The Optoma UHZ35ST is the company's latest dedicated gaming projector released earlier this fall. It's a basic 4K, HDR laser DLP with an MSRP of $3,299, though as of early December it could be found for $2,599 at some major online retailers. It's a compact short-throw projector with a fixed focal length that's rated by Optoma for 3,500 lumens and for input latency as low as 4 ms depending on the signal type. Let's see if its overall performance and features make for a winning combination.

Features

The UHZ35ST utilizes a single chip 0.65-inch DMD in its DLP chipset. It's a 1080p native chip that achieves 3840x2160 UHD resolution on screen via Texas Instruments' rapid XPR pixel shifting, though the image it creates is actually very sharp. During my time with the UHZ35ST I did experience some rainbows, which is a trait of many single-chip DLP projectors. It luckily wasn't too offensive, but I didn't have to look hard for it either, as it would naturally occur with a slight shift in my eyes across the screen.

Optoma pairs this DLP imager with its DuraCore Laser light engine and promises up to 30,000 hours of laser life when the projector is used in its Eco power mode. The generic "3,500 lumen" claim for brightness in the UHZ35ST's spec sheet is not specifically associated with any acknowledged measurement technique, which departs from Optoma's long-time quotation of industry-standard ANSI lumens. The company verified that they are quoting an ISO21118 measurement, which should be equivalent to ANSI. However, our ANSI measurement showed our sample coming in at just 2,536 ANSI lumens in the Bright picture mode.

The optics of the UHZ35ST allow for a very short throw. The fixed focal-length lens has a 0.496:1 throw ratio and is equipped with a manual focus, but no zoom. Technically, simply by moving the projector closer to or further from the screen, a viewer is able to display a 16:9 image as small as 36-inches up to 300-inches diagonal. It will project the former with just 15.75 inches of throw distance, or the latter from 10.8 feet. I was able to place the unit approximately 3 feet, 7 inches away from the screen to project a 100-inch diagonal image for testing. You can check out the throw distance required for your desired image size with the ProjectorCentral Optoma UHZ35ST projection calculator.

Additionally Geometric Correction is provided, allowing for vertical and horizontal keystone adjustment of ±15 degrees, four-corner adjustment, and 5x3 warping, which is a 15-point image warp. As always, it's recommended to avoid using such features to maintain image integrity, though a portable, short-throw like this with low lag times is more likely to see action for temporary gaming setups where image perfection is less of a priority.

Weighing in at 6.61 pounds with dimensions of 10.79 x 4.49 x 8.5 inches (WHD), the UHZ35ST is a very compact unit. This makes it somewhat versatile in its placement. I do say "somewhat" because it does utilize an external power brick which allows it to have such a small footprint since the power supply is not housed inside of the unit. This tends to be fine for temporary setups though placement and hiding of the external power supply can be a problem with more permanent ceiling mounts and will need to be taken into account. Ultimately the unit does allow for front and rear projection as well as table top and ceiling options.

On a positive note, Optoma touts the UHZ35ST as one of its first environmentally sustainable projectors, with its smaller size contributing to a reduced carbon footprint along with the use of non-hazardous and recycled materials in the construction and packaging. The eco-friendly chassis design is said to be made with up to 50% PCR (Post-Consumer Recycled) plastics and the packaging contains up to 97% recyclable materials. In addition, the compact size allows more products to be packed into a single shipping container, which helps further reduce carbon emissions.

The Optoma UHZ35ST is only specified to be able to reproduce the Rec.709 color gamut used for HDTV but Optoma does not list the exact specification of coverage. Per measurements of our review sample, the unit's Rec.709 gamut coverage came in at 94.4% in xy. DCI-P3 gamut coverage measured at 74.6% in xy. This is somewhat disappointing considering the price of the unit when compared to its competition at this price, especially considering that it's a 4K HDR projector that should see action from a lot of wide-gamut HDR movies and games.

