I love my HD

[srober]

Ok so I broke down and bought a HD receiver today even though I couldnt afford it. Circuit City had one for $249 open box deal. Everything was there so it wasnt a big deal. Saw them cheaper on Ebay but atleast I know what im getting here.

Last week I bought a Infocus 4805 front projector and almost cried while watching the poor artifacted picture Sunday football game. I almost sent the unit back, 1400 just to play DVD wasnt going to cut it ;p .

As I am typing I am watching ESPN HD and man its amazing. College football game and its artifact free! Tomorrow I will be putting a attenna up so I capture the local HD, I need Fox for my Sunday games. Even with my lower resolution this 100" screen looks awesome and this Infocus puts out some beautiful colors!

Man next month is going to hurt when the bills start piling in!

 

[fkostyn]

and you can still return it to CC Enjoy the HD - I'll never go back... (now to get the bedroom's upgraded to HD!!!)

 

[Neutron]

I looked at the projector you got and noticed that it says it will do up to 1080i but only displays 480??

 

[srober]

I dont quite understand it myself. I believe its capitable but scales it down to 480p. I know people automatically assume suck when they read that but I havent seen any differences when I look at the higher res big screens at the TV stores. I know thiers are not set up for peak performance at the stores but I havent tweaked mine either.

The color on this projector is great and I can sit almost to the left and right of it and the color does not darken at all. Oops this wasnt meant to be a review . 480p yes but its very good with colors, which I think makes up for a lower res....atleast for $1300 for 100" lol.

 

[medicalwaste]

how does your projector perform in bright condition? i am thinking about getting the projector too, but im wondering if i need to put black curtains on windows in my room to watch football games on sunday morning.

 

[colofan]

This depends on what screen you choose. The surface finish can provide for quite a bit of "gain" though the field of view narrows some. The projectors output also is a in this though the new DLP projectors have a lot of output.

The light contamination issue mostly affects the contrast performance so the picture looks washed out. Controlling the light coming in is the best way to improve this critical parameter.

 

[charper1]

the main specs to look for are:

1200 lumens and up
contrast 2000:1 and up
native 800x600 and better (prefer native 1024x768 as the minimum)
ability to display (without conversion) 1080i, 720p, 480i/p at minimum
full jack panel with DVI, component, s-vid
Ceiling mountable
16:9 / 4:3 switchablelarge throw distance range

 

[srober]

Here is what I noticed with mine. Last night it looked pretty good even with a few lights on behind the projector in the Kitchen which illuminated the living room some. This morning on the other hand I had to brighten the picture as the sun light creeping through the blinds effected the screen (after a few picture adjustments it was fine). Walmart has this item called Blackout that you put behind your curtains that block 100% of the sunlight its around $20 I will purchase when I recover from the HD expenses . Like I said the picture is acceptable with artifical lights (I also replaced the light switch with a dimmer). My particular model has a low Lumens rating too.

I still keep a TV in the living room though because if its not comming in HD the TV PQ is horrible not to mention lamps for these projectors can be up to $400. Mine is rated at 4000 hours.

 

[srober]

Read some reviews, from more than one source. Bigger the numbers doest mean the better the quality!

 

[dfergie]

I have the Infocus X1 in a light controled room. It has the 800x600 resolution but will handle 1080i very well... It is hooked up thru a component to rgb adapter via a switch . I have hooked my 6000 to it and it was down converted hd, but is much better than the D* sd receiver that is currently hooked to it. (also have a networked Replay box hooked to it and watch downrezzed Hd from my Replay in livingroom on it)

 

[srober]

I have to take back something I said about it not looking so good in the morning. I just pushed the auto image button on my remote and now it looks as good as it did lastnight. I guess the projector wasnt picking up the image right untill I push that button. My room is more grey light like I dont have to have my room black and thats with a 750 lumen.