Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Optoma HD243X 1080p Projector for Movies and Gaming, Super Bright 3300 Lumens, Long 12000h Lamp Life, 3D Support, Easy Setup with Zoom and Keystone Adjustment

Top positive review

Best bang for the buck!

Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2016

Having had a background in sales for A/V equipment, as well as the installation of them, I have seen top shelf quality products as well as equipment that doesn't quite meet my high expectations. With this projector I was skeptical because the price was so low but the features were on par with what I was looking for, so I took a chance. Let me just say my gamble paid off big time! This projector exceeds my expectations and looks magnificent. The blacks are black and the whites are white. Color is suburb and I didn't even have to adjust out of the box which surprised me. I have cable, which is usually not the best when it comes to picture quality because of the feed my cable company provides and yet this projector nails it! My PS4 on blu-ray however is what really blew my mind. The quality of picture was crisp and vibrant, it looks like I should have paid thousands of dollars! Easy to setup and very user friendly I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for an inexpensive projector but wants top quality performance.

543 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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> > > An Excellent Projector, Unless You Start Noticing the Dreaded Rainbow Effect

Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2017

1 Week Update: - Out of the box I loved the image, then within a few hours it all changed.
I started noticing frequent strong rainbow artifacts in video clips/movies that were so annoying and distracting I unfortunately had to return it and bought an Epson 1040 instead (it's a 3LCD system which inherently does not have rainbow effects).
2 other minor issues for me were: - No Component input, and jittery video when using Miracast mirroring via a WiFi stick (that same ScreenBeam Mini 2 stick works flawlessly when connected to my HDTV)

If you are not sensitive to the DLP's rainbow effect, this is one fantastic projector and my review below stands.
- - - - - - - - I hope you find this review helpful.
I posted this video at much better quality on YouTube under "Optoma HD142X 1080p - 100" of Pure Pleasure"
This is one amazing 1080p projector. All of a sudden our 50" HDTV is so uninteresting.
We use it on an excellent 100" motorized screen that I reviewed with a video as well (link at end of this review)

The HD142X fit my budget and is ---
- The 1st choice in cnet.com Projectors for 2017, - 1st on the excellent ProjectorCentral.com site for PJs under $750, and 1st on Amazon's quality PJs for Home entertainment (as well as the many favorable reviews here)

My research on Projectors brought me back time and again to the HD142X and it really is a gem.
Yes, 10% of the reviews are not-favorable, but that's the case for all Projectors of $500 to 700+

Other Projectors people loved which I considered at the $500 - $700 price range:
1 - Epson HC 1040 - a 3LCD technology, but pricing and deciding to get a DLP had me skip it
2 - Optoma HD27 - 3200 vs 3000 lumens of the HD142X and contrast of 25,000:1 vs 23,000:1 did not seem worth the extra $80
3 - BenQ W1070 - a popular DLP projector, but pricier, only 2000 Lumens, 2 HDMI but neither w/MHL
4 - BenQ MH530 - a very good 3200/1080p projector, 2 HDMI but no MHL, no USB A port
5 - Short throw projectors could not work for my setup and are also usually more expensive

I learned the following the hard way after buying/returning 2 projectors:
- Quality 3000/1080p projectors cost over $400. Verify that 1080p is 'NATIVE' resolution and the stated 3000 Lumens is ANSI. Low cost projectors say 1080p 'compatible' but are only 480 or 720p at most. They also claim 3000 lumens but you only get measly 200 ANSI at best. The 2 I tried with Android 4.4 OS were buggy, slow and useless.

General tips on getting a best price on a Projector, if not in a hurry:
1 - Sign up for free at sites like slickdeals.com and set an alert to get emails on 'Projector'
... Many deals are for brand new projectors from reputable sellers
... e.g. BenQ MH530 sold for $380 on eBay by NewEgg (Regular price $550)
2 - Sign up for Daily Deals alerts on Amazon + check upcoming Lightning Deals for projectors
3 - If refurbished is your thing, look under 'Other Sellers' (where you can also get new/no-tax)
... e.g. a refurbished/open-box HD142X was available via Amazon's warehouse deals for $385

Other notes:
1. This newly selling motorized 100" screen at $64 turned out to be excellent and a I posted a review with a video too:
ShowMaven 100-inch 16:9, Matte White Home Theater Electric Motorized Drop Down Projection Projector Screen w/ Remote Control
2. (Update) After a few hours of watching various content I started noticing the rainbow effect, which became a deal breaker for me.
3. The on-board speaker is nothing to write home about. Optoma's Audio team really dropped the ball on that one. There is also no Menu Audio settings of any kind except for Mute/Volume. I use my own Speakers instead anyway.

