Optoma EH415ST?

[Forrester08]

I see a few posts around, but not much on this projector.

has anyone had success with the Optoma EH415ST? I’m looking to produce a 144” x 90” image, but projectorcentral shows that the unit won’t project past 75” height. I see some others have been able to get a larger image. Just moving the projector back and hoping for the best maybe?

These units can be had pretty cheap nowadays, just looking for some honest feedback.

[rebcon1]

I'm wondering the same. Obviously the concern with going beyond suggested max size are the image clarity and the brightness. But one other thing I noticed is that the offset also increases as you move further away from the screen. The biggest drawback with EH415ST seems to be the large offset that you have to account for when hanging from the ceiling. So far I've deduced the suggested max size just means that the brightness will be within the specs and going further will make everything dimmer. I'm fine with that as long as the focus isn't going to be an issue.

[rebcon1]

Old thread but I figure why not contribute so at least some info on this projector is out there. I ended up buying one off of eBay so here's what I've learned so far.

- The remote (long black one) most of them include will not power on/off the unit but will let you bring up the menu and navigate. What I also learned is that in the menu they have a 'Direct Power On' where it can be turned on as soon as there's power so I guess you can do that but I've decided to get a real remote

- The screen size can be whatever you want. It is not limited to 75ft vertical and I didn't see any more loss of focus than what you would expect from making it bigger. I'm about 10ft away from the screen to project 91ft vertical.

- The quality... I was using 1280x800 projector from 12ft away for same screen size. I guess it's little brighter but I didn't see any notable quality improvement. The EH415ST is supposedly 700lumen brighter but with the age and stuff I don't know if I'm able to get all the lumens. It is brighter... But the pixelation from using too much vertical keystone is really killing the image quality. Optoma for some reason has a lot of vertical offset. I'm talking about 14 inches difference to project 91inch tall. If you have a 5ft enclosure depth like me, I have to drop it about 6 inches and then point up to line up the screen then use tone of keystone which is the cause for the fuzzy graphics at the top. I have a 9ft ceiling with 10x8 screen and 5ft depth enclosure. The offset can be reduced by either recessing the projector into the ceiling or getting rid of the depth so the light is not caught so now I'm working on propping up the entire case so it's closer to the ceiling so I don't have to drop the projector as much.

Final thought: If you have the ceiling height of 10 or more this may work. Otherwise prepare to make a lot of adjustments and sacrifice picture quality (if you care. My wife didn't notice any difference). In fact, I'm noticing all Optoma have this crazy offset without any lens shift function let alone horizontal digital keystone. Having said that, at 200 to 300 dollars from eBay, if you dont' have a projector now and need a 1080p short throw on cheap, I can recommend it. It's far better than getting those cheap LED projectors from Amazon for similar price. The short throw distance alone is worth it. BUT remember that this one does not have a zoom and no horizontal keystone so make sure you are able to mount it to get your screen size AND able to swing a wedge without hitting the now lower than top of your screen projector. Yes, the wedges because the shorter the iron the closer you are standing and swinging high. I've never seen anyone having flat swing with a wedge...

My older one has both v/h keystone and I had it projecting from side and it was okay other than it being dim and just not clear from where it was. Placing it in center may have helped but it would've been casting shadow because it's not a short throw. I don't know. Now that I'm thinking maybe ignoring the shadow was a better option because the pic quality isn't all that much better on EH415ST other than being little brighter.