The HD29HST packs a short-throw lens, so you can take it round to your mate’s house, whack it on their coffee table, and crucify them on Mario Kart.
One of the best things about Optoma’s gaming projectors is the minimised latency. The company has managed to squeeze this down to a tiny 8.4ms, which is pretty ground-breaking for a projector. This low latency makes it a tempting buy for serious gaming types, who need a display’s response to match up to their own speedy reactions.
Related: Read our HD29H projector review
We tested out the original HD29H back in July and were duly impressed by the low input lag along with the contrast and brightness. Optoma’s new compact version of the device comes with a short-throw lens, which means you should be able to use the new HD29HST in your cramped, one-bed flat.
The rest of the specs on the machine are mostly the same as the old model. It comes with a 10W in-built speaker, which isn’t great quality but is fine for anyone who just wants to plug-in and play. It supports HD refresh rates up to 120Hz. And it should deliver a pretty good picture, thanks to it’s 4,000 lumens of brightness. It’s also priced at £899, which is – unbelievably – actually a reasonable amount for a projector.
There is a slightly annoying compromise that gamers have to make on the device, which is that flicking on the Enhance Gaming Mode will push the image quality down to plain old standard dynamic range images. The machine is actually capable of delivering up to 4k, HDR images, so you essentially have to choose between good pictures or that super-low latency.
Related: Best projectors in 2020
Alongside the above, Optoma has also pushed out the HZ40 projector, which uses lasers to create images onto your walls. This is more of a heavy hitter in Optoma’s range and is priced accordingly at £1,299.99. Although those laser-delivered image should be sharper, most of the specs on this machine similar to the above (same speaker, same latency boasts, and support for 4K UHD HDR.)
This guy also doesn’t pack a short-throw lens, so it’s not well-suited to smaller spaces.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
