There seems to be a lot of interest in the InFocus 5700 based on the number of threads. (I'm sure the new reduced list price, and competitive street pricing has a lot to do with it.) I just bought an IF5700, and I know several other AVS members that have recently acquired one as well.

I'd like to use this thread as the "un-official" InFocus 5700 owner's thread. One place to discuss the projector, set-up, calibration, screens, tweaks, reviews, questions, etc.

This is a wonderful projector - and I hope we can all benefit from this forum and thread.

Let's get started...

OK...my first question.

When I power up the PJ it displays the picture and then starts to "flicker" or "strobe" for 10-15 seconds or so before the image stabilizes. Is this normal or should I be concerned? It never flickers after the PJ warms up.

What you are seeing is the bulb warming up and/or the colorwheel getting in sync with the DMD. My demo unit does this as well. Interestingly I have not seen the 7200 do this, but it seems to occur on most (if not all) the 5700s I have seen.

JOHN

Thanks John. I always appreciate your help.

I have a choice between the peerless and draper ceiling mounts. No difference in cost. I have someone coming out to wire up my theater room and he has given me the choice. Does anyone have an opinion on which is better?

Also - he is running power to my ceiling to connect the PJ. Should this be on a separate line back to the junction box or combo with the lights. Is a power conditioner on the line recommended (like Monster)?

Thanks.

Does anyone have an opinion on the difference between the peerless and draper ceiling mount?

I am not familiar with either of those mounts. I used the Infocus mount for my 5700 and am relatively pleased. I wish the adjustments were a little easier to make and the mount were a little tighter. Any touching of the cabling moves the projector. But, it is easy to realign.

Regarding the flicker...I don't notice anything. But, like others I have excessive (in my opinion) fan noise. 50db on a sound meter from 1 foot away.

I have learned to tune it out however and LOVE the picture from this projector.

Mit07,

Thanks for starting this thread. Our drywall is still being finished, but I setup the 5700 on its cardboard box connected to my laptop. I downloaded the hi res version of the Spiderman 2 trailer and projected it onto the soon to be screen wall. It was very exciting when we went to dinner the next night and my wife was talking all about with our friends. I wasn't sure what her complete reaction would be, but she is really excited about as well.

I will keep you guys posted in progress. Here is a link to my HT thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3410200#post3410200) over in HT Builder's Forum.

I’ve had my IF5700 for about four months. Really love the picture for both DVD and HDTV. I recently tried an ND Filter after reading a review by another AVS member that suggested the filter significantly improved blacks. While the filter does improve blacks, I’ve grown partial to the richness and brilliancy of colors on this projector achieved at the factory settings. Any black fanatics looking to enhance the blacks of this PJ, PM me. I have a slightly used (1 hr.) 67mm Ultra Thin Hoya Multicoated 2x ND filter that I will sell to an interested party for $25 plus shipping (about $3).

I´m really confused with DVI-I and DVI-D... I think my PC card has DVI-I output like most, does this work with the 5700 or does it have to be DVI-D.

Does it have to be a DVI-I to DVI-D cable with an plug that makes the DVI compatible for the Infocus input?

You need a DVI-D male to male cable and also a P&D(EVC) to DVI female adapter. You can get the P&D adapter(#41225) from Lindy.com as well as the DVI-D cable. Hope this helps


Regards,
Roger

What screens is everyone planning to use? After reading countless threads, corresponding with Angilasaurus, etc, there seems to be a wide variety in use by owners of this PJ. My theatre/family room won't be done for another month, but I've been projecting on some Dazian Celtic cloth I had for my now departed X1. Some say the 5700's bright, go with a gray screen, some say matte white, some are going with higher gain screens like dalite HCCV, Firehawk, etc. All I know is that the Celtic cloth is too thin and lets too much light through-and even then its awesome, even is ambient light.

Any input from those that already have theirs mounted?

And yes, I love this thing to-seems like so far that I've one of the quiet ones.

Robert

I'm glad you started this thread and I hope it continues. I just ordered my IF5700 a couple of days ago and am anxiously awaiting it's arrival.

Robert - I'm also undecided on a screen at this time. I was thinking of a Da-lite HCCV but the Da-Snap version is over $1000 - a bit pricey to me. I'm not much of a DIY type so my options are limited. I'm thinking of a Carada in the classic cinema white - 1.0 gain. MSRP is under $600 for a 104" diagonal with the pro-trim/felt border. Carada seems to get great reviews.

Originally posted by rlundy
What screens is everyone planning to use?

Robert

Hi Robert,
I'm using a matt white (gain 1.0) motorised screen from GrandView. This seems to be a good compromise between, brightness levels and blacks.
Here is a couple of pictures of my setup:

Room (http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~ddsmm/ht/room.jpg)
Screen (http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~ddsmm/ht/Screen.jpg)
Infocus 5700 (http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~ddsmm/ht/projector.jpg)
Projector again (http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~ddsmm/ht/projector2.jpg)

Equipment Rack (http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~ddsmm/ht/rack.jpg)

Here is a screen shot from the 5700:
Monster's INC Students (http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~ddsmm/ht/students.jpg)

cheers,
Stephen

Thanks for starting this topic! It will be a great resource.

JMA, I'm probably the one you were listening to when you tried the ND filter... of course, if you prefer the image without it, that's all that counts.

