Optoma HD72 Build Quality, Remote & Setup

What's inside the box?

The Optoma HD72 is well packed from the manufacturer to prevent shipping damage. The projector includes the following accessories: one set of 6-foot component video cables, one composite video cable, one s-video cable, one RS-232 cable, a backlit remote control, a lens cap, a user manual, a quick start guide and a power cord.

Physical Characteristics

The Optoma HD72 is a very handsome looking projector. The white gloss painted top, metallic silver sides, chrome zoom, and focus bezel make it look more like a fine Italian sports car than a home theater projector.

Remote Control

The backlit remote supplied with the HD72 is very ergonomic and the buttons are well laid out. We liked the inclusion of brightness, contrast, and aspect ratio buttons, on the remote. This provided easy to make adjustments on the fly.

While we give Optoma high marks for the design of the remote. The functionality of the remote was abysmal. The remote was almost useless at any distance beyond 8 feet and the operation was very sporadic. We found it very difficult to make calibration changes and enter the user menu using the remote. This may be a result of the remote, IR receiver pickups, or IR receiver placement on the projector housing.

Ceiling Mount Note
Be very careful when selecting a mount for this projector, not all universal ceiling mounts will work because of the unusual mounting hole pattern. We have learned (the hard way) that trying to get universal mounts to install correctly on projectors with strange mounting bolt patterns, does not always work.

Projector Mount or Prototype D-7 Klingon Battle Cruiser?

Set-Up

You Want Connectability?

Having this many inputs on a projector builds instant flexibility into your system. If your processor does not have HDMI or DVI switching or you don't like to run video signal through your processor, you can simply use DVI, HDMI, and component cables run directly to the projector. This is a great feature of having multiple digital inputs on a projector. In this configuration, you can manually select the input on the HD72 or let it search for the active input. Is that flexible enough for you?

Installation Consideration

Throw distance is the amount of distance you will need between the screen and the projector's front lens to fill the screen with the projected image. The HD72 has a zoom factor of about 1.2x, meaning that on a 92-inch diagonal screen (45 舡 x 80 舡 ), the projector would need to be installed at a minimum of about 10.6 feet and a maximum of about 12.7 feet. If you don't feel like doing the math, Optoma provides a distance calculator on their website.

Another very important consideration when contemplating a front projection installation is the projector offset. The HD72 is a fixed lens projector, which means it has no mechanical lens shift and it must be installed at a predetermined height for proper installation geometry. The Optoma HD72 does include vertical and horizontal image shift that moves the image up, down or side-to-side within the panel, but this should not be confused with a mechanical lens shift function.

The fixed projector offset for this projector is about 27%-32%, which is a pretty large offset. The use of this projector and a 92-inch diagonal screen should not be a problem in rooms that have standard ceiling heights of 8-feet when the projector is mounted on the ceiling. Using this projector in rooms with standard ceiling heights of 8-feet and 106-inch screens may be a problem due to the offset.