In another example of Optoma's stripped-down approach, the UHZ35ST also does not offer any internal smart web-streaming platform nor any external dongle for that purpose. So, users will need to use some sort of external solution such as a video console with built-in apps or a dedicated media player. This may not be such a terrible loss considering that many of the integrated or dongle-based solutions provided in today's projectors, particularly the Android-based units, end up falling short in either the availability of key apps like Netflix or their inability to properly track and process both SDR and HDR content. However, the lack of any on-board streaming is also notable given what you get with much of the competition.

On the upside, Full HD 3D playback is supported via DLP-Link, allowing a user to connect to 3D DLP-Link glasses upon the unit detecting a 3D signal. This is always a welcome feature today on new projectors as so many have chosen to drop support for 3D.

Perhaps the main focus of the UHZ35ST is its low latency for gaming, with support for up to 240Hz frame rate in 1080p. Per Optoma's specification, the UHZ35ST is capable of latency ranging from 16.9ms/17ms in 1080p/60Hz and 4K/60Hz, 8.6ms at 1080p/120Hz, and 4.4ms at 1080p/240Hz with Gaming Mode enabled. Our measurements found this to be accurate and showed the following: 18ms at 60Hz, 9ms at 120Hz and 5ms at 240Hz. This is great, if somewhat expected as many gaming projectors now fall within these measurement ranges. So the UHZ35ST is on par with the lowest latency available on today's best gaming projectors. These lag numbers will ultimately allow players to remain competitive while gaming on the big screen, and allow for more than just your casual play.

The UHZ35ST is outfitted with pretty basic I/O connections and no Bluetooth or Wi-Fi wireless capabilities. It provides users with the essentials and really nothing more. You will find two HDMI 2.0 ports, with eARC supported on Port 2; USB 2.0 Type A with support for power delivery of 5V/1.5A, one RJ45 for network communication and connecting to control systems, one RS-232 control port, and a 3.5mm stereo analog audio out.

As noted above, thankfully ARC/eARC is available on the UHZ35ST to provide digital audio output to a separate sound bar or AVR/AVP-based sound system. The single 15-watt mono speaker provided on the unit leaves much to be desired. It plays loud, but at all volumes at which I tested it had a shrill, somewhat harsh sound to it. Unfortunately, no EQ is available in the menu for the internal sound, nor is granular control over the volume as it only increases and decreases in increments of 5 on a scale of 0 to 100. So, it is highly recommended that an external sound system be utilized.

The tiny remote included with the unit is the card-type design, which is about the same length of a credit card but with less height. It is actually a very responsive remote and provides all of the buttons one would need to quickly navigate through the projector menus and control its volume, change picture modes, HDMI inputs, etc. The only issue I have with it is that it is so small I can easily see it getting lost, or possibly stepped on and broken. And needless to say, it is not backlit. I would have liked to see something a little more substantial in terms of size and quality.

Performance

Color Modes. The Optoma UHZ35ST has 10 picture modes, seven modes for SDR and two for HDR, with one remaining picture mode for 3D. These modes are labeled Vivid, Bright, Cinema, Game, Sport, Reference, and DICOM SIM for SDR, and HDR and HLG for HDR signals.

Out of the box, Vivid is overly cool, while Bright pushes far too much green into the image. The remaining picture modes are better, with Reference being closest to accurate and Cinema a close second, though it still had a little too much green or blue in the image depending on the DLP Brilliant Color setting. DICOM SIM, which is intended for projecting medical scans, was interesting as it appeared to increase the contrast of the image and increased saturation as well.

As mentioned, OOTB Reference picture mode for SDR was the most accurate picture mode though it did not allow for any changes or adjustments to color temperature. It was pre-defined to the Standard CT, though it actually tracked fairly close to what a Warm color temp setting typically does in other picture modes if using a lower Brilliant Color setting such as 6 or 7. OOTB, any picture mode that uses Standard or Warm with a Brilliant Color setting of between 6 and 8 will likely be most pleasing to the eye.

