Projectors (1 Viewer)

[Brad E]

I've been doing a bit of research the last few days and the Infocus 5000 seems to be the best bang for the buck with the MSRP at $1999.00. Probably get it a little cheaper than that.
Anyone have one of these? What are your thoughts on it?
Thanks

 

[Brad E]

Forgot to add that I want my screen about 9' wide and 5' tall. For a screen that size I don't think another projector comes close to this one for the price.

 

[Daniel_Burke]

I have an infocus X1. The projector is set up 16 feet away from the screen and it is at your specs. 9' wide by 5' tall. Currently I have been playing around with different screen sizes. I have been very pleased with the new screen that I built for out-door use. I am projecting around 10' wide and limited to the screen size. Next is going to be a 25' to 30' screen..... Something for movie parties outside.

Also if you get a digital projector get a DVD player that has the option of upconverting the image. It will be night and day difference with a projection video source. You will be able to see the difference.

 

[Brad E]

Thanks for the tip on the dvd player. I'll have to check mine.
As for the X1, is this even in production anymore? According to www.projectorcentral.com it is not.
Also according to this site, the X1 would be displaying 14 fc (foot-candles) at the screen size I specified.
Whereas the 5000 would have about 25 fc.
So I'm thinking the X1 would really rely on screen gain for the proper illuminance.
One other big difference is that the X1 is native 4:3. I will mostly be watching movies so I really want a native 16:9.

Of course at this point all I can do is look at the specs, because there is no place I know of where I can go and have a look and compare in person.:frowning: So I'm really hoping to get some good feedback here.

Another projector I was looking at was the Infocus 4805. But again it is showing 17 fc with a 9' wide screen. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I want to make sure before I buy because I'm dead set on having a 9' wide screen that will be close in picture quality to my current RP CRT.
Thanks for the response Daniel.

 

[Jim Mcc]

Brad, the X1 is not in production anymore. But there are quite a few places that still have them for sale. I just bought an X1 Friday from Circuit City for $799. I built a 16:9 screen and run it in 16:9 mode. The picture is great out of the box, I haven't even played with the settings yet. The 4805 was too expensive for me.

 

[Tony Loewen]

you might want to check out avsforum.com they have lots of info on different FP's. By the way, one thing that I'm glad I did was go and actually check out a projector in action. My wife and I went to Advance in Winnipeg to check out dlp and lcd projectors side by side, and I found out that my wife is one of those people affected by dlp's. She had a headache that lasted for about 3 hours after watching a 106" dlp projector in action. That pretty much steered me away from dlp's as I don't want to kick my wife out of the room every time I want to watch a movie. I am in the middle of trying to get a deal worked out with a Sanyo PLV-Z2 projector, and with the reviews and testimonies I've heard, I won't be disappointed.

My 2 cents.

Tony

 

[Brad E]

Tony, I was just looking at the specs of the Sanyo PLV-Z2 vs the Infocus 5000.
The 5000 seems to be on top and with a MSRP of $1000 less.
There is not that much info on the 5000 though because it just came out. But you should check it out.

 

[Jim Mcc]

Brad, the MSRP means nothing. The Sanyo Z2 can be bought for less than $1,800.

 

[Tony Loewen]

Brad, Jim is right, I am getting a Z2 for significantly less than retail. I just checked into the IF 5000, and it looks like a very decent machine. I have been looking at FP's for quite a few months now and the Z2 seems to fit my bill pretty well. I will be running it solely off an HTPC, so I don't really need anything in the way of de-interlacers, scalers, anything like that, although the Z2 is pretty good in these areas. And as I mentioned, DLP is out for me because of the headaches my wife gets. It will be used in a completely dark room, no ambient light, so lumens are less important to me. And I am making up a negative gain (gray) screen, so the contrast of the unit will be more than enough for me. Plus I am getting a copy of the service manual, and free shipping, both of which are very important to me because of where I live. There comes a point when you have to stop researching and reading reviews and just bite the bullet and buy!! That's the point that I'm at right now. I'm sure I will be happy. The InFocus machine looks very comparable, but as you mention, it is pretty new, so there aren't that many reviews out about it (that I have been able to find). Good luck, and let us know haw everything turns out! I'm sure whatever you go with will be great.

 

[Jack Spencer]

Re: Headaches with DLP, this scares me. How many people suffer from this? Living in a small town I don't have the opportunity to go out and look at a projector in action. I'm basically buying blind.

