With their combination of high brightness, rich colors and long lifespan, laser projectors continue to set new standards in home entertainment on large screens. And as Optoma’s new UHZ66 home entertainment and gaming projector proves, they’re now becoming more affordable too.
The UHZ66 meets all the important requirements of a laser projector. It claims a massive peak brightness of 4,000 lumens, an effective lifespan without the hassle of changing lamps of more than 30,000 hours (enough for about 15,000 films), and supposedly the ability to display more than a billion colors. But at $2,999 in the US and a truly eye-popping £1,799 in the UK, it brings these classic laser benefits to homes and media rooms around the world at a price that would have been unthinkable just a year or two ago.
Even the laser-based benefits I just described are just the beginning of the UHZ66’s appeal. First of all, the DLP-based optical system promises true 4K resolution. Some will dispute this claim, as the 4K resolution relies on DLP reflashing its digital mirrors multiple times per frame to create a 4K effect, and the UHZ66 does not actually employ separate 3840 x 2160 digital mirrors. However, this DLP approach to 4K was seen as the real 4K deal by the US’s powerful Consumer Technology Association (CTA) foundation.
Home theater fans will also be pleased that the UHZ66 has a peak brightness of 4,000 lumens and a high contrast ratio of 500,000:1. Finally, while high brightness can be an extremely useful feature for a living room projector (especially one that supports high dynamic range images like the UHZ66), when it comes at the expense of decent contrast it can arguably do more harm than good, when it comes to providing a balanced and captivating film experience.
The UHZ66 has two HDMI 2.0 inputs (one with eARC support for audio output to a connected soundbar or AVR) and to back up its claimed strong gaming credentials, it’s capable of outputting images connected to its HDMIs receives, playback with impressively low delay – just 4.4ms with 1080p/240Hz feeds and 17ms with 4K/60Hz feeds.
With a throw ratio of 1.4:1, the UHZ66 is capable of producing large images (up to 300 inches) without the need for a large workspace, and finally, the information Optoma has released about its latest projector, the first time we’ve seen a projector brand that clearly highlights the environmental friendliness of a model.
Here’s what we learn: 50% of the UHZ66’s casing is made from post-consumer recycled materials (PCR); 97% of the projector’s packaging is made from recyclable materials; The projector’s compact chassis (34% smaller than its predecessor) allows it to accommodate twice as many units in a single shipping container; The UHZ66 housing is completely mercury-free. and the projector reportedly uses up to 45% less power than traditional lamp-based models.
The UHZ66 should be available now from several electronics retailers in both the US and UK.
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