Customer Reviews

Optoma DV10 MovieTime Home Theater DLP Projector With Built-In DVD Player

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I recently decided to upgrade from my 42" inch HDTV Samsung to the Optoma Movie Time Projector, and I have to tell you I am a changed man. The clarity and size of the image is amazing, no distortion at all. The picture is as good if not better than my 42" incher. Unreal! After getting the projector I displayed the image on my wall since I hadn't received the screen, I put Siderman in the DVD player and even on the wall the picture was perfect. After getting the 9 or 10 foot wide screen the following day the picture was even better, I was amazed considering the screen is dark grey in color. I now have the best of both worlds, a projector that produces 9 foot wide movies in pure digitial, and a 42 incher in the corner of the same room. Picture in Picture the old way!
As to the rainbow affect that you hear of with DLP, well I haven't experienced it yet and neither have my friends that I invited over a couple of days later. We played XBOX, PS2 and watched movies for about 8 hours, crazy. My wife wasn't to happy about some 30 year old men jumping around like kids all day but even she was impressed with the crisp images produced. A definite buy for anyone looking to upgrade to an entertainment heaven, a movie theatre within your house.

Regarding the previous negative review, I would be pissed too if the lamp blew that early on, but that can happen to any projector. Just like any electronics, there can always be a dud. I understand their frustration, but this is a 1st class projector.

The lamp life is actually 3000 hrs in economode, and the projector is extremely bright for watching DVDs in this mode even on a 110 inch screen. The lamp life is probably rated a little bit longer than the average projector.

A positive for indoor viewing, is this projector has a very short throw which is great for smaller rooms with big screens. A negative is it would be difficult to ceiling mount, so this is really just a coffee table or floor projector. But it's primary function is portability.

The portability and "Wow" factor for showing movies outdoors is great. Imagine your neighbors faces when you have a 7 ft wide movie on the side of your house. The built in speakers are suprisingly good for their size. This is a great projector for taking on a vacation where you have lots of downtime to catch up on movies.

Another major plus, is the built in DVD player allows for a digital to digital display of the video which would require an HDMI or DVI connection on an ordinary projector. So no need to spend $50-$100 on a cable.

Compared to many higher end business projectors, the contrast is quite good and brightness is great. For the money this projector is a bargain, especially if the DVD player holds up for a few years.

It even comes with a nice carrying case and decent remote.

First impression is 5 stars.

Within 10 minutes of opening the box I had a 10 feet perfect image of `Shrek` projected.

This is a beautiful projector with fantastic image clarity and colour saturation. Movies were made for large screen presentation and films like Polar Express, Bridge on the River Kwai, Sound of Music, Great Excape, Titanic lose impact when shown on television.

The Movietime has a native format of 16:9 which is ideal for most movies and HDTV. Of course many films have different formats like 235:1, 240:1 and 255:1 (King and I) and the classics movies were mostly shot in almost square 4:3.

The DV10 handles them all fantastically. You can watch any format in 16:9 and it will scale the picture to fit. If you want to see the movie in its theatrical ratio you can switch it whilst in play in a second.

This is a very easy to use projector with a superb visible menu which takes only minutes to master.

The picture is superb out of the box and it does exactly what it claims to do.

Where can you see a large 35mm quality cinema like projection of films like Casablanca these days. At last the Marx Bros, Laurel and Hardy or Buster Keaton `come to life` again.

Wide screen epics like Ben Hur, Braveheart of Spartacus (I have a 65mm transfer which is no less than spectacular on this machine).

With ImageAI or Cinema Mode it seems to analyse the image as it plays to give the most fantastic picture. This projector really loves movies!

Using the DLP system (which tends to be the best for movies) the picture quality is astounding meaning that a 10` wide movie can be watched at a much closer range which really immerses the viewer. Obviously different machines, but DLP is the type of projector being installed in digital theatres now.

Even the two stereo speakers pack a good enough punch but for the true cinema sound experience hook it up to a surround sound system.

In order to produce such an image the lamp is hot and has a small odour as any projector would (even film)which personally, I did not notice. There is an O2 filter which deals with that and you will not even notice the cooling fan.

Overall I have nothing but praise for this machine. It is an excellent value, superb quality DVD projector - in fact so good it will soon pay for itself as I will hardly be visiting the local multiplex any more!

UPDATE 12/12/2005

Now a couple of weeks has passed and the projector has been in use everyday it has handled every kind of movie I have thrown at it magnificently.

