Paul,
Just that. Go to turn it on one day and nothing happens. No "ping" , just a bit of flickering of the on button, but no lamp. No real fan action either. They're spinning, but real slowly.
Had InFocus fix it last May. Their standard "major repair" fee is $518 plus $30 shipping plus tax. Just happened again this month, less than a year since we got it back and they want another $548 to fix it again.
Rick

Rick,

Thanks, looks like I have a decision to make as I need a new bulb soon as well. Might have to look at a new projector.

Originally Posted by rica
Paul,
Just that. Go to turn it on one day and nothing happens. No "ping" , just a bit of flickering of the on button, but no lamp. No real fan action either. They're spinning, but real slowly.
Had InFocus fix it last May. Their standard "major repair" fee is $518 plus $30 shipping plus tax. Just happened again this month, less than a year since we got it back and they want another $548 to fix it again.
Rick.

Mine just died - is there any knowledge on what causes this (no green light - won't turn on - fans spinning slowly) and how it can be fixed (besides shipping it to Infocus)?

Mine just died - is there any knowledge on what causes this (no green light - won't turn on - fans spinning slowly) and how it can be fixed (besides shipping it to Infocus)?

nagyg,
Don't really know what the source of the problem is - I assume it's the power supply, but I'm no expert. According to their web site, InFocus has no service centers besides the one in KY that will service the 5700. We wrote a three page letter to CS on April 29 requesting help because ours had the same problem twice in less than a year and we didn't think it was reasonable for them to charge us another $588 to fix the same problem. Not a word in nearly four weeks!! Not even a courtesy response.
Rick

I seem to be in the same position as you guys. My 5700 has been flawless since I bought it in Feb 2004. Last week-end it just wouldn't power up. Fans are running faintly so it is getting some power. However, the normally solid green power LED is a dim whitish/green and the lamp is not lit. I tried reinstalling the frimware (in case it somehow just lost it's brains) but the projector wouldn't respond to that either.
I filed a repair request with InFocus but based on rica's experience I am not hopeful. Anyone used another repair center with success?

[QUOTE=braveheart99]I seem to be in the same position as you guys. My 5700 has been flawless since I bought it in Feb 2004. Last week-end it just wouldn't power up. Fans are running faintly so it is getting some power. However, the normally solid green power LED is a dim whitish/green and the lamp is not lit. I tried reinstalling the frimware (in case it somehow just lost it's brains) but the projector wouldn't respond to that either.
I filed a repair request with InFocus but based on rica's experience I am not hopeful. Anyone used another repair center with success?[/QUOTE

This has me really wondering if I should get it fixed. In addition to the $550 I guess I will need a new lamp soon. I have been researching the Epson Home Cinema 1080p ($2700) as a possible replacement. It is LCD and not DLP - anyone out there who made the switch from DLP to LCD and specifically to the Epson from a 5700?

Rick, how long did it take to get yours fixed?

Just to give my update. I took the projector down from the ceiling mount and tried plugging it in on the table. Now I get no light whatsoever (saw the same before I removed it). I did a search in the foums to read on other IF projectors that have displayed this issue (i.e. 7200). Looking at the repair costs in general, it looked like it would be ~$600 to repair the 5700 and then I am just about due for a new bulb.

After thinking on this for a while, I went and bought the Mitsubishi HD1000U from ProjectorPeople (one of the site sponsors).

Aside from having to shift my mount over since there is no lens offset on the MITs, it works just fine for my cinema and likely cost less than fixing the 5700 and buying a new bulb.

I did have a friend of mine who has a Kroll (rebanded 5700) that his was a power supply board only and it was $100 plus shipping both ways. He did it as he had just bought a new bulb.

Hi there. thought I'd just bring a few of you up to date on the status of my projector. I have an Infocus 5700 and a couple of weeks ago it up and died. Never any warning signals but it just wouldn't start. I called Infocus and they wanted $500 up front plus I'd have to pay for shipping and insurance before they would even give me a return authorization (three week lead time). I thought this was a little steep but they informed me that any money not used would be refunded. I called around to a few local electronic repair shops and found one that would take a look at it for $20.00. I figured why not and decided to give it a try. When I took the projector in the owner proclaimed it was probably something to do with the voltage supply regulator. I was impressed with his knowledge and left the projector with the understanding that anything expensive would have to be run by me first. Needless to say, he called the next afternoon stating the projector was fixed and I would need an additional $48. I was overwhelmed and Thanked him very much for the great price and turn-a-round. next time your projector goes down, don't be in such a hurry to send it back to the manufacturer and call your local shops first. You might be suprised by the service and price like I was.