The UHZ35ST provides controls for Brightness, Contrast, Sharpness, and Gamma, with the latter adjustable among six pre-defined values. Deeper in the Color Settings menu, Color and Tint controls are available. CMS is available as well with control for the color primaries, secondaries, and white. The standard Gain and Offset controls for fine-tuning the grayscale that are found in many projectors are not available for the UHZ35ST. The preset Color Temperature settings are for Warm, Standard, Cool, and Cold, and some may not be available for selection depending on picture mode. This also applies to Brilliant Color as well, which may or may not be available. Lastly you'll find Color Space listed as a menu option, though this is not actually color space (i.e., Rec.709 or DCI-P3) but rather a switch to select a color format of YUV or RGB.

So for those who choose to use the UHZ35ST with OOTB settings, the ideal picture modes to use for the most accurate image will be Reference for SDR, though if that is too dim for their liking, Cinema mode with some adjustments to Color Temperature and gamma will work as well. For HDR, the HDR10 mode and HLG mode are the only options for those signal types.

I began calibration of the UHZ35ST using Calman Ultimate calibration software from Portrait Displays, a Colorimetry Research CR-250 Spectroradiometer, a Colorimetry Research CR-100 Colorimeter, and a Murideo 8K Seven Generator. The UHZ35ST was calibrated to 100-inch diagonal on a 1.3 gain Stewart Filmscreen, at approximately 3 ft, 7 inches in distance. Prior to beginning calibration, I ran various measurements to confirm what I saw in OOTB viewing.

The UHZ35ST is fairly inaccurate OOTB, especially in regards to the grayscale as per my measurements for the Average and Max dE errors for the unit. The DeltaE is the metric used to determine visible errors. It has been determined that anything over a dE of 3 is visible, anything over 2.3 is a just noticeable difference for trained eyes and anything below 2.3 should ideally not be seen to the eye. During initial analysis I ran measurements on various patterns including a very large Color Checker (Approx. 150+ swatches).

OOTB the UHZ35ST had an average of 7.1dE with a max of 11.1dE for the grayscale in the Reference picture mode. Color Gamut (targeting the primary and secondary color points for the Rec.709 color space) had an avg of 5.9dE with a max of 10.6dE, while the large Color Checker had an avg of 5.3dE with a max of 11.9. This was actually pretty good in regards to accuracy when one factors in price to performance. Grayscale within HDR didn't fair as well and did not track properly to the prescribed EOTF.

Post calibration DeltaE errors were good and saw improvement, though many large inaccuracies remained. In Reference mode, the post-cal grayscale average was 1.2dE with a max of 2.4dE, while color gamut came in at 2.3dE average with a max of 9.3dE. The Color Checker came in with 1.8dE average and 13.4dE max. HDR didn't really improve much, and best results were obtained by correcting white in the CMS and leaving other values at default.

The devices used for reviewing content post-calibration were an Apple TV 4K, Windows 11 gaming PC, and Xbox Series X gaming console.

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4K/60Hz Gaming. I decided to play a fighting game first and selected Soulcalibur VI on PC. I was running at 4K/60Hz, which is standard for most fighting games and is usually good to gauge latency due to how attacks work and are based on frame times. So, I picked my main character and went into training mode to see if I could execute some of the more advanced commands, which in this game are referred to as Just Frames. I found that without too much effort I was able to trigger the Just Frame attacks, which are noted by a specific animation and sound. I would say I was getting about every 5 out of 10 attempts. Ultimately, playing at 4K/60Hz felt good, but it did take a little while to get used to. I would say that the UHZ35ST would perform well for local play where both players have the same latency, though I do not feel it is low enough for online play where there's a chance of an opponent having much lower latency. I think 4K/60Hz is best suited for more casual play.