Because the projector is matched to the onboard DVD player digitally each pixel is matched. Using best quality DVD transfers the quality appears equal to film and in some cases like Disney`s restored Snow White it is better. The colours explode off the screen.

Optoma recommends their Panoview Greywolf 92" diagonal screen which is an easily wall or ceiling mounted and gives an excellent picture.

For special screening I use a Harkness Hall (screen manufacturers since the advent of sound films) matt white which is around 136" diagonal and the picture quality/contrast and colours are literally stunning.

Watching Polar Express was almost like a roller coaster.

One final point about the lamp `smell`. This is as another reviewer stated because it is a new lamp. The odour (which is not poisenous) goes after a few hours use.

I have not listed any bad points as I have not found any.

FINAL UPDATE 20.12.2005
I can only comment that for those who have encountered any problems with this may have a bad unit. A good test has been `Steamboat Bill Jnr` with Buster Keaton using a good transfer to DVD of an almost 80 year old film.

The Image AI works wonders on these classic films compared to television. Whilst the transfer is excellent on TV it is enhanced on this machine. For instance in this film when Buster sends a telegram to his father stating he is visiting some fo the words are not visible on a tv set, however when projected in its theatrical 4:3 mode the whole telegram can be read. In other scenes more image is visible than on any TV.

I have projected a 64 square feet image of `It`s a wonderful life` which looks stunning.

I rest my case
IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

It is now February 5th 2007 and the projector still performs as new. I am still on the first lamp and it has never disappointed in any respect. It is so easy to use that we take it with us when we are staying away as even projected on a it wall gives a much more exciting and larger picture than even a plasma tv. Being a film fanatic and collector also of 16mm film prints I am very fussy about getting the best images on screen. Would I buy another Optoma model? Absolutely!

I've never bought a projector before. I finally decided to "take the plunge" and buy either a nice TV or a projector. For a variety of reasons, I liked the idea of a projector better, so I did my research.

The Optoma DV10 caught my eye, as it seemed like a great projector for a neophyte in home theater at a very good price. Researching and reading reviews of the projectors in the same general price range convinced me that the DV10 was the way to go.

I received my projector yesterday, and I can say I am impressed. It didn't take me very long to find a place for it, eventually putting it on a cart about 4' high behind the couch. The keystone correction handled it well, but I had to use some CD cases to get the projector to point downward at a sharp enough angle. I threw the image onto a blank wall and ran the projector through the paces

It took some fiddling to get the picture to look the way I wanted it to, with the right levels of brightness and color, but I was able to figure out the controls fairly quickly.

On DVDs that were transfers of older movies or TV shows, the quality is very inconsistent on the DVD and the projector picks up every tiny flaw and makes it very obvious. I am sure there is a way to compensate for this, but I don't know enough about the projector to know for certain how. It will take some trial and error to really pin down what does what and how to make every dvd look it's best.

On newer movies and DVDs, however, the picture is nothing short of awesome. It's amazing to see a 92" image in your living room. The sound on the projector isn't bad for what it is, but I was able to just plug it into my old component system and play it through my stereo speakers just fine. I am sure when my surround sound system arrives next week, it will be even better!

The lamp is sufficiently bright for a dimly lit room, but if a room has good natural light, the image can look a bit dark, and with the Bright mode turned on, it still looks a bit dim and washed out around the edges. I'm going to have to buy some heavy curtains for the living room windows. I think once I put my 92" greywolf screen up on the wall that it might help define the edges a bit better, too. In a dimly lit or dark room, the lamp is very bright. Scenes where there is a flash of light on the screen are astonishingly bright. Colors are very good, with deep blacks and good temperature. I had to actually tone the colors down a bit, as the reds and greens were almost unnaturally bright. A few small setting changes later and it was very nice.

I have noticed a little bit of a "screen door" effect, but I think it's partially because I was looking for it. I didn't notice it at all, until I went very close to the image, and after that I now can see it all the time if I look for it. If I forget to look, it's fine. I've not noticed any "rainbow effect".

I briefly tried to use it with my laptop to display my desktop, and it worked OK except that fonts were hard to read. I am sure I probably need to change a setting either on the laptop or the projector to get the right picture (I only tried for about 5 minutes to make it look good), but otherwise it was very good. Graphics displayed with breathtaking depth and clarity.