hello i have been looking on this forum for a while now and you all seem very helpful so i just registered so i can ask you a question so here goes.

i have just bought a second hand screenplay 5700 and i am verry pleased with it i have it connected to my denon dv2900 through component i find thay when i send it an interlaced image the projector image is very good at 576i far better than 480i or even when i set it to 480p i dont know if i have the settings right the dvd player is multie region i dont know if this help i would epreciate any help thanx.

Hi there. thought I'd just bring a few of you up to date on the status of my projector. I have an Infocus 5700 and a couple of weeks ago it up and died. Never any warning signals but it just wouldn't start. I called Infocus and they wanted $500 up front plus I'd have to pay for shipping and insurance before they would even give me a return authorization (three week lead time). I thought this was a little steep but they informed me that any money not used would be refunded. I called around to a few local electronic repair shops and found one that would take a look at it for $20.00. I figured why not and decided to give it a try. When I took the projector in the owner proclaimed it was probably something to do with the voltage supply regulator. I was impressed with his knowledge and left the projector with the understanding that anything expensive would have to be run by me first. Needless to say, he called the next afternoon stating the projector was fixed and I would need an additional $48. I was overwhelmed and Thanked him very much for the great price and turn-a-round. next time your projector goes down, don't be in such a hurry to send it back to the manufacturer and call your local shops first. You might be suprised by the service and price like I was.

My 5700 just died with the same systems. Looks to be common problem. I guess I'll look for a local electronic repair shop to take a look at it.

Maybe it's time to pull the trigger on a new projector.;)

New to the board and it sounds like alot of people send their PJ to InFocus to get it repaired. I am a firm believer that "parts is parts". You just have to replace the ones that aren't working.
My 5700 sounds like it has sand in the color wheel. I was able to get the case off and clean the dust bunnies out but I stopped short of taking the color wheel out. I was able to spin it and it was making some noise just at that speed without power.
Has anyone replaced the color wheel bearing? Lubed it? Cleaned it? Bought a new one?
It looks easy enough to replace but Google has failed me on searching for a place to buy just a color wheel.
If anyone can direct me where I can get one, I could probably create a pictorial instruction page so others can at least see what is involved with changing it out.

My 5700 just died with the same systems. Looks to be common problem. I guess I'll look for a local electronic repair shop to take a look at it.

Maybe it's time to pull the trigger on a new projector.;)

For what its worth, I have a 7200 that had the same type of symptoms. It was just hung - neither remote nor buttons responded, fan was running, but very slow.

I downloaded the latest microcode, bought the necessary cable, and updated the code. For mine, that solved the problem for about $50.

Having told that story, Ill also tell you that I bought a new lamp in January (for the super bowl party) at just over 2000 hours. $500. Replaced the 2K lamp with the new one, kept the old one as a backup.

In July, the color wheel failed. $530.

In September, the new lamp failed at 755 hours. Infocus declined to help in any way.

Im now considering options - Another new lamp, or a replacement PJ. Not sure how long my backup lamp will last, but to keep the 7200 running will cost me at least another $500 - and clearly this has been a bad year for it, hardly worth the $1500 I will have spent if I replace the lamp again.

Good luck with the hang...

jc

For what its worth, I have a 7200 that had the same type of symptoms. It was just hung - neither remote nor buttons responded, fan was running, but very slow.

I downloaded the latest microcode, bought the necessary cable, and updated the code. For mine, that solved the problem for about $50.

Having told that story, Ill also tell you that I bought a new lamp in January (for the super bowl party) at just over 2000 hours. $500. Replaced the 2K lamp with the new one, kept the old one as a backup.

In July, the color wheel failed. $530.

In September, the new lamp failed at 755 hours. Infocus declined to help in any way.

Im now considering options - Another new lamp, or a replacement PJ. Not sure how long my backup lamp will last, but to keep the 7200 running will cost me at least another $500 - and clearly this has been a bad year for it, hardly worth the $1500 I will have spent if I replace the lamp again.

Good luck with the hang...

jc

jc, sorry to hear about all the expensive problems with your 7200. I may try your suggestion with the new microcode to see if I can put some like back in my 5700. However, I picked up a new Sony Pearl this weekend and I am busy getting it tweaked. I have a PS3 so I am anxious to play BluRay movies.

