brightness down about 24% from full lamp mode. That amount of drop (give or take minor measuring error) should remain the same no matter which color mode you were to measure. Eco mode, of course reduces your electric bill, brightness, and also fan noise. HD37 SharpnessLike most single chip DLP projectors the HD37 has a real advantage over the multiple types of 3 chip projectors such as LCD and LCoS, which have to deal with aligning three panels. Of course you need “good glass” – a quality lens to take full advantage. This Optoma unlike many lower cost projectors (including other Optoma projectors, has an all glass lens (no plastic lens elements). The result is the ability to project a rather sharp image. The HD37’s menus look exceptionally sharp. Where there appears to be some softness, relates more to image processing than the optics. The second last image (the darker of the two PS3 icon images) is this Optoma. The other is the $1999 Epson 4030, a 3LCD design. That gives you some idea of the differences in sharpness relating to technology used. Audible and Image NoiseFrom a standpoint of fan noise, the HD37 is definitely on the noisy side at full power. For the “noise adverse”, Eco mode is reasonable, or reasonably quiet, although hardly silent. . Officially the HD37 claims 29 db (in Eco), which might be a touch optimistic. At times it does speed up or down, no doubt as needed to keep things cool. More importantly, if you do want to use Dynamic Black to lower black levels slightly, be aware that the projector must be in Full power (Bright) mode, so, the quieter Eco mode isn’t available when you engage Dynamic Black. Image noise is not an issue. As always, I must mention that I find most DLP projectors to have more background noise than other technologies. I’m not sure why, however, the HD37 like the HD161X seems a touch better in this regard than some of the other DLP home projectors to roll through here in the last year. 1. Optoma HD37 Home Projector Review - Overview of the Optoma HD37 Projector - HD37 Projector Highlights2. Optoma HD37 Home Entertainment Projector – Special Features - Dynamic Black - HD37 Projector - Handling 3D - MHL on HDMI - HD37 Projector has Lens Shift3. Optoma HD37 Home Projector – Special Features 2 - ISF Certification - HD37 Lamp Life - Digital Zoom - HD37 has a 10 watt speaker4. Optoma HD37 Projector Review – Hardware Tour - HD37 Hardware Overview - Lens and Lens Controls - Control Panel - Inputs and Connectors5. Optoma HD37 Projector Review – Hardware Tour 2 - HD37 Remote Control - HD37 Menus - HD37 Lens Throw Range - HD37 Lens Shift Range6. Optoma HD37 Projector Review – Picture Quality - Out of the Box Picture - Picture Modes - Skin Tones - HD37 Black Level Performance - HD37 Dark Shadow Detail7. Optoma HD37 Projector – Picture Quality 2 - HDTV and Sports - HD37 Projector: Overall Picture Quality 8. Optoma HD37 Home Projector Review – Performance - Optoma HD37 Brightness - Zoom Lens Position re Brightness - HD37 Projector - Brilliant Color - Eco Mode vs Full Power - HD37 Sharpness - Audible and Image Noise9. Optoma HD37 Projector – Calibration & Settings - Optoma HD37 General Settings - Optoma HD37 Lumen Output and Color Temp at 100 IRE (mid zoom): - Optoma HD37 Post-Calibration - Optoma HD37 Color Temp over IRE Range (Post calibration): - Mike's General Calibration Notes10. Optoma HD37 Projector – Advanced Calibration Information - Color Management Settings - Mike's CMS Calibration Notes - Calibration Charts (Before and After) - HD37 Calibration Summary11. Optoma HD37 Projector: Summary - Picture Quality - HD37 Brightness - HD37 Projector: Home Entertainment or Home Theater - HD37 Value Proposition and the Competition12. Optoma HD37 Projector: Summary 2 - Optoma HD37 Projector Warranty - HD37 Value Proposition and the Competition - Optoma HD37 Pros13. Optoma HD37 Home Theater Projector – Specifications Optoma HD37 Projector – Picture Quality 2 Optoma HD37 Projector – Calibration & Settings