Optoma EP1690 DLP Digital Theater Projector

by Optoma

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 13.6 x 9.7 x 3.7 inches ; 7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 15 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000H3C6YS
• California residents: Click here for Proposition 65 warning.
• Item model number: EP1690
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

From the manufacturer

The Optoma EP1690 is a native 16:9 digital projector that delivers performance for today’s widescreen laptops, the latest DVDs and high-definition content. Featuring a native resolution of 1280 x 768, the EP1690 offers amazingly bright picture quality with 2500 lumens and a 2500:1 contrast ratio. Stylish, lightweight and amazingly versatile, the EP1690 goes from laptop to big screen home entertainment easily.

Features

• Native 16:9 WXGA (1280 x 768) widescreen display for work and play versatility
• DarkChip2 DLP technology by Texas Instruments ensure that images don’t fade or degrade over time
• Bright and crisp picture quality with 2500 lumens and 2500:1 contrast ratio
• Optoma’s exclusive Widescreen Maximizer (available from www.OptomaUSA.com) guarantees perfect picture matching between the video source and projector
• Extensive connectivity options, including DVI with HDCP and four audio and video inputs
• Express on/off function to power on/off the projector in mere seconds
• Innovative "wind tunnel" cooling system to deliver whisper quiet operation and prevent light leakage

Product Description

The Optoma EP1690 is a native 16:9 digital projector that delivers performance for todays widescreen laptops, the latest DVDs and high-definition content. Featuring a native resolution of 1280 x 768, the EP1690 offers amazingly bright picture quality with 2500 lumens and a 2500:1 contrast ratio. Stylish, lightweight and amazingly versatile, the EP1690 goes from laptop to big screen home entertainment easily.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great performance, great price, June 17, 2007

By 

Tom Trails "Tom Trails" (United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Optoma EP1690 DLP Digital Theater Projector (Office Product)

I have had my projector for a couple of weeks now and I have been satisfied. I bought this to replace a Dell 2200MP because I needed something brighter and sharper for watching movies in a living room with lots of windows, and this was much better priced than other projectors with similar resolution and brightness. The Dell was terrible for dark scenes unless we were watching at night, even with heavy black curtains over all the windows. This projector blows the Dell away. The picture is high def, so much sharper (especially with a 1080i upconverting DVD player). And the regular brightness setting on this projector is way brighter than the brightest setting on the Dell. I don't even have to cover all the windows anymore to watch the dark scenes.

The projector runs quietly and cools down very quickly by revving up the fan. After running the thing for about 2 hours, it shut down in less than a minute.

A Circuit City reviewer said that it was incompatible with universal ceiling mounts. Mine is hanging very nicely from my ceiling with a nice $[...] universal mount I bought from Amazon. The manual (on PDF) that came with the projector tells you what kind of bolts/screws to use if you don't use the Optoma ceiling mount (which costs almost $[...]--ridiculous). I had to go to the hardware store to buy the right size screws to use with the universal mount, but it worked very well.

As for connections, if you want to connect to an HDMI port on your DVD player, you just need a cable with HDMI at one end, and DVI at the other. You can get them all over the web, but www.eforcity.com has them for very cheap. If you want to connect with component cables (like I did for my PS2 and Wii), you need a cable with component plugs on one end and a VGA (15-pin) monitor connector at the other (most projectors use this type of connection). Again, these are widely available on the web, but very cheap at www.eforcity.com, and they even have fast & cheap shipping and 30-day return policy. The good thing about this type of cable is that it is generally better shielded for running across a living room than are regular component video cables. Also, if you want to display your video on both the projector and a TV, boxes that split the VGA signal with amplification are widely available on the web (I got a $[...] one at Amazon), whereas splitters for straight component connections are much harder to come by. Anyway, I am very pleased with my purchase.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Met My Expectations, September 7, 2007

By 

Aspen (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Optoma EP1690 DLP Digital Theater Projector (Office Product)

I wanted a prjector for our company prsentations that meet the following criteria:
1. have a 16:9 Aspect ratio because my laptop has this ratio (and many new lap tops do) and I had problems with my existing projector to adapt to this ratio.
2. Be bright enough for all kind of lighting situations because sometimes we go to a presentation and the lighting configuration is not uder our control. This projector has 2500 lumens that provide for the kind of luminescence that we require
3. Needed at least an XGA resolution, and this projector meet and exceed this requirement
4. We wanted a contrast ratio of at least 1:2000 and this projector provides a 1:2500 contrast ratio
5. The noise level was important to us because a lot of presentations are in not very large rooms and high noise level become distracting. The noise level on this projector is lower than my small projector and very acceptable
6. I knew that with these requirements the size of the projector would be larger (and heavier) thyan the ideal weight which for us is under 3.5 lbs. Though the projector is about 6 lbs. it is still relatively small and not too heavy
7. And finally the cost from Amazon.com was very reasonable for the features that was important to us.

I have attended in several presentations since we purchased the projector and I am very happy with the ease of operation, brightness, resolution, and low noise. The remote mouse was a bit difficult to get to used to and I need to work on that.

5.0 out of 5 stars well rounded hi-def with good lumens, January 3, 2011

By 

Jumpman124 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Optoma EP1690 DLP Digital Theater Projector (Office Product)

This projector not only did the trick, but it exceeded my expectations. I have had it now for 3 years and its still running strong. I can see that the lamps "useful" life is 3000 hrs, but looks like I'm getting more. I also have an unused lamp that I have yet to install... so this thing will last me a LONG time!

Another thing is that the projector has a very good "lumens" which is another word for "brightness" - some hi-def projectors will not have more than 1500 or 2000, which is weak sauce if you ask me. This one has 2500 and thats awesome. It will project in 1080p, which is also great.

I have owned several projectors and all around, I will say that this is my favorite and best one yet.