Customer Reviews
An Outstanding Projector 
2008-03-04
First of all, I'm no audio or videophile. In fact I was initially wary of this new fangled technology (my hi-tech abilities end with tin-can telephones). So, I did my homework. I wanted the best picture possible for under $3000 for a projector. I was willing to run gold-tipped HDMI cables, use an upconverting DVD player capable of 1080p resolution, and get a high-quality screen (white matte with 1.0 gain...I learned this from Consumer Reports), etc. I read all the reviews for this projector on amazon, and on Google. Then, I researched what size sceeen I'd need, given my 13' of projection distance (I typed in 'projection distance' on Google and found a website that calculates the distance by brand & model name). I found the biggest picture I'd get from 13' of projection was 92" (Consumer Reports says that the optimum picture size (diagonally) for this projector is 110"). In order to be 13' back from the screen, I had to remove some closet doors and hang the projector from the closet ceiling like a bat hanging in a cave. The projector lens peeks out from the upper right-hand corner of the closet entrance (the doorless 'closet' is now referred to as the 'alcove'...lol). In order that the projector didn't over-heat in the cramped 'alcove' ceiling area, I put in an ultra-quiet yet high volume bathroom-type exhaust fan (from Home Depot) in the ceiling just to the left of the projector. And just so my friends' jaws would drop, I sprung for an electric, wall-mounted, drop down screen.
When everthing was installed and the projector was aligned with the screen, I turned on the satellite TV receiver, found an HD broadcast football game...and died. Right there I died. Never, never, never have I ever seen a picture so clear. I've kept that broadcast to use everytime I show this rig to someone new. I laughed when I saw the poor dental hygiene of one of the broadcaster's lower teeth. I could see individual pores, for heaven's sake!
The picture quality of this projector is flawless. If you experience anything less it would be because of some other factor.
If you don't count my mistakes (at first I bought the wrong audio/visual surround sound receiver and the wrong upconverting DVD player, and don't count the new furniture and blackout blinds (yes, I watch this TV with none or little ambient light in the room)...if I don't count those mistakes, then I did all of the above for about $4900.
I am so pleased with this projector, that I keep looking over my shoulder for something that's gonna jinx all of this. Two friends of mine are now dedicated to converting their wives so they too can have a theater like mine. I can't wait to lend them my experience and recently acquired 'knowledge'. I had so much fun with this project, that I wish I could do it again. Now I have to go clean out the garage...what a drag.
Beware! Not HD80 
2008-01-29
This is not a complaint on the HD80, but rather an error with Amazon. The HD80 and HD803 are two separate models (see Optoma website). The HD803 is a sibling of the HD80 which has less contrast, less lumens and a 1 yr warranty vs. 2 yr, and it costs less. You may be perfectly happy with the HD803. However, if you clearly are trying to purchase the HD80, Amazon will be unable to help. I have made two unsuccessful attempts at purchasing an HD80. The second attempt the customer service rep stated that they would drop ship from the manufacturer. This did not happen, and alas, I find myself searching for an HD80 elsewhere.
First time that I have been displeased with Amazon.
how to lose a customer--read the updates for the details 
2008-01-13
For a summary, please look at the last paragraph.
First the good news. The picture is very crisp.
Now the bad:
1. Both HDMI inputs produced poor video quality (incorrect colors on some sources, ragged vertical edges, loss of signal, etc.). I could take the same HDMI video sources, and use a HDMI to DVI adapter to send the video in the the projector (via the DVI input) and everything looked great.
I talked to Optoma tech support, and they suggested a firmware upgrade, which helped but did not completely solve the problem with the HDMI inputs. I am still converting the HDMI signals to DVI to make things work.
2. A portion of the image (occupying a vertical stripe approximately one inch wide in a total image width of 80 inches) is discolored. I also contacted Optoma about this, sent them photos, and they forwarded this to engineering. I'm still waiting to hear from them after several weeks.
3. The fan is quite noisy in the high altitude setting. If you don't need to use this setting the fan is reasonably quiet, but Optoma tech support suggeted using the high altitude setting if you live at high altitude.
4. I bought the bracket from Optoma online (I wanted to make sure I had the correct bracket). The bracket that I received was bent out of shape (and I had to rebend it to make it fit). There wasn't any evidence of shipping damage (the box that it came in looked great). It also did not have all of the miscellaneous screws, etc. that would complete the job. Centering the image on the screen using this bracket was tricky.
This would be a really fine product if it worked as advertised.
UPDATE (Jan31,'08)
If I could update the rating it would go to ONE STAR.
I have been working with tech support for nearly three months to solve the problems that I had with my brand new projector.
After making approximately a half dozen calls in the last month alone, and leaving messages to have them call back, I submitted another tech support request through their website. I received a call back within a few hours-not bad.
So why the poor rating? Simple. I have spent six and a half weeks trying to get a response (any) from them (last contact Dec 14th). BUT MORE IMPORTANT ('sorry for the shouting) I WAS WITHIN A FEW DAYS OF NOT BEING ABLE TO EXCHANGE this projector from Optoma for a properly functioning one--DESPITE THE FACT THAT OPTOMA HAS BEEN THE GLUE IN THE WORKS! THIS DEADLINE WAS NEVER MENTIONED TO ME UNTIL NOW.
So, I get the call from Optoma, and they promise to send me the RMA number via email (which they have since that is how I contacted them today). I wait a few hours. No such luck. I called again, this time asking for someone else. This time I received the RMA number over the phone.
Almost three months to get to this point. The projector was purchased on Nov7th.
