Infocus X1 and Sharp PG-A10X shoot out!!! (1 Viewer)

[CharlieC]

I have owned Infocus X1 for about 5 months now and I absolutely love it. Lately, I am helping my friend putting together a home theater from scratch. I looked at X1 and was surprised that the price had actually gone up. When I saw PG-A10X at Costco, I told my friend to grab it and compare it with my X1. Now, I have both machines at my place and both set up so I can make a A/B test.

The fact that the Sharp projector was made in Japen made him very happy. Besides, its resolution is XGA. However, it does not have a deinterlacer like X1, meaning my friend would have to get a progressive scan DVD player to enjoy the best picture possible.

After calibrating both projectors with THX optimizer and Sound and Vision Tune up DVD, I set my Nikon digital camera on a tripod and took some pictures.

I have my X1 at warmest and video, PG-A10X at 8500K, cinema, and ECO mode

First, Blade 2,
On PG-A10X


on X1


Then, LOTR
On PG-A10X


on X1


Lastly, Shrek
On PG-A10X


on X1


My first impression was Wow!!! The sharp projector sure is bright and colorful. Due to higher resolution, the pixels are smaller for PG-A10X. However, the contrast is not as good as X1. Of course, the pictures I took are far from what they actually look like. From the pictures I took, Sharp PG-A10X is too yellow in Blade 2 and the contrast suffers in Lord of the Rings and is again too blue in Shrek, when compared with my X1. But in reality, though PG-A10X's contrast is not as good as X1's, it does not make me feel that it is flawed, just a little bit lacking.

But then, I started thinking what would happen if the camera is set up differently. So I set up my camera in fireworks mode.

First, Blade 2,
On PG-A10X


on X1


Then, LOTR
On PG-A10X


on X1


Lastly, Shrek
On PG-A10X


on X1


Here, the pictires show that X1 is way too dark and the contrast on PG-A10X is greatly improved. But, again, the pictures are far from what they actually look.

Then again, without the proper equipment, there is almost no way for me to calbrate my projector to the extent that I am confident about my settings under progressive mode.

I guess the choices come down to your preference in contrast, brightness, and color. For me, I would still choose X1. My friend is equally happy with his Sharp projector.

 

[NickSo]

DId you have both calibrated similarly with a calibration disc? I agree the blade shots look too yellow on the Sharp, could that be just different calibrations...

That LOTR shot really makes the Sharp's weak contrast show compared to the X1, but I'll give the Sharp the benefit of the doubt and say it wasn't calibrated to the best possible picture...

You got some pretty good blacks on the X1, when I demoed the X1, I was kinda dissapointed at the blacks (the bars were greyish), but that was after a very rough eyeball calibration...

Great post though Charlie, thanks for the effort of setting things up and all

Im waiting for Sascha_C, 'clickie' to ring in here

Edit: Are you a member of AVS? Im sure the guys there would like to see this as well. If not, I'll give them the link here.

 

[Parker Clack]

Charlie:

Are you shooting those on to a wall or a particular screen?

Parker

 

[CharlieC]

I am a member at AVS, so I will post this there later

I did calibrate both projectors using first the THX optimizer, then the Sound and Vision Tune up DVD. It was easier to calibrate the Sharp projector because it has color and tint adjustments as opposed to just RGB in progressive mode on X1.

I am shooting them on the wall, which actually is not flat. The contrast for X1 somehow looks better in these pictures.




In real life, X1's bar is about 2 to 3 shades darker than the dark greyish area above the CRT TV in the picture above, and Sharp's bar is just about right, but the blacks are darker than the black in the picture.

Also, I found that the Sharp projector "lights up" the room more than X1, perhaps due to its poor performance in contrast area.

 

[Joel_phil]

I got my Sharp A10x too. The default setup was 800X600 it's good. Then I set up the resolution at 1024X600 to watch DVD, the picture is so nice. I like it! I think the effect is better than any

 

[Wes]

I noticed there is a big difference in the black above and below the image (in the letterbox area). The X1 is adjusted quite a bit blacker, cant you adjust the Sharp to the same black level?

Wes