OptomaUHD300X 4K UHD 2200 Lumens Projector - White

The optoma uhd300x is quite simply fantastic at this price point, i have 4 projectors but only this one in 4k, i was a little worried buying this at first knowing that it only uses rec709 colour instead of the standard rec2020 for full 4k colour but fair play to optoma for saying that this machine is a native 1080 and not 2160 as is 4k standard, but was this projector does like all that cost under £2300.00 is uses texas instruments latest and so far best DLP chip to get around the native issue, i could go into details here but that would just bore most people who just want to know if this is worth investing in, so lets jump straight in, i have the latest benq w2000+ 1080p projector which is very good and i have heard that it is better to buy a 1080p projector than a 4k projector at around the same price, now this may be true when you start gettting into the £2000.00 plus bracket but i will say considering the optoma uhd300x is currently selling for only £80.00 more than the benq then the optoma blows everything at the sub £1000.00 mark out of the water if it is mainly movie driven content that you will use this for, firstly this machine just pops with clarity sharpness and colour that no 1080p projector can even come close to at under £2000.00 and maybe higher, it really is the closest projector i have seen that looks like you are watching an LED TV and this is just in 1080p definition, now for how this machine works with 4k, unless you have the latest oled 4k dolby vision enabled tv which costs around £3000.00 you really can't tell that this is not a native 4k machine optoma have done wonders with this, now onto the star of the show...HDR, if you have this machine set up correctly for HDR then be prepared to witness the real future of movies unfortunately there is no standard setting for HDR at the moment but a common mistake with many is they set the contrast to high and the colour to high, think of it like watching a 3d movie, you have to alter the picture setting for that but not to drastically, i found getting the right amount of pop or vibrancy needed required just a little tweeiking with the picture settings to get it looking wonderful , for me contrast just above half way seemed best and most natural, brightness dead on half way the a little below or above works ok as well, and colour needed to be moved up by three to five more than what you would have for normal viewing programs, hence the mention of 3d as to get best results for that you need to up the colour up a little but each to their own regarding this, set up on this machine is straight forward and you can if you dont like messing quite easily leave all the settings at default apart from one, there is an auto HDR setting that allows you to switch HDR automatically or off, leave this at auto, next is the HDR Brightness, now if you are watching movies mostly or any tv broadcast then this feature is automatically on at Bright, turn it either to standard which i find best overall or to film which makes the image darker, dont forget ultimately you are trying to get as most real image as possible, another worthy note is and i know alot of people would not even think about this is the HDMI cables, to get the best out of any 4k image you will need the newer HDMI 2.0a or 2.0b standard cables with hdcp 2.2 compatibility, if like me you have a non hdcp 2.2 amp/receiver you are not going to get dolby atmos etc without getting the avr key, the newer HDMI cables handle more bandwidth for colour and sound compared to standard HDMI cables and are faster running at 18gbps, this is important else you may well run into connectivity issues along the way, i bought some 2 metre snowkids hdmi cables off amazon for £6.99 each and they are fantastic great speed picture and sound, i also bought a 10 metre HDMI cable for this projector by ultra HD and this is truly worth it to get a 4k ultra full signal at 10 metres and cost £29.49, i mention this as many people are concerned about getting a full 4k signal on an HDMI cable thats longer than 5 metres, another thing to bear in mind is this machine really only works at 60hz, now i have had this debate at the home cinema office and i know there are experts out there that swear to truly watch a movie you have to watch it in 24fps ( which is like watching at 30hz simply put ) now this is true with standard and 1080p programs but 4k is not processed in the same way as before, 4k runs off 60hz this is 4ks natural refresh rate ( 120hz is here now but will be a while before that transmits across most platforms ) this is why netflix amazon and apple 4k tv all have default settings of 60hz, put simply its like watching a 3d disc, even though its the same film you are watching the sampling to make it 3d is done at 120hz not 50hz or 30hz, i do know fps is not the same as hz but im keeping this as simple as i can ), this does cause an issue where by if you put settings to a 4k disc player or a streaming or console device to a 24fps display you will get a flicker appear every few seconds, set any 4k content that passes through this projector to 60hz and everything works perfectly as it should and as 4k is intended, i hope this clears any possible issues anyone might have, bottom line is this projector punches well above its price and i would deffo not only recommend this but would happily pay alot more for this great piece of equipment

This is a well priced 4K capable projector.It isn’t actually native 4K as these still start at £5000 but takes a 4K input and outputs it as if it is real 4K as viewable to the human eye.The picture is very good quality because of this and very noticeable to a 1080p picture.I have this projector setup with a 120” screen and it is perfect from around 4 metres away.I don’t use it during the day (although it is still viewable on high brightness) as I have turned the eco mode on to help save lamp life which now should be raised considerably.It has 2 HDMI inputs only one which supports 4K and a VGA.There is a 12 volt trigger for a projector screen and the usual other connections.A USB can provide power for a device if required.It has built in sound 2 x 5watt speakers which are loud enough for quiet simple viewing but I prefer a proper home cinema 5.1 or 7.1 external sound device.An optical output connection can be used for connecting to an AV amplifier as can one of the HDMI outputs.The remote is good quality and has a built in back light that lights up when you press it. This is very bright in a dark room.The keystone is a little tricky to setup but ideally you don’t require this.The picture can be moved up or down a little way via a manual control near the focus and zoom.There is a further digital zoom in the on screen menu which is quite ample.I had a good deal during Black Friday for the 2200 lumens model which prompted me to purchase.

The black levels (black appears solid black), contrast, colour saturation, and detail levels are all great and north of what you might expect at this price point.Brightness (subjectively) seems not up to spec - colour brightness not on a par with the Benq W1070 it's replacing, and if you up the brightness enough to watch with curtains open its very washed out. The Benq noticeably out performed it here.The picture quality is great for evening / closed curtain viewing though.Placement flexibility is limited by lack of sufficient vertical lens shift / optical correction: if ceiling mounted for a home theater setup you'll probably need to use the digital keystone correction and shed some pixels. This is not major with that many pixels to play with.Buzzing. It buzzes. And subjectively it's significantly louder than rated (seems louder than Benq W1070 it's replacing). This is boarder line for me: one of the reasons I chose it was the supposed quietness. It's an annoying buzz: apparently from the pixel shifter and *not the fan (which is very quiet).Remote and menu system are fiddly and hard to navigate.Overall... hmmmm. it's a great picture for the money but there are some drawbacks with this one, especially the lower than expected brightness and noise.A year or so later and I have to edit this review and give it another star: it's been 100% reliable and detail in shadow areas when fed a high quality source (think 'Dune' in 4k) really show it off. More picture than you are paying for for sure