Optoma HD71 Home Theater Projector Review - Image Quality 2

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Art Feierman

Next up, also from Lord of the Rings, is this overexposed image of mountains and a shed in the foreground. By overexposing, we overcome the camera's limitations so that you can see the dark shadow details lost by the camera at normal exposure. Compare, looking at the shed on the right, the posts on the left, and along the ground! First row: Left - HD71, Right, PT-AX200U, 2nd row: left, Epson Home Cinema 720, right: the older, less bright Optoma HD73 (which uses the Darkchip3).

Optoma HD71 Shadow Details - Comparison 1

Optoma HD71

PT-AX200U

Epson Home Cinema 720

Optoma HD73

From Space Cowboys, this image of Clint is in a very dark room only illuminated by a down facing table lamp.

the Optoma HD71. For comparison, the image is the Epson Home Cinema 720. The Optoma image is just a touch darker, and if you allow for that you quickly realize that they are similar in performance, looking at the window shades (the whole right side). If anything, the HD71 has a slight edge here.

The next one is the Panasonic PT-AX200U, on the same image, in this case, the Panasonic is definitely brighter than the other two, but even more so, you can see more shadow detail on the Panasonic than the other two, and, for that matter, it is producing slightly blacker blacks. The white in the blinds is more visible, and you far more easily make out the reflection from the glass behind the shades, right above his hand and bottle!