Optoma EP739 review

Verdict:

Review Date: 15 Nov 2004

Price when reviewed: inc VAT

Reviewed By: Roger Kirkwood

Our Rating 3 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

Optoma's EP739 DLP projector is packaged in a plain, ordinary-looking bodyshell, but inside there's a capable business projector that's cheap to run.

Costs boil down to how many hours you can squeeze from the lamp, since it is expensive to replace at around £260. In Eco mode the EP739's rating is 5,000 hours of work before it requires another lamp, where many projectors run to only 3,000 hours.

The projector is also quiet in Eco mode, helped by the large 265x240x102mm frame, which makes it easier to disperse heat from the lamp. The 2.4kg bulk means it's not the most portable projector, but its weight is no great hardship for short trips.

Its native resolution is 1,024x768 pixels and, with a brightness of 2,300 ANSI lumens and an excellent 2,000:1 contrast ratio, it's possible to use it in a room that can't be darkened. The focusing is consistent out to the corners of the image and the crisp text it produces shows no sign of bleeding away into the background.

It's less impressive when playing movies, as DLP's customary rainbow effect, which breaks white into separate colours when you move your eyes, is particularly noticeable. It's also hard to pick out details in areas of shadow, which makes the EP739 strictly an office projector.

That shouldn't matter much to business buyers, but they'll find the untethered and ill-fitting lens cap a disappointment. The focus ring sits proud of the chassis front and, although the lens itself is tucked away inside, it's not as robust as projectors that have the whole mechanism behind the front fascia.

This isn't a perfect projector and it's not the best choice for regular travelling or occasional movie watching. But in the office its crisp image, quiet fan and impressively low running costs will be appreciated.

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