However, be aware that using the ND filter does not mean you have to sacrafice color saturation, shadow detail or anything else - the 5700's excellent user controls allows you to bring out every nuance of the image, filter or not.

Also, the filter does much more than improve blacks - it also brings down the brightness to a far more managable level. This is good for two reasons.

Ambient light: my living room is PITCH BLACK, which is what you want for the best possible image. However, the 5700 is SO bright, light bounces off the screen into every part of the room and creates ambient light everywhere! All this light then gets reflected back onto the screen and washes out your picture (to a greater or lesser extent based upon your viewing environment). And I'm not just being anal, I swear the light coming out of this thing is so strong the reflected light lit up my house like I turned all the lights on! Using the ND filter helps this enourmously.

Rainbows: For better or worse, I can see them. As I stated in my long review, I don't see a lot of RGB breakup, but the subtle strobing in high contrast scenes (such as candles in a dark room or streetlights at night) are not just distracting but have actually cause me eye strain! The super bright image makes this effect a lot worse. In cutting the light output, the ND filter reduces the rainbow effect to a very acceptable level.

I know there are people out there who just want the brightest possible image, and that's fine. I used to have all my TVs and computer monitors really bright until I learned about proper callibration. I remember when I callibrated my first TV, I thought the picture was suddeny way too dark... but within a day or two I got used to it and noticed how much crisper, sharper and more lifelike the picture was (not to mention how much longer the tube would last).

The same is true of the 5700. Out of the box, you'll be amazed how bright and snappy the image is. But (at least for me) after just a day I found it to simply be way too bright. After popping in the ND filter and recallibrating, I was suddenly in awe of the image. Colors, contrast and black levels are nearly at a CRT level (only the very darkest scenes show blacks as a dull grey... but it is VERY dull).

To each his own, yes... but I would recommend that anyone who owns a 5700 (and probably a 7200) who wants the best possible picture should try it.

As far as screens go, I have a very basic Draper white 1.1 gain. The shop I saw the projector demoed in was using a Firehawk grey, and it did help the blacks considerably.

If you're the kind of person who wants the brightest possible picture, then certainly a white screen with high gain is the answer. If you're anal about the BEST possibly picture and the best black level possible is your goal, get the lowest gain grey screen you can find.

TRUST ME, the 5700 is super bright, no screen is going to make the image look too dark!

And folks, beware of screen shots - I agree they're cool to look at, but they in no way represent what you're actually going to see. The apeture of the camera, exposure time, etc, create a look all of it's own.

I'll see if I can take some pics that reflect what I see (as far as black levels go) with and without the ND filter.

Hello folks

I though I would post this question here. I am wondering what DVD player that you guys are using for the 5700 and the type of connections you are using component versus DVI ? I am ready to pull the switch on buying a 5700 but I am not sure what to do about the DVD player? Do I use a D1 or D2 when available or do I buck up for a Denon 5900. Any Suggestions?

Regards

I'm using a high end Sony player with component. It's waaayyy too far away from the projector to even think about DVI.

I wonder what an A/B comparison between DVI and component would show. Is there that great a difference?

5700 AND PAL: A PERFECT MATCH!

So I did the big experiment tonight... the theory was that a PAL DVD signal would provide a better picture than NTSC, since the 5700 is designed exactly to PAL specs (1024x576).

NTSC DVDs have a res of 480 lines, which is why if you watch a DVD in 'native' mode on the 5700, you'll see the image slightly letterboxed into the center of the screen. realistically speaking, if you're watching an NTSC DVD on the 5700, there are an extra 100 lines of resolution going unused. When you switch to 16:9, the projector recognizes the NTSC signal and rescales it to fill the full 576 and THEN stretches it out horizontally.

However, if you feed the projector a 576 line PAL DVD, it will take advantage of the 5700's full resolution and require no vertical scaling, thus giving you an image (in theory) that's 20% sharper and free of any (even if it's minimal) scaling artifacts.

So I did this tonight - and the results were impressive.

I've had a halfway decent chinese DVD player (Sampo brand) as a backup player for a while now, mainly so I could play region 2 discs (these asian players (such as Apex and many others) are easily hackable to disable region coding). Many of these players also output PAL as well as NTSC and convert between the two. Usually I just leave it to output NTSC, but tonight I hooked it up to the projector and had it spit out a native PAL signal from a British DVD.

The 5700 quickly recognized the PAL signal and displayed it flawlessly. It was cool to see the image fill the screen vertically, even in native mode!

I switched it to 16:9 and WOW! I watched the movie (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) for a good half hour and was stunned at the quality. The picture was noticably cleaner and sharper. It was like a slightly soft focus had existed on all other material I had watched.

Keep in mind that 20% extra resolution is the same as the difference between an anamorphic and letterbox-only DVD. We all know how 'fuzzy' non anamorphic discs look, right? Well imagine getting nearly the same bump in quality as stepping up to anamorphic!

So, basically, if you want to get the absolute best picture out of the 5700, find yourself an import DVD player for a few hundred bucks (or even less) that can output PAL and buy a few movies from overseas.

Of course, it means you won't be able to take those discs over to a friend's house and they will be useless on any other DVD player in the USA, but the picture you will enjoy at home will be outstanding.

For a few select movies (such as the Rings trilogy, Star Wars, etc) it's going to be worth it!

Wouldn't the Bravo D1 using custom resolution settings accomplish the same results while allowing one to use NTSC dvd's?

Mojo,

Have you noticed the temporal dithering with PAL DVD´s?

