Infocus X1 questions

[Richard Kelly]

The Infocus X1 is a 4:3 projector right? That means I should have a 4:3
screen, and 16:9 movies will have black bars? Is there a comparable
projector that is native 16:9? Most digital TV broadcasts are widescreen
aren't they?

Do the replacement lamps last 4000 hours? How much are they? And when it
says 4000 hours, what happens if you use the lamp for longer than that?

Is there some sort of rating or formula to work out how bright a room can be
and still have a good picture? I have read many articles, but they all
vaguely describe the amount of acceptable ambient light. Is there a proper
number to measure the ambient light (maybe like they do in the cricket)? How
does the Infocus X1 perform with regards to ambient light?

The native res is listed as SVGA 800 x 600. What is XGA and why would this
be better?

Has anybody experienced the rainbow effect with this projector?

Can anybody beat $1870 for the Infocus X1? Also, apparently a 5 year
warranty used to be available on this projector, but now it appears to be 2
years. Can an extended warranty be purchased?

Can anybody suggest another good projector in the $1500 - $2500 bracket?

Thanks to anyone who can answer any of these questions. Sorry to put them
all in one post but I have been making note of them as I read stuff and
thought it would be easier to get it all out of the way in one go.

[matt]

I can only answer a couple of these questions from personal experience but I
hope it helps a bit

"Richard Kelly" <blamesociety@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3fd44b40$0$1756$5a62ac22@freenews.iinet.net.a u...
> The Infocus X1 is a 4:3 projector right? That means I should have a 4:3
> screen, and 16:9 movies will have black bars? Is there a comparable
> projector that is native 16:9? Most digital TV broadcasts are widescreen
> aren't they?
>

X1 does 16:9 aswell. You can set your preferences for each video input.

I watch all my dvd's in 16:9 through the SVGA input (you can get a component
to SVGA adaptor when you purchase the projector but the DVD player needs to
be progressive scan for this to work)

I would watch my digital tv through the S-video input (if I had a digital
box, but I can't be bothered just yet) and you can set this to 16:9 aswell.
This S-video port is actually a 7 pin port and you can get a component to
S-video adaptor when you buy your projector.

I actually watch Foxtel through the S-video connection at the moment, but
because nearly all of fox is in 4:3 that's what I have set the screen size
to.

A word of warning about this though.

I, my family and nearly all my mates reckon the picture is just too big to
watch everyday tv on. It's great for movies and sport but for normal
programmes you find your neck gets a bit stiff from having to sit back to
watch the whole screen. My projector is about 4m away from the screen and
the image is over 100 inches diagonal.

Also, with the lamp life of a projector watching everyday tv is going to
seriously limit the time the lamp will be effective.


> Do the replacement lamps last 4000 hours? How much are they? And when it
> says 4000 hours, what happens if you use the lamp for longer than that?
>

If the original lamp lasts 4000 hours then there should be no reason why the
replacement lamp won't last the same time. From what I can make out the
image will deteriorate before the 4000 hours is up. (like a picture fading
in the sun so I'm told)

I've only had my projector for about 6 months and am only upto a couple of
hundred hours so can't really comment based on experience, but from what I
can make out I think it will be more like about 3000 hours when it needs
replacing. After 4000 hours it seems as though the picture will be virtually
dead.

> Is there some sort of rating or formula to work out how bright a room can
be
> and still have a good picture? I have read many articles, but they all
> vaguely describe the amount of acceptable ambient light. Is there a proper
> number to measure the ambient light (maybe like they do in the cricket)?
How
> does the Infocus X1 perform with regards to ambient light?
>

I live in a house with windows down one entire wall and it's very light all
day inside. For watching sporting events during the day the picture is
definitely still watchable although I do draw the blinds if i'm doing some
serious viewing. I do get frustrated at watching DVD's though as the
contrast ins't that hot when you have a lot of natural light on the screen.
Again, drawing the blinds helps here but perfect viewing of dvd's is best
done at night with no lights on (just like the cinema really).

> The native res is listed as SVGA 800 x 600. What is XGA and why would this
> be better?
>

If you can afford it XGA would be better, but for the price the X1 is
excellent and the native res isn't something you should seriously worry
about for the bucks you are spending.

> Has anybody experienced the rainbow effect with this projector?

I read all about reainbow efects and yes I do notice them occasionally.
Ususall when a bright shiny object (such as a sword) is flashing qucikly
through a dark background (as is seen quite a bit in the LOTR series).

