Optoma HD81 Viewing Evaluation and Conclusion
This is a good looking projector, despite its flaws and quirks. I'm not going to talk a lot during this section, let's just take a look at the pics.
HDTV: DiscoveryHD - Shark Rebellion
I love DiscoveryHD. It's one of the only stations that you can simply turn on at any time of the day and watch whatever is on. It's also the only channel that I am given an almost 100% chance of finding good source footage - any time of day. This is especially good on those nights when I'm up until 2am reviewing a product. This footage below doesn't do the show justice, but Shark Rebellion was as cool as its name - with very clean dark areas and shadow detail that actually surprised me.
HDTV: DiscoveryHD - Fantastic Festivals of the World
This show had absolutely gorgeous imagery from around the world. Take a look at the mask below as well as the intricate detail on the rooftops of the buildings. From sunscapes to cityscapes, this program showed off the high resolution features of the HD81.
HDTV: DiscoveryHD - The Desert Speaks
OK, one more detail show from Discovery HD. 1080i was scaled to 1080p by the HD81 with crystal clarity. There were no jaggies in sight anywhere and the picture showed off incredible hair and rock detail that I attempted to capture here.
HDTV: CSI - Miami
This is one of my favorite shows on TV, despite David Caruso's somewhat monotonous acting style. The stories are always engaging and often have somewhat heartwarming endings. Since a majority of the scenes occur indoors, this show offers plenty of opportunities to examine dark scenes, shadows and things that go bump in the night. A plethora of close-ups also ensures that facial detail and color tint are also front and center. While you may not see it here, the clothing was the dead giveaway of this projector's shadow resolution.
HDTV: Bones
This fantastic show has some of the best camera shots in non-sporting HDTV. Not only is everything well framed, the quality of the lenses and storyboarding are apparently pristine if the images here are any indicator. Hair and faces showed fine nuances of detail and clothing and materials had plenty of texture (check out the picture matte frame here).
DVD: Over the Hedge
Animated movies do well to show color and absolute resolution and detail. As the sources are perfect, it's an effective gauge to see how well a display can reproduce everything to its fullest potential. And yes, that is a turtle's bottom staring at you from a paved road. Over the Hedge was great in that they paid particular attention to fur, making this one of the most fur-intensive animations to date (just watch a couple animals hug and you'll understand).
DVD: Mission Impossible III
This third installment of the M:I series was "ok" but I wouldn't exactly run out and purchase the DVD (though perhaps for audio it would be worth it). What I did like about the film was its consistent presentation of dark scenes which were juxtaposed with high-action scenes and tight close-ups. Black levels were excellent post-calibration and we found that you could really peer into the dark and pull out a very deep, 3-D picture. With the myriad of explosions during the beginning of the film, it also tested out the top end of the grayscale, showing me that there was no posturization or banding present on this unit.
HD81 Projector Review Conclusion
The HD81 is a bright, colorful and visually stunning projector - there's no arguing that. The picture quality is above par and the calibration options are extensive enough (in the user menu) to allow for a calibration that dials in the unit to where you need it. Where Optoma stumbles is in having some glitches and missing features that would truly make this a great purchase. In particular I feel that lens shift, or at least additional lens options should be available at this price point. Having access to default, unlocked ISF modes would also seem to make sense and I'm hoping these are unlocked and set with a future firmware update. Fan noise was a bit louder than I would have expected, though with the required throw distance this might not be so significant to many. This is the first native 1080p DLP projector I have reviewed this year and I can absolutely pronounce that it is an excellent device that just seemed to get pushed out the starting gate before all issues were completely ironed out. Recommended? Yes, but be sure to check out the competition as well for comparison.
MSRP: $9,999
Optoma Technology, Inc.
715 Sycamore Drive
Milpitas, CA 95035 USA
Tel : 408-383-3700
www.optomausa.com
About Optoma
Optoma Technology, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of award-winning digital display products and home entertainment projectors for consumers, businesses, education, professional audio/video (Pro AV) and CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association) channels.
The Score Card
The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:
Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating
Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.
Audioholics Rating Scale
— Excellent
- — Very Good
- — Good
- — Fair
- — Poor
| Metric | Rating |
|---|---|
| Detail and Resolution | |
| Deinterlacing & Scaling | |
| Contrast and Black Levels | |
| Color Reproduction | |
| Noise Reduction | |
| Calibration Options | |
| Build Quality | |
| Ergonomics & Usability | |
| Ease of Setup | |
| Features | |
| Remote Control | |
| Performance | |
| Value | |
Recent Forum Posts:
Check this out:
http://store.proviewdigital.com/HD81.html
[store.proviewdigital.com]
and $300 rebate.
wow
AVRat
You will never get HD quality from anything less than 720 formatted material. The HD minimum spec is 720 pixel resolution in the vertical axis. Depending on the scaler involved, you can get very close. In other words, you must provide HD material to a HD display to get a “TRUE” HD picture.
That's not true - stand far enough away from ANY display and it'll look HD.
The non-marketing version of what defines an image as high definition is that when you add one more line of resolution to the image, it doesn't appear to be one bit sharper. So - a 20" display, from 20 feet away, may not look any better to someone with 20/20 vision whether it is fed the VHS version of King Kong or the HD-DVD version.
But, marketing has warped that idea so that people overly tie the 720p (or better) resolution with the exclusive meaning of HDTV.
HDTV is about image size, image quality, display quality, seating distance, and room conditions, as well as some other factors I may have missed. Simply sending 720p HD source material to a compatible display may give a defined version of HD, but doesn't promise the best possible image.
Everything else is a cleaned up version - the best possible version really - of the lower quality format.
In order (pretty much) standard analog cable and VHS are about the worst original video sources. Digital cable and satellite (DirecTV/Dish) are next. Then DVD comes into the mix as the best non-HDTV source available.
Finally, we get HDTV from cable, satellite, and Blu-ray/HD-DVD disc formats.
So, what happens when you run a VHS tape through this machine? Well, you get a really big VHS image. It will look NOTHING like HDTV - but it won't necessarily look 'bad' or even 'so-so'. It MORE depends on your acceptance of the quality. If you know VHS won't look great and aren't nitpicky, then it may look really really good - to you.
If you are picky, then they will look lousy.
It has been said, no less than 10 million times, that converting non-HD material, to an HD format does not make the original source material HD quality. But, this is moreso true with poor quality standard sources such as VHS tapes. This leads to a bit of not-so-typical sarcasm from our beloved Mr. DeBoer here. If he acts up again, just slap him.
I still have about 30 or 40 VHS titles - I am simply replacing them all with DVD titles at this point. In fact, I am thinking about selling or giving away my VHS collection this year. I'll try eBay first - then I'll donate them somewhere.
AVRat
Sign me up for one of those new-fangled VHS deck thingies!! All kidding aside, you will not get HD quality pictures from your old analog video tapes.
If I get a SD-DVD player with "clean 480i" over HDMI can I get HD quality?
Sorry for the dumb questions but other threads are unclear.
:o loose tool :o
