Optoma EP727 review

Optoma makes DLP projectors for the home, education and corporate markets, designing the cases and lamp technology but licensing the DMD processor from Texas Instruments.

DLP has a smaller overall footprint than LCD technology, so you'll find the 2kg EP727 an incredibly small and compact projector with a powerful 2200 ANSI lumens brightness level.

It's a native 4:3 aspect ratio projector, but it will upscale to accommodate typical widescreen laptops up to a maximum resolution of 1400 x 1050 pixels. This is rather basic, but as the cheapest projector here, it may well be a compromise worth making.

Stylish design

The design is stylish without being overstated, as the black and silver finish will look good in either a home or office situation. The lens protrudes slightly from the front of the unit and there is a lens cap to protect it in transit. The focus and zoom rings are both large, so getting the image to look right is both quick and easy.

The buttons located on the top of the device take a little getting used to, as they're not in the most natural of positions. That said, sourcing and setting up this projector is easy. It comes with four preset image modes for presentations, games, movies and colour reproduction, with a fifth setting which can be user-defined.

When it came to image quality, we found this a great projector to use in the home, as movies looked great. Connecting a games console also gave great image quality. Colours proved bright and movies were sharp with little sign of jagging often associated with cheaper projectors.

The connections are all located on the rear of the unit and offer an array of digital and analogue inputs including DVI and VGA connections. There is also a VGA-out for looping the signal through to another source, such as an external monitor.

The Optoma EP727 offers great value for money and image quality proves as sharp for movies as work purposes.