I decided to get a 5 year in home warranty ($289) on the Sony. Cheap protection in my mind.

Good luck with your decsion.

$289 for an in home warranty sounds like an EXCEPTIONAL value, at least based upon my experience.

Hope the Pearl is as nice as I have heard!

My story probably sounds uglier than it really is... while its been an expensive year, the 7200 has done very well for most of its life - it gets a lot of use, and it accomplished its number 1 objective - keeping my teenagers (and all their hungry friends) in the house on Saturday nights since the fall of 2004. Having a home theater got me more than just "Dad's toy", but a lot of peace of mind. Was watching Planet Earth on Discover HD Theater last night - still is a mind popping picture, even with well over 2000 hours on the current lamp.

OT : I also bought a PS3 as a BlueRay player (and my kids thought I bought it as a Guitar Hero 3 machine) - think you will find it quite nice. I would recommend the accessory remote control (if you didnt already buy it). Its quite a bit more intuitive than controlling the BD player with the standard game controller in my view.

My 5700 is still swimming along nicely. I'm on my 3rd unit, twice it was sent back for warranty repair, this one is about two years old but I've had a 5700 in the house for almost 5 years.

Picture still makes me happy.

I've been contemplating what to do when the bulb dies, it's just not worth the money to replace it when I can get a decent new projector for a grand.

The main problem I have is with throw distances - the 5700 has a great zoom for a DLP, and my rear shelf is 18 feet from the screen (can't ceiling mount it - loft). These days very few DLPs have a decent zoom to support that kind of throw distance. Luckily, top of the line models like the RS-1 have a good zoom, but that's when I have 5 grand for a new projector!

After doing my research, it looks like the Sanyo Z5 would be a good "interm" projector; from what I have read the picture quality and black level would be a step up from the 5700, and even though it's LCD, the reviews say it's an LCD that would make a DLP fan happy.

And it's a grand!

Helle everyone, been sometime since I posted in this thread. I have greatly enjoyed my 5700 for the past 3 1/2 years. I guess I have been very luck, I havent had 1 issue with mine, have never had to send it it for anything. I have 700 hours on my 2nd bulb.

I took the plung last week, and ordered an upgrade. Will be stopping by the local fedex office to pick up my new Infocus IN82 (attemped delivery yesterday but wasnt home) Im confident this will be a vast improvement over the 5700, and hope I have no issues, just like before.

Ive also decided to upgrade my screen to a cinema scope screen. Going to be getting an anamorphic lens soon, and looking forward to the super wide screen movies.

I am going to be getting a paid memebership to this board soon, and posting in the secttion where I can sell stuff. But if anyone is interested in a 5700 with 700 hours on it, and/or a 110' da-lite high contrast cinema vision screen, with the cinema contour frame, with pro-trim, let me know. Havent ordered my new screen yet, so not ready to take the old off the wall, but hope to have the new one by around the 1st of the year.

I took the plung last week, and ordered an upgrade. Will be stopping by the local fedex office to pick up my new Infocus IN82 (attemped delivery yesterday but wasnt home) Im confident this will be a vast improvement over the 5700, and hope I have no issues, just like before.

.

Congrats. Please post your review/thoughts on the upgrade when you have an opportunity. I have heard good things about the IN82.

Congrats. Please post your review/thoughts on the upgrade when you have an opportunity. I have heard good things about the IN82.

Thanks, Its killing me, I picked up the projector from Fedex on my way into work, so its sitting there waiting for me. And to top it off, I have to goto dinner tonight with an old friend, so It might not get up tonight.

I think I will be able to use the same mount I used for the 5700, I just have to move it over about 8 inchs, because the lens is on the otherside of the projector when ceiling mounted. I have high ceilings and had to drop the 5700 down, used a piece of pipe from hd to get that done. The offset with the IN82 is greater, so I will have to bring the projector back up closer to the ceiling as well.

