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Several attributes--including an affordable price ($999 as of January 11, 2006)--make the Optoma EP719 a good choice as a business and home projector. At 4.4 pounds, this DLP model is easy on the shoulder, and its brightness (rated at 2000 lumens) is strong enough for sufficient illumination in a variety of settings, ranging from small groups to larger rooms with moderate ambient light.
In our image-quality judging, the EP719 earned average scores for text and graphics display and above-average scores on motion tests involving computer games and DVD video playback. On the other hand, it had trouble displaying some of the shades near the light and dark ends on our grayscale gradations test, and it didn't perform particularly well under bright light. The EP719 provides several image adjustment tools (including color temperature, gamma, and white peaking), but we couldn't take advantage of those controls in our formal image-quality tests because we use a projector's standard default settings. In our informal tests, however, making various adjustments often yielded more-attractive images than we got at default settings.
The EP719's on-screen menu, which consists of a series of tabs filled with lists of additional options, was a bit convoluted to navigate. Optoma provides numerous preset picture modes, minimizing the effort required to optimize the image for viewing at home. The projector's built-in (2-watt) speaker may be suitable for the minor sound and music effects that often accompany presentations, but most home-theater users will want a stronger sound system.
The remote is fairly easy to use, and it includes a picture mode button for cycling through the preset options (PC, movie, game, sRGB, and user). Still, we wish that the remote had a pointer, an audio mute button, and a remote mouse control.
A composite video cable is included, along with the computer (DVI-VGA) cable and power cord, but you'll need to obtain your own S-Video or component video cables in order to use those connections. The EP719 comes with a skimpy one-year warranty instead the two- or three-year warranty that accompanies most projectors.
Upshot: The lightweight Optoma EP719's low price makes it a good value as a road-friendly dual-purpose projector, but its performance was not exceptional.
Richard Jantz
