Optoma UHZ50 Smart 4K UHD Laser Home Theater Projector | 3000 Lumens | HDR Adjustment Options | Cinematic Color | Flexible Installation 1.3X Zoom &…

This is like the 10th projector that I’ve owned. I’ve purchased several other brands in the past 15 years including, Epson, Panasonic, Vivitar, Sanyo, and Optoma. It seems the Optoma brand has always been the best bang for your buck. I use the projector mainly for movie viewing mostly streaming from my FireTV stick, media player, and Bluray connected to my receiver so I have no need for the projector’s built in smart apps. Viewing 4K HDR material is awesome but this projector really renewed my love for 3D. I have been a fan of 3D ever since the beginning and have amassed over 200 3D movies. The 3D picture on the Optoma uhz50 is simply amazing. There is no ghosting, cross talk, nor convergence issues whatsoever as compared to LCD projectors. Just perfectly clear and colorful 3D images when paired with any DLP link 3d glasses. I’ve compared about half a dozen brands of glasses as well and it really narrows down to personal comfort. They are all very similar picture wise and I can’t really tell any difference. I have several 4K, bluray, 3D box set discs and 3D is always my first choice for movies. 3D is so much better on this projector than in the theaters. I think all movies should be presented in 3D or at least as an option. If you are a 3D fan, this is the Best 3D Laser projector yet!!!

Looks amazing for video games. Streaming services and video look horrible and washed out.(adjusting the image wasn’t helping still looks quite bad)

Once you finish color calibration, picture looks great. But only one HDMi supports eACR and pure motion which is a shame. I had to use 2×1 hdmi switch to get 2 devices work on same port and is a huge inconvenience

So far the projector has been great for the price point. This is the only 4k laser projector I could find for under $5k. You can tell it is cheaper with the way the case feels, and how the software works. However at this price point I can deal with that for the awesome picture it puts out! Everything looks great and the picture is super bright. I’ve had to turn brightness way down in our media room. It is honestly bright enough to be in a living room/non media setting. I did buy the extra coverage on it as well just in case, but so long as longevity doesn’t become an issue I think this is a great buy.

This projector is a great choice if you want to game and watch video in 4k on a big screen. I put it together with a 120″ screen on a floor stand.

One of the first things to know is that as this is laser technology, there is no bulb to replace. The lasers in this are rated to last for many years.

You might wonder if setting up a projector like this is a big fuss compared to a television. Well it could be but it doesn’t have to. If you have no pets or kids, you can set this on a coffee table. It needs to be about 3″ below the screen bottom edge and about 11′ away from the screen for 120″ diagonal (there are physical adjustment dials for each of these to give you some wiggle room). I have kids and pets so I was worried about how to mount it to the ceiling. Eventually, I realized the best thing to do was spend just a few bucks at the hardware store and make a wall shelf at the right height on the opposite wall. That is much cheaper and easier since you can easily match the shelf brackets to studs and your cables can just hang against the wall. Plus, you are using the full length of the room to get the largest image you can fit!

Now as for the projector image, it is great! I ran a couple of hdmi cables from my pc and console through an hdmi switch to the input that supports game mode. Once you enable the game mode, the latency is very low. I was able to play a drum game on switch that requires accurate timing. Gamey, bright colors look especially vibrant when projected like e.g. Dragon Quest XI.

For movies it is really impressive to have a 120″ screen filled up with a quality image. Overall it looks quite good. There are plenty of settings to tweak with several preset modes including cinema and game. Notably, the frame interpolation feature and the low latency feature only work on one specific hdmi input port each and those are separate.

With a projector in this price range, there is some loss of detail in dark scenes. This can be a problem during the daytime if you can’t get the room dark enough. I decided to invest in some blackout curtains to replace my blinds.

The projector does have its own speakers, but are you really going to want to use them? Probably not. Also, the projector comes with a usb wifi dongle or you can connect via ethernet cable. You will want to do one or the other for firmware updates.

Where I think the main weakness of this projector lies is in the apps. There aren’t that many. The remote doesn’t always allow you to do everything. For instance, I couldn’t select the ‘don’t require otp on this browser’ in the prime video app, which means I would have to very tediously enter password and otp every time. In my opinion, a specialized streaming box or stick that does apps and remote controls better would be necessary if you aren’t going to feed pc or console input into this. That also helps with getting 4k streams because many services like prime won’t send you 4k through the pc.

Overall, I am very happy with this as my first projector purchase. This is by far the most economical way to get such a huge 4k image.