A word of warning however. I read all about rainbows and go looking for
them. I never told my family and friends about them for fear of putting them
off the projector. No one else has ever mentioned them whilst watching the
X1, so it may just be a case of ignorance is bliss.

>
> Can anybody beat $1870 for the Infocus X1? Also, apparently a 5 year
> warranty used to be available on this projector, but now it appears to be
2
> years. Can an extended warranty be purchased?
>

Sorry, you'd have to ask the dealer.

> Can anybody suggest another good projector in the $1500 - $2500 bracket?

Not me. I love my X1 and am the envy of all my mates, even the ones who
spalshed out $3,500 to $4,500 on a RPTV. For $2,000 all up (when you add in
ceiling brackets and adaptors and cables) it is a real bargain.

>
> Thanks to anyone who can answer any of these questions. Sorry to put them
> all in one post but I have been making note of them as I read stuff and
> thought it would be easier to get it all out of the way in one go.
>

Hope this has helped a bit.

matt

[jrobbo]

Hi Richard,

Some answers below

On Mon, 8 Dec 2003 20:01:57 +1000, "Richard Kelly"
<blamesociety@yahoo.com> wrote:

>The Infocus X1 is a 4:3 projector right? That means I should have a 4:3
>screen, and 16:9 movies will have black bars? Is there a comparable
>projector that is native 16:9? Most digital TV broadcasts are widescreen
>aren't they?

Everything that you say here is correct. When watching 16:9 material
on the X1, you are only using 800x450 resolution, which is pretty low
really. As you probably know, to get digital TV, you also need a
digital TV Set Top Box. For my money, I wouldn't even consider 4:3
anymore, there is less and less 4:3 material every day.

>Is there some sort of rating or formula to work out how bright a room can be
>and still have a good picture? I have read many articles, but they all
>vaguely describe the amount of acceptable ambient light. Is there a proper
>number to measure the ambient light (maybe like they do in the cricket)? How
>does the Infocus X1 perform with regards to ambient light?
>

Every projector in the world will suffer from the effects of ambient
light. A projector cannot project blacks, black only come from an
absence of light. The less light you have, the better the blacks and
the better the contrast ratio. Some projectors have a very high light
output (measured in Lumens), and can improve on the contrast ratio by
having brighter whites, but this is a very poor substitute for the
deeper blacks.

There is no formula for working out how much is too much, but some
simple guidelines are to avoid any ambient light falling on the screen
directly, and to try and use darker rather than lighter colors in the
room to cut down on the amount of reflection.

When I'm watching TV on my projector, I usually have the downlights on
low, or I have one of the curtains open, this gives me some ambient
light, while restricting the amount of it that falls on the screen.
When I watch a movie however, I remove all sources of light from the
room except from that coming from the projector.

Really, when it comes down it, if you can't control the ambient light
at the times when you want to watch, then you need to consider if a
projector is the right choice for you. Maybe an RPTV is a better
choice? You still get a largish screen, and they are much better at
dealing with ambient light, though I'm not sure what you will get in
your pricerange.

>The native res is listed as SVGA 800 x 600. What is XGA and why would this
>be better?

XGA is 1024x768, ie it's a higher resolution. In general, the higher
the resolution, the better the picture, the more detail available.

>Can anybody beat $1870 for the Infocus X1? Also, apparently a 5 year
>warranty used to be available on this projector, but now it appears to be 2
>years. Can an extended warranty be purchased?
>
>Can anybody suggest another good projector in the $1500 - $2500 bracket?

Consider one of the new high-resoluion 16:9 LCD projectors that has
recently come onto the market. Units like the panasonic AE500 and
Sanyo Z2. These have 1280x720 resolution, and so will display HDTV and
even DVD much better than the X1. Priced locally, these will be more
expensive than your price range, but if you bought from
http://www.pricejapan.com, you will come close to your price range.
Lots of people here have used price japan, and I've yet to read a
negative word about them. Do a goole search of this newsgroup for more
info.

>
>Thanks to anyone who can answer any of these questions. Sorry to put them
>all in one post but I have been making note of them as I read stuff and
>thought it would be easier to get it all out of the way in one go.
>

Regards

John


--------------
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[Dave Benet]

Richard.....answers inline....NB: I am a projector dealer.
"Richard Kelly" <blamesociety@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3fd44b40$0$1756$5a62ac22@freenews.iinet.net.a u...
> The Infocus X1 is a 4:3 projector right? That means I should have a 4:3
> screen, and 16:9 movies will have black bars? Is there a comparable
> projector that is native 16:9? Most digital TV broadcasts are widescreen
> aren't they?

