Optoma S303

Pros Inexpensive. 3D compatible. Portable. Reasonably loud audio. Good port selection.

Cons Sub-par video. Rainbow effect. Bottom Line The Optoma S303 provides solid data image quality, portability, and a good set of connection ports for a budget data projector.

By Tony Hoffman

The Optoma S303 provides solid performance as a budget projector for business and classroom use. It's easily portable, has a good selection of ports, and is 3D compatible.

The S303 is a DLP-based data projector with SVGA (800 by 600) native resolution, a 4:3 aspect ratio common among data projectors. It's rated at 3,000 lumens, bright enough to stand up to considerable ambient light.

This all-black projector measures 4.6 by 12.4 by 8.8 inches and weighs 4.9 pounds, making it reasonably compact and portable. It also includes a soft carrying case, which isn't always the case with budget projectors. Focus and zoom (1.1:1) wheels lie near the lens.

It has a good selection of ports for a low-priced projector, including 2 VGA-in (which double as component video; monitor-out; serial; 1 RCA jack for composite video; 2 audio-in; audio-out; S-video; and HDMI, plus a USB type B port for remote mouse control. One port that it lacks is USB type A, for running presentations laptop-free from a USB thumb drive.

Image Quality
From about eight feet away, the projector filled our test screen with an image about 60 inches diagonal. The image stood up well when ambient light was introduced.

In data image testing using the DisplayMate suite, the S303 provided image quality suitable for typical business and classroom presentations. Text was a strong point. Type was readable, although a bit blurred, down to our smallest size in both black-on-white and white-on-black. Some images showed a trace of yellow tinting, and in general yellows and reds looked somewhat dull.

When I viewed the tests over a VGA connection, pixel jitter was evident in images designed to bring it out, and some hatched patterns showed green tinting. These effects disappeared when I switched to an HDMI connection. Several data images showed the rainbow effect, a common phenomenon in single-chip DLP projectors in which little red-green-blue flashes may appear, usually in bright areas against dark backgrounds. Though the rainbow artifacts were slightly more evident than is typical in data images, they're less of an issue in data presentations than with video, so even people sensitive to the effect are unlikely to be bothered by it.

Video and Audio
The S303's video quality is suitable for short clips to accompany a presentation. Rainbow artifacts were more apparent than usual in a DLP projector, and there the effect is likely to be distracting to those sensitive to it. Some scenes showed a slight reddish tint.

Audio from the projector's two-watt speaker is of decent quality, and loud enough to fill a smallish conference room or classroom.

The S303 faces stiff competition in the budget data projector arena. Two notable SVGA projectors we've recently reviewed are the NEC NP-VE281 and the Editors' Choice Epson EX3212 SVGA 3LCD Projector. The S303 couldn't match their data or video image quality; the Epson' image quality was particularly good on both counts. Being an LCD projector, the EX3212 is also free of the rainbow artifacts seen in the S303 and other DLP projectors.

At 3,000 lumens, the S303 has a modestly higher rated brightness than either the EX3212 or the NP-VE281, which are both rated at 2,800 lumens. But as perception of brightness is logarithmic, the difference is probably imperceptible. What's more, LCD projectors tend to offer the same color brightness as white brightness, while that's generally not the case with DLP projectors.

For a little more money than you'd pay for the S303, the Optoma X303 is essentially the same projector but at higher (XGA) resolution. That should give the X303 an edge in displaying smaller detail. In our testing, however, the S303 did very well in showing small text while the X303 was average for its (higher) resolution, so in data image quality it's pretty much a wash between them.

As a DLP projector, the S303 does have one advantage over the Epson EX3212 and other LCD projectors: it can project 3D content, providing 3D support for DLP-Link active-shutter glasses. The projector does not include any 3D glasses, and their cost can quickly add up. Still, it's a nice extra to a projector that provides solid performance at a budget price.

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Optoma W303

Pros Good text quality. 3D compatible. Portable. Good port selection. Low price.

Cons Sub-par video. Rainbow effect. Very soft audio. Bottom Line The Optoma W303 provides good text quality, a good set of connectivity choices, portability, and 3D capability in a WXGA data projector.

