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My InFocus X1 evaluation (1 Viewer)

Jack Gilvey

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 13, 1999
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4,948
Well, I haven't actually tried it yet...won't get to that until tonight. Just wanted to post how impressed I am with the speediness/painlessness of the free evaluation program. I filled out the form on the Infocus site shortly after 3:00 p.m. on Monday (this Monday) requesting 10/23 as my delivery date (day off), and an X1 was just delivered to my doorstep! Went out and picked up some "blackout cloth" this morning as a quick screen. So, after a mere $20 investment, my first step into FP HT has been quite painless. ;) They had no adapter cables to ship, so I'll have to scrounge something together, but I'll post my thoughts in this thread as they occur to me.
 

Neil Joseph

Senior HTF Member
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Jan 16, 1998
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Real Name
Neil Joseph
Congratulations. Let us know how it goes and if you intend to paint the screen eventually.
 

Phil_Lunar

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jul 11, 2002
Messages
61
I am also looking forward to see your result.

I have also ordered this projector for evaluation and I should receive it on the 29.

I was wondering what should I do for a temporary screen.

I thought about buying a roller blind (hope they got 72-80' width one) and return it inside 10 day for refund(after evaluation of course!)

Is this a good idea? I know it is not the ideal screen, but since I want a very low cost solution(0$ seem quite low hehe)

if so, what kind of blind should I use? flat white, lamineted,what about the grain surface ?

I also thought about trying to get a multimedia projector screen, but i don't know any big general store(easyer to get the 10 day refund policy) that sell that around here in Quebec. maybe i should try office depot?

of course, if I decide to buy the X1, I plan to build my own DIY screen.
 

ChadLB

Screenwriter
Joined
May 5, 2002
Messages
1,526
No...anyone can do it. I did...I just filled out my info and used my company name......still sent it to me.
 

Mike Boniferro

Second Unit
Joined
Aug 21, 1999
Messages
273
cool, I'll be curious to see how this works out for ya!!

A $1000 HT FP would be very nice :) Is this thing capable of displaying HD/DVD signals? I didn't see any component video inputs....
 

Mitch Stevens

Supporting Actor
Joined
Apr 27, 2002
Messages
581
I want to evaluate one. I'll go fill out the form as soon as someone answers this question:

I'm using a coax cable to get 5.1 surround sound, out of my DVD player. That cable is very short though, probably around 6 feet long. I'm going to have to move the DVD player to the back of the room (where the projector has to be in order to project a big image) and the chord isn't going to be long enough to reach the receiver which sits in the front of the room.

I bought an 18' Subwoofer coax cable made by Monster. It's especially made for Subs, but can I use this chord to get the full 5.1 out of my DVD player?
 

Mitch Stevens

Supporting Actor
Joined
Apr 27, 2002
Messages
581
I went ahead and filled out the form, but they say that they don't have any in stock to send me. They said they'll e-mail me when they get them in.

Jack, How come you haven't told us what you thought of the X1. Surely you've had enough time to evaluate it. Is it everything you'd hoped it would be?
 

Jack Gilvey

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 13, 1999
Messages
4,948
Sorry, I've been at work constantly since getting it Thursday and today is my first day off since. Oy.
My first impressions are very, very positive from the limited paces I've gotten to put it through. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I haven't been able to get a decent feed to it from DVD or HD since all I don't have the VGA adapter for my component cables and I don't own an S-video cable. Composite feed looks surprizingly good, though. My best picture has been with the X-Box using a Component to VGA transcoder...it's really quite stunning. Not having any experience with projectors it's worlds beyond what I expected. Colors are deep and saturated, contrast is great. Perfectly even brightness across the screen.
"World Series Baseball" in 720p widescreen is amazing. "Splinter Cell" is just too cool in 480p.
The rainbows which haunt the waking hours of many members have been a non-issue. I can make myself see them if I rapidly move my eyes back-and-forth across the screen as one might do during a seizure or REM sleep, but these are states I rarely find myself watching movies in. If I hadn't read so much about them, I wouldn't have thought about it at all.
I'm going to try and get some kind of VGA-BNC-RCA breakout cable today and at least get a movie or two in before returning it.
 

Mitch Stevens

Supporting Actor
Joined
Apr 27, 2002
Messages
581
OK! I finally got it today. I was just relaxing at home, when I heard the doorbell. It was UPS with the X1. I immediately opened the box and read all the direction throughly so as not to ruin it. (I've never used a projector before). I calibrated it using the new DVE (which is what I used to calibrate my 65" Widescreen TV).

I had already set up a white sheet against my wall the day prior to receiving it. Everything was all ready. I just hooked up the DVD player calibrated and started off with Moulin Rouge.

I gotta say I'm EXTREMELY disappointed with the quality of the projector. Not the movie. The movie looked fine. The problem was the SCREEN-DOOR effect. My screen was only 100" (4:3) so playing Moulin Rouge gave me a MUCH smaller image as the black bars are huge). I was sitting 11' feet away, and I could see screen door. I moved back to 15' away, and screen-door went away, but the image was too small and too far away. I moved back up again to 11' and tried watching as much as I could, but I got a migraine. Even though I tried to "enjoy" the movie, I simply could not. Screen-door effect is way too obvious from 11' away. I tried playing Titanic, but could not concentrate on the movie, because of the horrible "SDE."

I gotta admit I tried my very best to look for "rainbows" and not once did I ever find any. I even tried to move my eyes back and fourth as fast as I could, and I still never found any. If it was for that stupid "SDE" it would be such a great projector.

I also noticed that blacks are not very good. I had the projector is a 100% pitch-black room, and the white sheet was against a dark brown wall, (which in turn, made the sheet kind of "gray") and blacks were not at all "deep" and pure like they are on my (RP) HDTV. I had it calibrated properly, but still could not get the level of blacks that I had hoped for.

Anyway, after trying to watch "pieces" of movies on it, and not being able to ignore the "SDE" I got such a bad migraine, I just packed the X1. I'm going to be shipping it back soon. I'm so glad I did not buy it!
 

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