InFocus 4805 Just Bought - Have Rolling lines -?

[jerry SS]

Hi all - I just found this forum, and am so glad I did !

Great info on here -- I was searching around, and didn't find this particular problem anywhere, so I am posting it - I hope you guys can help.

I live in PA, and, (like others here I see, ) bought the InFocus 4805 from Costco lastweek, and hooked it up over the weekend -

Looks good, real sharp,... - EXCEPT - I get a bunch of faint "scrolling upward "horizontal video lines, which are painfully obvious on bright/white scenes.

This is apaprent on DVD, TV and PS2. I am currently running the signal from the DVD via s-video,into a "s-video junction box", from which I have all my other components hooked into. I picked up this "junction box" from BESTBUY last year, and have the DVD/TV/VCR/and a LD going into the box, then out (via s-video) to the 4805.

My first thought was the box was giving some type of interference, so I directly went s-video right from the DVD player to the 4805, but still got the scrolling lines.

Anybodya have a clue what this is from? I do have the projector throwing about a 100" image. But I am stumped!

I have a newer house, all the outlets etc, are within 10 years old, I was running a big old 3-lensed projector, and never saw "lines" on that.

Thanks everyone!!!!

Jerry

[George Bellefontaine]

If you have cable TV try disconnecting the cable and see if the lines disappear. They definitely sound like interference. Often tv cables are not grounded properly.

[JonMarsh]

Yes, I think George is on the money here- it's probably a ground loop issue between the projector, the junction box, and the cable. Cure will probably be an RF isolation transformer on the cable connection.

~Jon

[jerry SS]

Great - thanks, guys - I'll try that - I hadn't thought to look to the cable for the problem - -thanks again!!!--

Jerry

[SpOoNmAn]

assuming you get it fixed, youll be amazed at the PQ the 4805 is capable of. I love mine.

[khadzinski]

Faint Horizontal lines that travel up my screen

Jerry and all:

I have the same issue with my 4805 ... I'm currently feeding the digital cable into a surge protector and than out to the Comcast HD box. If it weren't for the scrolling horizontal lines, the picture would be perfect.

Interestingly, I get this effect no matter what component I'm utilizing. I have a decent quality Component Cable (25ft) and S-Video (25ft) going into my projector and into my Onkyo receiver. I have noticed this effect with X-Box, cable, and DVD's.

Please let me know what fix works for you. I spent over an hour on hold with InFocus this afternoon but wasn't able to get through to tech support befor 5:00pm. I'll try again tomorrow.

Thanks.

[BlazeMaster]

jerryss and other 4805 owners...what image size would you recommend with a 10 feet viewing distance? I've seen the Infocus 5000 with a 120 in. diagonal screen at about 16 feet back and the PQ was awesome. Originally I was thinking of DIY with the screen and make one around 55 in. diagonal. After seeing Dean McCanis's setup, he convinced me with a 10 feet viewing distance, I can get away with much larger, like around 80-90 in. diagonal. I rather go with the bigger size, so I won't have to make my own screen and buy one already made. I can then pick up one of the smallest sized Carada ones, and not go through the trouble of making one. Not too much of DIYer.

[Dean McManis]

BlazeMaster,

We talked about so many things today but I didn't get to the screen supplier.
I found great screen prices at Cousin's video.

http://www.cousinsvideo.com/

Oh and I found out that I blew a fuse in my pre-amp. But I'm glad that is all it was.
You will have to come by again to experience my theater with sound.

I checked out the link and they have a nice distance/screen-size calculator.
Unfortunately it looks like the 4805 has a maximum diagonal size of 65" with the projector 10' away from the screen. You might find that the actual distance from the projector's lens to the far wall/screen is a bit more than 10', and you can use the calculator to figure out the maximum screen size.

Even if it works out to 65" is would be a bright and clear image when viewed from so close. Far better in my mind when compared to a 42" plasma display. :T

[BlazeMaster]

yea figured that myself also Dean. I wanted to thank you again for the generous offer of having me over to check it out. I did the calculations again the first thing I got home and figured out couple of things myself...