By Tony Hoffman

As the highest-resolution model of three recently released budget projectors for business or classroom use, the Optoma W303 provides a well-rounded package that includes good text quality, a nice range of connectivity choices, portability, and 3D readiness.

The W303, a DLP-based data projector, sports WXGA (1,280 by 800) native resolution in a 16:9 aspect ratio. It's rated at 3,000 lumens, bright enough to stand up to considerable ambient light. This projector is reasonably compact and portable at 4.6 by 12.4 by 8.8 inches (HWD) and a weight of 4.9 pounds. It includes a soft carrying case. It has a modest 1.1 optical zoom.

It has a solid selection of ports for a WXGA projector, including two VGA-in, which double as component video; monitor-out; serial; a single RCA jack for composite video; 2 audio-in; 1 audio-out; S-video; HDMI; and a USB type B port for remote mouse control. One port that it lacks is USB type A, for running presentations laptop-free from a USB thumb drive.

Image Quality
From about nine feet away, the projector filled our test screen with an image about 65 inches on a diagonal. The image stood up well when ambient light was introduced.

In data image testing using the DisplayMate suite, the W303 provided image quality suitable for typical business and classroom presentations. Text was a strong point. Type was readable, although a bit blurred, down to our smallest size in both black-on-white and white-on-black. Some images showed a trace of yellow tinting, and in general yellows and reds looked somewhat dull.

When I viewed the tests over a VGA connection, pixel jitter was evident in images designed to bring it out, and some hatched patterns showed green tinting. These effects disappeared when I switched to an HDMI connection. Several data images showed the rainbow effect, a common phenomenon in single-chip DLP projectors in which little red-green-blue flashes may appear, usually in bright areas against dark backgrounds. Though the rainbow artifacts were slightly more evident than is typical in data images, they're less of an issue in data presentations than with video, so even people sensitive to the effect are unlikely to be bothered by it.

Video and Audio
Video quality for the W303 is okay for shorter clips to accompany a presentation. There were significant rainbow artifacts, and the effect is likely to be distracting even to people mildly sensitive to it. Some scenes showed too much red, particularly in flesh tones.

Audio from the projector's two-watt speaker was very soft, hard to hear from even a short distance away. Fortunately, the projector has an audio-out port, so you can connect to powered external speakers if need be.

The W303 is 3D capable, but to use that feature requires that you invest in active-shutter 3D glasses. It provides higher resolution at a slightly higher price than the otherwise identical Optoma X303.The sharper text that the W303 provides may be worth the premium.

The Editors' Choice NEC NP-M311W provides near-excellent data image quality and very good video quality for a data projector. As an LCD projector, it's free of rainbow artifacts, though it also lacks the W303's 3D capabilities. The BenQ MW663 also has very good video quality; although it's a DLP projector its rainbow artifacts are minimal, and it is 3D capable.

Although the Optoma W303 doesn't rise above the NEC NP-M311W or BenQ MW663 in either features or performance, it is a very well-rounded package. It provides video and audio suitable for workaday use, highlighted by good text quality. It's portable and is 3D capable. It also provides a good set of connectivity choices. And it does it all at a budget price, which should be enough for many schools and businesses.

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Optoma W304M

Pros Highly portable. Bright, with a 3,100-lumen rating. Near-excellent data image quality. Long lamp life.

Cons Tendency to show rainbow artifacts makes video suitable for short clips only. Underpowered audio. Bottom Line Only a small step up from 500-lumen LED-based portable projectors in price and weight, the 3100-lumen Optoma W304M delivers a much brighter image.

By M. David Stone

Even more than the Optoma X304M that I recently reviewed, the Optoma W304M invites comparisons to sub-three-pound, WXGA (1,280 by 800), LED-projectors like the InFocus IN1144. Less than a pound heavier than the LED models, and not much more expensive, the W304M offers a far brighter image (with a 3100-lumen rating rather than 500 lumens), the same WXGA resolution, and only a small step up in weight and price. If you need a WXGA portable projector, that alone is enough to make it worth a look.

In addition to offering a brighter image than lighter, less expensive projectors, the W304M competes with more expensive WXGA projectors as well. Compared with the Editors' Choice NEC NP-M311W in particular, it weighs only half as much, at 3 pounds 5 ounces, while offering the same 3,100-lumen brightness rating.