Overall, I would say that this projector is the best available at this pricepoint. The manual isn't very helpful and there is a definite learning curve on navigating the menus and settings. However, as my first purchase into the realm of home theater, I don't think I could have possibly have done better. I feel safe in recommending this projector to others interested in home theater on a budget.

Overall I like it but not ecstatic and too pricey for the level of quality. Some things should have been easily corrected with a decent focus group review. Up and out of the box and watching a 6 ft wide movie on a bare wall within a couple of minutes - nice. Good clear picture for that large size and the bare wall but not amazing picture if you are used to or expecting HDTV level pics. On a movie like StarWars I can make out the squares of the DLP like rectangular pixels at this large size. Sound is ok but disappointing, even with a supplemental base speaker attached I had it almost near max and it is about as loud as medium volume from my tv...defintely meant to connect to sound system speakers but watchable without. Housing and pieces feel and look a little flimsy and cheap like they will soon break - specifically the DVD door and legs but overall it feels like I could easily break it. Thin plastic of almost an 80's era CD player aesthetic. This cheap feel also extends to the carrying bag that came with it which is the quality of a typical free thin black nylon bag, not that I'll be carrying it around since it feels fragile. The smell mentioned by others was light and to me was typical of new electronics, not as bad as others mentioned. However, the large GreyWolf screen that came with it stank of cheap glue for a couple of days but that was remedied as I had to send it back because it was nonfunctional right out of the box and would not roll back up. Overall I like it but it feels like an $800 level of satisfaction not $1300. Get some speakers, but picture is good enough that you may not need a screen.

I purchased this unit to watch DVDs in the evening or night with the family and to escape paying $50 to the local theater to watch 20 minutes of previews and commercials.

1. Ease of Installation 5 / 5
Remove from box and set on coffee table. Plug into standard wall outlet and power on. Less than 5 minutes.

2. Ease of Use 5 / 5
Press Power button and OPEN button. Insert DVD and close DVD door. Manually focus lens. Lower lights. DONE!

3. Quality of Picture 5 / 5
As good as the theater, better than my neighbors 60" Sony. The unit is 9' away from the wall and throws up a 85" image - plenty large for us sitting 16' back. We are just using the wall and the image is great.

4. Quality of Sound TBD
Waiting for sub-woofer to arrive. The small built-in speakers sound great. My neighbors have 50", 60" and a screen with 5.1 sound systems that sound great. This unit only sounds good, but I don't find I pay that much attention to the sound once the picture starts. I have Polk Audio for my stereo to show I have apprectation for quality sound.

Quick Performance / Cost Ratio
60" Sony with great 5.1 speakers at $7,500 compared to 85" plus with good speakers at $1,300. I am more than pleased with the sound the DV-10 throws out. Plus no contractor to come in and run wires.

CONS:
I wish the remote were backlit. Now I have a reason to use my maglite.

NB: no noxious odors! Some slight initial odor the first few minutes, but no more than I have experienced with any other projector.

This is a great projector. The quality of the image is stellar. The onboard speakers are small but adequate for most people, but you're really missing out on the full movie-going experience without surround sound! Many people realize that you cannot mute the onboard speakers while external speakers are connected to the DV10. This CAN be achieved if you use the optical audio out. So, if want to mute the onboard speakers to get external audio (from surround speakers or headphones) while muting the onboard speakers here's the set up I'm using to achieve that:

-Bought an inexpensive Sony receiver (model STR-DG510)
-Bought an inexpensive 6' optical cable
-Bought JBL Surround Cinema Speakers (SCS200.5)
-Connected the optical cable to one of the optical inputs on the receiver.
-Connected my speakers to the receiver according to directions.
-Set my receiver's input setting to "Video 2" (this will vary depending on your connection and receiver).
-Using the DV10's remote, I pressed "Setup", navigated to "Audio Setup", selected "SPDIF OUT", and set that to "RAW".

My DV10's onboard speakers went silent but I was now getting fantastic 5.1 Dolby Digital sound through my external speakers! Connecting my headphones to the receiver means late night movies without waking the neighbors :-)

I love watching movies and this is an awesome projector with an outstanding image quality. Obviously, like everything else in life it does not fit everybody's needs. Let me explain.

We don't have a spare room in our house that can be used as a dedicated theater. So, ceiling mount and fixed screen is out of the question. Also, I do not have dedicated audio speakers. Portability without compromising on image quality was critical for me. I had three options: Optoma, DV10, Epson Moviemate and 'tape a cyberhome dvd player to a regular projector'. I chose Optoma DV10 for its image quality.

