Just ordered a Infocus SP5000 today

[Dean McManis]

I've read good things about this new projector and decided that it was time to upgrade my NEC LT150.
I had a Sony LCD rear projector before, but this will be my first LCD FPTV.
Hopefully the larger pixel gap (compared to my D-ILA and DLP FPTVs) will be OK on the 180" screen (main seating 14' away). We will see. 8O

Ironically, this was prompted by me buying a Samsung DVD player last week which upconverts to 1080i/720p/768p. But only through the DVI/HDMI output :x Plus there was the recent slew of new projectors announced a few weeks ago. And there have been a trickle of reviews of these new models, one of which was the SP5000 (which was frankly too good of a price for a native 720p FPTV for me to pass up)

I should get it in about a week. :B

-Dean.

[Burke Strickland]

Don't do it!!!! As you've already experienced, typically one upgrade leads to another, and once that is in place, the temptation is there to look around (or listen) for what else might be a candidate for the process, and soon, to pay for the next round of upgrades, you're thinking about taking out a second mortgage on the house, cashing in your 401k, telling your kids they can go to college only if they win athletic scholarships and then you see something you just have to have for your system that's REALLY expensive.

Just kidding about the preceding. Congratulations on your new projector and DVD player. Sounds like a really nice upgrade to your system's video capabilities. We'll be looking forward to a full report once you've had a chance to put your new InFocus through its paces driven by the Samsung !

Burke

[Dean McManis]

It's way too late for me Burke. Save yourself...I'm too far gone. ops:
Yes, I am admittedly a Home Theater addict. :B

I was earnestly holding out for the next generation of 1080P, 5000:1 contrast, 3000 lumens, laser-imaging projectors, just waiting for when they would drop below $2,000 before I bit the bullet and upgraded again.

But the Samsung DVD player pushed me over the edge, and there's no going back now. :T

[Citizen Kane]

Nice one Dean. I was wondering what the X1 would grow up to be. The SP5000 looks like a gem of machine. Enjoy

[George Bellefontaine]

I look forward to your comments on this new toy, Dean.

[Chris D]

Wow, Dean, I just checked out this model on the Infocus website. It looks very nice! I didn't know that it's retailing for $1999 U.S. Looking at the small pic on the website, it looks like it's got composite, S-video, component, DVI, and RGB video inputs as well as RS-232 control. Is that right? Cool... This is neat.

[Dean McManis]

Yep, the DVI and RGB caught my attention (and is what I need).
The RS232 is a plus.

[George Bellefontaine]

Dean, after you get your baby up and running would you please comment on its ability to display black and white dvds ? I have owned two lcd projectors and neither of them was able to show B&W movies without color tinting. Usually seen in the corners. My first was a Sharp and it was terrible, plus you were unable to adjust the grayscale so everything had a blueish cast. The Sony VPL400 enabled you to adjust grayscale but the so-called green fog problem was constant, even after having the prismblock replaced. At the time I owned a Zenith FP and used it for all my B&W movie watching...that is until I bought the NEC HT1000 dlp. It does B&W the way I remember it from the theater. Anyway, I will soon be replacing my old VPL 400 and would go with one of the new lcd machines if the old problem of color tinting was gone. Just curious. I own a lot of older B&W classics and love to watch them.
Thanks

[Dean McManis]

George,

I remember reading about the "green fog" problems of the VPL400, and I actually owned the RPTV version of that projector, the Sony KLW-9000 50" LCD RPTV.

Happily it my display had no green fog, or red push over time, plus I was lucky to have no dead pixels, and it ran over 9000hrs on the bulb. 8O
I ended up selling it for the same as I bought it for 3 years later which is unprecedented. :B

So I have only had good experiences with LCD so far. But I sold it and replaced it with my current NEC DLP LT150 XGA FPTV, which has also been flawless.

I have a big B&W DVD collection, so I'll definitely be looking at how well it renders B&W movies, and report back here. 8)

-Dean.

[George Bellefontaine]

Many thanks, Dean.

[Dean McManis]

Well, the SP5000 was delivered early this afternoon, and I suppose that the most telling thing is that I've just been watching it ever since then. :T

The first thing that struck me about the picture is how bright it is.
Granted, I have a basement HT, and so a completely dark room.
But I also have a 13' wide Grayhawk screen that is perforated.

My JVC G15 came out of the box rated at 1500 lumens, but it was easily under 1000 after calibration and using a magenta filter.

My NEC DLP projector has a new bulb now and is rated at 800 Lumens, but neither of them look nearly as bright as the SP5000 does.

I was at a A/V store today and the only pictures that looked as sharp and bright were some of the brighter RPTVs and tube TVs.

