The Optoma UHD50 is an impressive projector for several reasons, one of the most notable being that it has lens shift! This is a desirable feature for many. In my own home theater, I have my projector up on a high rear shelf and it is not even close to being lined up with where my screen is mounted. When I first fired up my projector, the bottom of the projected image was at about the halfway mark on my screen, with the top of the image spilling off onto the wall and the ceiling.
Since my projector has lens shift, I was able to bring that image down and align it with my screen without having to tilt the projector downward and use geometric correction. Why wouldn’t you want to use geometric correction over lens shift? Easy. When you have to tilt your projector in any way, the projected image takes on a trapezoid shape, and correcting it back stretches the image in some places, while possibly condensing it in others. This distorts the pixels, sometimes (most times) leading to a lower quality image. And if you paid for 4K UHD, any reduction of quality is unacceptable.
That said, you won’t have this problem with the Optoma UHD50! That lens shift capability isn’t always found projectors under $2000, and Optoma’s decision to implement that on this model makes us very happy at Projector Reviews! In addition to the lens shift, this projector also has great color, as we saw in our demo of the unit at CES 2018 back in January. Another awesome feature is that the projector can fill a 120” screen from just 10.5 feet back, making it a good choice for those who have smaller rooms but still want the big screen experience.
At a rated 2,400 lumens, the Optoma UHD50 is bright enough for a fully darkened home theater or media room with at least some lighting control. Originally priced at $1,499, the projector has since gone down to $1,399, making it the lowest cost projector in Optoma’s UHD line. The UHD50 accepts 4K content and even upscales 1080p content so that it appears sharper than it normally would. It also supports HDR, giving a more vibrant picture to 4K HDR content. Now, onto the Optoma UHD51A!