The lower weight is an obvious advantage. Keep in mind, however that any brightness comparison is complicated by the fact that the NEC NP-M311W is LCD based while the W304M is DLP based. With DLP projectors, there's typically a difference between white brightness and color brightness, which makes simple comparisons of brightness ratings potentially misleading. (For a discussion of color brightness, see Color Brightness: What It Is, and Why You Should Care.)

The Basics
Not surprisingly, the W304M offers a compact size, at 2.8 by 8.7 by 7.0 inches (HWD), to go along with the low weight. As with most portable projectors, it comes with a soft carrying case complete with a handle and a pouch for cables.

Setup is standard. Plug in the power cord and cables, turn the projector on, adjust the manual 1.15x zoom, and focus. As with the X304M, the connectors for image sources are limited to HDMI, VGA, and composite video ports. Somewhat surprisingly, there's no USB A port for reading files directly from a USB memory key, an option that can enhance portability by letting you carry just the projector and a USB key.

The HDMI port supports all of the HDMI 1.4a mandatory 3D formats. That means you can connect directly to a Blu-ray player, other video source, or computer by HDMI for 3D. If you're upgrading from another projector and already have 120Hz DLP-Link glasses, be forewarned that you need 144Hz glasses to work with Blu-ray 3D at 24 frames per second. For games, however, both 144Hz glasses and 120Hz glasses worked in my tests without problems.

One other basic that demands mention is the W304M's longer than typical lamp life, at 4,000 hours in Bright mode and 5,000 hours in Eco mode. The long life, combined with the lower than usual $230 (street) replacement cost, translates to a low running cost.

Image Quality and Other Issues
The W304M sailed through our standard suite of DisplayMate tests, with near-excellent data image quality. It delivered suitably neutral grays at all levels from black to white in every preset mode, and also delivered saturated, pleasing color, despite yellow being a little mustard colored in all modes, and red a little dark.

The projector also handled fine detail well, with both black text on white and white text on black readable even at 6.8 points, although white text on black was a little less crisp at that size. I saw a hint of pixel jitter on screens that tend to cause that problem. However, it was so slight that there was no obvious improvement when I switched from an analog to a digital connection.

Video image quality is better than you'll get with some data projectors, but it's not suitable for long sessions. The native resolution can accept 720p HD without scaling, which helps a little. Also on the plus side is that it handles shadow detail (details based on shading in dark areas) better than many data projectors, and it shows only minimal noise. However, in scenes that tend to cause the problem, I saw more posterization (shading changing suddenly where it should change gradually) than with most data projectors.

The far more serious issue for video is that the W304M shows rainbow artifacts easily, with bright areas breaking up into flashes of red, green, and blue. With data images, I saw the artifacts only occasionally. With video, however, they were both frequent and obvious enough that anyone in your audience who sees them easily is likely to find them annoying. That makes this the wrong projector if you need to show much video, although it's useable for short clips.

As with most portable projectors, the audio system in the W304M is basically useless. Even at top volume, the one-watt speaker is hard to hear from two feet away. If you need audio, count on getting an external sound system.

Clearly, if you need to show much video, the Optoma W304M is a poor choice. You'll be much better off in that case with the NP-M311W. Not only does it offer good video quality by data projector standards, but as an LCD projector it's also guaranteed not to show rainbow artifacts. If you're primarily interested in showing data images at WXGA resolution, however, with video limited to short clips at most, and you also need a highly portable, bright projector, the Optoma W304M may be exactly the model you want.

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Optoma X303

Pros 3D capable. Portable. Moderate price. Good range of connection choices.

Cons Rainbow effect. Image quality suffers over a VGA connection. Bottom Line The Optoma X303 XGA data projector offers a good mix of moderate price, portability, connectivity, 3D capability, and image quality suitable for typical presentations.

By Tony Hoffman

The Optoma X303 provides a good set of connection choices and solid data image quality for a lower-priced business or classroom projector. Portability and 3D capability are among its other strengths.

