I used to watch movies using my friends Sharp XR-40X – DLP projector and when I decided to buy my own, I went for Optoma HD20 based on the reviews on Internet. All I can say is what a difference from any other projector that I have seen. The image clarity is good, sharp and contrasty. For my budget and requirements, this projector is more than enough for me. Till now, I did not see any rainbow effect that others are saying ..

This is my first impressions and I will update this review as I continue to use the HD20.

I wanted to create a Home Theater/Man Cave on a budget(my wife says I have to call it a cave, not a Man Cave – since she let me spend the money to put it together I will call it whatever she wants me to call it!)

The sub [...] 1080P market consists of two projectors (as of this review), the HD 20 and the Vivitek H1080FD Projector. I chose the Optima because it had better overall reviews (I can’t find the review now but the Viviteks color wheel is not as good as the Optima’s)

The Optima arrived early by several days, ahead of the ceiling mount. So I could let it sit in the box for several days or take it out, set it up on a table and hook up my son’s PS3. Easy answer for my son and me.

I was impressed with the packaging of the unit. Very substantial (small point I know but it is the little things that count) Oh yes, it came in white not Grey.

Set up is a piece of cake. Regardless of what you have plugged in the unit will cycle through its ports looking for a signal. If you have more that one port active you would have to direct the Optima to the correct port.

The picture is beautiful (and this on white paper for now – yes the screen has not arrived either)

Our HT is in the basement so keeping the room dark is pretty easy. That said, you do want to have a room you can darken pretty much as dark as a theater, just a little light does wash out the picture.

I am combining the HD20 with a Onkyo TX-SR607 (smoking good deal from Amazon – [...]) Again more bang for the buck from Onkyo.

I will update this review over the next month or so as I continue to the use the Optima.

UPDATE 1 Dec 29: The fan noise to me isn’t an issue. One can’t hear it while watching a movie or playing a video game. The remote is certainly a vivid bright blue when you touch any button on it, again however no big deal because I only use the remote to turn the projector on and off. I bought the mount that was recommended with the unit and am not really happy with it. It is ‘clunky.’ Not a whole lot of thought went into it.

A few other points: most likely, like me, you are an entry level HT individual. You can make your own screen, buy the material on E-bay for about [...] bucks, buy about [...] bucks worth of wood and you got a 106 inch screen on a budget. I bought the Onkyo txsr607, it teams up very well with this projector, up converts everything plugged in to it and was relatively inexpensive. I made my own IB sub woofer (look it up on line) with two 15 inch Dayton subs connected to a QSC RMF850 amp (total price about [...]) and it ROCKS. Add some speakers for about [...], some paint from home depot and your home theater is almost done (you want your walls a flat dark color if you can get away with it). Now even my wife doesn’t mind watching a movie in the basement.