Optoma HD81 DLP Projector Review

If you are looking for a projector to simply get an image up on a screen, the HD81 from Optoma is likely one you are going to pass over. It's hefty array of features make it ideal for the serious HT enthusiast looking for a native 1080p projector that full fills a few other purposes. It has an exceptional range of input options and a reported 10,000:1 contrast ratio.

The feature that caught my eye was the Gennum VXP video processor. You essentially get a $3000 video processor included with the price of your projector. However, there are a couple of things that could be improved to make this a perfect projector.

From the article:

You can perhaps see that to hit your target screen size (and this
projector is certainly bright enough to go to a larger sized screen)
you’re going to have to have a fairly long room. I would have liked to
have seen a bit more zoom on this lens, or at least the option to order
a shorter throw lens for rooms that capitalizes on width and not depth.
With the $9,999 retail price tag of this projector, Optoma is betting
that this device will make its way primarily into dedicated theater
rooms with a long throw or double row of seats. In my reference room I
wasn’t able to hit my 100-inch Stewart StudioTek 130 at full size from
the fixed mounting position and had to back the unit up against the
back wall on my portable projector stand.

Here is a bit about the video processor.

Gennum VXP-based Video Processing (FineEdge, Fidelity Engine and TruMotionHD)
VXP
is Gennum’s acronym for “Video eXcellence Processing” This system
utilizes the GF9351 chipset and provides an incredible amount of
features that includes: full 10-bit video processing, directional
interpolation algorithms (jaggie reduction), pixel-based motion
adaptive deinterlacing (2:2 and 2:3 pull-down) with bad edit detection,
and noise reduction on both SD and HD content.