Optoma Cinemax P2 Smart 4K UHD laser projector review – how to add Bluetooth speaker?

How to add Bluetooth speaker with Optoma Cinemax P2? Seamless connectivity with thousands of other smart devices; for example, the CinemaX P2 can be programmed to mute when your smart doorbell rings. By bypassing the image processing and motion compensation engine, the CinemaX P2 provides a pure, direct path from the video source to the projection screen for more responsive gameplay. Get more in Optoma Cinemax P2 Smart 4K UHD laser projector review.

Pros & Cons – Optoma Cinemax P2 Smart 4K UHD laser projector

PROS

• HDR10 /HLG Compatible
• 19 Watts x 2 Dolby Digital 2.0 sound system
• Display Resolution: 4K UHD (3840 x 2160)
• Native Resolution: 1080x1920x4
• Technology: Single-Chip DLP (0.47″ DMD)
• XPR Technology
• Light Source: Lamp
• Brightness (Manufacturer Claim): 3,000 lumens
• Light Source Lifespan: up to 20,000hrs (Normal), 30,000hrs (Eco)
• Contrast: 2,000,000.1
• 2-year parts and labor: projector; 5-year or 12,000-hours light source
• Three HDMI 2.0 input (up to [Editors Addendum] Gbps)

CONS

• Limited to 120″ diagonal as the largest size
• No backlight on the remote
• Smart app choice limited
• Input lag still a bit high

Specs – Optoma Cinemax P2 Smart 4K UHD laser projector

• Display Technology: DLP 4K UHD chip
• Light Source: Laser
• Light Source Life: 30,000 hours (Eco mode)
• I/O Connectors: HDMI 2.0 x 3 (HDCP 2.2 supported, HDMI 1 support ARC), USB-A 2.0 x 3 (MMx1, MM+Powerx1, servicex1), RJ45x1, S/PDIFx1, Audio Out x1
• Speaker (Watts): 19W x2
• Native Resolution: 4K UHD (3840 × 2160)
• Brightness: 3000 ANSI Lumens
• Contrast: 2,000,000:1
• Aspect Ratio: 16:9
• Projection Screen Size: 85″ – 120″
• Projection Lens: F# 2.04, f 546mm
• Uniformity: 90%
• Throw Ratio: 0.25:1
• Zoom Type: Fixed
• Vertical Scan Rate: 24~120 Hz
• Displayable Colors: 1073.4 million colors (10 bit)
• Noise Level: 24dB (Eco mode)
• Weight (Kg): 10.5
• Dimensions (W x D x H) (mm): 576 x 383 x 115 mm (w/o feet), 576 x 383 x 130 mm (w/ feet)
• Video Compatibility: 480i/p, 576i/p, 720p(50/60Hz), 1080i(50/60Hz), 1080p(50/60Hz), 2160p(50/60Hz)
• Horizontal Scan Rate: 31~135KHz
• Power Supply: 100V ~ 240V ± 10%, 50-60Hz
• Power Consumption: <0.5W (standby), 325W (max)
• RoHS: Compliant

Optoma Cinemax P2 Smart 4K UHD laser projector Price

The Optoma CinemaX P2 sells for £2,999 / $3,299. This represents a saving of around £300 / $300 on the original Cinema X, aka the UHZ65UST, a model which remains available. In terms of design, there’s nothing between the two, although this more affordable offering differs on some key parameters.

Notably, contrast has been reduced from 2,500,000:1 to 2,000,000:1, and brightness is down to 3,000 lumens. The colour gamut has also diminished, with only 85 per cent of DCI-P3 now support, compared to 87 per cent on the original model. 

Who should buy Optoma Cinemax P2 Smart 4K UHD laser projector?

You want cinema sized images, without the hassle
The P2 has a massive projection, but its ultra short-throw tech means you won’t need a ceiling mount to make use of it.

You want a gaming-capable display
The P2 improves on the latency of its predecessor, making gaming a reasonable activity for this beamer – even if, at 50ms, it’s not the best out there. Three HDMI inputs will support a handful of consoles too.

You want a do-it-all sound and vision entertainment hub
The CinemaX P2 packs in capable sound as well as a decent picture – and what more could you ask for in a home cinema projector?

Compare Optoma Cinemax P2 Smart 4K UHD laser projector vs 120″ Smart TV

Optoma Cinemax P2 Smart 4K UHD laser projector review

Build

Stylishly finished in matte white, with complementary grey fabric grille and peekaboo lens up top, it looks suitably trendy. 

Design

Measuring at 5.12 x 22.68 x 15.08 inches (HWD), it is less than half the width of the average 55-inch TV and much less obtrusive when it’s off.. The CinemaX P2 is built around a single chip DLP 4K device allied to a laser light engine, which translates to pin-sharp pictures (no chance of any panel alignment issues here) and excellent colour vibrancy. 

