In its Cinema Display and D65 Color Temperature mode, the HD8300 measured slightly cool, and cooler still with brighter images. After calibration, the projector tracked fairly well across its grayscale range. Before calibration, the Optoma averaged 277 K off the D6500 standard and only 8 K after.
In the projector’s HDTV color gamut mode, green and blue color points are fairly close to accurate and red is undersaturated. Each primary and secondary color is adjustable via the CMS menu. Though the adjustment steps are coarse, you can use them to dial in fairly accurate colors.
The brightest image was achieved in the projector’s Image AI lamp mode, which produced13.08 ftL on a 1.0-gain, 102-inch 16:9 screen. The black level in this mode was 0.007 ftL, for a contrast ratio of 1,869:1. If you add in the DynamicBlack auto-iris and use the Cinema 2 setting, black level and light output decrease to 0.0012 ftL and 12.99 ftL, respectively, for a dynamic contrast ratio of 10,825:1. The Image AI mode varies the lamp power depending on the content of the onscreen image.
There really isn’t much wrong with the Optoma HD8300. In fact, it does a lot of things quite right: extensive color adjustments, decent black level, excellent detail, RF 3D glasses. The HD8300’s problem comes from its outside competition. There are other excellent options in this price range, so “not bad” just doesn’t cut it here without a price cut.
Color temperature (Before/after calibration)
20-IRE: 6,647 K/6,547 K
30-IRE: 6,755 K/6,568 K
40-IRE: 6,763 K/6,522 K
50-IRE: 6,763 K/6,449 K
60-IRE: 6,754 K/6,445 K
70-IRE: 6,730 K/6,441 K
80-IRE: 6,847 K/6,508 K
90-IRE: 6,875 K/6,471 K
100-IRE: 6,856 K/6,621 K
Primary Color Point Accuracy vs. SMPTE HD Standard
|
Color |
Target X |
Measured X |
Target Y |
Measured Y |
|
Red |
0.64 |
0.62 |
0.33 |
0.33 |
|
Green |
0.30 |
0.31 |
0.60 |
0.60 |
|
Blue |
0.15 |
0.15 |
0.06 |
0.07 |