As I stated in the first post, I have a 110' screen, which is 54x96 and I think in my mounting position to keep that height, I would have to move the projector a little forward, but I dont want to do that. So I am going to mount in same place (changing what I said above), and see how much bigger it will be then the current screen. I will be able to live with it for a few weeks. That way I can figure out the new screen height. As I said, I am going anamorphic. The same height screen (54 inch) on a scope screen is 10.5 feet (126 inch) If I can keep that height I will, but I think in my mounting position its going to be a bit bigger, so I will either go 132 inch wide (11 feet) or 136inch (11.5 feet) and will work no problem with where my mount is now. The IN82 is suppose to be a light cannon, just like the 5700, thats why I went with it. It doesnt seem to be as popular as some other in the over 3k threads. But I want BIG BRIGHT picture.

Going to get things up and running on my current screen for now, going to goto the cinema vision screen (1.4 gain) from da-lite, right now I have the high contrast cinema vision screen (.8 gain), and I will post some thoughts then.

Jeff

Going to get things up and running on my current screen for now, going to goto the cinema vision screen (1.4 gain) from da-lite, right now I have the high contrast cinema vision screen (.8 gain), and I will post some thoughts then.

Jeff

Jeff, the HCCV is 1.1 gain. I have the same screen. The HC Da-Mat is .8.

http://www.dalite.com/dalitehometheater/products/selecting4.php

Jeff, the HCCV is 1.1 gain. I have the same screen. The HC Da-Mat is .8.

http://www.dalite.com/dalitehometheater/products/selecting4.php

Thank you, for some reason I thought I read .8 the other night when I was researching which way I was going to go. Didnt mean to put any wrong information out there.

Ok, heres my impressions of the IN82.

Took my 5700 down friday night, only to realize my peerless mount wouldnt work with the IN82. So everything was put on hold until saturday. Went over to my local high end AVS store, and they only carried brand specific mounts, and they didnt carry Infocus. So stopped by the local Best Buy and picked up one of those generic spider mounts, to get my by til I can order one made for the IN82. Getting that put up was easy, just moved over from my original mounting spot about 8 inches. I put the prjector up first without the extention arm, and with the offset was still too high for my screen location. The mount came with a 7 inch extender pipe, but I knew that would be too long, so off to the home depot I went, for some 1 inch pipes. I picked up 3 of them, 3", 4", and 5". I ended up trying the 3" first, and it was perfect. As I stated in an earlier post, my mounting location is a couple inches too far back to have everything line up perfect for my screen height, so there is a little more bleed into my screen trim then normally would be, but all that will be corrected when I get my new screen, will be 56" and change, compaired to my 54" now.

Let me just say, WOW! the IN82 is bright. I played with most of the settings, and ended up with Iris dialed way down, sometimes I changed it a notch up or down, depending on how I felt about how the movie I was watching looked. I pretty much have settled on an Iris setting of 36, I think. I am also running the projector in low lamp mode.

First I watched Transformers HD, now I am not very techincal by all means, so I dont know about certain things like temperal dithering, or edge enhancement, or other little picture things, but I thought the colors were incredible, the blacks were very black, much better then the 5700. Everything was very film like. I will say the image seemed very 3Dish. The black bars on the top and bottom of the picture were so dark in my cave of a theater room, I couldnt hardley tell where the black bars stopped and my screen boarder began. I kept looking for motion judder in the background of moving scenes, every now and again I would catch a slight studder, but everything was just incredible. I ended up winning $1200 saturday night playing poker, so I decided to run out sunday and pick up a blu-ray player.

Picked up the Samsung BD1400 on sale. With it came with 2 free discs, wasnt big on my choices, but got 300, and Superman Returns. I also picked up Peal Harbor. I watched that sunday night, and I am simply blown away by the IN82, the sharpness of the picture, the deep blacks, and incredible details. I am very happy with my purchase, and cant wait to get my new screen (11 foot wide), and anamorphic lens.

I will note with the Iris dialed down, the whites became a little muddy. The credits at the end of the movie werent perfectly white, but I also have a grey screen. My new one will be white. I could get very use to having the iris fully open, and wouldnt bother me in the least bit, but it is very bright without it. I also moved my seating 2 foot closer, because of the 1080p resolution, it allows me to move forward.


On a side note, I am planning on listing my 5700 on ebay, it has about 750 hours on my 2nd bulb, and wondered what might be a fair price to ask?

