The Optoma EP729 Road Warrior Projector

Spotlight On The Office

Even though this product is intended primarily for business applications, we couldn't resist testing it for multimedia usage. In fact, it's quite usual to see this type of product bought for PowerPoint presentations, but then, when the weekend comes around, you're tempted to watch a big football match with some friends or use it as an add-on for the kid's games console. Therefore, we put together a test procedure consisting of three stages.

First of all we test the projector with an IT image from a standard office computer in all resolutions from 800 x 600 to 1,280 x 1,024. Then, we connect a portable DVD player via the S-Video socket in order to judge the pure video quality of the device. Then, to finish, we plug it into a game console.

The chip's native resolution is 1,024 x 768, so we naturally thought that we'd get the best results in this configuration. We put the projector 13.12 ft. (four meters) from the screen to get a 6.56 ft. (two meter) image in a 4/3 format. With this setup, the Windows desktop was displayed well with easily-readable fonts and clearly-identifiable icons. When we changed the resolution, the results didn't deteriorate in 800 x 600, but became a bit stressed in 1,280 x 1,024. The fonts were less sharp and the icons became more muddled. In applications like Excel, reading the numbers wasn't as easy and the members of an audience at the back of the room could be frustrated. We would advise you, therefore, to use the native resolution of the matrix which will give very good results. If you want to surf the web, the majority of sites operate in 1,024 x 768, so that would fit perfectly with the specifications of this little video projector.

One of the principal challenges for this type of product is its ability to project a very bright image whatever the conditions. While home theater video projectors give their best results in completely darkened rooms, data versions have to do absolutely the opposite! The users of these devices are much less interested in video quality as they are in a bright, well-contrasted image in broad daylight. We carried out our tests in a room with several light sources: two picture windows and a 300 watt halogen light. With the picture windows completely open, so that we could work at the same time as looking at the projection, the image seemed bright enough even in "economy" mode. Expanding the image to 8.2 ft. (2.5 meters), we had to switch the bulb to "normal" mode. As the image neared 13.12 ft. (four meters), the brightness of the image lost its uniformity, and we had to increase the contrast to get an acceptable picture. On the whole, the contrast levels were satisfactory and the colors stayed bright and warm.

If you darken the room completely or if the ambient light is toned down, you can opt for the "economy" mode. The brightness will then be good enough for an image size of 8.2 ft. (2.5 meters).