infocus lp350 and x1 question (1 Viewer)

[david schmaus]

New to this.. Have a lp350 at work and I took it home last night to "show" the wife... Have been reading threads on the x1 and thought that I would try the lp350 for a evening to see how we liked it... This is the first time I have seen front projection in a home environment.

Set it up in the bedroom with my dvd using svideo.. First impression was WOW this kicks butt!! Wife wants one for the bedroom.. YES!!!

Watched a full movie and I was totally happy with the color and brightness and clarity and it should get better going to component..

Concerns.. There is a 6 inch border (image on wall was about 105 inchs diag) around the picture.. Its a "black" border but still annoying. Then there is a 1 foot bleed after that... Is this normal for all projectors in that price range.... More importantly how does it compare to the x1...

Thanks

David

 

[Neil Joseph]

How bright is the "bleed"? I have not seent he X1 hands on but I can understand how this would be annoying. Regarding the black border being projected around the image, a screen would probably help to greatly reduce this. Obviously, you would need a screen with at least a 3" border all around. You could build one yourself as there are many here that have done exactly this using various techniques. Check my link below.

 

[HowieG]

I have been using an InFocus X1 for about a month now and can say it is a spectacular projector for home theater use (in Film mode).

One of the things that impressed me a lot was the nice geometry my unit displayed. By that I mean I could project the image onto my new DaLite Model-B Matte White High Contrast 57x77" screen (with 2" black border) and not worry about any spill over onto the beige wall some 8" behind the ceiling hanging screen (due to pin-cushioning or some other lens distortion).

So, the short answer (at least in my case) is that NO there is no extra white spill over with the X1. Not only that but when it's focused, the edges of the frame are darned sharp too and the corners are square. So, one does not have to worry about spillage from soft (or round) borders. All and all this projector is a giant killer.

Also, the 3,000 hour ($300) lamp is cost effective, and the onboard Faroudja DCDi deinterlacer does a nice job too.

I come from a strong film background and the one thing I can say about a properly tweaked image from this projector is that it IS very "film-like". Better than many film presentations I witnessed at "some" regular movie theaters over the past 30 years. BTW, the X1 has a contrast ratio of 2000:1 and the shadow detail it projects (even on a beige wall) way outperforms my Sony 32" TV (even tweaked). So, I now find it very hard to even consider watching DVD movies on TV anymore (it just don't cut it).

The only downside (of course) is the dreaded "rainbow effect" caused by the 2x DLP spinning DMD. It IS noticable (sometimes), but can be compensated for in most cases and really doesn't ruin the overall benefits of this otherwise cool, cool product (especially at under $1K).

 

[Scott Dautel]

I too have an InFocus LP350 at work (which I spec'd 2 years ago) and my own personal X1 at home.

A few comments ....

Resolution (pixels, WxH):
The LP350 is XGA (1024x768)
The X1 is SVGA (800x600)
DVD-Video is approx. (850x480)

This means that both projectors have to scale the DVD data. Both projectors do a good job scaling so you really won't notice scaling artifacts. Technically, the X1 scales down the horiziontal resolution slightly.

Both projectors have a 1x color wheel ... so rainbow effect should be about equal. Though my recollecton was that LP350 rainbow-effect was a little less (not sure, it's been a year).

The biggest advantage for the LP350 is screen door effect. An XGA projector has 0.78 megapixels, while SVGA has .48 MP. Assuming you are using them on the same size screen, screen-door effect will be significantly less noticible on the LP350. for X1, screen door is only noticible if your viewing distance is less than approx. [1.5 x image width].

Also if you have an HDTV receiver that will output a 720P signal via DVI interface ... the LP350 wins. The X1 will handle a XGA signal, but you'll lose alot of the resoultion in downconversion to SVGA. Also, X1 has no DVI input, it does have VGA and S-video/component.

The X1 definitely has a better deinterlacer (Faroudja Genesis 2200 chip). Unless you have a top notch Progressive DVD Player (like Panny RP81 or RP91), you would be better off to send a 480i signal from player to X1 and use the PJ onboard de-interlacer. It's VERY impressive.

The LP350 can NOT perform keystone correction in video mode. Unless you can control placement (ceiling mounted with extension bracket likely), this is a problem for the LP350. The X1 has a digital keystone correction.

IMHO ... if you really want this to watch DVD movies, the X1 wins (and saves you a bundle). Since the X1 was designed for video, color saturation, contrast ratio, and deinterlacing will beat the LP350.

Oh by the way ... the X1 is about half the price of a comparable XGA DLP PJ (like LP350). $899 (after rebate) vs. ~$1700

Scott