The colors were very rich. In fact they were a little over saturated right out of the box, but not objectionable.

I popped in the 5th Element, and I ended up watching the movie all the way through!

I just finished watching CSI in HD and it looked fantastic. :E
This unit is very close to the clarity of my D-ILA (1365 X 1024), and yet it has the contrast and black level of my DLP, which says a lot.

I was watching the DVD via a H3D PC card scaled from a S-video input.

Which brings me to one of the problems.

One of the things that drove me to get this new projector is that I recently bought a new Sanyo DVD player, with a built-in scaler which requires DVI/HDMI for 720P output.

But I soon found out that the Infocus SP5000 unit requires an additional "M1" cable adapter to convert their combined DVI and USB plug connection to standard DVI only.

So I still cannot hook up the Sanyo player via DVI for another week or so until I get the plug converter. :x

The other issue is one that I somewhat anticipated. The screendoor from the larger pixel gap of LCD.

I believe that the maximun screen size for this unit is an 11' wide screen, and mine is over 13' wide (viewed from14' away) so I'm pushing it a bit. And on bright, flat scenes, you can visibly see some screen door. More of a vertical than horizontal pattern, but for me it's not objectionable. And with most movies it's not really visible unless you specifically look for it.

Also you can slightly defocus the picture where it still looks sharp, but where it's very difficult to see the screendoor.

When I was out ordering the M1 adapter at a local A/V store I had my first look at the Infocus 4805, and it was a good opportunity to compare the image that I had seen at home with this 4805 picture.

There certainly was more ambient light in the showroom than at home, but the SP5000 looked to have comparable blacks to the 4805, and it was visibly brighter than the DLP model. Due to the lower resolution of the SVGA 4805 I could see even more pixel gap than the SP5000 on a 100" screen from about 12' away.
Predictably HDTV looked much better on the SP5000, as you would guess. 8)

I'd easily say that the 4805 is still a great bargain, but if you plan on watching scaled DVD and HDTV material, the SP5000 is clearly better.

The two other bits worth mentioning is that the past problem that I had seen on some LCD displays was some motion blur on fast panning shots, and with the SP5000 it was not a problem.

Also I watched some scenes from a couple B&W movies (Gilda, Casablanca) to check for color tinting and grayscale problems, but both grayscale and full black and white were as pure as with my DLP and calibrated D-ILA FPTVs, and I haven't made any adjustments to the unit yet. 8)

I haven't noticed any VB problems either, but I've only had a few hours watching the SP5000 projector so far. :wink:

And so far I really like this new projector. it looks to be quite a bargain for the unit's capabilites and price. :B

-Dean.

[George Bellefontaine]

That's good news about the B&W material, Dean. Tell me, what is the throw distance for a 92" wide 16:9 screen ? I have my Sony on the back wall, and the lens is approx 16 feet from the screen and I will want to sit the Sony replacement in the same spot. Also, how great is the offset ? I am also curious how it handles interlaced dvd. I have a Sony 7700 interlaced dvd player. The scaler and deinterlacer in my NEC is excellent and I have no real need for a progressive player at the present.

So far, it sounds like you have yourself a great new toy.

[Dean McManis]

George,

There is supposed to be an interactive image size calculator on the Infocus website, but the closest that I could find in the manual says that from 15' away the minimum diagonal is 8.7', max diag 10.4', and the min horizontal is 7.6', max horz. 9.0'.

The image offset is 105 degrees, and like my NEC is setup to have the projector mounted roughly level to the top or bottom of the screen.

I plugged in my Samsung DVD player and tried both analog component and S-Video inputs. There was a strong yellow tint to the image in both modes. Switching to progressive component cleared everything up, and the picture looked very good.

Unfortunately, because I've only had the DVD player and projector for such a short time, I can't tell if this issue is related to the DVD or FPTV configuration, but I'd guess that it's a setup issue, rather than some shortcoming of the projector.

-Dean.

[George Bellefontaine]

Thanks for the information, Dean. I'll try the Infocus website calculator for that model. But it sounds as if the throw ratio would work for me, if the manual is correct. The offset sounds good, too as my Sony sits just about even with the top of the screen. I'm not sure what to make with the yellow tint thing when using an interlaced signal from your player. But I must say, this does sound like an interesting projector. I'll keep close watch on this thread in case you have some more findings later. In the meantime, happy viewing.

[edgley]

Hi,

I am just about to buy one of these and was wondering you thoughts on the fan noise please?

Thanks,

Simon.

[Dean McManis]

Simon,

Fan noise is relative. I have two other projectors. A JVC and a NEC DLP projector. Both are a good deal louder than the Infocus 5700, which has a relatively quiet fan that is not obtrusive, even in quiet passages of movie watching. :T

-Dean.

