Similar in many ways to the Optoma GT720 ($799 street, 4 stars) that it's in the process of replacing in Optoma's line, the GT750E ($800 street) starts with all of the features that made the GT720 an Editors' Choice and adds a few extras. Among the improvements are a second HDMI port, a boost in brightness, and better image quality. The result is an even more impressive projector that easily qualifies as the new generation Editors' Choice.

Like the GT720, the GT750E is built around a DLP engine with a native WXGA (1,280 by 800) resolution. If have a PS3 or Xbox, that means it can show 720p HD images without having to scale the image at all. Of course, a 1080p native resolution would be even better, but, at this writing at least, you won't find any 1080p projectors designed specifically for games.

Note that the GT750E is also available as the GT750 ($900 street). The only difference between the two is that the additional price covers the cost of one pair of 3D glasses.

An Immersive Experience

Rated at 3,000 lumens, the GT750E is bright enough to throw a large image with the lights on or off, for a more immersive gaming experience. Even better, it offers a short throw lens, so you can sit close to the screen without having to worry about casting shadows. For my tests, I used a roughly 75-inch wide (87-inch diagonal) image with the projector just 57 inches from the screen.

For an even more immersive experience, the projector supports 3D. Even better, the GT750E is one of the first low-cost projectors (although others have been announced) with HDMI 1.4a, rather than HDMI 1.3, ports. The 1.4a ports let you connect directly to a PS3, cable box, or standard 3D-capable Blu-ray player for 3D games or movies. Until now, inexpensive 3D-ready projectors, including the GT720, have needed an external converter to take advantage of 3D with almost all potential sources. The one exception was for 3D computers that use a Quadbuffered, Open GL 3D-compatible graphics card.

Also worth mention is that the GT750E works with both DLP-Link and RF 3D glasses, and it comes with an external RF emitter. (DLP-Link glasses work with the projector itself.)

One other feature that's particularly important for games is a good sound system. The GT750E earns points on this score as well. The two 5-watt speakers deliver unusually high volume and high-quality stereo audio for a projector that weighs only 6.6 pounds. The audio is roughly a match for a typical large-screen TV.

Setup and Image Quality

Setup is standard for a projector without lens shift or zoom, which means you have to move the projector itself to adjust image size and position. That's a minor issue at worst, however.

The back panel offers two HDMI ports and a VGA connector that can double for component video. One nice touch is that Optoma makes the component video more useful than with most projectors by including a component video adaptor. You'll also find S-video and composite video ports on the back, but those are best avoided if you want a high-quality image.

Ultimately, of course, image quality is the key feature for any projector. It's important to understand that data and video images are different enough so that any given projector can handle one type of image well and the other badly. Game images are a special case, because although they have more in common with data than video, they share some aspects of each. To show games well, in short, a projector needs to handle both data and video reasonably well, a hurdle the GT750E jumps with ease.

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Although the GT750 isn't designed as a data projector, it can function as one fairly well. I ran it through our standard suite of DisplayMate tests using an analog VGA connection without seeing a single problem worth mention.

One issue, in the form of scaling artifacts, cropped up when I switched to the HDMI port. The artifacts suggested, and Optoma confirmed, that the projector's effective native resolution for HDMI connections is 1280 by 720. When I tried switching the computer resolution, however, the projector couldn't find the incoming signal. If the GT750 were a data projector, I'd consider the combination of scaling at the one resolution and not seeing the computer at the other resolution a potentially serious issue. For playing games, however, it shouldn't be a problem.

For video, the GT750E isn't in the same class as even an inexpensive home theater projector, like the Editors' Choice Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8350 ($1,299 direct, 4 stars). However, the quality overall is good enough to let you watch a full-length movie comfortably. The projector did a good job with skin tones and shadow detail (details based on shading in dark areas), and the only significant issue I saw was moderately noticeable noise for DVDs upscaled to 1080p. More important is that I didn't see the same level of noise with either Blu-ray discs or games.

Rainbows and Other Issues

One issue that's always a concern with any single-chip DLP-based projector is a rainbow effect, with light areas breaking up into little red-green-blue rainbows when you shift your gaze or an object moves on screen. Some projectors are more prone to the effect than others, and some people, including me, see it more easily than others.

With the GT750E, I saw the effect with data, video, and game images often enough to notice, but infrequently enough that even those who see the effect easily aren't likely to be annoyed by it. If you're not sensitive to the effect, it certainly won't be an issue.

One last welcome touch is the included backpack. If you're the kind of gamer who likes to bring your equipment with you, the backpack, complete with pockets to hold the cables you need, makes the GT750E easy to carry.

The GT750E is a worthy successor to the GT720, with a bit more capability, thanks to the step up in both brightness and image quality and also thanks to extras like the second HDMI port and the support for RF glasses for 3D. If you're looking for a projector for game playing, the Editors' Choice Optoma GT750E is the one to beat. And it doesn't hurt that you can also use it as a data projector and even for watching an occasional movie. 

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