Optoma has launched two short-throw laser projectors in China, the 1080p P8 and the WXGA V8, as replacements for its P5 and V5. The announcement, carried by the trade outlet PJTime on November 3, gives no price and no on-sale date. It does give enough numbers to raise a fair question, because nearly all of them already belong to two projectors American buyers have been able to order since 2023.
The P8 is rated at 3,500 lumens under ISO/IEC 21118, with a 0.496:1 throw ratio. The V8 runs at 3,600 lumens and 0.521:1, trading resolution for slightly more light and a slightly longer throw. Working from those ratios, a 100-inch picture needs about 1.1 meters from lens to wall on either model.
Optoma quotes 300,000:1 contrast with its dynamic black processing on both, and says both support 4K and HDR signals, though the native panels stay at 1080p on the P8 and 1280 x 800 on the V8. The light engine is sealed to IP6X with no filter to clean, and the DuraCore laser carries a 30,000-hour rating in Eco mode. Installation is covered by 360-degree and sideways mounting, plus 15 degrees of horizontal and vertical keystone and four-corner correction through Optoma’s Smart Control. For IT departments there is Optoma Management Suite, RS-232, Crestron and Extron control, along with instant on and off.
The same numbers as the ZH350ST and ZW350ST
Set those figures beside Optoma’s existing US range and the match is hard to miss. ProjectorCentral’s listing for the ZH350ST shows 1080p, 3,500 ISO lumens, 300,000:1 contrast and 30,000 hours of laser life, with the 0.496:1 throw Optoma publishes for it. The ZW350ST entry shows WXGA, 3,600 lumens, the same contrast and laser life, and a 0.521:1 throw. Both are IP6X-rated and both date from April 2023. We covered that pair when they arrived as conference-room machines.
Optoma’s China announcement does not mention either model, and we can’t say from the published specs alone whether the P8 and V8 are renamed versions, revised hardware or a new design that lands on identical ratings. The announcement’s photo shows a white chassis with a large exposed short-throw lens and a side vent, but it doesn’t list weight, dimensions or speakers, which are the fields that would settle it. What it does establish is that the headline performance matches what Optoma was already selling in 2023.
That matters mainly for pricing. ProjectorCentral puts the ZH350ST at a $2,279 list price and about $1,299 on the street, and the ZW350ST at $1,399 and about $799. If Optoma’s Chinese pricing lands anywhere near those street figures, these are ordinary mid-range installation projectors. If it comes in well below, buyers in China will be getting a mature design at a discount American resellers don’t offer.
A business projector with a living-room pitch
The more interesting change is how Optoma is selling them. The announcement opens with a small-apartment scenario, describes a 100-inch picture from against the wall, and talks up ceiling viewing from bed, before getting to showrooms and meeting rooms. In the US, those same specifications were sold to boardrooms. The rest of the copy is closer to what this class of hardware is usually bought for: dusty public spaces, floors full of networked units, and long hours with little maintenance.
The living-room pitch comes during a hard stretch for China’s home projector business. RUNTO counted 829,000 smart projectors sold in the third quarter, down 26.2%, with laser models holding roughly level while everything else fell. A laser projector with a sealed engine is on the right side of that split, which may be part of why a brand better known for installation work is talking to home buyers now.
It also runs into stiff competition on specification. The P8 has no built-in smart TV system mentioned anywhere in the announcement, it offers 1080p where Chinese home brands are pushing 4K triple-laser models at aggressive Double 11 prices, and its home pitch rests on throw distance rather than color. Its real advantages for a home user are the sealed engine and the short throw, and those are worth something in a small room, though neither one is what most buyers shop for.
Where this leaves American buyers
Nothing changes in the US for now. Optoma has not announced a P8 or V8 for this market, and the closest American equivalents remain the ZH350ST and ZW350ST. Anyone shopping Optoma’s short-throw range today should look at current prices first, because they have shifted a lot. The 4K UHZ35ST, which we listed at $1,499 in September, was $2,199 on Amazon on November 5. The 1080p GT2100HDR, a brighter home-oriented model rated at 4,200 lumens, was $1,409.06 the same day, roughly the price of a ZH350ST.
Our business projector guide covers the wider field for meeting rooms. The next useful detail from China will be a price, and with it a clearer sense of whether Optoma sees these two as a fresh start or just a new name for hardware it has been selling for years.
