Tech Review: Optoma HD142X projector

For the past couple of weeks my home movie viewing has been a delight, as I have had another projector to review. This one was the Optoma HD142X. While small, it was a powerful beast with great picture quality.

As with all the Optoma projectors, it was extremely simple to set up. Connect it to your blu-ray player or game console (the unit has to HDMI inputs) and away you go. This one has a built in speaker so you you do not need to hook it up to a surround sound system or soundbar. Obviously, the sound quality would be a lot better if you did. Luckily, this projector does have audio out so that can be easily done.

You can even turn it into a smart projector by connecting a HDMI dongle, Google Chromecast™, Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV™. You can also stream Full 1080p 3D content to the projector wirelessly so you don’t have to worry about long cables. However, for the purposes of this review I did not get a chance to use that option or check out how it works with 3D images. Weighing less than 2.5kg you can easily take it round to a friend’s house.

Basically, with the HD142X you have lots of options as to where you can put it and what you can connect to it.

You can see the full specifications below, but the main points are that it has full HD 1080p resolution and 3000 ANSI Lumens. That means you get an excellent image and it works very well for lights on viewing. It is never going to be as good as watching in a dark room, but I was pleasantly surprised at just how clear it was during the day and with lights on in the room. Once again, it is giving you more options and making owning a projector more feasible.

As for the picture quality it was, on the whole, very good. Yet not quite as good as the more expensive models have been. There was some pixelation on some scenes – particularly on those involving the sky and clouds, things like that. However, changing the various settings did make things a little better. It is always worth pausing a scene and running through the different pre-set options to get the best picture quality you can, before messing around with the manual options. Also do the same when watching things on it during the day as it can dramatically improve the clarity of the picture.

The pixelation was the only problem I had with the images, and it didn’t happen all the time or detract from what I was watching.

The gaming mode worked wonders when using my PS4 and there was no drop in quality or speed when playing video games.

I was using a Samsung soundbar connected to the PS4 or Blu-ray player. I tried the projector’s built in speaker and it was okay, but nothing special. The main problem I have with a speaker on a projector is that it all depends where you have the projector in your room. You can end up with the sound coming from a bizarre place that doesn’t match up with the film you are watching. Again, not a major problem and it does work well if you are taking it round to a friends to watch something. At least you know you will have picture and sound wherever you go with it.

Compared to the other Optoma projectors the cooling fan on the HD142X did seem a little louder. It wasn’t really noticeable when there was lots of action going on in whatever I was watching, but for the quieter moments you could hear it. However, it all depends where you are placing the projector in your room. I had it on the coffee table in the living room and the window ledge in my bedroom. If you were going to have it hanging from the ceiling then I doubt you would hear it at all.

That is the main thing about getting a projector. Do your homework. Check out the size of screen you want and make sure the projector you are after can do that. Make sure you know how you will be connecting it to your media player of choice and how you will be sorting out the sound.

The HD142X is a powerful projector and you get a lot for your money. It gives you plenty of options for how you can use it and is so simple to set up and use.

Once again, it was a sad day when I had to return it!

You can check out the official site here.

Optoma sent out the projector for me to review, but I am not paid for this review.