Optoma HD151X review

WIRELESS HDMI KIT

The HD151X also supports Optoma’s wireless projection technology, so you can move your projector round the room without having it tied to your AV cabinet. The WDH200 kit doesn’t come in the box, sadly, but it will only set you back another £200 (from www.projectorshop24.co.uk) compared to BenQ’s £236 system.

Much like BenQ’s Wireless Full HD Kit, the WDH200 kit has both a transmitter and receiver. In the same room, we were able to place the HD151X and our PS3 about 35ft apart with several boxes and obstacles in the way before the signal started cutting out. This puts it on par with BenQ’s system, but while we had to place the WDH200’s transmitter and receiver in rough line of sight, we didn’t have to have them facing each other to get a clear picture.

Even more impressive was the WDH200’s range between rooms. Whereas BenQ’s system only managed about 12-15ft when we placed our PS3 in the next room, the WDH200 achieved more than double this distance with the same number of obstacles in the way, as we got to the other end of our testing room roughly 30ft away and still had a clear picture. This makes Optoma’s WDH200 the superior wireless projection kit.

3D KIT

The HD151X is 3D-ready as well. Once again, it doesn’t come with either a pair of 3D glasses or the 3D emitter system in the box, but it’s compatible with both Optoma’s current ZF2100 system (part code: E1A3E0000001, £80 from www.projectorplanet.co.uk) and its brand new ZF2300 kit (part code: E1A3E0000004). We tested it with the ZF2300 glasses, and the 3D in Avatar was excellent. We saw no signs of crosstalk and the Na’vi subtitles were crystal clear no matter where we sat in relation to the screen.  You don’t get many 3D options to play with in the settings menu, but we were more than happy with its default settings.

CONCLUSION

The Optoma HD151X may be roughly the same price as the BenQ W1070+, but we think it’s ultimately the better buy. Its optional wireless covers a much larger area than BenQ’s, and its greater amount of lens shift and longer throw ratio make it much easier to set up. Likewise, its brighter lamp gives the projector the edge when watching films during the day. You’d be hard pushed to find a better and more flexible projector for less.