Hardware Review Optoma HD33 3D-capable 1080p DLP Projector Review (1 Viewer)

[Todd Erwin]

If you're looking for a general use projector, mostly for gaming and occasional movie viewing, then I would go with the GT750. If you are looking for a good, entry-level home theater projector that has 3D capability for movie viewing and occasional gaming, then I would recommend the HD33.

Originally Posted by gani /t/314580/optoma-hd33-3d-capable-1080p-dlp-projector-review#post_3858149
so... how fare the two compared to each other after your reviews?

 

[gani]

i was referring to the pictures in the reviews of http://www.projectorreviews.com
but like with the two reviews in this board here, they didnt make a comparison between the two optomas..
i asked the same question in the blog of the reviewer and hope to get an answers as to how representative he thinks the picture comparison is in this case.
http://www.projectorreviews.com/blog/2011/10/01/behind-this-door-projector-number-1-optoma-gt750-game-projector/
Todd Erwin, that sounds like i wouldnt be making a bad choice with either of them.... though, except for price, is there another reason besides the higher brightness that the gt 750 has going for himself regarding gaming?
edit: the price difference would be 330 usd where i live, and i dont remember any mentioned input lag for the hd33, though the non existance of lag for the gt750 got special mention

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Hmmm... The GT750 is 720p native, so right there, the Optoma probably has a significant advantage for BD (and other 1080 sources) playback. I guess there still aren't a whole lot of games that use 1080 res at this point?

RE: the high brightness characteristic and black level, the reviewer says this:

For the price I find it very hard to complain...but there are some things the Optoma GT750 could do better. Partially due to the extreme brightness of this projector, the black levels are not as strong as some of the other projectors that retail for a few hundred dollars more. It is in no way hindering to game play, but if you are used to playing on a higher level projector it can make some of the darker games like Resident Evil 5 seem washed out at times.

Anyway, looks like the reviewer never made the review images w/ the intention for side-by-side comparison between PJs, so it's probably not a good idea to use them that way.

_Man_

 

[gani]

as for games, most i would play would come from the pc, so... yes, there are a lot of games that use full hd and 3d. i just think that image quality tradeoff is... strange. i assumed that good black levels result in more details in dark areas. i dont like having to choose between detail in dark areas and good black levels.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Good black levels should mean (reasonably) faithful representation of the bottom end of the tonal range. The details should be there as a result, *but* that does *not* necessarily mean they are always easily visible (and easily captured by a still camera and then represented on the web). How easily visible they are depends on the original intended look of the image. Sometimes, the content creator only intends for the dark regions to look like shadows w/ very faint hints of detail, not for the detail w/in to be easily discerned as though they were fairly well lit compared to the rest of the shot, eg. deep shadows of a distant forest in a grand vista shot in bright midday light. Other times, the content creator may intend for the shadows to be the primary focus of the image and thus may design the image to reveal more easily visible details, eg. the area seemingly directly lit by a candle-light source in a candle lit scene, but not necessarily the entire scene in the darker corners of the scene where the light presumably should not reveal much of anything. Of course, the examples I gave are more or less on the opposite extreme ends of the spectrum and there will be a good deal of variations in between, but they serve to illustrate the point.

So in the end, how much can be easily seen *should* really depend on the image and its intended look itself, not merely on our own personal desires to see every little detail that can possible exist in those dark regions. Seeing the image outside of the intended look (whether that yields more visible details in the shadows or not) will essentially mean altering what the content creator had originally intended to show you. And in actual practice, achieving good black levels will probably involve some sort of compromises because of all the real world limitations that exist -- and don't forget that your actual viewing environment will have a lot of impact on what good black levels will mean in actual practice...

BTW, this is precisely why you often see grayscale log step bars presented along w/ whatever very well presented web images that are intended to be seen as faithfully as possible (usually on camera/photography sites w/ the bars displayed perhaps at the bottom of the page or in some separate display calibration page). They are there to help you adjust your web display to more faithfully present the web images they accompany to their fullest tonal range, so the whites, blacks and various ranges of grays can be all seen as faithfully as feasibly possible.

Hope that helps some...

_Man_

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

One other thing often overlooked that should probably be considered is that digital displays (and digital imaging devices in general, including higher end DSLRs) have some very finite number of tonal steps across the tonal range of its output. And depending on the actual distribution of those tonal steps across that range, you may get better whites, better midtone grays or better blacks, and it might be the case that the display maker chooses to make certain compromises to yield better tonality in certain areas at the expense of certain others, particularly for a lower end model/design.

This is where stuff like using higher bit-depth video processing, higher bit-depth DLP chips, etc. can make a diff.

For the most part, it's believed that typical human vision can perceive details in the shadows better than in the bright whites, so if there are tradeoffs, the makers are probably more likely to shift distribution of tonal steps toward the lower end of the tonal range where possible, if the intended result is a faithful presentation, especially of photo-realistic images. For instance, that's something Nikon does for their (slightly) lossy compressed RAW format used in many of their cameras (sometimes w/out the option for lossless compression for lower end models). And also in the case of cameras, you'll note that either the actual available tonal range or the actual granularity (ie. number of steps) of that range will tend to shrink as you do stuff like bump up the ISO, particularly into the extreme levels like ISO1600 and higher where you're likely pushing far beyond the native sensitivity of the sensor (or certain analog film technology).

_Man_

 

[gani]

i got a reply from the reviewer who took the pictures:
http://www.projectorreviews.com/blog/2011/10/01/behind-this-door-projector-number-1-optoma-gt750-game-projector/comment-page-1/#comment-173787
and a recommendation to wait for the epson 3010

 

[tanmaym]

Please help me with the setup.
Recently I bought Optoma HD33 3d projector with panasonic DMP-BDT220 3d bluray player. But I am facing a major issue, As my projector is not detecting the player when connecting through HDMI but it find it easily when connected through any other port ( RCA, component, S-video). To test projector I connected it my laptop, desktop, samsung galaxy s2, TV set top box through hdmi port and it worked fine for all. Then I connected the player to my LG HDTV (not 3d) through HDMI and that also worked without any problem.
Please let me know what is wrong between projector and the player and how to resolve it. Seems like some kind of handshake issue.
I tried with both HDMI ports. Projector keeps on searching for source ( I noticed it takes a little more time on the HDMI port where bluray player is connected. but moves to next without detecting)
To find the fault I connected projector to all sorts of devices I have with hdmi port and it worked fine on both ports
Also bluray player worked fine with HDTV and LED monitor through HDMI port.
(I used same cable for every test. However I am not sure if the cable is rated as high speed. Its 25 feet in length bought with my old projector. I tried other cable also 1.5 feet in length which I got with my HDTV set top box.)

 

[Silver Baron]

Hi. I am am new to the forum but have the HD33 for almost a year. generally very happy. Maybe a bit dark in 3D but that is unavoidable with the shutter technology. And it's really only noticeable when comparing to the non 3D version of the same film.
My question is, does anyone know what other 3d glasses will work with the HD 33? I.e. Samsung ssg-4100 and how to pair them?

 

[Todd Erwin]

From what I understand, any "DLP Link" 3D glasses will also work with the HD33 (you would need to turn on the "DLP Link" option in the 3D menu on the projector.

Here are just a few options:

http://www.amazon.com/Optoma-BG-ZD101-Glasses-Interchangeable-Pieces/dp/B003Q96CCC
My question is, does anyone know what other 3d glasses will work with the HD 33? I.e. Samsung ssg-4100 and how to pair them?