Hi Troiano,
Thanks for the detailed review of the IN82. I'm in the same boat as you, my 5700 is getting a bit long in the tooth (4years old now). The IN82 is my personal choice to replace it with. Would you mind commenting on how well the IN82 handles standard upscaled DVD's, picture sharpness etc...

much appreciated,
Stephen

:confused:Hi,

SomethingI'm a bit confused about and I know people have alrady tried to explain it. If I'll be watching mainly standard NTSC DVD on a 100' screen, will this PJ make a better picture than a standard 480p projector like the 4805 or IN72? Is the resolution an upgrade or downgrade for me from a 480 PJ (strictly speaking about resolution). I have been sending my 4805 a 720p upconverted signal from my LGA531 DVD player for about a year and I think it looks better than 480i or 480p. What will I see on the 5700? I like all of the features it has including the faroudja (like my DVD player), colors, lens, etc. Its pretty cheap now too.

:confused:Hi,

SomethingI'm a bit confused about and I know people have alrady tried to explain it. If I'll be watching mainly standard NTSC DVD on a 100' screen, will this PJ make a better picture than a standard 480p projector like the 4805 or IN72? Is the resolution an upgrade or downgrade for me from a 480 PJ (strictly speaking about resolution). I have been sending my 4805 a 720p upconverted signal from my LGA531 DVD player for about a year and I think it looks better than 480i or 480p. What will I see on the 5700? I like all of the features it has including the faroudja (like my DVD player), colors, lens, etc. Its pretty cheap now too.It should be better than 480p units given the slight increase in resolution and good scaling.

The big drawback is that contrast is going to be a less than the state of the art (even for entry level) because the DLP chip used is a few generations behind.

I've seen 5700's. They look good...don't get me wrong. Its just that you can do much better these days for not much more. The 5700 is basically a 7200 with less resolution, but why not go for a 7210? You'll be happier for a lot longer, IMO.

Thanks,

Yeah, that makes sense.

Well, add my name to the list of people with a dead 5700. Worked fine last weekend, nothing tonight. The LED light was on but the projector wouldn't turn on. Unplugged it and plugged it back in and it took a minute for the LED to come back on.

Looks like the power supply problem others have encountered. I logged a request with IF. I guess I will have to decide if it is worth $500 plus to fix. The really sucky part is that my extended warranty expired 1 month ago. Why does that always seem to happen?:mad:

Push them on the warranty. Mine was out by 2 weeks and at first they said no way. But after about six calls to India they gave in (supervisor). Ask about the customer satisfaction team. The basic point was that they said I had never had a earranty complaint.

One thing though. They promise 15 work day turnaround and in the end they did not have the part. They offerred me am IN74, but I paid an upgrade for an IN76. Would have a happy ending except that the throw distance on the IFs are so short I would have had a projector over my head with a ceiling which is too low. So in the end, I bought an Epson Home Cinema 1080p (long throw). By the way, I'm trying to sell the IN76 check out my ad in the classifieds.

Good Morning !! I was just wondering if someone can give me some advice. I just purchased an xbox 360 and was wondering what setting should I use when hooking it up to my screenplay 5700. 480p,720p,1080i or 1080p. Any help would be appreciated

Hi Garland417,
I also have the XBOX HD-DVD drive attached to my 360. I find setting the output to 1080i (with component connections to the 5700) works well. This way the 5700 does all the scaling and the 360 does mess with the HD-DVD output. Now if you are just playing games I would set the XBOX to 720p as this is the standard resolution for 360 games.

Regards,
Stephen

My New Year's Resolution is to help others...

I replaced my dead 5700 with a Sony Pearl about 2 months ago. I am offering the bulb free to anyone who would like a spare for emergency use. IIRC, my bulb has approximately 2000 hours.

If you are interested please PM me with your name and address and I will mail it to you.:)

I friend of mine is selling his 5700 and he is wanting 300 dollars for it. Is that a good deal? It has about 300 hours on the bulb.....Thanks for any input....

$300 for a 5700 with a fairly new bulb is a very good deal. They still sell for over $500 refurbed.

Mine is still working and still gives me a great picture - remember folks, this was one of the most top-of-the-line single chip DLP projectors ever made. It's a good unit.

The 1024x576 raster gives you more pixels than most standard-def projectors, meaning less screen door effects and more resolution for downconverting HD.

And if anyone out there wants to breathe new life into their 5700's image quality, try these things:

- Put an ND2 filter in front of the lens and turn up the gamma one notch (from film 1 to film 2). Yes, this will darken your overal image, but it REALLY darkens the blacks (the bump up in gamma helps you retain shadow detail). No more grey night scenes! It takes a bit to get used to the darker image (and it really is only advisable in a light controlled room) but it definitely gives you a more pleasing, film-like image.

