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Basically the WXGA (1,280 by 800) variation on the XGA Optoma X401 that I recently reviewed, the Optoma W401 shares many of the same features, including a light weight and a bright image. Rated at 4,500 lumens, it can easily throw a big image that can stand up to ambient light. And as with the X401, it’s light enough to make it particularly attractive if you need an unusually bright portable projector.
The W401 weighs 6 pounds, 6 ounces. That puts it in a weight class that’s most likely to wind up mounted on a cart or permanently installed, but is still light enough to carry if you need to. As with many, but not all, models in its weight class, it even comes with a soft carrying case.
What makes the W401 a little unusual is that it’s notably bright for the weight. As a point of comparison, the slightly heavier Editors’ Choice NEC NP-M311W($650.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window), for example, is rated at only 3,100 lumens. I have to add that because the W401 is DLP-based and the NP-M311W is LCD-based, these ratings aren’t entirely comparable. (More on that shortly.) To the extent that they are, however, the Optoma projector is obviously both smaller and brighter.
Connections and Setup
Setup for the W401 is standard fare, with a manual focus and 1.2x manual zoom, which offers at least some flexibility in how far you can put the projector from the screen for any given size image. For the 92-inch diagonal image I used in my tests, Optoma claims a throw range of 101 to 119 inches. Using the maximum zoom setting, I measured the distance at 100 inches.
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Image inputs on the back panel include the usual HDMI, VGA, and composite video ports, with the two VGA ports also working for component video. The HDMI port supports all HDMI 1.4a 3D formats, which means you can connect the projector directly to video sources like Blu-ray players and cable or FiOS boxes for 3D. The one connector notable for its absence is a USB A port for reading files directly from a USB memory key.
As with the X401, the W401 offers a VESA port for an optional ($49 list) 3D RF emitter. By itself, the X401 works with DLP-Link 3D glasses. The emitter lets you use it with RF glasses instead. The RF connection will eliminate the possibility of temporarily losing the synchronization between the glasses and the projector if you look away from the screen for a moment.
Brightness
As with most DLP-based projectors, the W401’s white brightness is different from its color brightness, which complicates any attempt to compare brightness. (For a discussion of color brightness, see Color Brightness: What It Is, Why it Matters.)
That said, as a point of reference, if you follow SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) recommendations, 4,500 lumens with WXGA resolution would be appropriate for roughly a 255- to 345-inch diagonal image for a 1.0 gain screen in theater dark lighting. In moderate ambient light, it would be suitable for roughly a 170- to 190-inch image.
For smaller screen sizes or dimmer lighting conditions, the W401’s Eco mode and assorted preset modes let you lower the brightness substantially. I had no problem finding a comfortable brightness level for either theater dark lighting or moderate ambient light with the 92-inch diagonal image I used.
Image Quality
Data image quality for the W401 was just a touch short of excellent in my tests. On our standard suite of DisplayMate(Opens in a new window) screens, color balance was good or excellent, depending on which preset I used, with the full range from black to white suitably neutral in most modes. Colors were also fully saturated in most modes, although they were a little dark in terms of a hue-saturation-brightness color model.
The projector also did a good job with detail, which is generally more important for data images. Black text on white and white text on black were both crisp and highly readable at sizes as small as 6.8 points, with white text on black a touch easier to read.
Video has the benefit of the projector’s WXGA resolution, which lets the projector show widescreen 720p input without scaling. Beyond that, the projector did a good job with some aspects of our test clips, but its obviously low contrast ratio left colors looking a bit flat.
The most serious problem for video is rainbow artifacts, with light areas breaking up into flashes of red, green, and blue. These are always a potential issue for single-chip DLP projectors. As is typical, the W401 shows them much more often with video than with data screens. In my data tests, I saw them occasionally, but not often enough to consider them a problem. With our video clips, however, they showed up often enough to be simply unacceptable for anyone who sees them easily. Unless you want to risk annoying someone your audience, the W401 is best limited to video clips of no more than a minute or two, if that.
3D and Other Issues
For 3D, you need 144Hz DLP-Link glasses for Blu-ray 3D, but for games and other types of images you can use either 144Hz or the earlier-generation 120Hz glasses. (This is not an issue for RF glasses.) In my tests, the projector handled 3D well, with no crosstalk and only a hint of 3D-related motion artifacts.
One last plus that the W401 shares with the Optoma X401 is an usually capable stereo audio system. The two 8-watt speakers offer good quality sound and high enough volume to easily fill a mid-size room. For still higher volume, or for a more obvious stereo effect, the back panel offers a miniplug stereo output for an external sound system.
Given the W401’s tendency to show rainbow artifacts easily with video, I can’t recommend it to anyone who needs to show more than occasional short clips. Even if you don’t see the artifacts easily, someone in your audience might. That said, it’s no worse than any number of other data projectors on that score, and if you don’t need to show video, this simply isn’t an issue. If you need a bright, WXGA projector for data images, and particularly if you can benefit from having one that’s light enough to carry with you, the Optoma X401 can be a more than reasonable choice.
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Source link : https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/optoma-w401