Video Asylum

Posted by Audiophilander (A) on July 09, 2003 at 22:37:00

In Reply to: You have my attention with high end performance claims @ $1500. posted by theob on July 09, 2003 at 18:56:55:

1) "Is it competitive with hdtv?"

A: Yes and no; I'm assuming that you mean performance-wise. There are so many differences between direct view and large screen viewing that it's hard to know where to start. First of all, the picture on a smaller set, especially an HD set, will often seem brighter, sharper, more colorful & with in some instances with more uniform contrast, but for movies smaller screens don't convey the drama, visual impact and subtle detail. I guess that my answer, oddly enough, is that it's like comparing apples & oranges. BTW, the wife and I also have a 38" direct view HDTV (RCA) that's set up to accurate NTSC standards; WS television is very nice over our HDTV, but we far and away prefer movies over the new InFocus projector. It's just a more realistic "filmlike" presentation.

2) "How big can you project the screen before it loses resolution?"

A: According to specs, the optics will focus from 4.9' up to 32.8' (1.5 - 10 meters). In real terms, using standard academy 4:3 measurements, a 5' diagonal picture could be viewed at 7.5' distance and a 12.5' diagonal picture could be viewed at 19' distance. I know that this information doesn't specifically answer your query, but based on the bulbs power (1100 ANSI lumens) my viewing room would be too small to test this unit's claimed limits! My suggestion would be to assess the size of screen and aspect ratio you want and then go with a screen with suitably high gain to display a brighter, higher resolution picture. BTW, with a 2000:1 contrast ratio you'll be able to achieve a decent black level with lots of subtle picture detail in the blacks.

3) "Can you deliver tv video feed through the system or is just for dvd's?"

It can handle standard TV through it's S-Video input or HDTV through it's VGA input using adaptors and/or after market breqak-out cable. Personally, I don't like watching TV over it only because I prefer saving the lamp life for movies.

Note: The lamp life, which I may have mentioned earlier, is around 3000 hours, which is LONG for DLP projector bulbs; the replacement bulb assembly for this unit is also somewhat cheaper than many of those that come with other projectors (i.e., $300 or less from the right source as opposed to $400 to $600 for bulb assemblies for projectirs with much shorter bulb lifespans). Also, the InFocus bulb assembly is user replaceable.

4) "...what resolution does the InFocus claim?"

A: According to the specs (Google: InFocus X1 HDTV specifications) on the first link that popped up, it can handle both 1080I & 720P.

Hope that this information helps!

Cheers,
AuPh