It seems like I’ve been seeing a lot of displays with odd resolutions these days. This one is no exception, and Audioholics has a review of this 1280 x 768 DLP projector. While this resolution is odd, it’s quite common in DLP circles. I don’t know why they don’t just use 1280 x 720 and make things simple on themselves.

This projector is 1300 lumens bright and has a contrast ratio of 3500:1 (full on-off) and 5000:1 in AI mode. It uses a 7 segment 4x colour wheel. It has an HDMI input as well as a DVI/HDCP one. The MSRP is two grand, which isn’t bad for a projector like this. The zoom lens on this projector is only a 1.2x lens, which doesn’t give the flexibility other projectors in this price range offer. Neither does it have a vertical or horizontal lens shift, though it does have digital keystone correction, a poor replacement.

The good news is that this projector has quite a good image processor. Its scaling and de-interlacing perfomance was quite good. The projector did have problems with noise reduction though. The blacks and dark greys this projector produced were very good. Though again, noise in dark scenes was a small problem. The projector rendered colours very accurately.

Conclusion? “The Optoma HD72 projector produced incredibly sharp, well-defined images. It also has some of the best colors and black levels we have seen in a projector under $3500. The projector’s input flexibility, impressive feature set, and styling are things normally found on projectors at much higher price points. Optoma’s impressive two-year warranty and no dead pixel policy make this an easy recommendation. The lack of lens shift may be a consideration for those who cannot mount the projector precisely within a home theater environment.”

Optoma HD72 DLP Projector Review