This thing is very portable. I plug it in, pop in a dvd and project it on a wall in our family room. Even without a screen, the image quality is outstanding. Some days when we feel like it, I carry it upstairs (its like carrying a laptop) and project it on a wall in the bedroom. You get the point.

We use the built-in speakers and a sub-woofer. Not ideal, but works until I get a better speaker system. For tiny 5 watt speakers, they are actually quite good. You SHOULD listen to it before making a decision either way. Reviews don't really help much in this regard.

Overall, if portability and picture quality are decision variables for you, this is a great projector. If you have a spare room that can be a dedicated theater, this is probably not for you.

I had been looking at DLP projectors for a while, but hesitated to make a purchase because of my unfamiliarity with the technology and the cost of higher end projectors ($5000+). I decided to purchase the MovieTime because it allowed me to dip my toe in the projector pool at a very low price. Shopping around I paid $865, and this included a free 92" screen (a $200 value).

When the MovieTime arrived I simply set it on the floor, plugged it in, popped in a DVD, and had a 113" movie screen on my white wall. The picture quality was far better than I imagined, especially considering the price. The unit was quiet, and I didn't notice any burning plastic smell that other reviews have mentioned. The speakers are small and certainly don't provide a rib-rattling theater-like experience, but they are much better than I anticipated, easily filling a 12' x 14' room. MovieTime works best in a completely dark room, but the picture is acceptable on cloudy days as well.

After a few weeks I am extremely satisfied with this purchase. I am an old movie buff and it is a thrill to see these films on a large screen. My only complaints about the system are the lack of a backlit remote (hard to operate in the dark), and a few occurences of the audio and video getting out of sync after pausing a DVD (this was corrected by stopping the DVD and restarting it). Also, it would be nice if the product manual did a better job of explaining all of the various picture settings and options.

Overall, the picture quality, portability, and relatively low price make this an amazing value. Highly recommended.

Strengths: Handsome space age design as well as top functionality.
Weaknesses: That it wasn't invented sooner and that it isn't in stores yet.
Summary: (Edited September 15th by booley) We have had several days to try out the exciting new Optoma Movietime Video Projector and have even visited a few friends at home. From a picture size of six feet to over fifteen feet, the quality was fantastic. A thrill was showing the fifteen foot image on the white wall above a fireplace in a room with a vaulted ceiling. Just plugging the projector into the wall outlet and putting it on a chair turned the room into a true home theater. The built in sound system and speakers were more than enough for enjoyment. I also feel that the built in DVD player adds to the exceptional picture quality because there are not wired or analog connections to introduce loss...you get direct digital perfection.
The contrast (deep blacks) on this machine are as good as any I have ever seen. The color saturation (rich reds, blues, etc) is so intense that colors literally sparkle like they do on Plasma screens much smaller.

The sharpness is excellent. You can even place this machine on the floor and still have proper viewing area height. They have designed the lens so that you don't have to be far back to get big pictures. For example, only six feet back will produce a six foot picture. Worried about having to have a darkened room? That will always give the best picture, but this unit has so much brightness (even on the bulb saving mode!) that you can enjoy video with normal brightness in the room. This was not possible with low light output projectors of the past. And it is whisper quiet, so you don't hear it running. The user menus are very straightforward and easy to navigate. Right out of the box, without any tweaking or adjustments we had a GREAT picture and perfect performance. The only thing I haven't figured out is how to automatically turn off the subtitles on DVD's. I can do this with the flick of a switch, but I may call Optoma on that question.

Another great experience was plugging in the cable TV box. High definition quality without paying high definition prices. And then connecting our camcorder into it...DVD quality pictures that we had just taken at the Media Super Sunday and at area restaurants singing and enjoying Anna's birthday. Even the dark scenes look good because this projector has a special circuit (new technology) to boost contrast in dark scenes.

Did I tell you about the beautiful carrying case included? It is padded for protection, very rugged, and looks embroidered with big "MOVIETIME" logo printed in. It will hold everything you need including remote, power cable, instruction manual, and accessory plugs. Has a velcro strip to secure projector from moving inside.

The projector has so many nice controls on the topside that you can forget the remote control and still do most functions.

