Vivitek D8300 Large Venue Projector Preview

When you hear the qualifier "Large Venue Projector," it conjures up images of 100 pound behemoths used strictly in commercial theaters or perhaps in larger conference rooms in schools and businesses. That is often not the case. Large venues have very specific requirements, the most important of which is that they aren't always operated with the lights dimmed. This means any projector likely to be used in such an environment would need to be bright enough to combat ambient light.

You mean a projector that can operate without full light control? Who would want that for their home theater?

The Vivitek D8300 projector is designed to be a transitional projector that can operate in multiple environments. With its 6500 lumens output, it can light up a very big screen in a less that black room. Unlike other business projectors, it has a Gennum 9450 video processor for scaling. While the Gennum chipset is a bit older, it does provide noise reduction for cleaning up video. Most business and professional projectors would assume you are using an external video processor.

The Vivitek D8300 projector is a native 1080p DLP model with two HDMI 1.3 inputs, BNC, VGA-In, S-Video, Composite Video, Component Video (RCA & BNC), RS-232c, 12V Trigger (x2), and Wired Remote Mini-Jack available. This should be more than enough for all but the most demanding power users. The 3,000:1 contrast ratio doesn't sound too impressive but, at CEDIA this year we watched a scene from Bee Movie. Blacks were still excellent thanks to the bright output and resulted high perceived contrast ratio. The real power of this projector is lumen output, however. You can fill a gigantic screen, or just play a really bright image with tons of ambient light. It's a product that has a really broad market and seemed to do very well at meeting its design goals.

The Vivitek D8300 sports a built-in 1.3x zoom with manual lens shift (+/-120% vertical and +/-30% horizontal) and keystone correction (±20º Vertical, ±35º Horizontal). The only issues you are likely to face with the Vivitek D8300 are the lack of 3D support (if that is important to you), noise (the projector gives off 45dB of noise), and throw distance. For a 100" 16:9 screen, you need 161.22" to 209.16" (13.45 feet to 17.43 feet). Lamp life is a fairly disappointing ~1500 hours as well. But these are the prices you pay for a super-bright projector.

Conclusion

Is the Vivitek D8300 for everyone? No, of course not. but it is a very nice projector for use in large venues like classrooms and boardrooms (and perhaps very large home theaters). The Gennum processor ensures that non-HD sources will look good and the plethora of inputs won't leave you searching for external switches. At 33 pounds, it it not the massive box the 6500 lumens of output would suggest. It will be able to light up a huge screen in a less than light-controlled environment. With this type of projector, that's the most important thing.

For more information, please visit www.vivitekusa.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.