1080p DMD DLP by Texas Instruments.
Native 1080p (1920x1080) resolution.
1300 lumens and a 10,000:1 contrast ratio.
Advanced three stage video processing system offers powerful and personalized adjustment options at each stage
This review is from: Optoma HD80 1080p Home Theater Projector1080p is full HD. Anything less... is less. You know it. I know it. Nevertheless, reviewers constantly refer to 1080i systems as "full HD." Well, obviously, when there is an HD mode with twice the number of pixels sent to you over any given time period, 1080i isn't top of the line, and it isn't "full." The HD80 finally brings that highest mode in reach for under $2500, which was my "trip point" for replacing my older, lower resolution projector.I have a challenging situation for projection; we bought an old church which has a 204" (17 foot) diagonal space that we use for our home theater. This is a *lot* of screen space, and consequently, the projector needs to be able to focus and properly size at 204"; the HD80 did this with a little room in adjustment to spare.Also, with such a large display space, the projector needs to be bright, and again, the HD80 gets the job done. There is no detectable "rainbow" effect, images are sharp and clear.The base of my display screen begins about four feet above the main floor level, and I have a very high ceiling (14 feet.) This projector wants to be mounted above or below the top or bottom edges of the display, and that's precisely how I needed it to work. This is a consequence of the "offset" specification; make sure you pay attention to it. Mounting this projector within the viewing screen rectangle will result in a slightly distorted image, and will also require you to tilt the projector. This isn't a design fault, it is a feature, but it certainly is something you need to keep in mind.I have HD-DVD, Blueray, XBox360, PS3, a Mac and DBS HD sources fed to the projector through a Sony STR-DA5300ES receiver, which has six HDMI inputs, three component inputs and a Faroudja scaler. Since the DBS system only goes to 1080i, I feed it via component. I've looked at the output of the projector in 1080i feeding the project with component from the Sony, and it is very nice. I saw a little noise in the darkest areas, BUT this is probably due to the very long run of component cable to it, about 40 feet. With HDMI, there is no visible noise. Since it is a 1080p projector, and most manufacturers do not support 1080p over component, it makes the most sense to use the projector via HDMI anyway. Everything else here refers to operating the projector as fed with HDMI.The projector has one missing feature as far as I am concerned, and that is horizontal keystone adjustment. It does have vertical, and my situation is such that I don't actually need keystone adjustment, but I know when it is needed, there is no substitute for having it.There are some slightly weird labels; you can set the fan to high speed all the time (which I highly recommend, as it will extend the life of the bulb and the projector) by selecting "High Altitude Mode ON"; the idea (apparently) being that the air is thinner at higher altitudes, hence, you need more air to cool the projector. Should have been marked "Fan Always High-Speed" or something, took me a bit to figure that one out. Actually had to read the manual. (smile.)Even with the fan on high, the projector is reasonably quiet. It certainly doesn't detract from my enjoyment of movies - don't even know it's there.So, back to the picture. With a 204" diagonal 16:9 display, I can walk right up to the screen and see pixels. They're sharp, regular, and resolve into the image uniformly with no smear or blur. Extremely precise images, such as station graphics on the HD news channel, look downright spectacular.Black levels are very good, as you'd expect both from DLP and from a projector with an iris. Personally, I'd like to be able to disable the iris, and possibly I have - the manual isn't clear on this. There are settings about using it, and I've set it to the brightest (again, remember I have a large display and so I'm looking for the brightest image I can get... even if that compromises the black levels a little.) Along these lines, there is a "bright" setting for the bulb, and I have that on too, but frankly, I can't see any difference between that being on, or not. The image *is* bright enough, so I'm not in any sense complaining, but I did think it was a little odd to have such a setting not make a visible difference. Perhaps the projector knows it's set for quite a distance and was already on full brightness.The projector's menus offer lots of controls, and I am particularly fond of the remote, which puts most often used functions right up on buttons where you can get at them without having to fool with menus. Brightness; contrast; gamma; random-access settings for 4:3, 16:9, "native" and letterbox; and plenty more. The remote's buttons light up and you can read the thing in the dark, thank you VERY much for that, Optoma. If you do get into the menus, they are extensive and odds are you'll find what you're looking for. This is my third projector and I've got a decent feel for what should be there, and with the exception of horizontal keystoning, it feels like all the functionality one would want is present and accounted for.The projector itself is in a curvy case that I think most people will find attractive, with its controls most easily accessible from the rear (though you'll be running it with the remote, I can almost guarantee you.) It has a good sized case, no effort was made to make this thing small, and the fan vent puts out a lot of heat. You can't put this in a poorly ventilated area. Some projectors you can get away with tight to the ceiling mounts, I wouldn't try it with this one based on the amount of heat it produces, unless you've got a secondary fan system that will move the hot air from the unit away expeditious...
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