Does this sound like they have thought of everything? Well, they HAVE. And read the effusive professional and user reviews on this machine and read the few user opinions here and you will know that Optoma also thought of just about everything when designing the machine that will change the scope of home theater.

We just tested the machine in our basement on our old crank down beaded screen. We got a fourteen foot (!) wide picture with the full eight foot height from floor to ceiling. Thrilling, as we watched "The Aviator" and were totally immersed in the screen experience. Sharp, vivid, and engulfing with the projector sitting on the floor. We did add a cheapie Radio Shack subwoofer/surround sound unit (on sale for half price at 49.95) to add the deep bass needed for the Dolby Digital Sound.

If you have been thinking of buying a new TV or getting into home theater....think no longer. This unit has only been out a month, but I have researched every available professional article, every post written on forums about audio-visual by users, and all are raving about this great new machine. It has a full warranty for two years and is backed up with excellent customer service.

To see this machine pictured from every angle and a lot more information about it, go to:


User Supplied Web Link


Note that this is an Australian web site, so pay no attention to the high prices quoted.

Finally, here are my first thoughts on this machine, after removing it from the box:


Weighing only seven pounds and taking up less space than a portable typewriter, this machine is revolutionary and will add new meaning to my new pet phrase "Have Projector Will Travel".


THE MIND BLOWING OPTOMA MOVIETIME DV 10 PROJECTOR!


My wife had to tell me to calm down after I unpacked the Optoma Movietime DV 10 that just arrived. I was acting like an excited kid, and why not with all that was hitting my eyes...like a beautiful shipping box with crystal clear photos and information, a very impressive and useful carrying case, and the actual machine-which looked smaller than I had imagined and a real eye catcher like a neat foreign car. A fine looking and versatile remote control, an easy to read user manual and other accessories rounded out the package.


I placed it on the coffee table near my Sharp XV-Z900 that sits at the rear of the room (now in its third year of use and on a second bulb), plugged it in and pressed the on button. I knew immediately from the Optoma start graphic that I was in for a treat. You simply pop a DVD into the top lid and close and it starts playing without any command. I began with Toy Story 2. Vivid and crystal clear. Then an old Sinatra favorite film, "Pal Joey" which looked nicer than I remembered. Then the Jerry Lewis "Nutty Professor" that has reds, blues and purples in the opening scene that are so intense that your eyes feel like your mouth does when eating a great piece of pepperoni pizza.


BUT the exciting test was "Lost In Space", because this is where the finer picture qualities were evident. I was quite used to seeing this on my Sharp, as it was my favorite demo for sound and action when people came to see our home theater set up. I was not prepared for what followed and I started jumping around (Anna said "calm down" two more times...but she was jumping up and down by then herself!). The gray frame bars I saw in the past were dark black and almost imperceptible on my Stewart Grayhawk 8 foot diagonal screen (BTW, the projector was only eight feet from the screen and filled it!). The jet blacks in outer space were awesome and the intensity and color of the sharp, noise free images were nothing less than exciting. Even the sound was damn good (no subwoofer hooked up yet) considering it was coming out of two small stereo speakers built into the Movietime. I had the video set to "Game", which is one of five pre-set choices and that seemed to give the most punch. I noticed that the brightness was only about forty percent up on this setting and it was plenty bright. I raised the picture to shine on our white plaster ceiling and believe it or not that looked even better.


I am sitting here still in my bathrobe and have much more testing and comparing to do and will report again. In the meantime, I say "look out" to the other projector manufacturers. This Optoma beauty is going to raise the bar for home theater and portable home theater tremendously!

PS. A sexy feature I liked is how the volume drops and then SLOWLY comes back up when you make any adjustments on the machine.


PPS. These sell for around $1,500.00...far less than most rear projection TVs and far superior. The folks at Best Buy and Circuit City won't point you in the direction of this projectors and others like it because their profit margin is very low on these.

For the technically minded, some important specs:

Uses the latest Texas Instruments DLP chip, the Dark Chip2

Contrast Ratio: 4000 to 1

ANSI Brightness: 1000 lumens

Lamp Life (200 watt bulb): 3000 hours in econo mode

Aspect Ratio: 16 x 9 native

Resolution: SVGA (854 x 480)

Speakers: Two five watt stereo

Color Wheel: 7 segment (including white); 4x speed

Noise level: 27db

Image size: 48 to 359 inches

Dimensions: 14.5 x 4.6 x 10.7

Weight: 7.8 lbs.

Warranty: 3 years