1080p/120Hz Gaming. The next game I decided to play was Deathloop on Xbox Series X. Getting this game to run at 1080p/120Hz required going into the Xbox display settings and disabling HDR and 4K, in addition to setting the console to 1080p and 120Hz. Just changing the resolution and framerate alone wasn't sufficient to enable 1080p/120Hz play because when HDR was triggered in the game it automatically forced the projector into 2160p/60Hz in HDR. Once this was ironed out, I played through the beginning of the game and it felt good—very responsive with minimal screen tearing. This is where I felt the UHZ35ST starts to become a display that can be used in a competitive setting.

1080p/240Hz Gaming. The last game I played was Ori and the Will of the Wisps on PC at 1080p/240Hz. Ori played well during my time testing. Since Ori is a platformer/metroidvania-style game it requires a decent amount of precision and reaction time, though nothing to the same level of something like Hades. Everything felt very responsive, and the art style of this game actually works well with the 1080p resolution. I enjoyed my time with it, and if a user is playing at 240Hz they will easily have the most responsive and smoothest gameplay experience.

SDR Viewing. For some movie and TV watching, I decided to put on Avengers: Infinity War via Apple TV 4K and watched it in SDR to compare it against the HDR presentation. The overall image had much better accuracy and resolved detail much better than the HDR version. I watched many scenes in Reference picture mode as well as Cinema mode, and both held up better than the HDR mode, with Cinema proving an overall higher APL (average picture level, or brightness) throughout the movie. Skin tones were accurate and only in a few scenes did I see mild posterization in smoke or rays off the sun and in celestial bodies during the space scenes. The UHZ35ST performed well in SDR viewing.

4K/HDR Viewing. Watching the HDR version of Avengers: Infinity War via Apple TV 4K for a comparison revealed a hit and miss presentation for HDR. Detail was typically being clipped or not resolving in the darker shadowed regions of the image, such as in the opening when Thanos attacks Thor's ship. Additionally, color accuracy was noticeably off. I attempted to use the Dynamic Black mode to see if that would help, and it made the image so dim that it wasn't really watchable, especially in a brighter room. I feel that the UHZ35ST actually performed best as a SDR projector.

Conclusion

The Optoma UHZ35ST as a gaming projector does exactly what it's supposed to do and it does it well. It performed up there with the best of the other gaming projectors in terms of latency. It's small and compact, and would serve well as a lifestyle projector that is setup for a quick gaming session or a movie night on the big screen.

Where I feel the UHZ35ST falls short, however, is in price to performance and feature set when compared against other projectors in this price and space. There are several DLP gaming projectors available nowadays with similarly low input lag, and some are also either laser, LED, or a hybrid of light engine technologies. Some provide similar or even higher lumen output than what we measured on the UHZ35ST, as well as offering features like zoom or lens shift capabilities, a smart TV platform, and a more capable on-board audio system. And they don't necessarily suffer from the shortfalls I observed in the UHZ35ST with HDR content.

All these reasons make this unit a hard sell in today's market, even at its recent, more competitive $2,699 pricing. Beyond its short throw lens, it really doesn't offer much over potential alternatives to win over prospective buyers, and short of a much lower price, wouldn't be one of my top recommendations.

Measurements

Brightness. The Optoma UHZ35ST is rated generically on its spec sheet for 3,500 lumens of an unspecified type. Optoma confirmed that the number quoted is for ISO lumens, short for ISO21118, which has supplanted ANSI lumens as the current industry standard measurement and is essentially equivalent. However, the projector's Bright picture mode measured its maximum brightness at 2,536 ANSI lumens, or 27.54% lower than Optoma's published specification. As with the brightest mode for many projectors, Bright had a heavy green bias that makes it not really suitable for viewing.

Selecting Eco for the Light Source Mode measured a 15% light decrease vs. Constant Power 100% Mode.

