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 enlarge | Brand: Optoma
Category: CE
This item is no longer available
Avg. Customer Rating:  60 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 7.8
Dimensions (in): 14.5 x 10.7 x 4.6
MPN: dv10
Model: dv10
UPC: 796435241575
EAN: 0796435241575
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| Customer Reviews:
 REVOLUTIONARY OPTOMA MOVIETIME PROJECTOR September 29, 2005
12 out of 15 found this review helpful
Strengths: Handsome space age design as well as top functionality.
Weaknesses: That it wasn't invented sooner and that it isn't in stores yet.
Summary: (Edited September 15th by booley) We have had several days to try out the exciting new Optoma Movietime Video Projector and have even visited a few friends at home. From a picture size of six feet to over fifteen feet, the quality was fantastic. A thrill was showing the fifteen foot image on the white wall above a fireplace in a room with a vaulted ceiling. Just plugging the projector into the wall outlet and putting it on a chair turned the room into a true home theater. The built in sound system and speakers were more than enough for enjoyment. I also feel that the built in DVD player adds to the exceptional picture quality because there are not wired or analog connections to introduce loss...you get direct digital perfection.
The contrast (deep blacks) on this machine are as good as any I have ever seen. The color saturation (rich reds, blues, etc) is so intense that colors literally sparkle like they do on Plasma screens much smaller.
The sharpness is excellent. You can even place this machine on the floor and still have proper viewing area height. They have designed the lens so that you don't have to be far back to get big pictures. For example, only six feet back will produce a six foot picture. Worried about having to have a darkened room? That will always give the best picture, but this unit has so much brightness (even on the bulb saving mode!) that you can enjoy video with normal brightness in the room. This was not possible with low light output projectors of the past. And it is whisper quiet, so you don't hear it running. The user menus are very straightforward and easy to navigate. Right out of the box, without any tweaking or adjustments we had a GREAT picture and perfect performance. The only thing I haven't figured out is how to automatically turn off the subtitles on DVD's. I can do this with the flick of a switch, but I may call Optoma on that question.
Another great experience was plugging in the cable TV box. High definition quality without paying high definition prices. And then connecting our camcorder into it...DVD quality pictures that we had just taken at the Media Super Sunday and at area restaurants singing and enjoying Anna's birthday. Even the dark scenes look good because this projector has a special circuit (new technology) to boost contrast in dark scenes.
Did I tell you about the beautiful carrying case included? It is padded for protection, very rugged, and looks embroidered with big "MOVIETIME" logo printed in. It will hold everything you need including remote, power cable, instruction manual, and accessory plugs. Has a velcro strip to secure projector from moving inside.
The projector has so many nice controls on the topside that you can forget the remote control and still do most functions.
Does this sound like they have thought of everything? Well, they HAVE. And read the effusive professional and user reviews on this machine and read the few user opinions here and you will know that Optoma also thought of just about everything when designing the machine that will change the scope of home theater.
We just tested the machine in our basement on our old crank down beaded screen. We got a fourteen foot (!) wide picture with the full eight foot height from floor to ceiling. Thrilling, as we watched "The Aviator" and were totally immersed in the screen experience. Sharp, vivid, and engulfing with the projector sitting on the floor. We did add a cheapie Radio Shack subwoofer/surround sound unit (on sale for half price at 49.95) to add the deep bass needed for the Dolby Digital Sound.
If you have been thinking of buying a new TV or getting into home theater....think no longer. This unit has only been out a month, but I have researched every available professional article, every post written on forums about audio-visual by users, and all are raving about this great new machine. It has a full warranty for two years and is backed up with excellent customer service.
To see this machine pictured from every angle and a lot more information about it, go to:
User Supplied Web Link
Note that this is an Australian web site, so pay no attention to the high prices quoted.
Finally, here are my first thoughts on this machine, after removing it from the box:
Weighing only seven pounds and taking up less space than a portable typewriter, this machine is revolutionary and will add new meaning to my new pet phrase "Have Projector Will Travel".
THE MIND BLOWING OPTOMA MOVIETIME DV 10 PROJECTOR!
My wife had to tell me to calm down after I unpacked the Optoma Movietime DV 10 that just arrived. I was acting like an excited kid, and why not with all that was hitting my eyes...like a beautiful shipping box with crystal clear photos and information, a very impressive and useful carrying case, and the actual machine-which looked smaller than I had imagined and a real eye catcher like a neat foreign car. A fine looking and versatile remote control, an easy to read user manual and other accessories rounded out the package.
I placed it on the coffee table near my Sharp XV-Z900 that sits at the rear of the room (now in its third year of use and on a second bulb), plugged it in and pressed the on button. I knew immediately from the Optoma start graphic that I was in for a treat. You simply pop a DVD into the top lid and close and it starts playing without any command. I began with Toy Story 2. Vivid and crystal clear. Then an old Sinatra favorite film, "Pal Joey" which looked nicer than I remembered. Then the Jerry Lewis "Nutty Professor" that has reds, blues and purples in the opening scene that are so intense that your eyes feel like your mouth does when eating a great piece of pepperoni pizza.
