Posted on July 2, 2015 By Art Feierman
The Optoma HD37 Projector from Optoma is a solid home entertainment projector around the $1000 price range.
This Optoma projector is their newest, released only a couple weeks before this review was posted.
There’s plenty of competition around $1000, but the HD37 is a good contender, strong at some things, less so on others. Worthy of consideration!
You could call the HD37 a classic home entertainment projector. We haven’t seen much dramatic change in the last 2-3 years around the $1000 price point, more like keeping up on the latest feature, rather than new performance standards.
The HD37 defines that. It combines a single chip DLP design with very good sharpness, and a goodly amount of brightness for home entertainment (2600 lumens claimed).
The HD37 has a couple of features that Optoma wasn’t offering around this price point just two years ago. First the HDMI has MHL capability so most streaming sticks like Roku, or Google’s or Amazon’s will plug right into the back.
The other feature is having a small amount of lens shift. That’s something Optoma learned from the BenQ W1070 which had to be the first under $1000 single chip DLP with lens shift, and like the Optoma, only a very small amount compared to 3LCD and LCoS projectors that offer lens shift.
To go along with the modest lens shift, there’s a zoom lens with respectable range 1.5:1. This isn’t by any means a short throw projector, so you will be typically sitting closer to the screen than the projector is.
Optoma provides a one year warranty – parts and labor, with the projector. That, folks, is about as short as projector warranties get in this class, so keep that in mind.
Optoma makes a large number of projectors from about $400 to about $1800 list price, putting the HD37 price wise, about in the middle of the pack. There are less capable 1080p projectors in their line up, for less money. Those less expensive ones lack lens shift or the significant amount of zoom lens the HD37 offers, and most of those offer lower contrast and less brightness (but some are slightly brighter.
Of those that are more expensive, look for higher contrast (but still no dynamic iris), and a feature set more typical of home theater projectors rather than home entertainment projectors.
Consider the HD37 to be more of the home entertainment type. It could be considered home theater, but there are some serious competitors in that area that cost less. More on that later.
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