Best Optoma HD26LV Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020:

On paper, the Optoma HD26LV is a serious contender for the title of “Editor’s Choice” in our buying guide, thanks to a DarkChip 3 chip and high brightness. In practice, it is another pair of sleeves …

Presentation

The Optoma HD26LV video projector succeeds the HD25 which we liked in 2013. The Optoma HD26LV uses the DarkChip 3 chip from Texas Instruments – the same as that of the excellent BenQ W1070 +  – which allows to display a Full HD definition of 1,920 x 1,080 px. The manufacturer announces a brightness of 3500 lumens, a contrast of 25,000: 1, support for Full HD 3D and a lamp life of 7,000 hours in eco mode (4,000 hours as standard). On paper, this model is a serious competitor to the BenQ model, especially since it is sold for around 650 €.

Best Optoma HD26LV Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020

1. Optoma HD26 1080p 3D DLP Home Theater Projector

2. Optoma HD27E 1080p Home Cinema Projector with 3400 Lumens. Ideal for Indoor Or Outdoor Movies, Sports and Gaming

3. Optoma GT1080Darbee Short Throw Projector for Gaming, Movies and Sports. 3000 Lumens, Low Input Lag of 16ms, 3D, Darbee Technology for Sharper Image

4. Optoma W412 WXGA DLP Professional Projector | High Bright 4400 Lumens | Business Presentations. Classrooms, and Meeting Rooms | 15,000 Hour lamp Life | 4K HDR Input | Speaker Built in

5. Optoma S343 SVGA DLP Professional Projector | Bright 3600 Lumens | Business Presentations. Classrooms, or Home | 15,000 Hour lamp Life | Speaker Built in | Portable Size

2D image quality

This Optoma HD26LV video projector is equipped with a 1.1x optical zoom which allows you to project an image between 1.85 and 2.02 meters at the base with a distance of 3 meters. The measurements are made at 3 meters in order to obtain an image of 2 meters base. It should be noted in passing that this video projector does not have a lens-shift and that it is therefore impossible to vary the position of the image without distorting it to a minimum.

Cinema mode provides the most faithful rendering. The average Delta E (difference between the colors requested and the colors displayed) is 4.3. As a reminder, the human eye no longer makes the difference below a value of 3. The color drift is therefore slightly visible, especially in terms of pure red, green and blue.

Gamma management is just fine. Its average is around 2.1, but black and white are slightly overexposed. The gray levels are rather well managed, with a gamma close to the expected value (2.2).

The color temperature is relatively stable across the spectrum. The average recorded (6,680 K) is fairly close to the 6,500 K reference.

The contrast is rather disappointing. We measured it at only 755: 1 on our target containing 1% white. This rate drops to 232: 1 on our target with 35% white. The Optoma HD26LV therefore does worse than the BenQ W1070 + (1300: 1) and much worse than the excellent Sony VPL-HW40ES  with its contrast of 3300: 1. On the other hand, this video projector has an interesting brightness peak (171 cd / m²). 

3D image quality

The Texas Instruments DLP 0.65 “DarkChip 3 chip offers compatibility with 3D DPL Link 144 Hz, a technology that has already been widely proven. The rendering is pleasant, the crosstalk  – image duplication – is completely absent and the The depth effects are striking. The spurts are a little less convincing, but the overall 3D experience is a real success. Optoma does not provide any pair of glasses with this projector. We used DLP Link compatible SainSonic glasses which offer excellent value for money Synchronization is done optically by inserting red flashes into the film, invisible to the viewer.

Functions and ergonomics

This projector measures 31.5 x 22.4 x 10.2 cm and weighs 2.55 kg. He wears a classic white dress, but which nevertheless displays a toy aspect. Advantage of this color: the video projector is discreet on the ceiling.

The arrangement of the controls is rather classic: the focusing wheel and the 1.1x zoom setting are close to the optics while the buttons are grouped on top. These allow you to access the settings, correct the keystone, change the source and turn on the projector.

Small feature of this Optoma projector, the connections are assembled on the left side. It includes two HDMI inputs including an MHL compatible, a VGA input, a USB port (1A), an RS-232 port and a mini-USB port (for controlling the mouse from the remote control when a PC is connected). There is no connector for a 3D RF transmitter which would have made it possible to add a module to ensure compatibility with 3D RF glasses (the video projector works by default with DPL Link glasses, without any additional device). Optoma has also overlooked the composite, component and S-Video analog inputs.

Consumption and noise level

The Optoma HD26LV consumes only 259 W in normal mode; it is less than the BenQ W1070 + (280 watts) while offering a larger light peak, In Eco mode, consumption drops to 203 W. At noise level, we measured 38 dB (A) in Eco mode and 41 , 5 dB (A) in normal mode. 

CONCLUSION

The Optoma HD26LV video projector offers an attractive price / quality ratio, but it can’t get any better than the benchmark for the category, the BenQ W1070 + , which is still ranked a notch above. In addition, the colors are no longer as faithful as on the HD25 , the connectivity is quite limited and it is still as noisy.

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