I pulled the trigger on the Infocus X1 (1 Viewer)

[Jordan_E]

Got my X1 this afternoon and watched JAWS tonight. I experienced very few rainbows and those few didn't bother me. I projected onto the living room wall and was very pleased. For me, the X1 is a keeper.

 

[Ron-P]

The 200u and Da-Lite screen just arrived and I had about 10 minutes with it just to make sure it worked. I wandered through the menus shooting it on the wall in my office at about 12'.

All I can do until tonight is compare menus of the two units right now. Tonight I'll get some Lord of the Rings and Nemesis running through. I did black out my office (I have no windows, it's pitch black in here when the door is shut.)

If the menus are any sign of what the screen door effect will be like, it's a non-issue. A very slight defocus of the lens (better defocussing then the X1) did away with 90% of the pixel structure. White letters look outstanding at 6' from the image and I could very faintly see the pixels. I did notice when defocussing slightly, the image still remained sharper than the X1 where the image blurred quickly. One reason why I did not like to defocus the X1.

The feel of this unit is a bit more solid than the X1 and it runs alot quieter.

Again, all I could compare was the menus of these two units.

I cannot imagine the screendoor being worse with movies than with the bright colored menus, but I will find out tonight when I can really test it.


Peace Out~

 

[Neil Joseph]

I have to admit I don't know too much about the 200U so I am eagerly awaiting your review of it.

 

[Parker Clack]

Ron:

So what's the verdict? How does 4 x 3 look on it? What size were you able to get it to?

Parker

 

[Halen]

All this "rainbow" talk got me to do a quick search on the net...that expanded to do a full search. NOTHING! All I get is, "This model produces more/less rainbows than most." What I'm looking for is an image, or detailed explanation of what a "rainbow" is. I know it'd be hard to capture an image of one since they are (I think) just flashes. But are they flashes on the actual screen, off screen, or the beam of light that comes from the projector? I'd greatly appreciate it if someone could direct me to a site where I could learn more about rainbows. Thanks.

 

[Paul Seyfarth]

This is what I have gotten from what I have read. it may not be right.

DLP uses a color wheel that spins, so at any one instant there is only one color on the screen. But the color wheel spins fast enough so that you can't tell. Now there are times usually happens during high contrast, like with credits. Next time you look at credits if you look quickly away you might see rainbows. which are just the color wheel not spinning fast enough to keep up with your eye.


I have the X1, and I am not seeing many rainbows at all anymore. I don't know if I am used to them, or my eyes have adjusted or that I have all the settings correct. But it's not an issue anymore, where it was a little annoying when I first got the projector.

 

[Tim Abbott]

Halen,

I found this link in another thread....It gives you an example of what a rainbow might look like, albeit with a little exaggeration.

http://www.dietforum.net/balagee/projected/rainbow.html

I'll be posting my thoughts on this projector a little later on.

 

[Halen]

So if I have screen that allows me to register the entire image without having to quickly move my eyesite from one end to the other to follow the action, I should minimize rainbow. Right? Also, and to use the credits as an example, would the "rainbow" affect the entire image, just the letters, or only a few and maybe just one letter? I'm still looking around for info. But I do appreciate your help Paul.

 

[Rogelio D]

Halen,

The only "rainbow" I have seen with my X1 was about a foot in front of the lens. And I only saw it once. I think there was alot of dust in the air or something.

I have seen no effect like Tim's link shows above. Neither has any of my 5 family members. I was concerned at first, but once I got the X1 up and running I knew rainbows would not be a problem. The X1 has been great!

 

[Ron-P]

Rainbows not only occur with credits. I saw them just about everywhere in LotR, Nemesis and Pearl Harbor (really bad in the opening with the two boys playing).

Even keeping my vision focused directly ahead and not following the action around the screen, I still saw them.

Now, the gray screen I made cut those down by 50%, the Polarizing filter did reduce it even more but affected PQ too much to use.

After viewing the Panny 200u last night, I now know that the X1 and rainbows were causing eyestrain and slight headaches after only 1/2 hour of viewing.

After that, I was tired of trying to cover up the rainbow problem with fixes and decided to go the LCD route. Even if I got used to them, what about the friends or family members that came over for a movie now and then, how would it effect their viewing experience? Not a chance I wanted to take.

If they do not bother you, the X1 puts out a fantastic image and is well worth the $899.


Peace Out~

 

[Halen]

Well, apparently the speed of the color wheel has alot to do with the effect. The Screenplay 110 ($5000) has a 4x color where that is said to eliminate virtualy all rainbow effect. I'm not sure what the speed is on the X1, likey 2x. Thanks for the link Tim. I know it's exaggerated, but if I can hardly handle it on a 17" monitor I'll go crazy on a 71" screen!!

 

[Rogelio D]

Halen if you're worried about the rainbows but still want to try out the X1, get it from someplace like www.CDW.com. They told me I could try it out for 30 days. If I noticed the rainbows I told them I was sending it back and they said "no problem". I figured if I was in the % of people that could see them, I'd just move up to an LCD projector and wouldn't be out anything but a little time.

