Optoma HD81 Projector

We’re in a 1080p world now, home theater fans. That’s right, as much as you love your stunning, 720p resolution projector, the one the sales person at the electronics store told you was the best picture you could get from a little light engine—well, that was a good eight or nine months ago. That’s like a decade in projector years. At the recent Custom Electronics and Design Association show in September (go to E-Gear.com to find out what went on there) there was hardly a 720p projector in sight.

Of course, that’s an exaggeration. The market is still full of excellent projectors (and flat screens for that matter) pumping out 720p resolution, and many of them are excellent values now as well, but the momentum is huge behind that thing the industry now calls True or Full HD. This Optoma HD81 projector is one of the first single chip models out of the gate offering 1080p resolution, and it does it at a very competitive price.

The HD81 light engine is based on TI’s DLP technology and uses the new DarkChip3 digital micro mirror. A couple of things set this projector apart from other new models to the market: first is the very respectable 10,000:1 contrast ratio and the sunstroke inducing 1,400 lumen brightness rating. It reaches that by using a mighty 300-watt lamp, which is about 100-watts stronger than those found in a lot of other projectors. The brightness does two things for the projector. First it lets it light up a very large screen without making the picture dim. Second, it allows you better viewing in a partially lit room—so you don’t have to trip over the dog when you get up for more popcorn. Also notable is the fact that this $9,999 (more like $7K actual selling price) projector comes with an external scaler/processor box. The outboard scaler handles all the projector’s picture settings and houses the inputs. The duo is Imaging Science Foundation calibration certified, which means that an ISF calibrator can easily set this up to be a star.

Connecting and configuring the HD81 creates a few issues, pro and con. The two-piece setup of this system means that you don’t need to run cables for each video signal. Instead of running a component set, HDMI/DVI and S-video cable to the projector all at once, you can hook all the inputs into the processor, then run a single HDMI line to the projector, however, you’ll still need to run a serial cable from the processor to the projector, because that carries all the control signals. You’ll also need to place the processor somewhere in the line of sight of the remote, because the projector itself doesn’t have an infrared receiver. If you want to have the processor hidden away, then you’ll need an IR receiver hidden somewhere within range (one is included).

Another issue, and something that seems to be a thread with Optoma projectors, is the HD81’s fairly short zoom. With only a 1.2x zoom, you don’t have a lot of leeway in installing the projector, so you’ll want to do some figuring first to determine whether or not the projector will need to go right above your head to hit your desired screen size. Luckily, Optoma has a very easy-to-use throw distance calculator on its Web site.

The projector is the business end of the HD81, but the processor unit is really where all the hard thinking gets done. The projector controls and imaging processing all take place in this box. The unit is loaded with inputs—14 in all, covering all your standard analog options (composite, S-video, component, BNC) plus three HDMI inputs. All those inputs will come in very handy if you’re integrating this into a pre-existing system that doesn’t handle HDMI switching in the A/V receiver, which many will do later this year. It’s also a very good scaler and deinterlacer.

While the HD81 comes with an excellent remote (backlit too)—discrete source buttons for all 12 input, seven different mode buttons, four picture enhancement buttons and six display format buttons—the menu for working through all those settings was like wondering through a maze. Luckily your installer will only need to sit down with the menu once and be done with it. And I want to emphasize that this projector should be set up by an experienced installer or at least calibrated by an ISF certified tech. While an advanced user can take it out of the box and get a pretty impressive picture out of it, there’s a lot of potential buried in this system that a professional calibrator will be able to unearth.

For picture tweaking, the HD81 includes an optical iris (which can improve contrast), which can be set on auto or manually set in intervals. There’s an 11-step noise reduction feature, which I used successfully on standard definition analog sources. You can adjust the color through 10 gamma curve settings, five edge enhancement steps, three preset color vividness settings (and a user selectable option where the color can be fine tuned). The ISF Day and Night modes allow the projector to be set for viewing in dark or partially lit viewing situations, and you can easily switch between them.

The picture quality from the HD81 was exceptional. High definition programs, viewed from an LG HDTV DVR at 720p resolution looked pretty pristine. CSI bore the grittiness and gore it’s known for while NFL football exhibited a stunning realism. Standard definition DVDs were scaled to the projector very well, and the deinterlacer did an exceptional job minimizing MPEG2 edge artifacts. The contrast and richness of color were evident on all sources. I mostly used the projector in its low lamp mode, and even then, it was plenty bright enough to display a very good picture even with some room lights on, though lights off was best. It is a bit on the loud side though, and gets louder when set in high lamp mode. Strangely, the HD81 would not recognize the HDMI 1.3 connection to a Sony PlayStation 3, the only true 1080p source I had to work with. Other HDMI sources, such as an upconverting Samsung DVD player, played fine with the unit’s input detection. Optoma confirmed that the issue was resolved by a firmware upgrade which my early test unit didn’t receive.

If you’re thinking of upgrading your older projector, or getting into a front projection theater for the first time, the HD81 is definitely worth considering.

Fan noise issues and zoom distance are all dependant on the user’s room specifics, so those may be issues for some people, but not others. This system will put you in at the top of the resolution pile.