6/10
Open rating explainerInformationWIREDGreat for golf simulation. Continuous operation. Light and portable. Affordable. Easy to configure using the remote.TIREDNo built-in smart TV OS. Outdated HDMI ports. Passable performance for home entertainment and gaming. Confusing remote for everything but the initial setup.Indoor golf simulators aren't easy to set up, and they aren't inexpensive. It starts with a home cinema projector, but you also need a wide, open space for swinging clubs, a backdrop with netting, and a gaming laptop or desktop to run the software. I was on a mission to see if I could do this much more cheaply with an affordable projector.
I accomplished my goal successfully by building around the Optoma GT2400HDR short-throw projector. I skipped the most expensive components, like the backdrop and the clubs. Instead, I used a gaming laptop and controller I already owned, and played EA Sports PGA Tour, which is included with my PC Game Pass Ultimate account. While the projector isn’t a bad option for playing golf at home on the cheap, it’s not ideal for watching movies and TV shows. It also struggles with high-octane games, and it doesn’t even include a smart TV platform.
Made for Indoor Driving Ranges
Optoma describes the GT2400HDR as a laser-based short-throw projector designed for gaming, entertainment, and golf simulation (the latter being my main intention). It can project a screen size from 30 to 300 inches at Full HD 1080p (1920 x 1080) resolution. My goal in creating an indoor driving range was to keep costs as low as possible, so I planned to use my Xbox controller with a gaming laptop and play on a 100-inch screen while still feeling like I was out on the links. For a golf game, you can get by with a midrange computer or even use a golf sim app on your iPad. (To do that, you’ll need to cast to a device that supports AirPlay or connect through HDMI via an adapter.)
Photograph: John BrandonFor less than $1,300, the GT2400HDR is a reasonable option, especially since it works well as a basic golf sim and costs far less than 4K models that can run $5,000 or more. The GT2400HDR also has some interesting perks that make it ideal for long golfing sessions.
For starters, it’s rated for 24/7 continuous operation. That’s because the laser light source doesn’t need to cool down after a few hours and can last 30,000 hours total. (Optoma does recommend powering the unit off when not in use, though.) The laser light source does not use a bulb, so there is nothing to replace. Heat dissipation is amazingly good, as the projector tends to run cool, unlike some high-end models. The GT2400HDR has an IP6X dust rating, so it’s sealed better than some massive home theater projectors that cost $4,000—ironic, considering that if you’re spending that much, you would expect better dust protection.
The projector's light weight (just under 7 pounds) and portability make it a good match for golf simulation. I found it easy to position the projector on the floor and then use it on a table or even in another room without lugging it around like a massive brick.
I first had to figure out where to place it for the golf sim, though. As a short-throw projector, it should normally sit about 4 feet away from the screen. Since I wouldn’t be using actual golf clubs, I could set it on the floor in my windowless testing room; otherwise, I would have to mount it on the ceiling, away from swinging clubs. The projected image looked big enough that, when I started playing EA Sports PGA Tour, the players looked about as tall as they are in real life.
Photograph: John BrandonI noticed Optoma offers an app to help with initial setup, but it’s a hassle to use. You have to install the app and sync over Bluetooth, but I found it was easier to just do the keystone adjustment with the included remote. (Also, Optoma did not include the required Bluetooth dongle even though it is normally part of the package.)
Fortunately, keystoning was easy with the remote because, during setup, you can just position the four corners of the image. I ran one HDMI cable for my laptop and one for an AV receiver for surround sound (I used a Yamaha RX300A). In less than 30 minutes, I had the projector running, and I was swinging with the pros at Augusta.
I will say, I had an absolute blast with the setup. I loved the massive screen for golf, and I was pleased I didn’t have to bother with golf clubs, a backdrop screen, netting, or anything else to replicate the experience. If you want to use real clubs and balls, there are quite a few golf sim apps like SkyTrak for both PC and tablets that scan your motion and render a virtual player, although the total cost can add up quickly, including the backdrop and other gear.
Even though I was using a controller to play a video game, I still felt like I was on the links because of the massive size, bright 4,200-lumen rating, and colorful picture.