- TRY PAL!! Seriously, get yourself an Oppo or some other player that displays PAL (not just converts it to NTSC, but will output a native PAL signal). Why? Because our 5700 is a native PAL projector (hence the 1024x576 raster). PAL is 576 lines of resolution as opposed to NTSC's 480, so if you watch a PAL DVD, you'll be getting 20% more resolution! AND it's a 1:1 pixel match, so no scaling artifacts (when watching NTSC, the 5700 scales the 480 signal to fill the 576 line raster).

In addition to the extra clarity of resolution, you'll be watching movies at an exact 25 frame per second framerate, meaning NO 3:2 PULLDOWN! You'd be amazed how much smoother and lifelike everything looks this way. This is essentially the same thing as people with hi-end hi def projectors are talking about with the new 24hz playback, now letting you watch movies at 24 fps instead of watching them converted to 30 frames.

Last night I was watching a PAL movie and it's really stunning how much of a bump in image quality you get from 100 lines more resolution, no scaling artifacts and no motion artifacts.

Try it, you'll like it! It's like a "poor man's" step closer to HD and the 5700's unique 576 line display makes it one of very few (maybe the only?) projectors that let you do this.

[As a suggestion, the PAL DVDs for Lord of the Rings have been shown to be superior]

Mojo_LA you are the man. Thank you!

I'm really considering getting one of these. What are the differences between this and at 7210 besides the chip. Also is the picture square I know the 7200 had a problem with a bowing picture at the bottom that was corrected on the 7205 and 7210. Who here knows of the best place to get on of these and what is a fair price for a nice unit with 2/3rds of the bulb life left. The way I see it is 1080P is what I want and this unit will save me some serous cash for the short term. This unit has a Carl Zeiss glass lens correct?

WOW thats was a seroius impulse buy, some guy just listed one on ebay for $388 shipped. With half the life left on the bulb, I know the old infocus X1 had a way of just replacing the bulb and not the bulb houseing to save quite a bit of dough, does anyone know if you can do that with this projector. I have high hope for the image of this unit for the buck. He said it has never broke on him ever so I'm hoping its just a good unit.

Boy I should of been paying more attention I thought this would have better black levels then a SP4805, I thought this was a DC2 chip, Oh well HD should rock, and when I sell it I'll probably only lose $200 so, just hope I can get 1000 hours out of it.

hi there, does anybody know which nd filter should be used on my 5700 as there are many different levels. nd2, nd4, nd6, nd8? also running my upscaling dvd player via hdmi to the m1 connector on the projector, i cant seem to set it to 720p as i lose the picture completly. any ideas?

I accidentaly deleted my presets on the IF5700, what are the gain/offset settings supposet to be for DVI again??

The ideal type of filter varies with screen gain and size.

For a 106" Carada H.C. gray screen, which is one of the darker screens around, no filter was necessary.

For the same size screen using Carada's B.W. material instead, a ND2 filter was very beneficial for the first 1000 hours of bulb-life. After the 1000 hrs, I took the filter off.

I would not buy a ND4 or higher filter unless you have a tiny screen.

720p should work for your PJ, it did for mine.

The 5700 never had any discernible bowing, unlike its more expensive brother the 7200.

The ideal settings for DVI, depend on the source. For my Motorola cable box and a Bravo D1, it 66 for the "Drives"a nd "39" for the cuts. For a PS3 and HD-A1 it's the default 50/50.

After 4 years (maybe even more), I finally upgraded my 5700 to a used Marantz S4, a legendary 720p projector. Here is the full story:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=920275

The advice I have for all of you thinking about upgrading is this: GO FOR HIGH END 720.

The 5700 is a great machine and was made very, very well. The contrast, black level and color rendition still competes.

Yes, the new machines are better, but it's not a night and day difference (and the Marantz I got was originally over $10,000 and universally regarded as one of the best projectors EVER).

If you like DLP, chances are you won't want to move to LCD (I know I didn't) and the ONLY 1080 LCD worth looking at is the Epson 1080UB for about $2700. I almost went for that one, but the high-end 720p projectors simple have better image and build quality.

So, for 1080, the only machines to consider are closer to 4 grand.

The other thing is that, if you're like me, one of the reasons you have a 5700 is because it's a long-throw unit. My rear shelf is 18 feet from the screen, and there are very few DLPs that offer long-throw.