The X303 is a DLP-based data projector with XGA (1,024 by 768) native resolution, a 4:3 aspect ratio. It is rated at 3,000 lumens. This all-black projector is quite portable, measuring 4.6 by 12.4 by 8.8 inches, weighing 4.9 pounds, and coming with a soft carrying case. It has the same weight and dimensions as the Optoma S303, its SVGA counterpart.

It has a good selection of ports for a low-priced projector, including two VGA-in (which double as component video); monitor-out; serial; an RCA composite video jack; S-video; HDMI, 2 audio-in; 1 audio-out; and a USB type B port. It lacks a port that lets you run a presentation computer-free off of a USB thumb drive.

Data Image Quality
I tested the X303 from about eight feet away from our test screen, where it projected an image about 60 inches diagonal. The image stood up well to a fair amount of ambient light.

In our DisplayMate testing, the X303 showed data image quality suitable for typical business or classroom presentations. In text testing, type was a bit blurred at the two smallest sizes of white-on-black type, but still readable. There was slight yellow tinting in some white areas.

In testing over a VGA connection, some gray areas with hatched textures appeared greenish and showed pixel jitter. Its ability to display very light shades of gray was unusually poor. However, when I switched to an HDMI connection, the gray tint and pixel jitter disappeared, and it did a much better job with light grays.

The rainbow effect, in which little red-green-blue flashes appear in areas of high contrast—a common phenomenon in single-chip DLP projectors—was apparent in images that tend to bring it out. Still, in data images it's not likely to be an issue, even to people sensitive to it.

p>Video and Audio
The X303's video quality is suitable for relatively short clips as part of a presentation. Here, the rainbow effect in our test clips was apparent enough that it would be distracting to anyone sensitive to the effect. Some scenes appeared overly red.

The audio from the projector's single 2-watt speaker is of decent quality, though on the soft side, loud enough to fill a smallish room.

Other Issues
The X303 provides 3D support for DLP-Link. It doesn't come with any of the active-shutter 3D glasses that you need, though. Though the glasses have come down in price, with pairs selling in the $30-40 range, outfitting a classroom with them is still an expensive proposition.

The X303 has a better selection of ports than the Editors' Choice Epson PowerLite 93+, a portable 2,600-lumen resolution data projector, and is slightly brighter, at least in white light. However, it lags the Epson 93+ in both data and video image quality, and its sound is much softer. One edge that it does have over the Epson 93+ is its 3D capability.

The X303 costs a bit more than the Optoma S303 while providing higher resolution. This could be an advantage in projecting smaller detail, though the S303 held its own in text testing. Otherwise their features are pretty much the same.

The X303 matches up pretty well with the BenQ MX518 as a lower-priced XGA business projector. They both have a good (and very similar) port selection, 3D capabilities, and are very portable (though the BenQ MX518 lacks a carrying case). Their data and video quality, though unspectacular, is suitable for typical business or classroom use, and their audio systems are on the soft side.

Though it lacks the bells and whistles of some higher-end models we've tested, the Optoma X303 has much to recommend it. It's quite portable, has ample connectivity choices, 3D capability, and image quality suitable for typical presentations. This budget-priced alternative should be a good fit for many schools and businesses.

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Optoma X304M

Pros Highly portable. Bright, with a 3,000-lumen rating. Good to excellent data image quality. Long lamp life.

Cons Video is suitable for only short clips. Obvious rainbow artifacts in video. Bottom Line Only a little heavier than 500-lumen LED-based portable projectors but a lot brighter, the Optoma X304M delivers a bright image in a highly portable package.

By M. David Stone

Light enough to invite comparison to the plethora of WXGA (1,280 by 800) sub-three-pound LED-based projectors like the InFocus IN1144, the Optoma X304M delivers a lot more lumens per ounce, with a 3,000-lumen rating and a 3 pound 5 ounce weight. It also delivers an XGA (1,024 by 768) native resolution, rather than WXGA. If XGA is what you need, the X304M offers a lot to like.

Native resolution, of course, is one of the most important factors for choosing a projector, since the image quality will be best with that resolution. That makes the X304M less directly competitive with the crowd of WXGA LED projectors than with other XGA projectors, including, for example, the DLP-based ViewSonic PJD6235 and the LCD-based Editors' Choice Epson PowerLite 93+ ($549 direct, 4 stars).

