Optoma UHC70LV review

Unmistakably Optoma in its edgy and angular silhouette, the UHC70LV doesn’t try hard to stand out from the crowd as a “world first” anything. Its fairly nondescript chassis is in fact a bit too plasticky to feel properly premium but it does make up by having plenty of connectivity options for even a high-end install. There are a couple of tiny bits of metallic gold flourishes on the either sides to elevate the look, but it does little in the wake of crate-like cooling vents. The centrally mounted lens has a manual focus ring around it and the top panel flap can be opened to access zoom and H/V lens shift dials.

Like a lot of Optoma projectors, the 125% vertical offset needs to be taken into consideration if you’re retrofitting the UHC70LV into your space. Even with lens shift, it does have a limited amount of freedom in the vertical plane, so plan accordingly. A 1.2:1~1.92:1 gives it a generous throw ratio though and you could get anywhere from a 80in to a 300in image if your room and screen allow it. Although, the UHC70LV is clearly a projector you buy before making the room and something you can adapt to an existing screen size or room layout.

Of course, the biggest USP here is the Dolby Vision official certification and to support it, Optoma has armed the UHC70LV with a dual laser light engine. Capable of a massive 5000 lumens, the DuraCore laser engine ensures an incredibly long life span and a fair bit of dust protection too, something that is invaluable in Indian conditions. It’s obviously ready for HDR10+ too with its specification set and claims to cover 95% of the DCi-P3 colour space, which for the uninitiated means plenty of eye-popping detail and colour luminosity. Coupled with its high brightness, it’s not surprising that it doesn’t achieve 100% DCI-P3 coverage, but the 5% deficit is not something your eyes will question you for. Instead, they might notice the distinct advantage during HDR tone mapping a whole lot more!

In terms of installation flexibility, the UHC70LV supports 360 degree projection for commercial spaces, 3D-sync for legacy systems and even comes with a laser pointer in the remote along with a bundled wireless emitter for use with USB peripherals such as a mouse. But it’s the remote itself that is totally out of place in this package. It’s backlit, but the backlight itself is so bright that in a dark room, it really throws you off for a few seconds until your pupils adjust to the on-screen image again. Also, it matches the plasticky build of the main unit itself and doesn’t elicit a premium in-hand feel.

On our 120in Milan screen, we got about a 90in image from a distance of 7ft from the screen and this, Optoma claims it’s actually the ideal size if you want to maximise the effect of Dolby Vision content. We fired up the Top Gun: Maverick 4K UHD which is mastered in Dolby Vision and instantly, the UHC70LV came to life with brightness that was tangible, but not overwhelming. Almost 90 minutes of picture tweaking later, it was evident that if you want the closest to a ‘Dolby Vision enabled TV’ picture, you’d have to go with Dolby Vision Vivid mode, select screen size to 100in and screen gain to 1.0. Yes, the fact that Optoma gives you such granular control over the lamp's full potential is absolutely critical to getting the most out of this power packed projector. Optoma has its own set of PureEngine controls that subtly tweak contrast, brightness, motion and detail, all of which should be called upon based on room brightness and personal preference, but leaving motion processing completely off will always be the best option. Fine tuning via the Brilliant Colour slider set to 3 yielded the most natural looking flesh tones without casting an overtly magenta hue. Like with all projectors, the fine balance between colour temperature and accurate tint is only achieved after a bit of trial and error. For true cinephiles, an 11-point RGB balance and full suite of CMS controls may prompt you to get professional calibration done, should your budget and viewing purpose demand it.

Once you’ve settled on getting the basics right, the UHC70LV blows you away with its ability to render HDR content in all its glory. The training sequence in Top Gun: Maverick where the pilots pull intense G-forces flying almost vertically into the atmosphere are breathtaking in their ability to blind you with the intense whiteness of the sun, just like it should to the pilots. Tone mapping across the horizon is transitioned beautifully from the actors' skin tones to the contrails from the F18s and Dolby Vision Vivid is the mode that comes closest to watching a QLED TV!

Edge-to-edge focus is super sharp and even the contrast levels are up there with top-tier projectors. The extra dose of brightness from Dolby Vision Vivid mode doesn’t crush shadow detail either, the UHC70LV has enough range in its plethora of adjustments to ensure that. Once your eyes adjust to this new level of dynamic range, you could very well be hunting for more Dolby Vision content and the difference over even HDR10+ is tangible when you have 5000 lumens of brightness at your disposal!

If you want a big screen experience with true MiniLED like performance, but on a massive scale, the Optoma UHC70LV simply fits the bill. Sure, it’s not the easiest to integrate into an existing room if you don’t have the throw distance and screen size worked out beforehand, but if you have the luxury to plan for it, this one is definitely worth the asking price. Especially, if you can pair it with a screen size that’s larger than 100 inches. Added conveniences like 4K/120Hz gaming and 3D support only increase its allure across a wider demographic. Better build quality, classier remote and greater lens shift range would be welcome improvements to follow-up models though. For now, the Optoma UHC70LV revels in its own bright light as the world’s first big-screen Dolby Vision capable projector and they’ve nailed what matters the most - picture quality.