224 people found this helpful

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> > > An Excellent Projector, Unless You Start Noticing the Dreaded Rainbow Effect

Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2017

Style: 3000 Lumens/2017 ModelVerified Purchase

224 people found this helpful

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55 comments

The manufacturer commented on the review below

Catherine Seiferth

VERY limited zoom and keystone so tough to mount and align.

Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2018

Style: 3000 Lumens/2018 ModelVerified Purchase

Picture quality is pretty good compared to other models and brands I've seen. One big issue is that the zoom and keystone are VERY limited so you'll like end up not using all your screen and having it a bit misaligned within the screen. If the projector didn't seem like such good value I would definitely have returned it over this issue as it makes accurate mounting very difficult. If you think I'm exaggerating, for a 120" screen it felt like I had less than an inch or two of "play" in the mounting position which really makes things difficult. The same issue with the keystone, it just doesn't seem like there's an ideal position / adjustment. The projector also tends to "search" a bit in between show or app changes (eg from Roku to chromecast) even though it's run through an AVR and the EDID handling shouldn't be affected. So, it's an ok value but has some significant limitations for me.

31 people found this helpful

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11 comment

Nuclear Avenger

Not bad, but could be much better

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2018

Style: 3000 Lumens/2018 ModelVerified Purchase

I've had mixed emotions about this projector. When it arrived the Amazon box looked fine but the projector box itself was pretty damaged. There was enough padding inside the box that I don't think it made any difference. When I connected the projector it displayed a much smaller image than I was expecting based on the throw ratio listed. While using the zoom feature I noted that it was good at shrinking the image however it wouldn't enlarge the size of the projection but rather just zoom in on one part of the image. The projector does not create an image that is centered at the height of the projector. The bottom of the projection is at the same height as the projector. This resulted in half the image on the wall and half on the ceiling. In order to get the correct image and size I had to completely rearrange my basement and ceiling mount the projector.

Once I got through all that things got better. Originally it was convinient to have the projector off center, however there is no horizontal keystone correction. So I had to rearrange the basement again. The projector does have a useful zoom provided you are trying to shrink the image. It also has a vertical and horizontal image shift which was very useful. The up and downside to that is each source has its own setting so you end up setting it up once for the blu ray player and once for the roku, and once for the Xbox. The good is it will have different settings for each input. The other downside is anytime you change the input or change from the previews on a blu ray to the main menu you have to wait while the projector detects what the source is and reloads the settings. Very annoying and unnecessary.

It does have built in test patterns for screen calibration, which us nice. The remote lights up well. The strange thing is the on and off buttons are not the same button. I also can't seem to find a remote code for the projector so I cant use a universal remote. Additionally the remote has keys which don't do anything. My unit also seems very picky about the remote angle relative to the unit.

The image itself is nice and sharp. At night it looks great but it suffers a lot in a room with light. This is a problem with all projectors I know. I expected it to be a bit brighter. The brightness difference between vivid and eco mode isnt very noticable, however the difference in fan noise is very noticeable. Speaking of noise, when the projector starts up it emits a high pitch squeek for several minutes. Not real loud, but annoying until your show starts playing sound.

The biggest issue was that after about 1 month of use the projector lamp died. Called optoma and they said to try Amazon first and if that didnt work they would step in. Hooray to Amazon. Even though I was a few days outside the 30 day return window they processed a very fast replacement. Not sure if this was related to the damaged box or not.

I love the big screen but it has come with waaaayyyy more baggage than I was expecting. Fortunately I was able to rearrange my basement othwmerwise I would have been really unhappy. If I had to do it all over again I don't know if I would do it again honestly. Maybe my opinion will change after years or reliable use.

4 people found this helpful

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The manufacturer commented on the review below

Phoenixliv

HD243x is a dud. QC issues. Rainbows not subtle.

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2019

Style: 3300 Lumens/2019 ModelVerified Purchase

The projector was bright, had very nice contrast, no crosstalk on 3D content and no motion artifacting for gaming(PS3 in 2D and 3D games tested). Unfortunately, that's where the positives end. The projector had a nonfunctioning front IR sensor making it almost impossible to control without contorting(projecter ceiling mounted behind the seating area). Yes, I did remove the antiscratch shipping plastic over the front sensor. The IR sensor simply did not work.

Second, the lamp flickered distractingly and very visibly during static image display. Light a candle, set it on the table in front of you and close your eyes while facing the lit candle. Yes, that's how bad it was.

Finally, the rainbows were VERY prevalent and very distracting for me while others got almost immediate eyestrain or headaches. Rainbows were a problem for everyone who watched it.

Needless to say, returning. This unit is obviously defective(flicker, IR receiver) but the rainbows make it nearly unwatchable.