The X304M has the advantage of being lighter than either of those choices—by more than a pound compared with the PJD6235 and more than three and a half pounds compared with the 93+—which largely justifies the higher price. It also offers a higher brightness rating than the 93+. However, any brightness comparison is complicated by the fact that both the X304M and PJD6235 are DLP based. That brings issues of color brightness into play, which means that a simple comparison of brightness ratings isn't very meaningful. (For a discussion of color brightness, see Color Brightness: What It Is, and Why You Should Care.)

The Basics
Along with its light weight, the X304M offers an attractively small size for a portable, at 2.8 by 8.7 by 7.0 inches (HWD). It also helps that Optoma ships it with a soft carrying case complete with a handle and a pouch for cables.

Setup is standard. Simply plug in the power cord and cables, turn the projector on, and adjust the manual zoom and focus. The zoom is only 1.15x, which isn't a lot, but is enough to give you at least some flexibility in how far you can put the projector from the screen for a given size image.

Connectors for image sources are limited to the most common choices, with HDMI, VGA, and composite video ports. Notably missing from the list is a USB A port for reading files directly from a USB memory key.

Image Quality and Audio
The X304M earns points for its data image quality. It did a good job in my tests with our standard suite of DisplayMate screens, with excellent color balance in all modes, and good, though not great, color quality. Colors were generally well saturated and eye catching in all modes, but yellow was a little mustard colored and red was a little dark in terms of a hue-saturation-brightness color model, particularly in the brightest mode.

Much more important for data images is that the projector did a good job with fine detail. Black text on white was crisp and highly readable at sizes as small as 6.8 points, for example. White text on black was a little less crisp at that size, but still readable.

I saw some exceedingly minor pixel jitter and dynamic moire with an analog connection, but only on screens that are most likely to cause the problem. Unless you use images with patterned fills, you'll probably never see this issue at all. Even if it shows up, it's so minor that you may not notice it unless you're looking for it. You can also get rid of it completely by using a digital connection.

Video image quality isn't in nearly the same class as the data image quality. It's obviously limited by the native resolution, so the projector has to scale HD images to fit in the available pixels. Beyond that, I saw some moderate posterization (colors changing suddenly where they should change gradually) and loss of shadow detail (details based on shading in dark areas), but only in test clips that tend to cause those problems.

The more important issue for video is rainbow artifacts. These are always a potential problem for DLP projectors, with light areas breaking up into little flashes of red, green, and blue. I saw almost none of these artifacts with data screens in my tests. With video, however, they showed up even in scenes where they rarely show with most projectors. Anyone who is sensitive to seeing them artifacts will likely find them annoying for long video sessions, which means the X304M is best limited to short video clips if you use video at all.

Also on the minus side is the essentially useless audio, with a one-watt speaker. Even at the highest volume, most spoken dialog in our test clips was barely audible from two feet away, and one quietly spoken monologue was impossible to hear at all. If you need audio, plan on getting an external sound system.

Other Issues
One other feature in the plus column is the X304M's support for all HDMI 1.4a mandatory 3D formats, which means you can connect directly to a Blu-ray player, other video source, or computer by HDMI for 3D. If you're upgrading from an older projector, note that you need 144Hz DLP-Link glasses to work with Blu-ray 3D at 24 frames per second. For games, however, both 144Hz glasses and 120Hz glasses worked in my tests without problems.

Also on the plus side is the X304M's longer than typical lamp life, at 4,000 hours in Bright mode and 5,000 hours in Eco mode. Even better, the replacement cost is $230 (street), which is a lower cost than with many projectors. Less frequent replacements at a lower cost obviously helps keep running costs down.

The Optoma X304M earns most of its points for portability and for data image quality, with a little extra thrown in for its 3D support and long lamp life. If you need an XGA projector and also need to show video, you'll be better off with the Epson PowerLite 93+, simply because LCD projectors can't show rainbow artifacts. If you don't need to show video, however, or don't need to show it much, and particularly if you want a highly portable XGA projector with a bright image, the Optoma X304M is a strong candidate and certainly worth considering.

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