If you’re looking for a quality 4K projector, the Optoma UHD51A is an excellent choice. Incredible performance coupled with adjustability features and high maximum brightness, this home theater is a staple of modern projectors and fits well into a smart home environment, making it the eighth-best projector for bright rooms. Whether you’re an enthusiast or someone looking for the next best thing, this projector won’t let you down.
Why We Like It – The Optoma UHD51A
The Optoma UHD51A is a powerful home theater system that delivers uncompromising performance at all times of the day. A true ultra HD experience worth every penny, you won’t regret adding this projector to your home cinema experience.
- High brightness
- Incredible display
- Plenty of adjustability features
- Requires warm-up time
Performance/Resolution
The Optoma UHD51A offers an incredible display with true 4K resolution with frame interpolation and DLP-chip technology to give you a genuine cinema experience. It’s certainly stronger than its sister model the Optoma UHD50X. With an impressive 500,000:1 contrast ratio, RGBRGB color wheel, and Dynamic Black technology ensure a quality color space, as well as exceptional normal and HDR picture quality. The projector has a decent built-in sound system, but can be connected via HDMI cable to external speakers instead. Only a few projectors, such as the ViewSonic PX747, can offer comparable performance in the same price range. The Epson Home Cinema 5040UB is a projector worth checking out as it is a high-end full HD home theater projector that aims to provide a top-of-the-line media experience in HDR content thanks to its wide color gamut, excellent picture quality, and high contrast.
Brightness/Lumens
Performance is just the tip of the iceberg, as the Optoma UHD51A possesses a high maximum brightness of 2,400 lumens, which is lower than the Optoma UHD60 4K projector. With such a high contrast ratio, this home cinema system delivers quality images both during daylight hours and in brightly-lit rooms. Ambient light is easily overpowered and won’t disrupt your viewing experience. For even greater brightness, the Vankyo Performance V600 is an excellent alternative offering up to 6,000 lumens.
Adjustability/Viewing Angle
The Optoma UHD51A comes with a slew of adjustability features, all tied to an included remote control. A vertical lens shift and keystone correction produce a variety of placement options, and the 1.3x manual zoom and 0.8-2.0 digital zoom features allow for precision optimization. A manual focus ring and adjustable throw distance offer even further customization for a projector that can be placed on a shelf or a ceiling mount. The DLP projector also supports a variety of media players HDR content, and can be easily connected to your Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.
Durability
The Optoma UHD51A sports a sleek black design with dimensions of 5.1×15.4×11.1”, weighing just under 12 pounds. Of special note is the lamp life, which has an average lifespan of 10,000 hours in Eco mode, though this is reduced when used in bright mode or display mode, and increased when used in dynamic mode up to 15,000 hours. Optoma offers a fair warranty of 90 days on the bulb, and a 2-year limited warranty on the rest of the projector.
Value
The Optoma UHD51A may not be the cheapest 4K projector on the market, but it delivers quality above its price range. For well under $2,000, this home theater system offers a genuine 4K cinema experience from the comfort of your home, and comes with a range of features to make installation and adjustments a snap. Overall, the UHD51A is an excellent value and is worth every dollar to greatly enhance your viewing experience. The Acer H7850 is one of the few 4K projectors able to offer a comparable value.
Optoma UHD51A Wrap Up
While it does take some time to warm up and to switch between HDR content, the Optoma UHD51A is an incredible machine that will deliver exceptional picture quality and fantastic performance for years, boasting easy adjustability and brightness to eliminate the problem of ambient light. For a truly stunning 4K experience, you can’t go wrong with the Optoma UHD51A.