MOJO_LA,

I don't disagree with your assessment of the effect the ND filter has on the image of the IF5700 for DVD material. While I tend to prefer the brighter picture obtained without the ND Filter, I could easly get accustomed to the ND corrected picture for DVD material. With the filter in place, there is no question that Blacks are significantly enhanced. As a matter of fact, with the filter in place the image of the IF5700 is very close in contrast, brightness and color saturation to that of the RUNCO 710. The vibrancy of the picture for HDTV material is, however, IMO, significantly compromised with the HD filter. While the IF5700 is a very bright projector, even in the low lamp mode, I control for this in my HT by leaving my wall sconce lights on at a very dimmed light level.

With regard to the image quality difference between component and DVI-D, I have A/B tested the difference for HDTV using a Samsung T-351 HD receiver. My component cable is a high quality Monster cable (well at least high priced) and the DVI-D cable is the Infocus SP-1M-10m. Both are 10 meter cables. Neither I or a friend could detect any difference in picture quality.

JMA - what screen are you using - size/material?

JMA,

Just wondering if you have the True Life option on or off when you are watching HDTV?

After several tests I prefer watching HDTV with True-life turned off. I found the picture too dark and lacking in sharpness with True-life engaged. You may find that with True-Life off HDTV with the ND filter would be perfect.

Tim.

I guess since I'm a 5700 owner I'll add some info about my setup as well.

I have my PJ ceiling mounted in a completely light controlled basement. I sit approx 14 feet from the screen.

I was concerned about the brightness of the 5700 as well so I went with the Da-Lite High Contrast Da-Mat. While I am impressed with the image this screen provides I have several hot spots and zebra lines on my screen that are beyond anoying. Watching an HDTV hockey game with the light coloured ice is brutal. I can clearly see lines and shiny hot spot in relation to where I sit.

My first HCDM has the same problems and Da-Lite sent me a new fabric wihout any trouble at all. The new fabric displays the same problems and I am in the process of geting another one shipped to me right now.

I am starting to wonder if the problem is the screen or just the overall brightness of the PJ coupled to the fact that it is ceiling mounted. The hot spot is right accross the top of the screen and will appear in relation to where I sit. My normal viewing angle is right of middle. This causes the hot spot and zebra lines to appear in the upper right hand section of the screen. If I move to the middle they appear in the middle. If I stand up or move far off to the side all the problems go away.

As the HCDM is such a low gain (.8) I am worried that if I can't get a screen to look right I am in trouble.

P.S The biggest thing the 5700 has done for me is ruined me for DVD movies. I find I watch sooo much HDTV I don't have time or care to watch that many movies anymore.

Tim.


Tim.

Ipaqy: I don't know if a Bravo D1 would work the same as using PAL since I have no idea what a Bravo D1 is!

Although I'm not sure what any piece of hardware can do to make a 480 line source look as good as a 576 line source... I do understand line doublers and interpolators, but I think anyone would agree starting with more resolution is always better. Especially when the resolution of the source is an exact match for the resolution of the display device.

Another good point someone brought up is that when displaying PAL material at 25fps, there is no 3:2 pulldown being introduced! That means smoother motion... no more jerky camera pans!

Someone asked about PAL temporal dithering... please explain!

All I can say is that the image was better in several ways. I definitely plan to get a PAL dvd of a movie I already have and try an A/B.

PAL doesn´t have 3:2 pulldown jerkiness, and neither does NTSC with 48hz mode. But with either the temporal dithering is much worse, so with NTSC one has a choice of jerky motion and less motion dithering, or smooth motion and less dithering, with PAL you are stuck with dithering.

I actually think the dithering is the worst artifact, so I would probably choose 3:2 jerkiness, but would I choose it over PAL resolution, that I don´t know.

I am also about to order the 5700 after I finally view the Infocus 7200 with a particular screen combination that the retailer has recommended (a Da-Lite HCCV with a 1.1 gain). My final problem is the offset. My original plan was to place the projector on a back shelf (on a bookcase close to the ceiling and rear wall) which would place the system about 20 feet from the screen. Infocus recommends about a .33 offset (the screen should be below a point parallel to the lens by about .33 of the height of the screen). For example. If the lens is 10 inches below the ceiling, the top of the screen should be ten inches plus 18 inches (assuming a screen height of 54" for an 8 foot wide screen with 16 by 9 ratio). As my ceilings are 8 foot (96 inches) the top of my screen will be 28 inches below the ceiling while the bottom will be only 14 inches from the floor, not giving me enough room for a low table and our 31 inch TV.

Using the adjustable legs on the projector, raising the top part of the inch to let's say 10 inches below the ceiling, how much distortion (keystone) will there be?

John

Mit07,

I am projecting on a 119" DaLite Da-Snap matte white screen. Projector is ceiling mounted @ approximately the 21.5' mark. Seating is right under the projector @ about the 20' foot mark.

Note: If I had to do it all over I would have made the screen using Parkland Plastic. I have made two of these screens for friends and find that there is very little difference in the image projected on the DaLite matte white screen vs the Parkland Plastic. If the DaLite is a 1.1 gain, I would estimate the Parkland to be 1.0 gain for on axis viewing. Off axis, there is "0" difference in the image projected on the ParkLand and the DaLite screen.

