Optoma HD20 Full HD 1080p Home Theater Projector Review

Optoma’s HD20 projector is a value for money, compact, home theatre projector delivering Full HD (1080p) for a similar price to a HD (720p) projector of a year ago. It’s based on Texas Instrument’s DLP 0.65 inch DLP Darkchip2 technology which supports Brilliant Color delivering greater brightness and more lifelike colors. This HD20 has a maximum brightness of 1700 ANSI lumens which is more than suitable for the expected dimmer lighting of a home theater. Contrast is an important factor in achieving good picture quality and the Optoma HD20 has a high 4000:1 contrast ratio (Full On/Full Off).

Optoma HD20 DLP Home Theater Projector

Projector Set-up

The HD20 doesn’t provide a lot of set-up flexibility and requires some thought as to positioning vs image size with a ceiling mounting being the easiest option. The offset angle is small allowing a larger image size with a lower ceiling. As the HD20 has no horizontal keystone correction, it needs to be positioned directly behind the centerline of the screen to avoid keystone distortion of the projected image. While a lens shift is always preferable, a price compromise leaves the HD20 with [keystone correction link] +/- 5 degrees digital vertical keystone correction from the natural offset of the projector. The zoom ratio is only 1.2:1.0 (common to DLP projectors) so to achieve a particular size projected image there some but, not of lot of flexibility in the mounting distance from the screen.

If you want to transport it, the HD20 is fairly light and portable at 6.4 lbs (2.9kg) and also easy to handle being only 12 x 10 x 4 (W x L x H) inches.

Image AI

With its low price the HD20 doesn’t have the automatic iris system found in expensive projectors rather, it has a virtual image in the form of Digital Image AI. Image AI works in a similar fashion to an iris by lightening and darkening the whole image based upon scene brightness. While this improves black levels and detail in dark scenes its reaction time is slower. If you find the lag annoying you can turn off the Digital Image AI. It should be noted that control of the ambient light level (darkening the room) has greater positive benefit for picture quality.

While the Optoma HD20 has Texas Instruments Brilliant Color which boosts brightness (2x or more) and also tends increases the color temperature (bluer – less red). Brilliant Color has an adjustable range and many like to set it low for movies and mid range for other video sources although, in the end it’s up to personal taste. As part of the Brilliant Color set-up, the HD20 has a six-segment (RGB), four-speed color wheel which means a much reduced chance of those susceptible seeing any rainbow affect which are associated with single DLP chip projectors.

The noise level of the HD20 is 32dB/34dB (STD/BRIGHT) which is at the noisy end of the home theater projector market. At these levels the projector would sound noisy during a quiet soundtrack but, not during action movies or gaming. The projector doesn’t have a in-built speaker so external speakers are essential.

The warranty offered on the Optoma HD20 is the market standard one year limited parts and labor on the projector and 90 days on lamp. The rated (estimated) projection bulb life is 3000 hours (STD mode) to 4000 hours (BRIGHT mode) which again are fairly average. To save money on projector lamps read our technical guide on improving projector lamp/bulb life.

You will get the best images when the source video matches the native resolution of the projector however, with scaling the Optoma HD20 is compatible with a wide range of video source formats;

Computer Compatibility VGA Resized, SVGA, XGA, SXGA+ UXGA Resized, VESA, PC and Macintosh Compatible

Video Compatibility NTSC, PAL, SECAM, EDTV (480p), HDTV (720p, 1080i/p)

The connection options for the Optoma HD20 are a basic set including; twin HDMI, VGA-in, Composite Video and a 12V trigger for integrating a motorized screen.