Would a higher end projector with a 5x color wheel such as the BenQ PE8700 eliminate this problem? I'd hate to spend all this money on a projector only to have my wife, kids, friends, or really anyone I might want to invite over, end up with headaches from watching it. That's not fun. If any of our friends end up with problems, it would just ruin the whole experience and make me unhappy with the projector.

 

[Tony Loewen]

I was kind of in the same boat, I am at least 300 km from the nearest center of any kind, and 1200 km from any place that displays projectors, so on one of our trips out I made it a priority to check out this dlp headache thing. The idiot at Advance told me that there was no such thing as dlp rainbows or headaches, it was simply the screen size that was causing the headaches. He told me, pretty much verbatim "you'd be suprised how many people get headaches from screens this big, especially women". My wife and I have gone to the theater before, that's a hell of a lot bigger screen. This was a high end sony dlp projector, it was on sale for $9999 canadian. I don't know the specs on it as far as color wheel segments or speeds or resolution or anything, but at that price I would hope it would be pretty high end. This guy at Advance knew nothing about them. It's a good thing that I was just going there because they had dlps and lcds set up in the same room together, because there was no way I was going to be paying commission to anyone there. If you are in the Winnipeg Manitoba area, I would recommend going to Visions on Pembina Highway. There are a few guys who actually know what they are talking about. Jeff in particular. Don't see too many Manitobans on the board, so this likely isn't very useful to anyone, but he really helped me out with my sound system, and gave lots of good input on my video setup.

 

[Brad E]

Tony, where are you buying the Z2 from? Just wondering because I was doing a bit more research on it and I think I'm going to buy it. Maybe if we bought together we could get an even lower price.
I did get a quote of $2475 CAD, which includes shipping. That's the lowest I've seen so far, but I've only started looking.
I'll send you a pm as well to make sure you get this.
Brad

 

[SteveCoug]

Where can I get more info about the "DLP headache problem"?

I have an InFocus 4805 and I am one of the people who sees rainbows (unfortunately). I have also noticed that my eyes get very sore after watching it for awhile and may have been getting headaches without realizing it. I thought it was due to lack of sleep!

Now, don't let me scare you away. The 4805 has a great picture and my wife has never complained about rainbows or headaches. I have never asked her if she sees the rainbows, because I don't want her to start seeing them. ;-)

I think a lot of people tend see whatever they expect to see. I didn't really notice the rainbows until I read about them on this forum. Now I see them all the time.
But it's no big deal. I just try to ignore them. ;-)

Anybody have links to more info about the headache problem? What causes it?

Thanks, Steve

 

[Tony Loewen]

Brad, I'll send you an email. I have been talking with a Michael Han with Projectors Plus (www.projectorsplus.ca) in Calgary. The price I paid was $2550 CDN including shipping, and I was working a deal to get some more PJs for some people I work with here. If I can line up 3 projectors, including the one I've already bought, the price drops by $100 ($2450), and he will send me a cheque for the difference on what I've already paid. The guys I work with want to see one in action, and I got sick of waiting, so I worked out that credit deal with Michael if I can sell a few more for him.

BTW, the shipping I got was with Canada Post, for geographical reasons. I am in Northern Manitoba, and all of the other carriers contract through the bus line, at about a $100 service fee. Talk to Michael about other shipping quotes.

Steve, I had never told my wife anything about rainbows or headaches or anything, she got them on her own with no subliminal suggestion. Too bad, because I think I would have rather gone with a DLP for the contrast, but I'd rather not watch movies by myself. I couldn't really see the rainbows on the screen, but if I looked at the projector itself on an angle and moved my eyes back and forth, there they were clear as ever. Not really sure where to point you on more info about the topic, I just kind of picked it up through random searching on here, avsforum.com and the internet.

Edit: Brad, I found that link I was talking about in the email I sent you. If anyone else is interested too, here is the service manual for the z2 http://franckhc.free.fr/Z2/download/SM-Z2.pdf

 

[Jack Ferry]

The InFocus 4805 is hard to beat. Fantastic picture quality. I can see rainbows if I really try, but no one else that has seen it in my house can see them. I saw a few more when I first got the projector, but nothing but great picture now. (I saw a lot more when I tried an X1.)

This is simply the best electronics purchase I ever made.

 

[Tony Loewen]

Jack, I've read lots of good things about the 4805. I've had to steer clear of the dlp's for reasons mentioned above, but if neither you or anyone you will be watching movies with are bothered by headaches or anything, dlp is definitely the way to go.