The other advantage with making a screen for this projector is that the screen could be tailored to the projected image. I find that the my IF5700 has about a 1" over shoot on the left and right sides when the vertical image is within the top and bottem mask. This may, however, be unique to my set-up as I have Keystone set to 54 to correct for the angle of projector tilt.

JefNY

The projector must be placed upside down if you are placing it above the screen. This means it needs to be mounted on the bookshelf using a ceiling mount, and you would not be using the legs at all!

Imis,

I'll check this evening and post my HDTV settings. I know that the HD settings are different than that used for DVD viewing so I will see if "True Life" is ON or Off. I believe the projector automatically adjust the settings based on the source signal HD vs 480 and/or input source DVI vs Component. I know the setting are different and I don't recall making the adjustments. Also, the adjustment increments associated with contrast, brightness ... appear to be different for each signal source.

With regard to the quality of HD on this projector, I completely agree with your comment. This projector will spoil you. DVD looks great until you view a live HD broadcast. Several friends commented during the NFL play-offs that the picture looked 3-D. And this was early in the evening before the effects of multiple drinks set in.

Hi there,

Does the back fan on this projector spin? I notice the one near the front does...but if you place your hand near the back one there is no air coming out.....is this normal, or defect? Secondly is it normal to hear a very faint chirping sound? It is very faint but it is audible......anyway, let me know what info you guys have.....
Thank You

Krasmuzik::

I would prefer the screen to be a little higher than the projector. If I place the projector on a board on my bookcase at the back of the room it is about 12 inches below the ceiling. The screen can but up against the ceiling. I will look at the Infocus site and review the offset info again. I will also discuss the matter with the dealer and see what I can work out.

John

I picked up a 5700 yesterday and after 6 hours of testing I can conclude that this projector is awesome.

Here are some of my observations:

Thanks to the extra brightness, you can easily achieve a 106" image on econo mode and still have room to add a nd2 filter.

The colours are excellent out of the box. For dvd's, I did not like the trulife setting, I left if alone and used the film2 gamma. Colors at 50 look great, contrast and brightness can be bumped up a notch.

The resolution is great for HD. It's hard to see any pixelization unlike an 800x600 res projector. Switching between the dvd version and HD version of Coral Reef adventures really shows you what a difference there is in technology.

I highly recommend going with a light grey screen. On a matt white screen, the blacks do look grey and rainbows are visible thanks to the high lumen output. I'd also suggest staying away from anything that boosts the brightness, it will probably only increase rainbow sensitivity.

There are tons of adjustments available in the menu. I didn't even bother with most of them since the picture looked so good already, but for picky people this projector offers lots of options.

You will probably never need to worry about enough connections on the back. DVI wHDCP is a real relief to have, never need to worry about limitations in the future. 2 component and 2 s-video in case you have to go that way.

Very quiet. Hopefully I won't hear this color wheel noise in the future, but for now it's silent.

I pretty much have no complaints. I've seen many other projectors over the years and for what you pay, this thing is an outstanding deal. I think any bad press this pj has had on this forum is due to poor setup at a showroom.

I also have to highly recommend the dealers I purchased this from here in Vancouver, they've gone way out of their way to make sure we are happy. If anyone wants their name PM me.

Try the excel calculator on this page - it includes projector tilt.

5700 Support site (http://www.infocus.com/service/sp5700/index.asp?site_lang=1&site_region=1&)

You will have to mask the edges - this means a screen that has dark velvet tape on the frame to soak up the light spill. Or another option is to use the digital keystoning - but this reduces resolution - see what it does to the Avia test DVD resolution patterns.

That is the tradeoff for getting the screen as high as you want it.

My point about not putting the projector on a shelf upside down - the projector has it's control buttons on top. Better off to get a mount and hang it from the ceiling, and fix any tilt needed. Otherwise you may find the menu constantly on, and redoing alignment when it gets bumped.

Tino - good post - but what screen are you using...?

Unfortunately, my only choice is to let the projector sit upside down on a small shelf at the back of my room.... I live in a loft and the ceiling is way too high to mount. The shelf is pretty much at the same height as the top of my screen, so no keystone adjustment is needed.

The controls ARE on the top, but anything I need can be accessed from the remote, as far as I can tell.

The only think I don't like about my setup is if I need to adjust connection or pretty much anything on the projector, since it's just sitting like an upside down turtle it's very easy to bump and move out of alignment.

It would be great if there was some sort of bracket or mount I could rest it in!

Can someone help me understand a few of the modes the 5700 has? The manual doesn't really go into any detail...

TRUE LIFE: What exactly do the true life setting do and when should they be used? What is the practical upshot of turning them on? Are they simply sharpness settings? Should they be turned DOWN in the same way that callibration guides usually suggest lowering sharpness on standard sets?

FILM MODES: I know what 3:2 pulldown is, but when should these setting be used on the projector? I thought the DVD player introduces 3:2 pulldown for DVDs that are stored in 24 frame format. Should I just leave 3:2 on for movies and switch to 2:2 mode for TV shows? What about DVDs of TV shows and video, should that always be viewed in 2:2 mode? Will I really see any visual diffrerence between these modes?

What should I set it for if watching 25 fps PAL?

NTSC 48Hz: The manual doesn't even say what this is!

NOISE REDUCTION: What KIND of noise is this supposed to be reducing? MPG artifacts? Static? Noise introduced by the projector? I have no idea. Has anyone played with this and found it to be good or bad?