Optoma UHZ35ST ANSI Lumens

SDR Modes	Constant Power 100%	Eco
Vivid	2,069	1,759
Bright	2,536	2,156
Cinema	1,648	1,401
Game	1,775	1,509
Sport	1,775	1,509
Reference	710	604
DICOM SIM	1,801	1,531
HDR Modes	Constant Power 100%	Eco
HDR	1,801	1,531
HLG	1,801	1,531

Brightness Uniformity. The Optoma UHZ35ST projecting a 100-inch diagonal image resulted in measured brightness uniformity of 66%. The brightest portion of the screen was the Middle Center sector, and the dimmest the Right Bottom sector. The difference in brightness on a full white and solid color screens was noticeable, though it was not noticeable in the majority of actual moving content.

Fan Noise. Optoma reports the UHZ35ST's fan noise at 35dBA max and 28dBA min using the industry-standard averaged measurement taken in a sound-proof room. Using Room EQ Wizard software and a Umik-1 microphone, with my theater room ambient noise floor reading 33.3 dBA, it measured as followed. All measurements were taken at a distance of approx. 3 feet away from each side of the unit with the unit in the brightest picture mode.

Constant Power/Eco

Left: 35.0
Rear: 35.3
Above: 35.1
Right: 34.8

Dynamic Black ON

Left: 36.2
Rear: 37.1s
Above: 37.1
Right: 36.7

HDR

Left: 36.3
Rear: 37.3
Above: 37.0
Right: 36.8

Input Lag. Input lag measurements were done using Gaming Mode. The following supported resolutions and framerates were tested: 4K/60Hz = 18ms; 1080p/120Hz = 9ms; 1080p/240Hz = 5ms.

Connections

• HDMI 2.0b (x2; HDCP 2.2, eARC input 2)
• USB 2.0 Type A (power delivery 5V/1.5A)
• RS232
• RJ45 network port
• 3.5mm Audio Out

Calibrated Settings

Calibrated image settings from any third-party do not account for the significant potential for sample-to-sample variation, nor the different screen sizes and materials, lighting, lamp usage, or other environmental factors that can affect image quality. Projectors should always be calibrated in the user's own space and tuned for the expected viewing conditions. However, the settings provided here may be a helpful starting point for some. Always record your current settings before making adjustments so you can return to them as desired. Refer to the Performance section for some context for each calibration.

Settings SDR

Reference

Brightness: 0
Contrast: 0
Sharpness: 3
Gamma: 2.2

Color Settings

Color: 6
Tint: 2

Reference CMS

Color	Hue	Saturation	Gain
Red	-6	4	0
Green	0	-1	-9
Blue	-12	0	5
Cyan	17	5	-2
Yellow	-20	-1	-5
Magenta	7	-2	-1
White	-3	-7	1

Cinema

Brightness: 0
Contrast: 0
Sharpness: 3
Gamma: 2.2

Color Settings

Color: 7
Tint: 2
Brilliant Color: 7
Color Temperature: Warm

Cinema CMS

Color	Hue	Saturation	Gain
Red	-7	2	9
Green	-5	0	15
Blue	-14	3	-5
Cyan	-30	-2	23
Yellow	-7	-2	-5
Magenta	22	-2	0
White	-6	-3	-6

Settings HDR

HDR

Brightness: 0
Contrast: 0
Sharpness: 3
Gamma: N/A

Color Settings

Color: 40
Tint: 0
Brilliant Color: 8
Color Temperature: Warm

HDR CMS

Color	Hue	Saturation	Gain
Red	0	0	0
Green	0	0	0
Blue	0	0	0
Cyan	0	0	0
Yellow	0	0	0
Magenta	0	0	0
White	-4	0	0

For more detailed specifications and connections, check out our Optoma UHZ35ST projector page.

To buy this projector, use Where to Buy online, or get a price quote by email direct from Projector Central authorized dealers using our E-Z Quote tool.

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