At CES last January, I posted an item about the Optoma UHD60, a prototype of the company's first 4K/UHD projector based on Texas Instruments' new DLP chip that achieves an effective resolution of 3840x2160. Today, Optoma announced that two versions of the single-chip DLP projector— UHD60 and UHD65—are available to consumers at ridiculously low prices.

The new 0.7" DMD (Digital Micromirror Device) chip does not have a native resolution of 4K/UHD. It has 4.15 million micromirrors arranged in a 16:9 aspect ratio. Of course, that's not true UHD, but the switching speed of those micromirrors is measured in microseconds—as opposed to milliseconds for LCD and LCoS—so each one can reproduce two completely independent pixels by quickly shifting back and forth by half a pixel diagonally.

If this seems familiar, it is—anyone remember wobulation? That was a similar technique used by HP in its rear-projection DLP TVs to achieve 1080p resolution when the DMD chips couldn't natively. More recently, JVC and Epson have applied a similar approach—JVC calls it eShift—to allow 1080p imaging chips to simulate 4K/UHD.

However, JVC's eShift and the Epson equivalent don't actually reach 4K/UHD; they double the number of pixels from 2 million to 4 million. By contrast, the new DMD doubles its native pixel count of 4 million to 8 million, more closely matching true 4K/UHD resolution.

The new Optoma projectors are lamp-based and support high dynamic range using HDR10 as well as the DCI/P3 color gamut within a BT.2020 container. They provide vertical lens shift and 1.6x zoom. I wish they also offered horizontal lens shift, but vertical is better than no lens shift at all. One of the two HDMI inputs implements HDCP 2.2, which is critical for 4K/UHD content. They are also equipped with an onboard stereo sound system, though I don't imagine many AVS Forum readers will use it.

The UHD60 sports a white cabinet, and its peak brightness is spec'd at 3000 lumens with a dynamic contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. Of course, these specs must be taken with a grain of salt, but at an MSRP of only $1999, I can tolerate some salt. It's available directly to consumers from retailers such as Amazon and Best Buy.

For the custom-installation/CEDIA crowd, the black-cased UHD65 ups the ante with a specified dynamic contrast ratio of 1,200,000:1, though the peak brightness is spec'd lower than the UHD60 at 2200 lumens. PureMotion video processing is said to eliminate motion blur and image judder, which sounds a lot like frame interpolation to me. The color wheel is RGBRGB; based on what I learned at CES, that means the UHD60's color wheel is probably RGBCY, though this is not mentioned in the current press release. The MSRP is $2499, and it's available through distributors such as Full Compass, ProjectorPeople.com, and Visual Apex.

The UHD65 single-chip DLP projector offers a black case, better specified contrast, PureMotion video processing, and an RGBRGB color wheel. It's available through the custom-install/CEDIA market channel.

The Optoma UHD60 and UHD65 are seriously disruptive to the entire projector market. Up to now, you needed to budget at least $8000—and a lot more in most cases—for a 4K/UHD HDR-capable projector. Granted, these new models aren't quite native 4K/UHD resolution, but they get closer than pixel-wiggling 1080p imagers, and for a fraction of the price. Are they too good to be true? I can't wait to find out!