If anyone has a solid understanding of any of these modes, please educate me and anyone else who will be reading this thread in the months to come :-)

Keyser: What exactly is temporal dithering? Does it have something to do with going from 24fps to 30?

I would have thought PAL would have less dithering since it's only a difference between 24 and 25fps. But of course I have no idea what it is so how would I know??

IMIS,

I checked my settings for HDTV this evening. "True Life" is not an available option under the Advanced Menu when you feed a 1080i signal via DVI-D to the IF5700. Here are my HD settings:

Keystone = 100
Contrast = 56
Brightness = 54
Gamma = Film 2

Under the Advanced Menu
Color temp = 6500K
Color Space = Auto

Note, "Color Space" appears in place of "True Life", which shows up when viewing DVD 480i via component cable.

The infocus mount (OEM'd from Premier Mounts) has a flexible arm that allows a wall mount. The advantage of mounts is you can usually thumbscrew off the projector as needed - without changing your tilt.

The projector top is also slightly rounded - it is not flat. Upside down turtle is right! Temporarily you could use the styrofoam wedges that come in the packing box to "cradle' it - very low WAF though!

TrueLife menu is controlling the Faroudja Deinterlacer chip which is why it only works on 480i source. As to the various options - somebody get Bob Williams in this thread - surely he can give the engineers explanation!

JefNY,

unless you have absorbant black cloth on the ceiling - do not recommend butting up the screen to it! Especially with the 5700 being so bright - you will have nothing but an annoying white glare on the ceiling, which contributes to worse ANSI contrast.

Originally posted by krasmuzik
Temporarily you could use the styrofoam wedges that come in the packing box to "cradle' it - very low WAF though!

If you do this, be sure that you aren't blocking any of the fans. I'm sure InFocus wouldn't recommend it :)

Krasmuzik,

Tru-Life can be turned on with 1080i but only when it's fed into the PJ via component.

As I just learned from JMA's settings, Tru-Life is not an available option if your feeding HD via DVI. I feed HD into my 5700 via component and can turn Tru-Life off or on. If you feed a composite, or svideo, or 480i component signal Tru-Life is automatically on and cannot be turned off.

I remember reading a thread that talked about Tru-Life being the Faroudja de-interlacer and Pixelworks being the other (the one being used when Tru-Life is off)

Hopefully Bob can confirm this.

Tim.

I finally got off the fence and ordered a screen today....

Da-lite Perm Wall, HCCV, 106" diagonal, 52"x92"

The pieces are starting to come together.:cool:

Has anyone else noticed a slightly green tint to their image? I brought this up in another thread but thought I should mention it here.

After a few days of use I definitely saw a green cast. Using the advanced color controls, I took down the green bias and offset to around 42 each and it made a big difference.

I actually put my screen and a callibrated 27" TV side by side and tweaked the projector until they matched saturation, tint and level of shadow detail.

I was quite surprised how closely I got them (within 10% of each other easily) since I just assumed a tube would always be more accurate than a projector...

I would highly recommend this method of tweaking to anyone! Test patterns are great, but comparing the 5700's output to a display that you know and trust with real-world material is a great way 'to be sure.'

I suspect if there was a green tint it would be most noticeable in skin tones. Skin tones on my unit appear virtually perfect.

Krasmuzik:

Thanks for the responses. Though my ceiling is not black velvet I actually painted it dark green (flat) . I figure I can lower it about 10 inches from the ceiling which should give me enough space at the bottom of my screen for my TV and components on a low stand.

I am scheduled to see a setup of the 7200 with a particular screen (Da-Lite HCCV) to finalize the projector screen combination. I expect to order my 5700 Friday or the following Monday along with a screen and component cables.

I plan to have a Lord of the Rings marathon party in May when the return of the king comes out and I can show all three films on my new 5700.

John

mojo_LA,
I doubt your 27" TV was ISF calibrated - as that would cost as much as the TV. More than likely you have become used to the blue cast of the TV. When you go outside and look in the window when the TV is on - do your walls look like they have a blue light shining on it?

Try watching the projector without adjusting it for two weeks. Use the 6500K preset and film2 without going back to the TV as a reference. Then watch the TV and you will be amazed how bad it (the TV) looks. You can save the settings you have now if you still prefer it after this experiment. My experience is that if you adjust away from the 6500K/RGB defaults - the contrast of the projector is lowered and posterization increases.

An ISF calibration sets your monitor (TV, projector) up so that the greys it produces are the same as the DVD mastering monitor. The SP5700 is preset to the factory very close to this. Unlike your CRT the adjustments are being done digitally so only minor changes should be done. Skin tones and grey clouds are the best for comparing because you have a natural reference. It may be that your CRT is not matching nature - but your eye/brain has adapted.

Of course my TV was not ISF callibrated... however I have worked in video and computer graphics all my life, so I have a pretty decent eye and know what things should look like.

I would love to have left the 5700 the way it is, but as I stated many times, it was absolutely green. No question. Not different from what I was used to, not that my TV was too blue or red, the 5700 was GREEN. I had no choice but to adjust it. The best reference I had was the picture from my 27" which I have tuned to the best of my ability and am very happy with.

On top of that, I felt an ND filter was a necessity, so that automatically throws the factory presets out the window. Adjustment was needed.

The 5700 now has whites that look white and I have struck a very good balance between a deep black level and visible shadow detail.

Bars look good, flesh tones look good.

