Optoma HD66

Value

These two projectors are both available for around the same price of $700. Which one provides the best value depends on which you need more: the color accuracy of the HD66 or the higher light level of the 705HD.

	Comparison Specifications
	Optoma HD66	Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 705HD
Price
Resolution	720p 1280 x 720 (16:9)	WVGA 800 x 480 (5:3)
HD	Yes	Yes
3D Support	Yes	Yes

Blacks & Whites

The Optoma had the highest brightness of the two projectors, but the Epson was more consistent across the different modes on offer. Although the HD66 had the higher luminance in its appropriately named bright mode, the brightness in the other modes was significantly lower than the comparable modes on the Epson.

Color

The HD66 was the better performer in our tests on color accuracy: it had more consistent whites and had a much smoother response in our tests on the RGB curves. As you can see from the color gradients below, this means that the Optoma does a better job of reproducing small changes in colors to produce subtle color changes on screen.

Motion

The Optoma is a 120Hz projector, but it does not use this capability to produce smoother motion. However, we did find that the motion from the Optoma was overall somewhat smoother and more natural looking than the Epson.

Viewing Effects

The Epson 705HD is the more flexible projector in terms of where it can be located: the longer zoom lens range means it can be placed further away or closer to the screen than the Optoma. It also produces more lumens, which means that it can cut through ambient light a little better than the Optoma.

Connectivity

Both projectors offer the basic selection of connections, with HDMI, VGA and analog video and audio inputs. But neither offers multiple inputs of any type, so both will require an external switch if you want to connect multiple devices with HDMI outputs.