Optoma HD806 - Performance

Posted on December 15, 2008 by Art Feierman

Optoma HD806 Brightness

The HD806 is an interesting projector when it comes to brightness. There is no really significant difference between the various preset modes, and strangely Cinema is the brightest of the modes.

Below are the brightness measurements for each of the Preset modes, plus one for User, which is the post calibration measurement. For each, the color temperature for white (100 IRE) is shown after the lumen measurement. The presets below were measured with lamp on full brightness:


Cinema	1623 lumens @ 6594K
Bright	1475 lumens @ 6496K
TV	1330 lumens @ 7868K
sRGB	1534 lumens @ 6557K
User	1746 lumens @ 6447K

Post calibration, User mode (set up for best viewing), still yielded 1455 lumens.

Switching to low lamp, we remeasured the User mode, and came up with:
1393 lumens @ 6691K. That's a decrease in brightness of just over 20%. That 20% drop (for eco-mode) should be consistent, regardless of which preset mode you are using.

The HD806 has the option of auto (dynamic) iris, or fixed iris. Below are three measurements taken (User mode), with different fixed iris settings, to give you an idea of the brightness range:


Iris on 0	1746
Iris on 8	1437
Iris on 16	680

Pre calibration we measured these color temperatures (target is 6500K) over the grayscale range, for User mode:


30 IRE (dark gray)	6412K
50 IRE	(medium gray) - 6503K
80 IRE	(light gray) - 6528K
100 IRE	(white) - 6465K

The HD806 looks very good, both in terms of measured color temperature, and when viewed. More information is provided in the calibration section.

Sharpness

A sharp image has long been a strong point of Optoma projectors. The HD806 projector, which shares the same optics as other Optoma 1080p projectors, is definitely very sharp.

I found the default sharpness setting (7) to oversharpen, leaving the usual ghosts along bright lines against dark or vice versa. I liked the projector better with sharpness reduced to 3, maybe 4 on the menus.

The Optoma's sharpness gives the projected image a lot of depth, especially digital source material, be it a high def sporting event, or your favorite HDTV informational channel content, including Discovery HD, History Channel (HD), and so on. I've got the Giants vs. Cowboys Sunday night game on now, while writing, and it looks really crisp and clear. I know that neither my JVC RS1, or Epson Home Cinema 1080 UB is quite as sharp, not that I complain about either.

Top left: Optoma HD806, Top Center, Sanyo PLV-Z3000, Top right: Mitsubishi HC6500

2nd row left: Panasonic PT-AE3000, middle: Sanyo PLV-Z700, right: InFocus IN82