If all this were true out of the box with an ND filter in place, trust me - I would have prefered NOT to touch it!

However, in a few months I will probably send it in for service. It's been about a week now and I am beginning to hear the infamous high pitched whine of the color wheel. Between that and the green hue, I feel justifyed sending it in.

Still, I'm going to wait a few months and let the 5700 really settle down and see if anything else crops up.

Oh, it's interesting to note that in the troubleshooting guide of the manual, it specifically addresses what to do if you're using component inputs and the picture looks green. It suggests going to the 'color space' menu and manually selecting component input. Unfortunately, this option is only available if you're watching HDTV, not DVD!

Hi all,

I have been using the 5700 for over two months and have been delighted by it's performance. I have a couple of issues that may be symptomatic of DLP or something else!

I am using an A11 (5900 US) for source connected by DVI (used to be component but same problems existed) :

On fast pans whereby say a building's vertical edge moves from one side of the screen to the other, while the movement is uniform it jumps in a jerky manner. If the the movement is slow, this is barely noticeable. Is this becase with only 24fps, the position of the vertical edge is moving at a ratio of width-of-screen/frames (in my case 60" width so each frame 2'5" if it takes 1 second to pan the screen?).

Also movement related, there appears to be a slight halo effect on the edges of anything that moves at a certain speed. This can blur the detail of faces, straight edges (doors closing) etc etc.

Using DVI most picture enhancements are disabled on the PJ and all is set to default on the Denon. As previously stated, these issues were noticeable by component also.

Many thanks for any help or similar experiences to lay my fears to rest.

Mojo - as the saying goes...whatever looks best to you is what is important.

FWIW, I have a 55" Mitsu 16:9 RPTV that was professionally calibrated by an ISF tech (Gregg Loewen). In fact, his calibration went far beyond a "typical" ISF calibration and included work on overscan, geometry, convergence, focus, optics, color decoder, lens striping, etc. The picture post calibration is stunning - the best I have seen on a RPTV.

I heard the IF5700 was pretty well calibrated from the factory - but I honestly didn't think it would be nearly as good as it is. The colors and flesh tones from the 5700 look spot on compared to my Mitsu. I checked with AVIA and the only change I made was turning the brightness down to 47. It's also nice to notice that geometry is perfect on a single chip FP.

The IF5700 continues to amaze me. Plus I now have 106" vs 55":D

I've comitted to an IF5700, just waiting from my room to be completed before taking delivery. I am very sensitive to color and have had past televisions professionally calibrated by Louis Carlsiner, but now do that function myself using a Minolta chroma-meter that I have availability to through work.

First let me say that you can't calibrate color, just by going by what looks best to you. You'll never get it right that way. You need to use the specialized gray scale test patterns in AVIA or AVE and a measuring device.

Also, just calibrating to 6500K on its own is insufficient. You can have a display calibrated to 6500K which is still way to green. You need to target specific values of the color space (x = 0.313, y =0.329) and try and get those correct across the range of IRE values. This will give you D6500K as opposed to just 6500K.

Finally when calibrating front projectors it is best to calibrate the projector screen combination by measuring the light being reflected off the screen. Even if the IF5700 is dialed in to D6500K at the factory the screen may impose a color shift on its own which need to be compensated for at the projector.

Kurt

Infocus markets the 5700 as D65 - but I question that as a dealer that does calibration. It is usually very accurate for 6500K across the grey scale, but RGB is usually a few notches off to get D65. Yes indeed 6500K can be green or magenta w.rt. D65. Most people cannot tell that it is slightly off D65. I have yet to see any units with green 8 clicks off though!

We are still very impressed after two months with our 5700. Mounted 17 feet back, light controlled room, and using a carada 110" 1.3 gain screen. The wife is very insistent about having a bright image that is why are using this combination. I brought the carada screen over the firehawk mainly because of price. I see no difference in PQ or quality of the screen.

The 5700 is defiantly the correct choice for us. At first we were using the 931 dvd player, but returned it because of its problems. However the PQ from the 931 was assolutely stunning!

Now waiting for the bravo d2 to released.

After reading the various reviews and shoot-outs including this model I think it's the model for me but I have one question. I'm going to be mounting a projector 15 feet away from the screen, about 14 feet from the prime viewing area, and the screen (16:9) is only going to be about 68' long and 78' diag in a room where I can NOT get rid of all the light in the day time. One of the main reasons why I wanted this model is the brightness and I think it will help with that.

People claim the screen door effect is not as bad in the 7200, but since I'm not going for such a large screen will the screen door effect be the same? I'm not sure if it even relates to the distance or the size of screen, or if it doesn't matter..

Thanks for your help.

Matt, you should be fine. That small of a screen will be incredibly bright. And according to my calculations, you will be 2.5x width away from the screen. You will not see screendoor at that distance, unless you use binoculars :)

I have a strong feeling my 5700 is defective, since as everyone points out, the thing comes shipped from the factory looking good. That's what I had read before I bought it, too.

Even though I am happy with the picture after tweaking, obviously I am concerned that it was so green I had to mess with it.

I'm tempted to send it back right away, but with a 2 year warranty, I still would rather wait a while longer and see what else crops up.

Out of curiosity, what version of the firmware is everyone running? I've got 1.7.

The best picture I've seen from DVD so far:

So i've been playing with PAL discs ever since I figured out I could watch them on the 5700 and use the full resolution of the machine. I definitely noticed a bump in resolution and smoothness, thanks to the extra 100 lines of res and the lack of 3:2 pulldown being introduced.