 

[Jed M]

Well, my X1 was just delivered. I will be back later tonight to give my impressions. Until I decide how big I want my screen to be I will be projecting it on a white sheet so I am not expecting a miracle. Thanks again for everybody's input so far. Like Arnie said, "I'll be back."

 

[Parker Clack]

Ron:

So.....after viewing the Panny what is your verdict in comparison to the X1 in overall picture quality?

Parker

 

[Ron-P]

Parker, HERE is my early review. I'll get more detailed as I get into tweaking it. So far I prefer it over the X1.


Peace Out~

 

[steve_mr]

X1 question for you pros. Just got the projector yesterday - no other components yet. A friend brought over a 92" 16:9 Stewart Firehawk screen (I have no white walls in the house!)

Picture looks great - checked out Spider Man, Star Wars,
but, in 16:9 aspect setting on the X1, the image does not fill up the screen heightwise and there are almost like ghost bars above and below the screen.

In 4:3 setting on the X1 I got the image to fill the screen but there are still these ghost bars above and below.

What am I doing wrong? Sorry for being such a novice - after listening to you guys for a while I'll catch up.

Thanks in advance for any help
Steve

 

[CaptDS9E]

Guys thanks for all the reviews and such. Wish i would have seen the thread sooner. Once i pay off my current tv next month. I was thinking of getting a bigger widescreen RPTV. But i was thinking of a projector

capt

 

[Jed M]

So far, so good. I have watched about three hours of material, including LOTR battle scene and the opening of Pearl Harbor and I have yet to see any rainbows. I watched the NHL Stanley Cup in HDTV and it was simply amazing. Right now my Royals are playing the Dodgers on local cable and I am really impressed with how good it looks especially considering its being projected onto a sheet. I have not tried to watch a B&W movie yet but I have a few waiting. Its almost like I am scared and watching a horror movie as I watch these "rainbow" scenes. I am wincing just expecting them to jump out at me and they never do. The two people who have seen it besides me did not see any rainbows but they did not see the LOTR demo. So far I am beyond impressed with this thing. This is a seriously great deal for 900 dollars; I paid 2700 for my 53" Sony 2 years ago and the picture on this destroys the Sony and its three times the size (in 16:9).

I am also intrigued by Ron's review of the panny. Could it possibly get better than the X1 at this price? I don't know if I will find out because so far I am really pleased with the X1. The next few weeks I will put it through some rigorous viewing and if I, or my friends, do not see rainbows I will keep it and be very happy. If however I do start seeing rainbows, I would like to thank you, Ron, for taking the time and making the effort to compare these two. The Panny sounds like an excellent alternative to the X1.

Just out of curiosity, Does anyone know what the trade up program is like for Infocus? I saw it mentioned but never explained.

 

[Bobby_K]

Got my X1 today, I just moved into a new place so my components are packed away. But I did run it through my Laptop projected on a Da-lite 84" screen in complete darkness (basement apartment)

Very impressed with performance right out of the box. Only took me 5 minutes to get the zoom and height to acceptable levels.

I started with Coppolas Dracula, and was expecting slightly better colors, but then I remembered the transfer on this DVD leaves alot to be desired, then I switched from native presentation, to film mode, some improvement. This is my first PJ and with all the talk of lacking shadow detail and poor black reproduction, I am quite pleased with what I saw during the carriage scenes in the forest and mountians. Rainbows are evident, but very insignificant. They do not jump out at me, they only appear when I purposely dart my eyes side to side, and even then, the effect is minimum. Then I switched to Spiderman, to see if the action scenes produced more rainbow effect. Nope. and the color of that disc was outstanding, with factory settings.

The PJ was on a dresser about 2 feet above my head, and after a few minutes, I wasn’t aware of the fan at all, and my audio was coming from my laptop. So with the surround sound the fan will probably fade into non-existence.

Over the weekend I will connect my Sony 300 changer and put it through a wider range of DVD exposure, if the insignificant rainbows I barely see know are as bad as its going to get, I’m sold.

 

[Parker Clack]

Guys. I am really bummed out. I am going to have to return my X1 because of problems with the rainbows. I watched Toy Story, Beauty and the Beast and Ice Age with no problems at all. Then I watched The Sound of Music and Lord of the Rings and was overwhelmed by the number of rainbows. So...back to Infocus.

Damn. I really wanted to be able to enjoy this projector but the rainbows really became a problem.

I will tell you this. Amy with Infocus is fantastic to work with. She doesn't hesitate in the least in getting your email so they can send an RMA out to you.

If you are setting on the fence about this projector even at $999 it is a steal. Especially with the extended warranty on the unit. If you don't have problems with the rainbows this is the unit to get for sure.

I really really wanted to enjoy my new projector. Oh well. Thus the other side of our hobby.

Parker