BUT the exciting test was "Lost In Space", because this is where the finer picture qualities were evident. I was quite used to seeing this on my Sharp, as it was my favorite demo for sound and action when people came to see our home theater set up. I was not prepared for what followed and I started jumping around (Anna said "calm down" two more times...but she was jumping up and down by then herself!). The gray frame bars I saw in the past were dark black and almost imperceptible on my Stewart Grayhawk 8 foot diagonal screen (BTW, the projector was only eight feet from the screen and filled it!). The jet blacks in outer space were awesome and the intensity and color of the sharp, noise free images were nothing less than exciting. Even the sound was damn good (no subwoofer hooked up yet) considering it was coming out of two small stereo speakers built into the Movietime. I had the video set to "Game", which is one of five pre-set choices and that seemed to give the most punch. I noticed that the brightness was only about forty percent up on this setting and it was plenty bright. I raised the picture to shine on our white plaster ceiling and believe it or not that looked even better.
I am sitting here still in my bathrobe and have much more testing and comparing to do and will report again. In the meantime, I say "look out" to the other projector manufacturers. This Optoma beauty is going to raise the bar for home theater and portable home theater tremendously!
PS. A sexy feature I liked is how the volume drops and then SLOWLY comes back up when you make any adjustments on the machine.
PPS. These sell for around $1,500.00...far less than most rear projection TVs and far superior. The folks at Best Buy and Circuit City won't point you in the direction of this projectors and others like it because their profit margin is very low on these.
For the technically minded, some important specs:
Uses the latest Texas Instruments DLP chip, the Dark Chip2
Contrast Ratio: 4000 to 1
ANSI Brightness: 1000 lumens
Lamp Life (200 watt bulb): 3000 hours in econo mode
Aspect Ratio: 16 x 9 native
Resolution: SVGA (854 x 480)
Speakers: Two five watt stereo
Color Wheel: 7 segment (including white); 4x speed
Noise level: 27db
Image size: 48 to 359 inches
Dimensions: 14.5 x 4.6 x 10.7
Weight: 7.8 lbs.
Warranty: 3 years
Set up in minutes -- perfect picture out of the box October 17, 2005
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
I am very happy with this unit. Mine came bundled with a portable 80-inch 16x9 screen -- but any good screen will do. You could even project the picture on a blank white wall. I basically took it out of the box, set it on a little footstool, plugged it in, and popped in a DVD -- "Kingdom of Heaven" (a widescreen epic that should be seen on a big screen), and the Optoma Movietime projected a really excellent picture. The definition, color and clarity are excellent -- no adjustments were necessary on my part. The controls on the remote are pretty standard. If you want to be able to show the occasional big screen movie, but you don't want to have an expensive, monster-size, rear projection or plasma unit permanantely sitting in your living room, you should really consider a projector. This unit is particularly nice, because it has DVD player and speakers built in. The sound is pretty good, about like an average TV, but I wanted more, so I was able to plug in my little Panasonic boom box using a standard 1/8-inch bayonet-type output jack to two RCA inputs into my boom box -- and the added sound was outstanding. The picture I projected took up the entire 80-inch screen, but I would imagine you could get an even larger image, if you needed one. One drawback with a projected image is the fact that you really should have a darkened room, so it works best at night. And, I hear that replacement lamps are expensive, although this unit's lamps supposedly lasts for 2,000 to 3,000 hours. I really like the fact that this unit is portable and can be put away after use. This unit does not have a TV tuner, but you can input composite video or S-video input. I was able to project cable TV channels and video tapes using a Magnavox VCR. I am not set up for HDTV (although this unit is HDTV capable), but who needs it? I thought the widescreen image that came from a standard DVD was just as good as in a movie theater. I recommend this projector, and suggest people consider this as an alternative to widescreen TVs that cost three or four times as much.
p.s. (added 12/03/05) As for the "odor" controversy -- this is really a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. Yes, I noticed a little bit of a "new electronic component" smell the first couple of times I used it, but I assumed that this was caused by the new lamp "burning in." I never consided this a problem, as as I thought, the odor went away. For goodness sake, who cares? I remember four decades ago when I was a kid watching 8mm home movies on a Keystone projector, and there was a little bit of this type of odor when the lamp got hot. So what? GET OVER IT. If you are unable to deal with this "problem" may I suggest you purchase a 60-inch plasma for $8,000 to $10,000, and then you will be happy. As for me, I'll enjoy an 80-inch or larger projected image this projector give me for a fraction of the cost.
Also, I agree with the reviewer that complained that it's necessary to have the unit practically on the floor in order to get the image to project on an average screen. There ought to be a better adjustment capability. This unit has two screw adjustable feet in the back, and a single adjustable pedastal on the front, but there's not enough adjustment available. You may need to add some object underneath, like cardboard or something, to level it to your taste. I find a very short footstool (about 12 inches high) works OK for me.
 A great buy for the price April 6, 2006
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
I've never bought a projector before. I finally decided to "take the plunge" and buy either a nice TV or a projector. For a variety of reasons, I liked the idea of a projector better, so I did my research.