1. With my current situation of planning on going to concentrate more on school, less time to work, I just can't afford the 5000 at this time, planning on getting the 4805 within a month or so....you're also welcome to check it out, once I have it set up.
2. The Infocus website said that for a 480p display I should sit at about 2x the screen width and 1.3 the width for a 720p display (the IF 5000). So with your distance, it's about exactly 1-1.3 the width, right? Which could explain that HUGE image was good so close. I actually thought what you said about me being able to pull off a larger image than initially planned (50 in.) was a little too much also. So I think my estimation of the max image I could pull off of being in the ball park of 50in.-60in. was more realistic on a 480p display. I just checked out the Carada site and they have a 64 in. 1.78 screen availible. I think I'll just pick up one of those, unless you know of one that comes that small (60-65in.) that gives decent performance. I'm sure I can't afford anything like the Stewart caliber.
3. I took a little bit of measuring the first thing I got home. And the total distance between the wall that I'm projecting onto and the wall opposite of that is 11.5'. I want to sit about 9-10 feet away, so I can have some decent space for surrounds placements and so I can put the sub directly behind me, like you said so I won't get that uneven vibrations. So the projector lens can be anywhere from 5' to 11-11.5' given the projector itself is about 6 inches in depth. The 64 in. diagonal may be tiny compared to yours, but I think due to the fact I'm sitting much closer to it, it'll seem just as big. Like I said before, I know sitting closer would probably fill up more of my field of vision, but I don't want to sit too close and be able to see the pixels, so much of this debate will have to wait to be settled once I get the 4805 into my place to test it out first.

So given the indecisivness I'm going through, I think I'll wait til after I at least I have the projector first, then decide on the screen materials, size, and aspect to get.

I'm not going to get the 5000, because it's out of my price range (brand-new) and I can always put the 4805 in my bedroom, if the 720p DLPs/3-chip LCDs gets a price-cut when 480p ones are discontinued. Bottom line, seeing your setup definitly changed what I thought about having a FP as sole display. It showed me that a good digital FP can be quite versatile in a semi-light controlled room. Thanks for your time Dean, you've been great help. Best of wishes...Ray

[Dean McManis]

Ray,

From what I've seen and what I've read, I'm sure that you will be happy with the 4805. :T
I also agree that it's wise for you to get the projector first, and set it up, and then get a feel of the screen size that suits your viewing distance best.

One thing that you might want to do is to contact some screen vendors and have them send you sample 8 1/2" X 11" screen sample material sheets. Then you can tape them up on the wall and see which one looks best to you. I did this before and they sent me the screen samples for free, and actually seeing the differences in the screen materials reflective properties in different lighting conditions, with different video sources helped me choose my screen. 8)

[BlazeMaster]

Dean,

Yes, I think I'll be pretty happy with any model, coming from a first time FP owner. The only thing is, I'm still stuck at 480p, which gives me nothing positive to look forward to, when there's more and more 720p and 1080i material coming out soon. I still have some time, and have about couple of months to decide which model I'd get. Both the 4805 and 5000 are very good, from what I've seen. So it'll come down to these 2 models, I'm pretty sure. Although the Optoma H31 and H57 seems very tempting also. Rumor has it that, the Optomas have a more quiet fans comared to similar priced Infocus units. But Infocus, has the rep of having accurate and easy to dial in colors. Decisions...decisions....

[Dean McManis]

I got my SP5000 for just under $1800, with the 4805 around $500 cheaper, but there are sometimes bundled sales that offer a super low cost screen or free shipping that brings down the total price to make a difference overall. :B

480P looks very good even at 100"+, and even though you won't see the detailed picture of a HD source that a 720P projector can, HDTV through a 480P projector can look like a HD-mastered DVD, which is quite impressive. :T

Both the SP5000 and the 4805 are great projectors with wonderful image quality, and each are a great value at their respective prices.

-Dean.

[stank]

Same issue

I too have the same issue as described by Jerry. Here is what I have found out so far.