Ports

Connectivity is generous, with three HDMI inputs: two to the rear, one to the side. All are v2.0. There are also two USB ports, an optical digital audio output, Ethernet and a 3.5 mm audio jack output.

• HDMI 2.0b (x3) with HDCP 2.2, one with ARC
• S/PDIF optical digital audio out (Toslink)
• Analog stereo audio out (3.5 mm)
• Bluetooth wireless in
• USB Type A 2.0 (4K media player)
• USB Type A 2.0 (media player, power)
• USB Type A (firmware and service)
• Ethernet (RJ-45)

Compatibility

Compared to the capabilities of almost any of the modern Android smart devices like FireStick, Apple TV, and Chromecast with Google TV, Optoma’s built-in solution come across as a bit outdated. The truth is I’m of two minds about Optoma’s implementation of this technology. It is not the same integrated experience I’m used to having with modern smart media sticks. However, Despite the less modern user experience, Optoma has provided P2 owners a full-featured Android experience that many other projectors don’t offer.

Display

Image size is specified at 85 to 120 inches diagonal in 16:9 aspect ratio, with throw distances from the back edge of the projector at 5.7 inches for an 85-inch image, 10.1 inches for a 100-inch image, and 14.5 inches out for a 120-inch image. Accounting for the projector’s 14.5 inch depth and 5.25 inch height, filling a 100-inch screen puts the front edge of the projector at 25 inches out from the screen while resting on a platform approximately 15 inches below the bottom edge of the screen.

Brightness

Optoma was able to retain the same 3,000 lumens in the P2 while using an RGBRGB color wheel, forgoing a white or yellow segment to boost the brightness. Without that segment, gamut is said to be extended and there’s the potential for some colors to appear more saturated, more so when the DLP BrilliantColor control is set to its minimum.

Optoma CinemaX P2 ANSI Lumens

Resolution

the combination of the UHD (3840×2160) resolution 0.47-inch DLP XPR micromirror chip, plus the excellent lens optics, results in an exceptionally sharp and detailed image for a UST, with very crisp pixel-level delineation from the center screen out close to the edges.

There’s a variety of display modes to choose from (Cinema, HDR simulation, Reference, Bright and User), but for most content, Cinema became our default. The Game mode has better latency than its predecessor, which is handy if you intend to hook up a console.

Pixel shifting

At the heart of the Optoma CinemaX P2 is a Texas Instruments high-performance 0.47″ DMD. This DMD technology makes good use of TI’s XPR technology. XPR provides fast switching to display 4x the number of pixels of 1080P (8.3 million). Optoma’s XPR technologies fast switching creates pixels horizontally and vertically to achieve 8.3M and the highly detailed image you see on the screen. It does this all faster than your eye can see.

The Optoma CinemaX P2 Laser TV, like most 4K-capable projectors, is not native 4K but instead what Optoma calls True 4K. This projector displays 8.3 million pixels on the screen. From a visual standpoint, there is not really a difference between native and true 4K.

High contrast ratio

Also visible is an improvement in rated dynamic contrast ratio from 1,500,000:1 in the P1 to 2,000,000:1 in the P2, made possible by enhancements to the projector’s laser dimming scheme. As you’ll see in my image quality observations, the improvement in black level is noticeable in dark room viewing.

Keystone

There is no keystone or geometry correction option, and what you’ll need to do is align the projector to the right or the left, and also the vertical height to get the right projector size and the correct straight lines for the frame.

with the clever SmartFit iOS/Android app that uses your smartphone’s camera to literally snap the image into place. If you don’t mind activating the geometric correction circuitry, it greatly simplifies the tricky one-time maneuvering of the projector that accompanies set-up of any ultra-short-throw projector. 

SmartFIT image alignment system ensures hassle free setup using a smartphone.

P2 adjustment:

• 1. Install SmartFIT App
• 2. Adjust ALR screen and take a photo
• 3. Perfect fit within 2 secs

Lamp life

As for lamp life, since this is a laser projector we are talking about, the CinemaX P2 can offer as much as 20,000 hours in Normal mode and even 30,000 hours in ECO mode which is far more than any typical DLP projector can offer and this is another aspect where laser projectors have a major advantage over other types.

Bluetooth

It supports dual band Wi-Fi and has Bluetooth, so you can stream music from a smartphone to it when not binge watching telly, effectively using the projector as an over-specified Bluetooth loudspeaker. Remarkably, it sounds good enough to pull this off.  

There is, however, support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, so you can indulge in basic voice control, like powering up the projector and adjusting volume, and there’s also IFTTT (If This Then That) smart home interaction with connected IoT devices.

Audio

There are two full range audio drivers and two separate woofers, to match the promise of the video. The results are simply mighty impressive—this is the best sound I have ever heard in a projector, by far. And for once, don’t have to scramble to attach a separate soundbar or AV Receiver to the projector to get good sound to go with the large and brilliant visuals.

