Optoma HD81-LV home theater projector: Sharpness

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Art Feierman

Now it's time to take a look, specifically, at shadow detail handling. We'll start with the cavern scene from Phantom. Click on the image below, for a much larger, and overexposed version, to see how much detail is really in the dark walls, etc. We used the trick of overexposing, because my digital camera's dynamic range is less than a good projector's so it loses shadow detail if normally exposed (and some near white detail, too.)

hd81-lv

JVC_RS-1

Optoma HD81-LV home theater projector: Sharpness

Like the HD81, the Optoma HD81-LV offers one of the sharper images available of the 1080p projectors.

Click on the left thumbnail for a closeup of the DTS logo (the thumbnail image gives you a good idea of how small a portion of the whole image, the logo takes up). For comparison, the middle thumbnail is from the JVC RS1, and the right most one, links to the same logo from the Sharp XV-Z20000. Pricewise, the JVC is the least expensive of the three, but not by that much.

hd81-lv

JVC DLA-RS1

xzv20000

Lastly, a cropped view of a computer monitor from Space Cowboys on Blu-Ray. Again, a similar image is found in most reviews, so you can compare. Readability of the type on the computer screen is the key, and the HD81-LV does very, very, well.

Click Image to Enlarge

Bottom line: A very sharp image. Watching the Optoma HD81-LV home theater projector filling my 128" diagonal screen from just over 11 feet (very close compared to where most people would sit), the Optoma, like the Sharp, and Mitsubishi, produce that "razor sharp" type image, that we are all looking for. Step back a few more feet, and it looks so sharp, that it's like looking out a window.