Optoma HD141X – The best backyard projector

Bottom Line:

I bought this projector for the reasonable cost, it has met all my expectations and more.

I loved my Brookstone Pocket Projector, but it didn’t produce enough lumens to give me the size of picture that I wanted.  After sufficiently pestering my wife with my plans for our backyard theater, she finally relented and I got the go ahead to buy a new projector.  I had a budget of approximately $500 and I was looking at some of the refurbished options from ACER on ebay.  Unfortunately, due to living in Hawaii, free shipping was not available and the shipping costs were prohibitive.  I looked on craigslist and the inventory was limited to mostly business machines and were either too old or the seller wanted retail for their used projector.

Amazon to the rescue, the [easyazon_link identifier=”B00MK39P92″ locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″ localize=”y”]Optoma HD141X[/easyazon_link] was a daily special!  Originally, I just wanted a 1080P quality projector, ideally an LED so I wouldn’t have to worry about bulbs or the dreaded rainbow effect.  However, I am not a fan of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good and when this projector came available for just a little over budget, I decided to take the plunge.  I am so glad I did, this projector is exactly what I was looking for.  You can read the full specs here, but I just want to hit the high points to me.

Build:  The projector feels well constructed.  I love the size.  I store it in its original box, that doesn’t take up much room and at ~5 lbs it easy to handle and adjust on my tripod.  I had to construct a mounting plate since the projector was not designed to connect to a standard tripod mount.

Sound: The built in speaker is useable, but not enjoyable.  I was having a little trouble getting the projector to stop sending sound to the internal speaker and external sound sources, which caused an echo.  I was able to mute the internal speaker.  Most of the time I connect my projector to my sound

bar using a 3.5mm chord.  Fan noise is minimal.

Picture: The picture looks amazing, guests are routinely taken aback by how crisp and bright the image is.  It is nice and bright, the blacks are black and after dozens of guests I have yet to receive any comments referencing a rainbow effect.

Controls: The projector comes with a decent remote and has a complete control panel on top, this is what I primarily use.  There is also a manual zoom and focus that allow you to make small adjustments.

3D:  The 3D works really well on this machine. It utilizes active shutter technology.  I have been able to run 10 pairs of glasses off of this machine, with no lag or issues for the audience.  The 3D glasses I have settled on after a lot of trial and error can be found here, read my review on them here. 

I haven’t run the projector long enough to evaluate the lamp life.

Pros:

Affordable

Great Image

Quiet Operation

Great Brightness

3D Capable

 

Cons:

Will not mount to a standard tripod

Short chord

Tinny internal speaker

 

[easyazon_infoblock align=”none” identifier=”B00MK39P92″ locale=”US” localize=”y” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]

 

 

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