Apps

This is a 4K projector, as the name suggests, and it is perhaps to be expected that this really shows its true strengths with original 4K content. It was at a nascent stage a couple of years ago, but now, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have a vast trove of 4K content in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos as well as HDR10. Now even Disney+ Hotstar is joining in on the 4K fun, and the good times are set to roll further still. 

Remote

The black and very minimalistic design that works so well for the projector does not work for the remote. Honestly, it looks like every other smart stick remote used today.

On the plus side, the remote is Bluetooth and infrared. It uses a built-in, non-removable battery that needs to be charged like the AppleTV remote. The remote is also capable of doubling as an Air Mouse for presenting, teaching, and even basic gaming. In addition, the remote has a small red LED that blinks at you when it needs to be charged.

Setup

Getting the picture to fit on the screen was a challenge, had to buy furniture that was only 12″ from surface to floor. The grid with the corner handles is your friend for fine adjustments. Picture quality is very good, brightness and black levels are really good (I have a Samsung HDTV and this projector beats that all the way on black levels, not quite OLED TV level black colors but still really good). The interface and app support are klunky but manageable. I use a Roku for streaming so all my remote use is on the Roku, I only use the device remote to turn it on

Optoma Cinemax P2 Smart 4K UHD laser projector performance review

While there are six different picture modes on the CinemaX P2, I generally only used two of them for SDR – Reference and Cinema. Reference was the most accurate, but was also the dimmest and didn’t hold up as well against ambient light as Cinema did, which was a bit bluer than Reference. Additional picture modes include Bright (far too green for serious viewing), HDR Sim. for simulating the HDR effect with SDR content, Game (very blue tinted but acceptable if you need extra brightness), and User, which was virtually identical to Cinema by default. With HDR content, the CinemaX P2 automatically switches to its HDR picture mode (there’s also a dedicated mode for HLG content). If you hire an ISF calibrator, they can access and calibrate five different ISF picture modes – Day, Night, HDR, HLG, and 3D.

When HDR picture mode turns on, there are four different settings – from darkest to brightest they are Detail, Film, Standard, and Bright – which can be chosen depending on the overall brightness of the movie. Even with dark titles like Blade Runner 2049, I found Film to be more than adequate to add some depth to the shadows around the furnaces of the orphanage. And when playing around with the setting during brighter scenes – such as K’s approach to Vegas – I found Standard to work well. The Bright preset pushed the whites a bit too much.

Optoma Cinemax P2 Smart 4K UHD laser projector customer review

Worth it

This is my first ultra short throw projector… and it is EVERYTHING i could ever want. This projector looks very amazing and I have been projecting it on an automatic projector screen (not ALR) it is a temporary setup at the moment so I am just using the built in speakers and you will not be disappointed! They blow any tv speakers out of the water and sound very clear and have plenty of bass. The picture quality is 4k at its finest, I have watched content on oled tvs and it comes very very close. I was shocked by how deep the blacks are and how vibrant HDR content was.

GAMING:
I am a very competitive gamer and was honestly surprised by the gaming mode on this projector. Most reviews show it at around 66ms which of course is 66 times the response time I am used to playing on a monitor. I initially tested it with my nintendo switch and played super smash bros ultimate and mario kart 8. Both games were easily playable and I had no problem adjusting to the input lag. A thing to note is the colors were a bit off on the switch at first it was easy to adjust with the projector settings but for some reason 1080p content didn’t look perfecr out of the box. I then tested a few minutes of call of duty cold war on a PS5 and for the average gamer it is playable, much more than I expected but on FPS shooters of course it is not ideal.

Price: yes it is a whopping price tag but compared to other ultra short throws this is the one to beat.

By Nintendofan at Best Buy

Alternate of Optoma Cinemax P2 Smart 4K UHD laser projector

Samsung

The LSP7T offers a 4.2 channel speaker system (two woofers and two tweeters) and the same Acoustic Beam virtual surround sound technology offered on some Samsung soundbars. When space is a consideration, this all-in-one sound solution will make it easier to achieve a sleek, modern, clutter-free look.

The 120-inch display LSP7T ($3,499.99 SRP) is based on a TI DLP chip and a single-laser projection system. Per Samsung, it displays 83% of the DCI‑P3 gamut.

LG

The LG HU85LS utilizes a three-channel laser system and a larger DLP chip. It is one of the higher-priced ultra-short-throw models. The HU85LS price is competitive with other premium Laser TVs, which utilize a multi-channel laser light source like the Samsung LSP7T. The HU85LS is brighter and retails for $500 less, but it does not include an ALR screen. While several suitable consumer-focused UST projectors are available for less, the HU85LS is one of the performance leaders in the category.

The competitive market may have gotten more crowded, but the P2 is still a good value Laser TV. It is user-friendly, a solid home theater product, and when paired with a proper, fixed screen or possibly a motorized screen with solid ALR and or CLR rejecting material, looks great.

Overall, I like it and enjoyed watching a wide range of content on it. Candidly, I’ve told my editor that he will have a hard time getting it back from me.

Editor’s recommendations

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