Optoma HD67N - HD - 3D Ready Home Cinema Projector

Watching your favorite movies on big screen with excellent sound effects is always a wonderful experience. And if that's in the comfort of your living room ..ahhhh no words to explain!. I recently thought of buying a projector to boost my movie watching experience. Well selecting a projector that suits your needs is a very tricky task. Especially when you have thousands of models of various brands available in the market. Well for me budget was the first parameter to consider. I had a tiny budget of £500 to spend on projector. At the same time I wanted a 3D ready, HD projector. With these constraints in mind I started my search on the internet. I found couple of good websites providing all the information you need about almost all the models in the market. Among these website's ProjectorPoint was the best one according to me. For reviews and user feedback I used ProjectorCentral. This site will give you an idea of what problems people are facing with the model or how happy they are with their device!

So based on my selection criteria I had 3 models on my list.
1. BenQ W700 - Best contrast ratio
2. Optoma GT720 - Best Throw-Distance
3. Optoma HD67N - Best Price yet strong specifications

Following are the parameters that I compared for the above models
1. 3D Ready: (With 3D ready you can watch 3D movies from PC with Nvidia 3D vision Kit)

2. HD Ready: (Quality matters!)

3. Display Type: (You have options for DLP-Digital Light Processing or LCD. DLP is the new technology and promises to provide much better color quality over LCD)

4. Throw Distance: (Very important if your living room is small)

5. Brightness: (Not so important for home cinema purpose because we will make sure that the room is dark. So a less value for brightness is considerable)

6. Contrast: (Important, because it defines the variety/range of colors it can produce)

7. Resolution: (obviously important if you want BIGGER picture. 720p is very much acceptable for home cinema)

8. Fan Noise: (The noise that your projector makes while running may be annoying at times. Any value of below 30 DB is good)

9. Lamp Life: (Yes your projector has a life. Normally 3000-4000 hours lamp life is good. Lamp is the costliest part of your projector.)

10. Color Wheel Speed: (This parameter matters when you are watching fast moving scenes. From whatever I have read on the internet 3x is acceptable)

11. Interface: (It is important that you carefully look at the specification for interface. If you are planning to use your projector with PS3 you might need a HDMI 1.4 interface. Most of the projectors , with a price tag under £500, provide only HDMI 1.3)

Below is a chart I made before coming to a decision of buying Optoma HD67N.

Model	Benq W700	Optoma GT720	Optoma HD67N
Attribute
3D	Ready	Full	Ready
HD	Ready	Ready	Ready
Display	DLP	DLP	DLP
Brightness	2200 lm	2500 lm	2000 lm
Contrast	10000:1	3000:1	4000:1
Lamp Life (In hours)	4500	5000	3000
Resolution	720p	720p	720p
Throw Distance (for approx. 6ft x 3.3 ft image)	9.12 ft	4.12 ft	9.16 ft
Fan Noise	31DB	27 DB	29DB
Company Warranty	3 years - 1st yr Collect-repair-return. 2 and 3 return to base	1 year return to base	3 years - Collect-repair-return
Interface	HDMI	HDMI 1.4	HDMI
Cost (In £)	497.00	552.00	450.00
Overheating Issues	Couple of guys reported overheating problems		None reported on internet by users
Color Wheel Speed	Unknown	Unknown	3x

Once I had these models on list, I researched about the performance and durability of each model. During my search I found that many people were complaining about the BenQ W700 about overheating problem. It looks like this model has some heating problem after 3-4 hours of run. Well this projector has the BEST specification at the budget of £500 but I thought of keeping it out of my list because of the overheating problem. With Optoma GT720 the throw-distance factor is very tempting as it offers bigger projection from a very short distance. But again it bit costly. IThe specification says that its fully 3D, but however it still needs a Optoma 3D-XL Adapter to actually view 3D ppicture. This adapter costs another £250. So the last one HD67N, perfectly fits my needs plus its cost is attractive too. So I made my mind to go with the HD67N.

I ordered it from ProjectorPoint for £450. Another £12 for HDMI Cable. I must say that these people are very professional and offer excellent customer service. I received the delivery within 2 days.

It is best to project the picture on a white surface so that the colors are well preserved. Unfortunately I have yellow colored walls in my living room. So I decide to buy a projector screen as well. I decided to go with the NOBO 2000mm x 1500mm screen. I wont write much on the screen, but I would definitely like to mention that the screen makes a lot of difference in viewing experience.

Below are some pictures of my projector and screen that I've taken. Also find the projected movie pictures.

Finally, if you are planning to buy a projector and have hit this page while searching for a projector review, I hope that you will find it useful in whichever way.

I will try to put some videos captured on this projector in this weekend.

Thanks for reading.

Camera used for taking photos: Canon 600D.

NOBO Projector Screen 2000mm x 1500mm

Optoma HD67N Projector - Front

Optoma HD67N - Back

Movie - Transformers

Movie - Transformers - Good clarity

Movie - Speed

Movie - Speed

Movie - Ice Age

I'm sure BenQ W700 provides better color quality and it has a very high contrast ratio (10000:1). But I preferred to stay away from it because of the problem mentioned above.