News

Optoma Launches the World's First Dedicated Digital Light Processing(tm) Home Theater Projector for Under $1400 (16/12/2003)

The Award-Winning H30 Completes Suite of Dedicated Home Theater Projectors - Makes High-Quality Home Theater Available to Everybody

Once again discrediting the perception that a quality, dedicated DLP(tm) home theater projector will always be defined by high cost, Optoma Technology, Inc. will hard-launch the world's first dedicated DLP(tm) home theater projector for under $1400 at the 2004 International CES in Las Vegas, Nevada. Beginning Thursday, January 8 the Optoma H30(tm) home theater projector, which is a winner of the CES Innovations 2004 Video Design and Engineering Award, will be one of the top attractions at Optoma's home theater exhibit. Optoma is an award-winning developer of projection and digital display products for business and home.

The H30 combines Double Data Rate DLP(tm) technology by Texas Instruments with a four-speed, six-segment color wheel for unsurpassed brightness, true colors and absolute black levels, and the advanced scaling and deinterlacing technologies of Pixelworks. This combination of technologies results in stunning image reproduction and smooth onscreen motion. It also provides excellent SVGA (800 x 600) resolution, an incredibly detailed 2000:1 contrast ratio, and a bright 800 lumens. The H30 also offers a range of aspect ratios to accommodate source materials and screen sizes ranging from native 4:3 to widescreen (16:9). Dedicated DLP(tm) home theater projectors with similar features retail for nearly twice as much while comparatively priced business projectors are not designed for dedicated home theater usage.

"The H30 is the perfect solution for home theater dealers and end-users who want the advantages of a dedicated DLP(tm) home theater projector but may find mid-range to high-end products to be cost prohibitive," explained Ken Tompkins, director of product development for Optoma. "Because this is the first dedicated DLP(tm) home theater projector to be priced at under $1400, dealers now have more price options for their customers, meaning a vast number of end-users can finally afford to experience a true DLP(tm)-based home theater projector."

The low price of the H30 defies its impressive performance and rich feature-set. The projector accommodates screen sizes ranging from 29 to 260 inches (0.7 to 6.6 meters), has a projection distance of 4.1 to 32.8 feet (1.25 to 10 meters), a wide-range throw ratio of 1.75:1 to 2.12:1, and provides keystone correction, in addition to manual zoom and focus for better image control. Similar to high-priced home theater projectors, the H30 also offers an economy mode to prolong lamp life and reduce noise levels.

Ideal for just about any home theater room size or configuration, the H30 is a lightweight 4.6-pounds for easy stationary mounting or unobtrusive placement upon a projector stand or table. And, despite its low weight and compact design, the H30 is exceptionally quiet at 32 dB (30 dB in economy mode). It comes equipped with a 180-watt 2000-hour lamp (3000 hours in economy mode), a convenient remote control, and is compatible with virtually every digital and analog source. It also provides high-demand inputs and outputs including a VGA input (analog RGB/component/HDTV), S-Video, and a composite video (RCA) / VGA output.

Along with its award-winning home theater counterparts the Optoma H56(tm) and the Optoma H76(tm), the H30 completes Optoma's suite of dedicated home theater projectors and makes DLP(tm) technology truly attainable. The H30 is the world's first dedicated DLP(tm) home theater projector of its class to be priced under $1400. The MSRP for the Optoma H30 is $1399.

www.optomahometheater.com