But last night I watched a disc that just kicked the crap out of everything.

The PAL DVD of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."

Years ago a friend bought this DVD while in Europe and only realized when he got home that he couldn't play it on his machine. He knew I could play PAL, so he gave it to me. This isn't a title I had any interest in but hey, a free DVD is a free DVD.

Last night I popped it in just because I had it and it was PAL...

OH MY GOD!

This is absolutely the best, cleanest, clearest, sharpest, most color-rich image I have ever seen.

THIS is now my demo disc of choice. It may be a musical starring Donny Osmund (sheesh) but the picture on this thing is simply astounding.

I don't know why it looks better than the other PAL discs (better transfer, meant for direct to video, maybe the others came from an NTSC source, I don't know) but it nearly looks HD.

This absolutely shows the benefit of an extra 20% resolution and matching the resolution of the display 1:1. Try this at home: If you pop in an NTSC DVD and select "native" mode on the 5700, see the black bars at the top and bottom? That is all the resolution you are NOT using. It's just sitting there, going to waste. The 5700 upscales the 480 image to match it's internal 576 resolution and introduces scaling artifacts. I'm sure they're minor, but, for example, we all know how LCD screens look when you choose a resolution other than it's native one...

When you view a PAL source, in native mode you see the image fill the screen from top to bottom. It's a 1:1 pixel match.

And it shows. This disc is so lifelike and sharp I was in awe.

And the COLOR! Obviously a movie like this is suppsoed to be very colorful, and nothing shows off how good the color reproduction is of the 5700 more than this title. It reminded me of old technicolor!

As crazy as it sounds, it is ABSOLUTELY worth spending $150 or so on a DVD player that can output PAL and buying this disc. It's THAT much better than anything else I have seen.

Mojo,

why not do what alot of other people are doing and buy a Bravo D1 dvd player or the upcoming D2. You can set the player to output NTSC discs at 1024x576 so the SP5700 can use its full resolution. I believe Innova has the proper custom resolution setting for the Bravo/SP5700 combo.

While I am sure the Bravo would do an excellent job at upscaling an NTSC DVD to 576, can it possibly look as good as a PAL DVD which actually comes with the extra resolution?

Maybe if it had a line interprelator it would be close, but I'd guess a DVD player like that would be very expensive!

Mojo,

Check out some of Innova's screen shots of the Bravo D1/SP5700 combo--you'll see just how GOOD it can look!! Just do a post search under his user name.

Screenshot thread. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=356371&highlight=5700)

Bravo D1 Settings. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2872797&highlight=custom#post2872797)

I've seen the screenshots and of course they look great... but come on guys, we all know that screen shots of a projector image are NOT a fair representation of what you would actually see while there.

Yes, they offer a suggestion of how good the image is, but the difference in the image projected between 2 DVD players is going to be subtle at best and I doubt that difference would reveal itself in screen shots.

I would very much like to see, in person, how the upconverted signal from the Bravo looks compared to a PAL DVD of the same movie.

For $250, I still have a very hard time believing that a DVD player is going to rescale an image that look as good as adding an extra 100 lines of resolution!!

However, back to the Bravo topic, I will say that having a DVD player that sends everything out at 576 sounds like a good idea.

I am absolutely sure that one of the reasons the PAL discs look so good is not just the extra 100 lines, but the fact that it is a 1:1 pixel match for the projector's resolution.

I think the lack of scaling artifacts as the projector upscales the image from 480 to 576 is why I don't see ANY hint of screen door effect when watching PAL DVD... I have sometimes seen in with NTSC.

When the 5700 upscales that 480 image, it obviously has to stretch parts of the DVD image over multiple projector pixels, resulting is artifacts that probably make the pixel structure of the projector more obvious.

The 1:1 match with PAL provides an image that is simple smoother and more elegant... it really looks a lot more like film, mainly because I can't see ANY evidence of pixel or video structure in the image.

Last night I watched an anamorphic PAL DVD of The Office, a recent production that was PAL all the way through and mastered using the latest technology.. and the picture was simply astounding. Absolutely as good a bump in quality as going from a letterbox-only image to an anamorphic one.

I think you're finally catching on. The 1:1 pixel mapping makes a signifcant difference in pq quality with fewer artifacts. Fine details are more easily seen and smearing due to motion is much less pronounced. Bottom line--get a dvd player that allows for custom resolution output to take FULL advantage of the Matterhorn's more limited resolution potential!!

MojoLA,

you have a point - upscaling 720x480 DVD to 1024x576 native does cause scaling artificats - easily seen in AVIA DVDs resolution test. So even if you have a 1:1 pixel mapped digital source (HTPC or Bravo) you can still have scaling errors!

The reality is that even DVD cannot ever be scaled perfectly all the time. 480P can be upscaled to 720P better than 576P - but 1024x or 1280x do not match 720x! So horizontal scaling will always occur.

Still looks mighty fine though!

I will agree with all that is said above. Native Pal (1024x576) is better than NTSC upscaled to 1024x576. BUT, NTSC upscaled to the native resolution by the Bravo D1 (or anything else) is better than a 480p signal.

Also screenshots are not perfect (as I say in my screenshot post). But I will say, that the projector looks awesome, and those pictures are the best reproduction of the picture that I have.

I agree, the Bravo sounds good! But one question - does it output PAL?

