Optoma GT750 - Competitors

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Art Feierman

There's not too much to compare the GT750 to, so let's start with the closest competition. That would of course be Optoma's own GT720.

From almost any standpoint, barring a change in the GT720's price, the newer GT750 has to be the better value. Consider that it does everything the older GT720 can do, but is rated 500 lumens brighter. More importantly, it supports 3D 1080 resolution content as well as the 720p that the GT720 supports. Considering it takes an external $300 box to add that to the GT720 - see our Viewsonic VP-3DI review - and that the GT750 is only supposed to be $50 more...

That really about covers it in terms of 720p 3D projectors marketed for the home. There are a number of business and education projectors with 3D abilities that might share some features, but the GT750 is optimized for the home, even if it shares a "cross-over" design with more business like projectors. You'll note it has modes like Presentation.

Now if you don't care about 3D at all, then you have some real alternatives. Not the least of them is the now aging, but still solid Optoma HD20. With a price only $100 higher, you get a projector that's no match in brightness (maybe half the brightness), but you are getting 1080p native resolution.

Other projectors that also compete would include competitors of the HD20, including the Vivitek H1080. That's basically giving you a choice of a 3D /2D projector at 720p or one of the low cost, entry level, 1080p projectors.

One additional alternative is the Epson Home Cinema 705, released last year. It has good brightness, but no 3D abilities. It's 3LCD rather than DLP. The two should be similar enough in measured brightness. The strengths of the Home Cinema 705 include a better, and longer (2 year) warranty, and an even longer life lamp than the GT750 sports. One other thing, at 720p resolution, the pixels on 3LCD projectors start getting a bit noticeable, giving a DLP projector an edge in that regard. Interesting comparison, two different projectors, similarly priced. (By now, the Epson is probably the less expensive of the two, since when it was reviewed a year and a half ago, it was the same price then, as the GT750 will be when it launches soon.

I don't think you can find them anymore, but if you could, another about $1000 projector was the Panasonic PT-AX200U, a very bright 3LCD projector that was well known for also being good for gaming. Panasonic emphasised that. The Panasonic - 2D only, has far greater placement flexibility than any of the others mentioned here, and easily can be rear shelf mounted as well.