The Optoma H111 WXGA was released a little over a year ago, primarily in European and UK markets. It’s a powerful multimedia projector, which plenty of useful features and image specifications. Overall, it delivers bright images – rated at 3,200 ANSI lumens with 85 percent brightness uniformity – in WXGA widescreen resolution (1280×800).
Yet, it remains a budget-friendly business/classroom piece of hardware, and as such, the projector is limited in a few areas. For portability – one of the most important factors for business and classroom projectors – the H111 offers limited options for zoom and vertical and horizontal image correction. Fortunately, though, it weighs just 5.5 pounds, making it lightweight enough to port around from classroom to classroom. Another limitation: Advanced features like Full HD projection and WiFi connectivity are not offered with the H111.
Overall, though, the Optoma H111 delivers a large enough suite of features to make this an extremely useful multimedia projector. Images are bright, it is 3D compatible and the range of connections supports source material from just about any device. It might be a bit limited in some areas, but for the most part, the H111 delivers exactly what you’ll need for basic to intermediate presentations.
A Closer Look at the Optoma H111
From image quality to maintenance costs, the H111 looks great on paper. And with a fairly reasonable price starting north of £500, users get a lot of bang for their buck. Here are a few of the most impressive features and specs:
- Brightness and Contrast: At 3,200 lumens of brightness in standard mode, the H111 is certainly a bright and capable projector. That’s bright enough to counteract ambient light. Additionally, the projector has a dynamic contrast ratio of 25,000:1, providing crisp, clear images with fine details.
- Lamp Life: In standard mode, the Optoma H111 lamp achieves 3,000+ hours of operation. The maximum in economy mode is 7,000 hours, which is much higher than average. Fortunately, the H111 has a low cost of ownership; replacement lamps for the Optoma H111 start at $254. The lamp part number is also known as PAW84-2400.
- Built-In Speakers: The H111 is equipped with dual speakers, which provide crisp and useable audio in small to mid-sized environments. Louder spaces, like noisy classrooms or conference halls, will likely need to connect to an external audio source.
- Useful Connections: With two USB connections and an HDMI input, the Optoma H111 can handle input video and audio from a variety of devices. There are a series of PC cable inputs, as well as S-Video and RGA connections.
- 3D Video Ready: In small business presentations, 3D video and imaging is possible with the HD111. The biggest caveat: 3D glasses are not included with the shipped H111.
One of the biggest downfalls of the H111, though, is its inability to display Full HD content. The H111 provides video up to 1080i, which is one level below Full HD. 1080i video, though, can show motion blur. In addition, the projector has limited installation flexibility, thanks to average zoom and lens shift capabilities, as well a bare-bones suite of networking tools.