Optoma HD91 Projector - Special Features 3

Posted on June 11, 2014 by

OPTOMA HD91 PROJECTOR - SPECIAL FEATURES PAGE 3: 3D, 2D to 3D Conversion

3D, 3D Glasses

3D looked rather good on the HD91 projector. The HD91 does come with an external emitter that plugs into a 3D sync port on the back. The provided emitter and pair of glasses are RF based, but I do believe reading that there is an optional? emitter for working with DLP Link glasses. Don't quote me on that.

The primary downside for 3D on the HD91 is brightness. The HD91’s not bright to begin with so you run out of lumens quickly. Even viewing on a 100” diagonal 1.3 gain screen, to me isn’t quite as bright enough for my tastes. It’s not terrible, but nor will anyone accuse it of being bright. Don’t get me wrong, it is watchable, especially for enthusiasts, but don’t be surprised if family and friends would rather watch a brighter 2D image.

The 3D glasses are about typical in size and weight. Weighing in at 37.6 grams about the same as the Epson glasses, and about 12 grams heavier than the lightest out there. Optoma’s are battery powered, not rechargeable. You should get several dozen movies out of one lithium battery.

I watched the most recent Thor movie in 3D for the first time on the HD91. My wife joined me. She's not a 3D fan - her usual first question when I suggest a movie is "is it 3D?" If I say yes, her response tends to be, "well, OK..." She's definitely not exactly a 3D enthusiast, but she too enjoyed Thor with the 3D on. She's always complaining about the comfort of the glasses, regardless of the projector.

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2D-3D

There are three different levels of 2D to 3D settings. See if you like any. To me great 3D is when watching a movie you forget it’s 3D, but you find yourself to be more immersed in the movie. With 2D to 3D, I tend to “notice” 3D things that aren’t exactly right, and “noticing" things is exactly not what you want to be doing. The projector should be invisible. Kids may like, or try it with home movies for much fun, but for converting 2D movies, not worth it, as far as I’m concerned. Mind you that’s my general feeling about 2D to 3D, with just about any projector.

If you choose to observe the 2D to 3D conversion closely, you'll notice that it warps the image so the bottom of the screen seems closest, and by the time you are looking around the middle of the screen, everything is further back. The HD91's algorithms seem pretty basic, with less emphasis on identifying and analyzing each object. Or, perhaps they are, but that inherent "warp" dominates. Again, ok for non-critical 3D viewing, but I personally tend to appreciate the 3D at first, but after 10-15 minutes I'm done with it, and ready to go back to pure 2D. 2D to 3D is another "rough edge" to this projector, but one that is rough on just about all projectors that offer this capability!