Optoma UHD50X Cinema Gaming Projector Review

Gaming projectors, as a class, have been around for a while. Like a gaming PC, a gaming projector will have the same core components as a home entertainment projector. Still, many of these components will operate at much higher levels of performance than a standard projector. Some of these critical differences include the projector’s refresh rate, low input lag, and the ability to produce superior contrast. This level of performance provides the gamer with the ability to identify objects in the extreme ranges of bright and dark areas of the picture and keep from being fragged by an enemy.

Gaming projectors are specifically optimized to work with gaming consoles and high-performance gaming computers that can output a higher dynamic range of colors, higher resolutions, and much faster refresh rates. In addition to video performance, sound quality is also critical. Put simply, these projectors do more than offer a bigger and better television screen; they offer a performance level that was, until recently, the exclusive purview of gaming displays.

Optoma classifies the UHD50X as the world’s first 240Hz Cinema Gaming Projector. Optoma is focusing heavily on both the input lag rating of the UHD50X when it comes to gaming, listing an input lag of 15.7 milliseconds in Enhanced Gaming mode, and that the UHD50X is a 4K home theater, or what Optoma calls a Cinema Gaming Projector. There are many capabilities in the UHD50X 4K that, at its heart, are driven by a Texas Instruments .47 DMD imager with Texas Instruments (TI)’s proven pixel-shifting technology. This technology allows the UHD50X to display accurate 4K resolution on screen using a single mirror to create multiple pixels faster than the eye can see.

The UHD50X has a manufacturer lumens rating of 3,400 ANSI lumens and a contrast rating of 500,000:1. Optoma has upped their game on this DLP® (Digital Light Processing) projector by choosing to use DLP BrilliantColortechnology and an 8-segment color wheel that Optoma says will produce “the truest and most accurate colors,” presumably, in this class or price point. You better believe that we’re going to check it out. Finally, Optoma is touting the UHD50X’s HDR (High Dynamic Range) 10 & HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) support, which the manufacturer claims will provide “the brightest whites, deepest darks, and lifelike color.”
My goal is to provide you with a good idea of how the Optoma UHD50X lives up to the manufacturer’s claims and help you decide if this projector is the right choice for your home entertainment/gaming solution. So let’s get into it!