The X1 has both 4:3 and 16:9 modes. 16:9 mode centres the image on the
display giving an effective resolution of 800x450. You can choose to use
either a 16:9 or 4:3 screen. Have a look at:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/formats.htm

for some good information and advice on this subject. If you run the X1 in
16:9 mode with a 16:9 screen, 4:3 content will be "pillarboxed" and have
black bars on the side of the image. My advice if you are not certain on
how to proceeed, is to initially use the projector with a white wall as the
projection surface. The amount of widescreen format digital television is
on the increase, but there is still quite a bit of programming that is 4:3
on digital free-to-air.

> Do the replacement lamps last 4000 hours? How much are they? And when it
> says 4000 hours, what happens if you use the lamp for longer than that?

The lamp life is based on a combination of how long will the lamp brightness
be acceptable and the actual life of the lamp. Projectors use very high
pressure mercury lamps. A common way they fail is for the lamp to actually
pop if used past their recommended life, sometimes it happens prematurely
for numerous reasons. When this happens it is possible for glass fragments
to contaminate the projector and require servicing.

> Is there some sort of rating or formula to work out how bright a room can
be
> and still have a good picture? I have read many articles, but they all
> vaguely describe the amount of acceptable ambient light. Is there a proper
> number to measure the ambient light (maybe like they do in the cricket)?
How
> does the Infocus X1 perform with regards to ambient light?

The X1 has three modes, Presentation, Film and Video. Presentation will
give the brightest image as it uses the white segment on the projector's
colour wheel. This would be the best way to use the projector in a room
with some ambient light. For home theatre usage, you don't want a projector
that is too bright, anything above 1500-1700 lumens is not going to give a
faithful reproduction of films on DVD. The downside is that you must live
with washed out images in a room with any ambient light. The brighter the
room the less detail in the image you are going to see.

> The native res is listed as SVGA 800 x 600. What is XGA and why would this
> be better?

XGA is 1024x768 it provides finer detail, but you also have the same
situation as with 800x600 with widescreen material, you will not be using
all of the projector's light output because part of the display mechanisim
is not used. You cannot judge a projector on just the resolution, factors
such as the scaling capbilities, de-interlacer for use with non-progressive
inputs, colour wheel speed for DLP (reduces rainbows), panel size for LCD,
available signal inputs (component, S-Video, DVI, composite) , throw ratio
(image size possible at a given distance) are also very important.

> Has anybody experienced the rainbow effect with this projector?
The subject of rainbows is constantly discussed in various HT forums and
newsgroups. Some people cannot see them at all, some see them but it is not
enough to bother them, and others feel the artefacts are too distracting and
concentrate on LCD projectors. I see them for very brief periods (tenths of
a second). Many say they initially were quite aware of rainbows but they
got used to them and now are not worried and just enjoy the large screen
experience. In Australia, you are well advised to see a demonstration of
whatever projector you are going to purchase prior to spending your hard
earned money as most retailers will either charge you a re-stocking charge
or not offer a refund for rainbows.

> Can anybody beat $1870 for the Infocus X1? Also, apparently a 5 year
> warranty used to be available on this projector, but now it appears to be
2
> years. Can an extended warranty be purchased?
That price would be very difficult to beat as the retailer would be making
little or no profit at that price. InFocus did have a promotion for 5-year
warranty, but that ended in October. You can purchase an additional year on
the warranty for around $360.

> Can anybody suggest another good projector in the $1500 - $2500 bracket?
Other alternatives would be the Epson EMP-S1, Epson TW-10, Benq has models
worth considering and when it is actually released, Optoma may have
something worth considering, but no one has seen it yet.

> Thanks to anyone who can answer any of these questions. Sorry to put them
> all in one post but I have been making note of them as I read stuff and
> thought it would be easier to get it all out of the way in one go.
>
No worries, that is what this NG is for.

[indecisive]

Everyone above has provided wonderful responses so i will not repeat them.

I would offer a word of caution on the X-1 (or any of the first generation
DLPs) however. I watched it for about 10 minutes with no sign of rainbows,
and was very impressed overall. Then out of the blue...rainbows flashed up,
very briefly, but repeatedly and very distractingly. After another 10
minutes of viewing I felt physically sick...I got a headache that lasted for
at least an hour afterwards too.

I bought a WXGA LCD instead - the Sanyo Z2 - and it leaves the X-1 dead in
the water with it's much improved resolution and native 16:9 display. It did
cost almost twice as much though...

If you don't see the rainbows, and neither do any of the would-be regular
viewers, the the X1 may seem like a bit of a bargain. For me, it rapidly
became unwatchable.