UPDATE 14Feb'08
Jeff (tech support) has been my main point of contact all along, and seems to be the crux of the problem. My projector was picked up Feb 1 and sent via UPS 2nd day. I got a call from Jeff approx Feb 4th to tell me the projector arrived but he needed the sale receipt. I HAD faxed it and confirmed that he received it Jan 31st. I mentioned this to him, and he finally found the receipt.
I called Mike in the RMA department Feb 13th to find out where my projector was. He never received my receipt from Jeff, so the replacement projector never shipped. No phone calls, nothing. If I hadn't called I would still be waiting. Mike asks me to FAX the receipt again, this time to him. I call Mike back, he has received my FAX and tells me the projector may ship as early as tomorrow morning and will be sent overnight.
UPDATE 15Feb'08 So much for Mike. We call Mike and he has bounced it back to Jeff. The projector has not shipped. Jeff is out of the office, due to return in a half hour, but Mike says "Jeff will call back within an hour"--after two hours he hasn't. I call Mike back to let him know that I will be filing a consumer complaint with Santa Clara County's DA's office (the county in which Optoma has offices)on Tuesday if the projector doesn't arrive by next Tuesday. Mike originally claimed it would ship overnight so this should be an easy deadline to meet.
UPDATED 18Feb'08 Refurbished projector arrives. It's too bad I had to play hardball just to get them to resolve this problem. The refurbished projector seems to be working properly so far.
UPDATED 6Apr'08 The refurbished projector has a few relatively small problems:
1. If I try to use it in the high brighness setting there is an very obvious difference in brightness between the left- and right- halves of the picture. This is a problem in the projector--it shows up even if I use the projector's internal test pattern generator.
It is fine with all other settings, so I'm not using high brightness. This means that I always use the projector in a darkened room Fortunately I'm only using an 80" screen, and I have room darkening shades and dark carpet and wall covering to reduce contrast loss and color shift during daytime operation.
2. There is a very slight white smudge in the picture. It only becomes noticible with very dark pictures (almost black). Once again, I verified that this was a problem with the projector, not with my other equipment.
3. The projector will occasionally produce an over-sized picture. When this happens a large portion of the picture is cropped (not visible). I can get it to produce the proper sized picture by switched momentarily to another video source then switching back to the source that had the problem.
SUMMARY. The product is poorly designed. Quality control is poor. Tech and customer support is the worst I have seen. If you want to take a risk on purchasing this product, I recommend that you check your retailer's return policy carefully before buying (For the record I did not buy my product from Amazon only because Amazon could not ship for quite a long time. In hindsight, I wish I had purchased from Amazon.) Also make sure that the projector will work in your room and with your screen before you buy. (Be especially careful about image size, centering, and brightness.) Once you receive the projector, make sure it operates with ALL of your equipment and any that you expect to buy in the future, and that the projector works properly in all modes. Do this as soon as you receive it. If it doesn't work perfectly, I suggest returning it to the retailer before you go past the return policy end date. You do not want to have to work with this manufacturer to correct any problems-they are horrible.
Picture good...Design bad 2008-01-07
I bought this projector to replace my Optoma HD70. I have a room in my house as a designated theater with the screen, chairs, sound, lighting..you name it. I thought this would be an easy install. I was so wrong! Here is the problem...Unless you have the space to mount the projector around 2 feet above or two feet below the top/bottom of the screen, this projector is totally useless! You can't mount it at screen height or even just slightly above/below. To read about this, go to the "projectorreviews" website. I wish I had read this ahead of time. I figured that since the throw ratio was correct for my room, I was all set. Not so...
Optoma seems to have made an excellent projector for the price based on image quality, color and inputs. But, don't make my mistake, do your research and make sure you have the clearances in your room to install this projector in the few places that it can be placed. As a side note (no pun intended), you need to be dead on straight with the screen because there is no horizontal keystoning at all. This wasn't a problem for me, but it will be for some people.
In the end, I would say this: The projector seems very good for the money, but since 75% of the potential buyers for this product will be sliced away because of placement issues, I would stay away from this one. If for no other reason than you may not be able to resell it after you want to upgrade. Remember, placement will be a problem then too! There are many other projectors that do not suffer from this that are in the same price range. I like Optoma for budget-minded home theater enthusients, but this one is off the mark for the average home.
PS - My local Best Buy store has this mounted in their Magnolia Home Theater Center. It doesn't work in there either. They can't hit the screen correctly because the screen is not low enough. If it is in mine, it might be in your's too, so go take a look.
An outstanding value, finally, full HD breaks $2500 2007-10-07
1080p 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 expeditiously. Remember: Hot air rises, and if the projector is against the ceiling, that hot air may not have anywhere else to go other than to accumulate around the unit - thereby providing it with warm air to go in the fan intake, cooling the unit less, raising its internal temperature, and shortening its life. Just a word to the wise there. Projectors like cool air supplies.
Replacement projection bulbs, as per usual, are quite expensive. If you have the chance, buy a bulb-replacement policy. I got one for $99 that goes for three years (two more than the manufacturer's warranty) and if I have to use it, it'll probably save me $350. For me, that was a good deal. You have to decide if it is good for you, but I have no problem recommending it, anyway.
So, as long as you don't need horizontal keystoning, I can recommend this projector confidently. Like all projectors, it will work best when mounted exactly where the manual says you should put it in terms of its relationship to the top, bottom and center of the display screen.
I'm very happy with my purchase, and I'd buy this model projector again in a heartbeat if something terminal (flood, lightning, theft) happened to this one.
