Optoma DV11 Setup and Installation

We encounter a lot of dedicated home theater owners looking for a ceiling-mounted projector that will be a product they will set and forget. But what about those without dedicated rooms. What about the people who want the fun of home theater but who can't permanently convert their living area to a theater? Optoma's DV11 seems to be targeted to this crowd. It is a sort of Lifestyle product that combines ease of use with some nifty features that are sure to enable loads of fun for a family who wants to have "movie nights" without breaking the bank and tearing up the house.

Setup and Installation

The simplicity of the DV11 is its primary strength. We operated the projector just like anyone else would, and received good results. The setup involved grabbing a coffee or end table (or any elevated flat surface) and positioning the projector far enough away from the screen to allow the image to focus properly and fill the desired area. While you can certainly project the DV11 successfully onto a white wall or sheet, we utilized an Elite Screens ez-Cinema F80NWH. This is a super-affordable ($165 street price) screen that pulls up from the ground into a 16:9 screen. It even comes with its own case so it can be put away almost as easily as the DV11. Regarding the image sizing and distance, here is the throw chart:

Throw Chart for Distancing the Projector from the 16:9 Projection Screen*

If you go much higher than a 100-inch screen you may run into trouble for the intended use of this projector. At that size you really have to have some very good light control and possibly a higher gain screen to make sure there is enough light output - or you'll be putting the system into torch mode and losing the details that would otherwise be available to you in Cinema mode. I would think the most common use for this type of system is going to fall into the <100-inches category. Many rooms aren't very long, and it's nice to be behind the Optoma DV11 due to the positioning of the speakers and to minimize screen door effects. With the 1.1 zoom lens you have to be at least 8 feet away to hit 80-inches. For most people, this means they'll need to stay with smaller (<100-inch) screen sizes, or their family may be sitting around the projector rather than behind it.

Since the system is pretty much self-contained, setup was complete is about 5 minutes. Unzip the bag, plug in the projector and pull up the screen. We were ready to watch movies in no time flat and I knew that "tear down" would be just as simple. If you want to bypass the internal DVD player and use the DV11 as a display, however, you do have additional options.

Connections

On the back of the DV11 you will find a few different AV inputs and some audio outputs. Composite and S-video connections are present for feeding an external standard definition source to the projector with stereo analogue audio inputs for sound. Though on initial glance there seems to be no component video inputs, the VGA connection can support YPbPr and an adapter is included in the packaging. HDMI is not supported, so you won't have a direct digital AV connection to the player. There is a digital audio S/PDIF output - something you don't see on many projectors. This is simply to ensure that you can get audio out from the on-board DVD player and route it into an existing home theater system. Most AV receivers manufactured in the past 5 years will support Dolby Digital output via this coax digital (S/PDIF) connection. As part of your quick set-up tear-down you can grab a 12-foot coax cable and have it ready to pull out for use with this system. For anyone using an HTPC (home theater PC) an 1/8-inch mini audio output is also provided.

Taking a look above the inputs and outputs you'll see the new slot-loading integrated DVD player. This is a pretty nice feature and gives the DV11 a much slicker look and feel over the DV10. A USB "Service" port is not usable by consumers and is apparently for updates and diagnostics at a dealer repair facility or the manufacturer.