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If you’ve ever wanted a massive screen without mounting a giant TV or completely darkening your room, Optoma’s new GT4000UHD projector might catch your eye. It’s an ultra short throw (UST) 4K laser projector designed for people who want a cinematic experience but don’t have the space—or patience—for a traditional projector setup.
The GT4000UHD is built to sit just inches from your wall or screen. Literally. You can place it about a foot away and still get a 100-inch image. Push it back just a bit more, and you can go up to 150 inches. That’s the kind of screen size that usually requires a projector at the far end of the room—but this one keeps things up close and simple.
It’s also pretty compact for what it does. The unit itself is roughly 13 inches wide and deep, and a little over 3 inches tall. It weighs less than 10 pounds, so it’s easy to move around or place on a standard media console.
"With consumers seeking flexible projection solutions for a variety of home usage scenarios, we've introduced our latest ultra short throw alternative with the GT4000UHD, delivering incredible brightness and true-to-life color in a new compact design," said Billy Harrison, Product Manager at Optoma.
"A suite of convenient installation features makes the GT4000UHD an ideal projector for any space and takes the big screen experience to new levels for competitive gaming, home entertainment, or home offices."
One of the biggest selling points here is brightness. The GT4000UHD puts out up to 4,000 lumens, which means it can handle rooms with some ambient light, like your living room during the day, without completely washing out the image.
And for contrast, it uses a dynamic system that adjusts brightness on the fly, promising up to a 700,000:1 contrast ratio. It also supports HDR10 and HLG formats for better depth and color in supported content.
Setup is designed to be relatively painless. The GT4000UHD includes four-corner keystone correction, so if you can’t get the projector perfectly aligned, you can still square off the image. It also supports portrait mode (for vertical video) and 360-degree placement, giving you more flexibility in where and how you use it.
Now, one thing to note: this isn’t a smart projector. There’s no built-in interface for Netflix or Disney+, so you’ll need to plug in a streaming stick or media player to get your favorite apps. It comes with two HDMI 2.0 ports (one with ARC), a USB Type-A port for power, and Ethernet for a wired internet connection if you prefer stability over Wi-Fi.
Gamers might find this projector especially interesting. If you’re playing in 1080p, the GT4000UHD can handle up to 240Hz refresh rates with an input lag as low as 4.3 milliseconds—that’s in the ballpark of gaming monitors.
At 120Hz, lag goes up slightly to 8ms, and even at 4K/60Hz, you’re looking at just under 17ms. That’s still fast enough for most types of gaming, though keep in mind it doesn’t have HDMI 2.1, so no 4K/120Hz support for newer consoles.
The built-in audio is handled by a single 15-watt speaker. It’ll do in a pinch, but if you’re aiming for a home theater experience, you’ll probably want to connect it to an external sound system. That’s easy enough with HDMI ARC or an optical output.
The projector’s laser engine is also built to last. Optoma says the DuraCore light source can run for up to 30,000 hours in Eco mode, which cuts down power and fan noise too, bringing it to a fairly quiet 29 decibels. That’s a good long lifespan, especially compared to traditional lamp-based projectors that need more frequent replacements.
The Optoma GT4000UHD is listed at $4,499 and should show up on their Amazon page soon. You can find out more in the video below.