The good news is that the best units DO offer long throw, and I HIGHLY recommend these projectors to anyone looking to upgrade their 5700:

Marantz S4 ($2600 - approx refurb, new bulb & 1 year warranty)
BenQ 8720 ($1700 - approx refurb, new bulb & 1 year warranty)
Sharp 12000 MK2 ($1600 approx used price, don't know about refurbs)

These are all AMAZING projectors and are excellent upgrades for the 5700 - and at these prices (especially for the BenQ) I would jump on it.

I just don't think it's worth spending double that price to get 1080 - the 1080 machines essentially will have the same image quality as the 720s, but with a very slight sharpness increase (and there is much debate how much sharper 1080 is over 720).

The thing is all these 720s have excellent lenses, so you'll get an image sharper than your average 720.

Anyway, after a very long time debating what to do about upgrading, this is the best advice I have for all of you die-hard 5700 owners. I say for a bargain, hi-end 720 now and wait for a real leap in projector technology (such as LEDs or lasers) before you go for pricey 1080.

Add my name to the dead 5700 list as well.....after almost 4 years of service and 2 bulbs my 5700 gave me the flickering LED "F-You" the morning of the Superbowl, and it never turned on again. I sent it to projectordoctor.com and they wanted over $600 to fix it, plus a mandatory exam fee and even a fee to upload the FREE firmware. What a frigging rip! Turns out I have a dead power supply. I began searching for the same parts to fix it myself. Fast forward several months (I started a company and have not had a spare moment to even watch a minute of TV/DVD, etc.) and I locate the power supply for $100. It arrived today and I opened the machine up, replaced the boards that I ordered, and I hook it all up again. It was really quite simple and straightforward. One issue though. Included with my parts is a board that I can't figure out where to put in this machine. It is marked with the brand name "Lexmark" and the invoice included with my order references just the "kit" I ordered. I'm stumped. So I decide to plug in the unit and test it. Three blinking red LEDs is the result, which translates to "Bulb Trouble" and all I get is a red light coming from the lens and no fans on the bulb or on the case of the unit. I tried the unit with a new bulb (# 3) and the existing bulb which is fairly new. So, now I get four red LEDs, which translates to "Fan Trouble" and of course everything got nice and toasty while I was praying for it to turn on. So to you technical experts, I pose these questions, did I fry something? Why just the red color coming from the lens and no picture? Why no fans? All the connections were super simple, easy to disconnect and reconnect and were one way connectors that could not be reversed. I purchased exactly what the repair center was going to use for the power supply. I just don't have enough technical knowledge of the electronics in these units, and paying $600 for a repair is more than the unit is worth now. On the other hand I HATE seeing this unit become a formerly expensive paperweight!!!!! If anyone knows a thing or two about the electronics please let me know. I may also hand the unit over to a local electronics repair facility and see what transpires. I'd love to have a second pj in the house or set it up for my in-laws or something. I can't just pitch it!

ARRRRRGHHHH!


Thoroughly pissed, I got online a minute ago and ordered a SP7200 refurb for $480 and no delivery fee. That's the price of a damn bulb just about anywhere! Wow!

Maybe you need to do a factory reset on the bulb, I'm about to order a replacement part for a dead SP5700 I have but I'm also about to bail on the whole project, I have $250 into it and have 3 bulbs 2 under 100 hours use and one at about 1500 and a dead SP5700 that will take minimum $100 more, so I'm at the point to ebay it all and call it a day. I'd be pissed if my PS arrived working but then the pj had some technical reset blockage in my way.

How do you perform the reset on the bulb? Maybe it's the firmware?

I saw the subject upgrade on the Infocus web site and it refers to 720 p 50 mh mode improvement. Exactly what does this mean?

John

How to remove dust blobs in sp5700? I looked at the dust blob removal guide for the 4805, but the 5700 is not the same. Anyone have any experience removing dust?

Just for everyone searching out there:

I have an INfocus 5700 which came with the house I purchased. Great projector, but I wanted HD output. I got the HDMI-MD1 adaptor online, got an HDMI cable, got the USB-MD1 cable, and bought a $199 blu-ray player (wal-mart). Downloaded the most recent firmware on the Infocus site (v 2.3) and updated the projector with it, then hooked up the blu-ray player. Now I get 720p awesome pictures! Granted, it isn't 1080p, but I really can't tell the difference, and this way, it only cost me about $350 total to make it 720p capable. Well worth it!

