My experience with the Optoma HD70 was an extremely positive one. The setup was quick and painless, the picture is huge and the image quality is excellent. If you’ve ever wanted something bigger then a traditional LCD or Plasma screen without an enormous, ugly CRT or front-projection set; a projector is the way to go and if you’re on a budget, you can’t do much better then the Optoma HD70. I bought the HD70 from Best Buy using a 10% off coupon and when bundled with a home-theater system, I ended up paying about $1300 in all for the projector and a Yamaha 5.1 surround sound system.

It used to be that a projector came with drawbacks like big pixels, low resolution and a picture not equal to traditional hdtvs. These days, that is not the case. The HD70 (native 720P) looks every bit as good as a smaller HD set but with a giant, brilliant picture.

It is very bright and as compared to the projectors of yesterday, surprisingly light and compact. Like everything good in life, it does have some drawbacks. The audibility is not phenomenal, and for those who compliment their picture with very quiet sound, you may want to turn the volume up. The projector’s fan is very audible over soft music and movies. In normal conditions, it will not be but its something to keep in mind. Also, the heat may bother some in very enclosed areas because it does put off quite a bit of heat from its exterior fans.

If you can ignore the small drawbacks, nothing beats the enormous size and quality of a projector and if you do choose to go that route, the HD70 is an excellent choice.