Photograph: John BrandonThe GT2400HDR only runs at 1080p resolution, but it does so at low latency (only 8.4 milliseconds at 120 Hz). I wasn’t expecting home cinema quality at this price, and golf simulations don’t require subtle color variations like a theatrical movie, which might have scenes that take place at night. You need accurate greens and blues, and the GT2400HDR handled that well.
There are two HDMI ports, which is fairly common, but the projector does not support the latest HDMI 2.1 standard for eARC passthrough audio. That means no Dolby Vision, and if you connect an AV receiver, you could run into compatibility issues. For example, I tried using my Onkyo receiver and had some minor audio glitches.
The projector also doesn’t support Wi-Fi unless you add a streaming device like a Google TV or an Amazon Fire TV. It has a legacy VGA port if your device is still in the dark ages (e.g., an extremely old computer, but in reality it is still widely used for signage, in schools, and as a fail-safe port), both a 3.5-mm input and output, and (in another unusual twist) a 3D Sync port for connecting 3D glasses (which I didn’t test).
Photograph: John BrandonThe remote has one of the most confusing layouts of any projector I have used. It seems like it was designed for a bygone A/V era. There are way too many buttons, and they're very small. There are so many buttons that it all seemed like overkill, especially since you may only use those buttons occasionally. Indeed, once everything is running, I didn’t find the need to use the remote that often.
Performance off Course
Outside of golf simulation, the GT2400HDR was just average in just about every other way. I ran a few typical benchmarks, and the skin tone tests all looked bland and grayed out, as though every face looked the same. There just wasn’t enough dynamic tonal range. In a demo video, mist over a mountain scene blended into the white background and did not look distinct. In a scene involving a fence with green grass in the background—one of the best ways to test color quality—the GT2400HDR made everything look way too brown.
For movies, I watched a scene in The Batman with flares that look shockingly red on higher-end projectors like the Xgimi Titan Noir Max. Here, the reds were too dark, lacked shadow detail, and blended too much into the dark background. In a scene from the 4K Ultra Blu-ray version of Blade Runner 2049, where the main character arrives at a protein farm, several buildings should have rendered in distinct yellows and blues. Instead, the scene looked too grayed out, like a thin veneer covered the entire screen. Of course, it didn’t help that the 4K movie had to be downgraded to 1080p resolution.
Photograph: John BrandonI won’t harp on these detriments too much, because the GT2400HDR is not meant to compete with a movie theater. I switched to a few more games and found that Red Dead Redemption 2 on an Xbox Series X looked pretty good, if a little too atmospheric. That’s a kind way of saying the contrast is not great. At times, it seemed like the projected image had more in common with an LCD computer monitor than a home cinema projector.
The GT2400HDR disappointed in its handling of what should be impressive updated graphics in Halo: Campaign Evolved. Instead of rich, vibrant-looking trees, they looked too bland, with flat, dull greens. In Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced, the colors in a level that takes place in Havana should pop when you walk through the town, but the blue tunics, yellow fruit, and green trees lacked vibrancy.
A news broadcast looked dull and bland, as did a World Cup match I rewatched. There’s a theme here: bland and dull colors. However, I was surprised that a dark scene of a character riding a bike in the movie Awake didn’t look terrible. I could make out faces and some colors, which is saying a lot since this scene is hard to render. An entire moonlit scene in House of the Dragon, via the HBO app on a Google TV Streamer, looked completely washed out until I switched to the Vivid picture mode, which helped a bit. It was all par for the course, no pun intended.
I then watched scenes from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and noticed that Cinema picture mode did help punch up the colors a bit. Super Mario Galaxy lacked the color vibrancy and clarity that it normally has and looked like it was playing on a cheap computer monitor (e.g., poor contrast and less-than-vivid colors). When I switched to The Ark on YouTube TV, the colors looked much better because the show features bright, well-lit interior shots in almost every scene.
In the end, everything I tested and benchmarked on the GT2400HDR looked just OK, but I liked how well this projector works as a golf simulator. It can run all day long for multiple rounds, has low latency to make sure your controller nudges translate to accurate drives, and looks massive and bright on a large projector screen in a dark room. Sure, just about everything else is average, but if you are into golf, this is a good low-cost entry-level option.
$1,300 $1,221 at Amazon$1,300 $1,199 at B&H