3 people found this helpful

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11 comment

The manufacturer commented on the review below

Not bad for the price, but I cannot recommend

Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2020

Style: 3600 Lumens & HDMI-CEC/2020 ModelVerified Purchase

We have been using projectors instead of televisions in our house for about 15 years and this is our third one. Our Panasonic and Epson projectors lasted years, but we had to change bulbs several times. The promised extremely long bulb life and good price convinced me to try Optoma.

The brightness is excellent and the picture is very good, with one potentially serious problem: There is a flickering band approximately 100 - 150 lines tall that appears intermittently all the way across the screen at various locations. It only lasts for less than a second, but sometimes occurs several times in quick succession. I contacted Optoma support through their website and after a delay of over 3 weeks, I got an email reply that a technician would be contacting me within 24 hours. When I did not receive the promised follow-up, I called their hotline. The technician was very friendly and seemed knowledgeable. He suggested that the problem was probably the HDMI cable, and that I could test it by bringing up the menu when the flickering occurred to see if the flickering obscured the menu. Since the phenomenon lasts less than a second, I have not been able to do that. I did, however, have another cable. The flickering persists, but because of the delay, the 30 DAY warranty has now expired.

The picture is very good and the flickering is unobtrusive, my wife didn't even notice it until I pointed it out to her, so we will keep this projector as is. The Optoma warranty would now require us to send it off for repair and we would be without any video for weeks! If the problem becomes worse, we will just buy a different brand.

One person found this helpful

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11 comment

The manufacturer commented on the review below

josh

Good projector but bulb didn’t even make it to 100 hours.

Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2018

Style: 3000 Lumens/2018 ModelVerified Purchase

Great colors and brightness! However the lamp failed on the 90th day of the 90 warranty with barely 80 hours on the unit. Optoma agreed to repair the unit but make the customer pay the shipping which was 67$. The customer shouldn’t have to pay 1/3 of the price of a bulb for their faulty product. Also it has been 4 weeks with minimal communication about how long it is going to take. Other than that issue the projector quality has been great.

5 people found this helpful

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The manufacturer commented on the review below

Amazon costumer

Oversplash darkens otherwise bright review

Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2018

Style: 3000 Lumens/2018 ModelVerified Purchase

I bought this for my basement home theater. This is my first projector, and it was pretty straight forward to install and set up. I have it mounted in the ceiling, and projecting on a retractable 100" screen. The colors are amazing; the picture looks fantastic. The projector is also easy to use; didn't have any issues with the zoom, focus, or the keystone adjustments.

The one problem, and it's something I've seen commented on by quite a few people, is the over splash. There's a good 3"-4" around the entire screen; it's just dim white light bleeding outside of the projected image. I sure hope Optoma figures out how to fix this, then I'll adjust my star rating to much higher.

4 people found this helpful

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11 comment

The manufacturer commented on the review below

Ajay

Rainbow effect, very large throw distance

Reviewed in the United States on February 29, 2020

Style: 3000 Lumens/2018 ModelVerified Purchase

It's a good projector. But there is a bunch of flaws that made me return this. DLP projectors comes with what's called a Rainbow effect and this one definitely has it, a lot. Also the picture is smaller than what you get on other projectors at the same distance. The projector only has verical keystone correction so adjusting the picture is entirely up to your mounting mechanism. There is no options to fix the image if it is distorted.

The good things: Great quality picture, lots of good and accurate color, great black to white contrast ratio. Gets very bright even if you have ambient light. Super quiet.

Still, the flaws make it an inferior product compared to its peers.

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11 comment

The manufacturer commented on the review below

njrapid

Cheap enough,but features limited

Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2019

Style: 3000 Lumens/2018 ModelVerified Purchase

Cheap.We use these often and they are pretty good but do burn through bulbs more freq. than others we use.
LIMITED features such as zoom/focus,so you have to be exact as to where you mate it w/screen.
If you need a cheapie use this,if you can up the budget run from this aging out model.For our purposes its ok

2 people found this helpful

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11 comment

The manufacturer commented on the review below

Ragnaros The Firelord

Is it supposed to be this loud?

Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2019

Style: 3000 Lumens/2018 ModelVerified Purchase

Let me start with the positives. This projector is the cheapest 1080p projector. It's got a variety of settings that allow everything you watch to look great. I haven't tried gaming but im sure its great.
There are 2 negatives I've noticed after about 2 weeks of use.
1) The fan is loud. Really loud. Is it supposed to be this loud? Even on eco mode there is a constant humming and i have to turn my speakers up to drown it out. On bright mode i get a high pitch whirring as well as the humming. It's incredibly annoying.
2) I think this is only my unit but the first HDMI input is faulty. However I contacted support and received compensation for it.

One person found this helpful

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