"How to make an Infocus 5700 HD ready"
"How to make an Infocus 5700 720p capable"
"How to get hi-def from your Infocus 5700"
"Hi-def playback Infocus 5700"
" How to make an Infocus 5700 play hi-def"
"Using a blu-ray player with your Infocus 5700"

April 2009

Hi Guys,
My Infocus 5700 is almost 6 years old. I just replaced the bulb about a month ago. I was impressed how nice the picture was again. Saying that, the SP8602 seems like a great replacement for it.

On the weekend I suffered the dreaded flicking /no power light that is a common problem to the 5700 and 72xx range. This is a known issue with a capacitor on the power supply board. Now the projector would not start up (always on the day vistors are coming over to watch a movie!). I ended up using a hair dryer to warm up the capacitors on the power board (through side of projector) and this was enough to get the projector started. While using a hair dryer to start the projector works, its not really along term solution Infocus wanted around $550 US to replace the power supply board.

I'm thinking great, now I have a excuse to get a SP8602 as its not worth repairing the 5700. So I contacted the Australian distributor and was told that the SP8602 would not be available in Australia until late September. I really didn't want to be without a projector for 6 weeks.

I'm lucky that the guy that sits next to me a work has a background in electrical engineering. So having nothing to lose we pulled the projector apart and removed the power supply board (this was a bit painful as its the deepest board inside the 5700). We replaced capacitor C16 (100uf 16v) on the power supply board. While the projector was apart I took the opportunity to clean the inside, fans etc... I was pleasently surprised when we put it all back together and it fired up first time! I've had no issues since.

I thought this post might help people who still have 5700's and 72xx out there.

Regards,
Stephen

Hi Guys,
My Infocus 5700 is almost 6 years old. I just replaced the bulb about a month ago. I was impressed how nice the picture was again. Saying that, the SP8602 seems like a great replacement for it.

On the weekend I suffered the dreaded flicking /no power light that is a common problem to the 5700 and 72xx range. This is a known issue with a capacitor on the power supply board. Now the projector would not start up (always on the day vistors are coming over to watch a movie!). I ended up using a hair dryer to warm up the capacitors on the power board (through side of projector) and this was enough to get the projector started. While using a hair dryer to start the projector works, its not really along term solution Infocus wanted around $550 US to replace the power supply board.

I'm thinking great, now I have a excuse to get a SP8602 as its not worth repairing the 5700. So I contacted the Australian distributor and was told that the SP8602 would not be available in Australia until late September. I really didn't want to be without a projector for 6 weeks.

I'm lucky that the guy that sits next to me a work has a background in electrical engineering. So having nothing to lose we pulled the projector apart and removed the power supply board (this was a bit painful as its the deepest board inside the 5700). We replaced capacitor C16 (100uf 16v) on the power supply board. While the projector was apart I took the opportunity to clean the inside, fans etc... I was pleasently surprised when we put it all back together and it fired up first time! I've had no issues since.

I thought this post might help people who still have 5700's and 72xx out there.

Regards,
Stephen
whmacs,
Thanks for the suggestions. I always assumed that heat was causing the capacitors to fail. Maybe I'll give it a try.
After the fourth breakdown a couple of months ago, my 5700 is destined for the trash heap. I won't pay for another repair (first by IF and twice by a third party). I would never buy another product from IF.
Can't afford a new pj now, so my Stewart Firehawk is just a nice expensive wall decoration.
rica

Hi.

Just trying to repair my 5700 and got stuck as there are no blueprints of the circuit board.

Does anyone know what are the capacities of the SMD capacitors in locations
C503,505,506,507,511,512,513,515?

Any help would be deeply appreciated!

TIA
Angelos

Hi.

Just trying to repair my 5700 and got stuck as there are no blueprints of the circuit board.

Does anyone know what are the capacities of the SMD capacitors in locations
C503,505,506,507,511,512,513,515?

Any help would be deeply appreciated!

TIA
Agos

Hi Agos,
Do these pictures help? Sorry I didn't take any photos when I had mine apart.

Infocus 5700 power supply (http://forum.eserviceinfo.com/viewtopic.php?p=160603)

Regards,
Stephen

I upgraded and now want to sell my 5700. It still works great. I have it listed currently on Ebay with no reserve. PM me if interested.