HDTV Projector

[waheed]

I looking at purchasing a HDTV Projector mainly for watching movies but will also use it for gaming too.

I want it to be High Definition ready if possible. I will be connecting this to my PC only via its DVI port.

My budget is £1000 max (i live in the UK) and the one that has interested me is the Infocus Screenplay 4805.

http://www.infocushome.com/pdf/4805/sp4805_ds_eng.pdf

This projector claims to support upto 1080i in HD. As far as my understanding goes, 1080i is 1920 x 1080 resolution.

Where i get confused is that this projector only supports a maximum of 1024 x 768 pixels resolution according to the pdf link provided.

My knowledge on HD is very basic. Can sometime shed some light on this.

Also, can anyone recommend any other decent Projector with HD support and DVI connectors which i may consider.

Thanks.

[edDV]

Actually its worse than that. From spec sheet native resolution is:

"Projection System: New TI DarkChip2 480p 12° DDR DMD Resolution: 854 x 480 (16:9)"

This is a EDTV (US EDTV not PAL 720x576 EDTV)

"Computer: Digital and analog PC, Macintosh®, up to
1024x768 resolution through intelligent resizing"

so the 1280x768 gets scaled down to 854 x 480 as does the 1080i input.

This projector will look best with optimized 854x480 computer inputs (use Powerstrip software) or 480p video inputs. HDTV inputs will look no better, probably 1080i will look worse due to interlace and downscaling.

[pbhalerao]

So what is the cost of this projector? I may be interested also.

Is DLP better suited for Home Video as opposed to LCD?

[Gritz]

Ok .... I'm not an expert, but I did have an InFocus LP70 in the shop and was impressed. Used with my laptop, a desktop system, and DirecTV inputs and looked great at about 12'. I also played Ghost Recon ... and it would have been nice if I had a screen. Now the InFocus LP70+ looks more impressive:

Aspect Ratio: 4:3 (standard); 16:9 video, data
Brightness: 1500 max ANSI lumens
Contrast Ratio: 1100:1, full on/full off
Data Compatibility: VGA through SXGA, 1152, Macintosh®
Display: DLP by Texas Instruments: 0.7” XGA DMD DDR
Image Size (diagonal): 2.7’/0.8m (min) – 22.2’/6.8m (max)
Light Source: 120-Watt UHP, 4000 hours
Native Resolution: XGA (1024x768)
Projection Lens: Zoom Lens with manual focus and manual zoom adjust
Projection Methods:Front/rear
Throw Ratio: 1.85-2.35:1

Video Compatibility: NTSC 3.58, NTSC 4.43, PAL (all), SECAM (all), SDTV (480i), EDTV (480p), HDTV (480p, 576i, 1080i)

Maximum Projection Distance : 10.0m (full optical performance 2.0 m – 6.0 m)
Minimum Projection Distance: 1.5m (full optical performance 2.0 m – 6.0 m)

About $1,499 US dollars .... don't know how that compares to Lbs?

[edDV]

Ok .... I'm not an expert, but I did have an InFocus LP70 in the shop and was impressed. Used with my laptop, a desktop system, and DirecTV inputs and looked great at about 12'. I also played Ghost Recon ... and it would have been nice if I had a screen. Now the InFocus LP70+ looks more impressive:

...

About $1,499 US dollars .... don't know how that compares to Lbs?

Looks better especially for computer use. I'd say 1024x768 is minimally acceptable as a computer resolution.

Still not really full HDTV since it falls below 720p (1280x720) and still needs to be scaled down. Price is good. I suggest one views a demo in similar to intended lighting before buying.

I'm curious why 480p and 576i are listed as HDTV. 576i isn't even EDTV. Is there a scam scheme going on in the PAL regions?

[Gritz]

edDV wrote:

I'm curious why 480p and 576i are listed as HDTV. 576i isn't even EDTV. Is there a scam scheme going on in the PAL
regions?

Good point ..... must be a "Sales" thing.

[pbhalerao]

I finally purchased a projector - Panasonic PT-AE700E (suffix U in USA).

