Optoma HD91 Home Theater Projector Review Summary

The HD91 home theater projector is one that can be an excellent choice for some.  Limited brightness, and the need for a serious calibration though will limit the number of folks who this projector will be a really good fit for.  First, if you aren’t prepared to have it calibrated (or try our settings – not perfect, but a dramatic improvement compared to “out of the box”), you probably won’t be happy.

I’d recommend screen sizes no larger than 110″ diagonal for use in a dedicated home theater type of space.  This projector though is probably best at 100″ diagonal or smaller, unless you go high gain screens (1.6 to 2.8+), which will make up for the low lumens but bring in their own set of issues.

Of course once you plunk down for the HD91, you won’t be buying lamps, so over a lifetime of perhaps 5+ years, that will save you $300 – $800, relative to replacing one or two lamps over that life.  We’ll just have to assume that the 20,000+ light engine really will last because the 3 year warranty won’t protect you if it fails at 8,000 hours after 4 years.

On the really positive side, the picture does pop, there’s a sense of depth to it.  For example, explosions were dazzling pre calibration (even though color was way off).  Post calibration, they are tamer, but still pretty stunning.  I attribute that to the larger color space that is inherent to LED light engines.

Add to that a really natively sharp image that can be further enhanced.  It will naturally be sharper than any of the 3LCD or LCoS projectors in the price range – the inherent benefit of a single chip design.

Ultimately, though, this is a projector that doesn’t live up to its potential.  Two things stand between its current existence, and that of being a top competitor.  The brightness is one thing, and the only ok black level performance – which is further complicated by it’s iris equivalent – Dynamic Black, being less smooth than the dynamic irises on any of the direct competition.  If Optoma could improve on the “iris” really the lamp dimming action, it would take the HD91 up a notch and make it a more serious competitor.

Optoma’s HD91 is the best yet that I’ve seen in an affordable (under $10,000) home theater projector with a solid state light engine.  If you don’t need the brightness needed for large screens, you plan to keep your projector for a good number of years, and want a projector you can  install and (other than watching it) forget it – no maintenance, give the HD91 some serious consideration.