[edgley]

Thanks Dean,

I used to have an IF 420, and that was loud!

I am hoping for a pleasent surprise.

s.

[bkowit]

Screenplay 5000

I just purchased the sp5000 and really enjoy it. I cant seem to get the colors right, a little to red, any suggestions on settings..thanks

[Dean McManis]

Congratulations! I'm really enjoying mine as well.
I also experienced the default red shift.
If you look in the picture menu you can select the Gamma tables.
I believe that Film is default, and both the Presentation and Photography choices tone down the reds a bit.
And there are also menu controls for Color Space (RGB), Color Temp, and individual Color Control.

I'd suggest that if you are going to adjust the projector with the detailed Color Control menu, that you use a video calibration DVD like Video Essentials or AVIA, which can be bought at most bigger A/V places that sell DVDs.

-Dean.

[Nick M]

Thinking of getting one...

My HT room is 18' x 12' (with my future display on the 18' wall).
At an 8' viewing distance, do you guys think this projector would give a good viewing experience from a 10' throw?

[Dean McManis]

I'd say that it depends on the screen size that you are planning.
The only downside that I've noticed in this projector is the visible pixel gap compared to my DLP and D-ILA projectors. But I have a relatively big screen (180"). I had to move my main seating back from 14' to 18'. Likewise if you were going for a 92" (diag) screen or smaller it should be fine from 8' away.
Otherwise I'd recommend going DLP.

[destroyer4]

Hi,i'm new hear and I like what you said about the 5000.Just set mine up, are you able to list the setting you have. You sound like you know what your doing. I know everyone has different tastes, but it should give me a good start.

Thanks

[destroyer4]

Hi again,
Forgot to mention, it cost me $1199 brand new at Costco, includes free 76" screen by mail.

Take care

[Dean McManis]

That's a great price. I don't remember the settings that I had on mine having sold my Infocus SP5000 a few months ago. There was nothing wrong with it. I really liked my SP5000. And you are getting yours at almost half the price that I paid for mine.
I just tend to go through many different displays over time. And I got an opportunity to upgrade that I couldn't refuse.

Enjoy your new projector! There is much to like about the SP5000.

-Dean.

[George Bellefontaine]

Dean, wasn't the 5000 pretty close to dead on D65 color temp out of the box ? If so, then the only thing he may need is Avia or DVE to set up his brightness, contrast, color, etc.

[Dean McManis]

Yeah, I was surprised how good the color was on the SP5000 right out of the box. :T

[wildfire99]

What model Samsung is it? I know mine (HD840) can upscale over component after coding it with the remote.

[Dean McManis]

I have the HD841. How do you code it with the remote?

[Jack Gilvey]

This place seems to think the 5000 is the best thing going, at least with some ambient light to deal with:

http://www.ausmedia.com.au/infocus%20ScreenPlay%205000.htm

They sell it, of course.

[Dean McManis]

The relatively low price for the resolution and picture quality is what makes the SP5000 a good deal.

Their DLP tests are an interesting slam on DLP technology.
Did any of you actually get dizzy looking at the optical illusiions on that page below?

It's hard to imagine anyone who was comfortable staring at the flashing black cube on the white background.

For me some of the patterns jiggled a bit, but not badly, and I didn't get dizzy at all.
I've seen rainbows on my first (2X color wheel) DLP projector, but only watching a particular film. And then it could be made worse by moving my head a lot.

I haven't noticed rainbows once with my new DLP projector, but it's definitely possible that someone could be bothered if they had a real sensitivity to them, although probably not to the extreme of the DLP test page on that website.

[Jack Gilvey]

The relatively low price for the resolution and picture quality is what makes the SP5000 a good deal.

Seems like more than good for what you get at the recent price. If fact, for the type of "mixed viewing" typical of most (sports/movies with ambient light) it might make more sense than a much "better" pj whose advantages in black level and contrast would likely be lost outside of a light-controlled environment. Were I a member, I might have picked one up this morning at Costco secure in their liberal return policy. Had one in my hand, in fact.

[destroyer4]

compare 5000 to 4805?

has anyone owned both? What are the diff's? Which is better? The 5000 says its HDTV the 4805 says EDTV. Is there a big difference?

Thanks

[brac]

Got my SP5000 about a week ago, from infocus free shipping, free 76" screen and a $300.00 rebate. How can you go wrong. I ordered a copy of VIDEO ESSENTIALS so I can cal. but so far I am quite pleased, can't wait to finish the room and move everything in....
Brac

[George Bellefontaine]

Nice going, Brac. Let is know what you think after things are up and running.