The Optoma DV10 caught my eye, as it seemed like a great projector for a neophyte in home theater at a very good price. Researching and reading reviews of the projectors in the same general price range convinced me that the DV10 was the way to go.
I received my projector yesterday, and I can say I am impressed. It didn't take me very long to find a place for it, eventually putting it on a cart about 4' high behind the couch. The keystone correction handled it well, but I had to use some CD cases to get the projector to point downward at a sharp enough angle. I threw the image onto a blank wall and ran the projector through the paces
It took some fiddling to get the picture to look the way I wanted it to, with the right levels of brightness and color, but I was able to figure out the controls fairly quickly.
On DVDs that were transfers of older movies or TV shows, the quality is very inconsistent on the DVD and the projector picks up every tiny flaw and makes it very obvious. I am sure there is a way to compensate for this, but I don't know enough about the projector to know for certain how. It will take some trial and error to really pin down what does what and how to make every dvd look it's best.
On newer movies and DVDs, however, the picture is nothing short of awesome. It's amazing to see a 92" image in your living room. The sound on the projector isn't bad for what it is, but I was able to just plug it into my old component system and play it through my stereo speakers just fine. I am sure when my surround sound system arrives next week, it will be even better!
The lamp is sufficiently bright for a dimly lit room, but if a room has good natural light, the image can look a bit dark, and with the Bright mode turned on, it still looks a bit dim and washed out around the edges. I'm going to have to buy some heavy curtains for the living room windows. I think once I put my 92" greywolf screen up on the wall that it might help define the edges a bit better, too. In a dimly lit or dark room, the lamp is very bright. Scenes where there is a flash of light on the screen are astonishingly bright. Colors are very good, with deep blacks and good temperature. I had to actually tone the colors down a bit, as the reds and greens were almost unnaturally bright. A few small setting changes later and it was very nice.
I have noticed a little bit of a "screen door" effect, but I think it's partially because I was looking for it. I didn't notice it at all, until I went very close to the image, and after that I now can see it all the time if I look for it. If I forget to look, it's fine. I've not noticed any "rainbow effect".
I briefly tried to use it with my laptop to display my desktop, and it worked OK except that fonts were hard to read. I am sure I probably need to change a setting either on the laptop or the projector to get the right picture (I only tried for about 5 minutes to make it look good), but otherwise it was very good. Graphics displayed with breathtaking depth and clarity.
Overall, I would say that this projector is the best available at this pricepoint. The manual isn't very helpful and there is a definite learning curve on navigating the menus and settings. However, as my first purchase into the realm of home theater, I don't think I could have possibly have done better. I feel safe in recommending this projector to others interested in home theater on a budget.
Excellent! (my external audio only set-up - onboard speakers muted!) May 1, 2007
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
This is a great projector. The quality of the image is stellar. The onboard speakers are small but adequate for most people, but you're really missing out on the full movie-going experience without surround sound! Many people realize that you cannot mute the onboard speakers while external speakers are connected to the DV10. This CAN be achieved if you use the optical audio out. So, if want to mute the onboard speakers to get external audio (from surround speakers or headphones) while muting the onboard speakers here's the set up I'm using to achieve that:
-Bought an inexpensive Sony receiver (model STR-DG510)
-Bought an inexpensive 6' optical cable
-Bought JBL Surround Cinema Speakers (SCS200.5)
-Connected the optical cable to one of the optical inputs on the receiver.
-Connected my speakers to the receiver according to directions.
-Set my receiver's input setting to "Video 2" (this will vary depending on your connection and receiver).
-Using the DV10's remote, I pressed "Setup", navigated to "Audio Setup", selected "SPDIF OUT", and set that to "RAW".
My DV10's onboard speakers went silent but I was now getting fantastic 5.1 Dolby Digital sound through my external speakers! Connecting my headphones to the receiver means late night movies without waking the neighbors :-)
 3.5 stars - nice product but a little off December 16, 2005
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Overall I like it but not ecstatic and too pricey for the level of quality. Some things should have been easily corrected with a decent focus group review. Up and out of the box and watching a 6 ft wide movie on a bare wall within a couple of minutes - nice. Good clear picture for that large size and the bare wall but not amazing picture if you are used to or expecting HDTV level pics. On a movie like StarWars I can make out the squares of the DLP like rectangular pixels at this large size. Sound is ok but disappointing, even with a supplemental base speaker attached I had it almost near max and it is about as loud as medium volume from my tv...defintely meant to connect to sound system speakers but watchable without. Housing and pieces feel and look a little flimsy and cheap like they will soon break - specifically the DVD door and legs but overall it feels like I could easily break it. Thin plastic of almost an 80's era CD player aesthetic. This cheap feel also extends to the carrying bag that came with it which is the quality of a typical free thin black nylon bag, not that I'll be carrying it around since it feels fragile. The smell mentioned by others was light and to me was typical of new electronics, not as bad as others mentioned. However, the large GreyWolf screen that came with it stank of cheap glue for a couple of days but that was remedied as I had to send it back because it was nonfunctional right out of the box and would not roll back up. Overall I like it but it feels like an $800 level of satisfaction not $1300. Get some speakers, but picture is good enough that you may not need a screen.
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