With CEDIA (Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association) coming to an end, all the major companies' cards are on the table for their projector releases this year.  Thing is, this year, there are also a large number of not so major companies stealing some serious headlines and attention. Firstly, Optoma dropped the HD20 before Cedia but made sure they pimped their new entry level 1080p projector like it was going out of style at the show.  Vivitek dropped yet another bombshell with their h3080HD (or h3080FD depending on where you are) sporting full HD and a few employees from Optoma. My guess is that the Optoma employees obtained knew of the 1080p $1000 projector and helped Vivitek produce their own to compete directly with the HD20 .

 Even thought it seems like a bit of a mess, you had better be sure that you are going to benefit.  A healthy competition like this is great for business and consumers alike but as a consumer, you should make the best decision and purchase the best product. But which is the best product? That's what I'm here for.

The Optoma HD20 is out there already and you can pick one up, there are even a few good lengthy reviews of the little guy so that does give us some information about how it works in the real world.  The Vivitek has yet to be released so all we have for stats is what the company tells us.  It would only be fair to pit the two against each other with advertised statistics and see who comes out on top.

As you can see from the table, the two projectors are incredibly similar.  They use almost all of the same parts but differ on some key points.  The Vivitek h3080FD beats out the HD20 in brightness by 100 lumens, weight by almost 1.5 pounds, noise by a couple decibels, it has a more versatile screen size and finally the vertical keystone correction gives you much more to work with.  The HD20 on the other hand does use a little less power and can throw the same size image from closer.

 I would hold out and maybe wait for some comparisons of the real life products, but it looks like Vivitek knew everything about the Optoma HD20 and matched it or beat it out by a little bit. 

Both these models are available in one form or another from Amazon for $999 and if you simply cannot wait (I don't blame you) the HD20 is getting very good reviews for a theater projector of this caliber at this price.