Optical system: LCD panel 0.7" (diagonal) (16:9 aspect ratio)
Display method: Transparent LCD panel (x 3, R/G/B)
Drive method: Active matrix
Pixels: 921,600 (1280 x 720) x 3, total of 2,764,800 pixels
Lens: Manual zoom (1 - 2.0) / Manual focus
Colours: Full colour (16,777,216 colours)
Colour system: PAL, PAL-M, PAL-N, PAL 60, SECAM, NTSC, NTSC 4.43
Screen aspect ratio: 16:9 (4:3 compatible)
Brightness: 1,000 lumens
Centre-to-corner uniformity ratio: 85%
Contrast: 2,000:1*3 (full on/full off)
Resolution: RGB: 1280 x 720 pixels (1920 x 1080 pixels with compression)
YPBPR: 480i (525i): fH 15.75 kHz; fV 60 Hz
576i (625i): fH 15.63 kHz; fV 50 Hz
480p (525p): fH 31.5 kHz; fV 60 Hz
576p (625p): fH 31.25 kHz; fV 50 Hz
720p (750p): fH 45 kHz; fV 50 Hz
720p (750p): fH 45 kHz; fV 60 Hz
1080i (1125i): fH 33.75 kHz; fV 60 Hz
1080i (1125i): fH 28.125 kHz; fV 50 Hz
Optical axis shift: Horizontal and Vertical*4
Keystone correction range: Horizontal: approx. ±30°
Terminals: HDMI IN: 19-pin x 1
PC (RGB) IN: D-sub HD 15-pin (female) x 1
R, G, B: 0.7 Vp-p (1.0 Vp-p for Sync on G), 75?
HD/VD/SYNC: TTL, high impedance
(positive/negative polarity)
COMPONENT IN: RCA pin (Y, PB/CB, PR/CR) x 1,
Y: 1.0 p-p, 75?
PB/PR (CB/CR): 0.7 Vp-p, 75?
VIDEO IN: RCA pin x 1, 1.0 Vp-p, 75?
S-VIDEO IN: Mini DIN 4-pin x 1, Y: 1.0 Vp-p, C: 0.286 Vp-p, 75?
SCART IN: 21-pin x 1

The projector is just 2 days old but when I saw the results, the performance blew me away. I was not too sure about LCD but this projector seems to preform at DLP level. Of course, this is is my first projector and hence I don't have a previous reference.

The colours appear to be too rich but I am not projecting on the ideal surface at the moment and I think using the internal corrections it can be set right. The best features are optical lens adjustment (though not so easy), SCART support, very low fan noise (26 dB as per the manual) and of course 16:9 720p native resolution.

At £1044 incl delivery, I don't think that it can get much better. An equivalent DLP was at least 1.5 times costlier.

Highly recommended to any enthusiast.

[BJ_M]

avoid lcd projectors at all costs for high quality video .. unless you are on a real budget ..

[Baldrick]

I prefer LCD over DLP($2000-$3000 projectors) cause I can't stand the rainbow effects....very annoying when watching movies with subs.

[pbhalerao]

On DLPs, watching movie with subtitles will give to rainbows because of stark contrast. But they may not be there in the main movie. New DLPs with Darkchip 3 or Matterhorn chip and 4x+ segment wheels claim to have almost no rainbows.

As far as I was concerned, I would have preferred a DLP but the only DLPs I could afford were Infocus SP 4805 and Optoma H31. The later model is not available in UK. SP 4805 was 854x480 which would have sufficed my needs but is believed to be quite noisy (33-36db). The next best was Mitsubishi HC900 at 1024x576. But it was costly at £1350 approx. My budget was £1000 or thereabouts.

Also features such as 2x zoom, optical lens shift, higher resolution, etc. tilted me towards the Panasonic.

[INFRATOM]

I have this projector and I recommend it it is ok. Buying a projector the governing factor is the price. This sells for $900 average in USA, I don't know how much the Pound is in these days. Consider the price for cables they could get very expensive, mine came with 30 ft of svideo which helped a lot. RGB cables are more expensive. This projector on normal brightness you need to dim the room . If you get too close to screen you'll see screen effect but I have never noticed rainbow effect. If you want something slightly better you have to pay double the price which I would not recommend these things are getting cheaper and better models coming out every day. The bulb is around $300 to $ 400 I have worked it couple of hours every night so far I want to see how far the lamp goes. The cooling fan is not very noisy and it stays on at projector off position one must put to off from the switch to stop it and if you have it overhead it would not be easy. final words .. check your setup try to minimize the cables. In my setup since dvd player is 40 ft away and I couldn't use RGB so if you can use progressive imagine it would look better.

[Touchdown]

I have the InFocus 4800 that I got for $500 on woot.com and have been VERY impressed with it. No rainbow effects for me.

Someone mentioned cables earlier - cheapest place for good quality cables is www.monoprice.com

Good luck