I sent my Hitachi projector in for warranty work becuase if I didn't have any equipment connected to the projector the line would still appear when viewing the menus/test pattern that are internal to the projector.

I just received a phone call from the Hitachi tech informing me that he could not reproduce the problem in his test environment. We chatted for awhile and here is what he told me:

He sees about 2 projectors a month with the same complaint and with the same results (unable to reproduce the problem).

He explained that for whatever the reason projectors are more inclined to show ac interference more than other electronic equipment. He further explained that the line I was seeing moving from bottom to top was the 60hz AC cycle.

His recommendation was to power condition the AC first.

I have found two products on the market that can acheive this task. One is cheap and ther other is expensive.

http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=67

http://www.panamax.com/literature/pdf/M5500EX_L551A.pdf

Has anyone else tried these products?

[BretLuke82]

I just played about 6 hours of Xbox and watched Batman Begins on my SP 4805 last night. I saw no rolling lines whatsoever...the Xbox was hooked up through Component and running in 480p ini 16:9 mode, while the DVD player a $30 Magnavox running through S-Video. Surprising quality out of that cheapo DVD player through a lowly S-Video wire. Felt like I was at the movies.

[Brandon B]

Rolling lines in a projector image is a symptom as the same issue as hum in audio. You have a ground loop issue somewhere.

It is almost always a power issue, not a problem with your projector.

BB

[setite]

the same issue just began manifesting in my ae700u... mine are vertical however... only visible in dark black portions of a picture... i still have to check to see if it is interference from my FTA box that is sitting next to it... the problem started after i had taken the box away and put it back... i probably put one of the wires too close this time... i will tinker around a little... i hope i dont need a power conditioner...

[jhunder]

Faint Horizontal lines that travel up my screen

Can anyone please tell me the exact solution for the rolling horizontal lines? What exactly do I need to do to eliminate the assumed ground-loop that was mentioned above?

Has anyone seen complete success in eliminating these rolling horizontal lines who can share the exact solution with me?

Was there a particular power conditioner that worked? Did it need to be located right beside the projector?

We think that the new auditorium light dimmers which we installed may at least be a part of the source of the interference, but I need to know a great way to isolate the projectors from it. We cannot eliminate the light dimmers and I don't know if the interference is entering the projectors on the power cord or on the video cables.

Can anyone please give me a solution that worked for you?

Thanks,

Joe Underwood

[George Bellefontaine]

Can anyone please give me a solution that worked for you?

Thanks,

Joe Underwood

Unfortunately it is a process of elimination. In a case I had a few years ago, I discovered the culprit was cable tv. When I disconnected the cable from the system, the problem disappeared. I had the cable company come and they installed a proper ground at the exterior entrance to the house. No problem since.

[Brandon B]

I would tend to lean toward it being the power cable.

We have a toaster that in effect uses a triac dimmer for its "brownness" setting that makes the transformer in my balanced power unit buzz like a pissed off cicada. Dimmers like that definitely dirty up your power.

I have no recommendations for filters for you though.

[Kevin D]

Can be anything connected to any part of the system or anything plugged into the same power circuit with any part of the system.

Like George said, you're just going to need to narrow it down. Start with the most basic of items, projector & source. Keep adding pieces until you get the lines.

Kevin D.

[jhunder]

Still trying to eliminate the lines

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I bought a power conditioner by PowerWerks and placed it right at the projector. It did nothing to help at all. So now I am thinking that the noise may be coming into the projectors on the video cables. Perhaps that would have been everyone else's first assumption, but I tried the power line filtering first. I'm sure that the source of this noise is our new industrial-strength light dimmers for the auditorium, but I am hoping to filter the noise out before spending the money to replace the expensive dimmers that we just put in just this year. I'll try to keep you posted as I solve this. Thanks again for the suggestions.
Joe Underwood, NY

[Kevin D]

How is the video connected? If it's anything but digital, I've had really good luck with Jensen's ISO-MAX line.

http://www.jensen-transformers.com/