Three DVD players in my living room would start to get ridiculous :-)

As I step ever closer to my purchase of a 5700 (still awaiting a dealer arrangement to see another customer's setup to finalize my screen selection) I am now considering a replacement for my old Toshiba DVD player and have been investigating the Bravo D1. Though, according to what I read, it provides the best picture through DVI the player seems to have other problems that might be solved with the D2. Any availability date on the Bravo D2? Otherwise I might have to buy a 30 foot component cable to use in the meantime and then buy the approriate cable for the Bravo to use DVI.

John

In reference to my question on the availability of he D2 I believe that should be D3. Oops.

John

Does anyone know what the 48Khz mode is?

When should it be used?

Also, when I switch the 2:3 pulldown mode on and off during a movie, I see no difference at all in the picture or the motion. When should it be used and what exactly does it do? I thought the DVD players themselves introduced the 2:3 pulldown on DVDs that are encoded at 24 fps?

What gives? Does no one out there OWN a 5700?? I would have thought it was more popular than the 7200 given the price, yet THAT thread seems pretty busy!

I think all the 5700 owners are sitting in front of their movie screens, not their computer screens :)

No news is good news!

Those controls in the TrueLife menu control the Faroudja chip - really need somebody like Bob Williams from Infocus to give the goods on what they do - otherwise we are just guessing based on their name. Rumour has it that he just got married which explains his absence on the forum....

if you have a DVD player that outputs a progressive signal (480P) then yes the DVD player is responsible. But you should also try to see if the interlaced signal (480i) looks better - all depends who was what Faroudja deinterlacer implementation and how much control they give over it.

A few new very positive 5700 reviews if anyone is interested...

http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/reviews/20040302/DLP_projector_review.html

http://www.audioenz.co.nz/2004/infocus-screenplay_5700.shtml

Speaking of reviews, has anyone seen the negative review of the 5700 in The Perfect Vision--I'm surprised this has not come up yet? In any case, have any of you experienced the problems noted in the review (noticable posterization, motion artifacts in horizontal pans)? I'm still trying to decide between the 5700 and the VPL HS20, and this negative review has pushed me in the direction of the Sony.

Can you provide a link for the negative review?

I have not seen any posterization. On some DVDs, this is a problem with poor mpeg compression itself and the projector is not to blame. If someone was watching a DVD on a new projector, looking for faults in the projector, it stands to reason they might confuse a poorly mastered DVD for an issue with the projector.

The same holds true for seeing 'motion artifatcs.' I have not seen anything of the sort.

My friend has the Sony so I have been able to watch both... they both have bright, snappy pictures... but the 5700 wins hands down for black level and contrast. In addition, while bright and clean, I would say the Sony has slightly 'cartoony' colors, while the 5x color wheel of the Infocus continues to amaze me with it's accuracy and ability to display very subtle differences in color. The 5700 is definitely more film-like.

However, the Sony is cheaper!

My IF 5700 has dead pixels and infocus tells me they do not have a no dead pixel policy. I have only had the 5700 for one week. I may have to pull some strings to get this fixed.

Anyone else having problems?

Regards,
Henry

I didn't know DLPs could have dead pixels!

Many places have 30 (or at least 14 day) no questions-asked, money back guarantees.

Did you buy it from a place like that?

I could have saved a few hundred bucks buying mine online, but when I'm spending 4 grand on a projector, the ability to bring it back right away 'just in case' is invaluable.

My friend has an Infocus and has always had good things to say about their customer support. If you can't return it to the point of purchase, hit up Infocus a little more. They might appease you if you make enough noise!

Henry,

did you double check it is not the screen? I thought the same with my first 5700 - then realized it was so bright that it was actually a FireHawk sparkle hitting me in the eye. Plus it was so bright I realized I had a nail hole dead center of my screen - sort of a sigh of relief when I realized it was not the projector - then a DAMN my screen has a hole in it!

Didn't Bob Williams post that he fought for a no dead pixel policy for the 7200?

Good luck pulling your string!

Hi Henry,
I'm in Australia and deal with a distributor (International Dynamics), not Infocus directly, so my circumstances may be a little different. I had had my 5700 for 3 months when it developed a dead pixel. I rang my dealer (Audio Junction) about it and they spoke to the distributor on my behalf. Within a week my dealer came out to my home and installed a brand new 5700 and took the unit with the dead pixel away. Needless to say I was very impressed with the customer service I received!

cheers,
Stephen

Originally posted by Gorgewinds
My IF 5700 has dead pixels and infocus tells me they do not have a no dead pixel policy. I have only had the 5700 for one week. I may have to pull some strings to get this fixed.

Anyone else having problems?

Regards,
Henry

I don't have a link to the review in TPV, I bought the magazine. Although I didn't mention it in my last post, the reviewer said the HS10 had comperable blacks, contrast, pixel structure, and brightness (he hadn't reviewed the HS20 yet) -- and didn't show the same motion artifiacts when viewing the same DVD. Given other reviews (e.g., projectorcentral) and what you are all saying, I suspect perhaps the reviewer had a defective unit? Has anyone out there compared a 5700 to an HS10 or HS20 in person?

Has this reviewer ever reviewed a DLP before? The DLP technology does have these problems in general in comparison to LCD, but each generation has made tremendous improvements. If you want to see motion artificats - check out Infocus first HT projector the LS110 or any other first generation model.

I prefer to read reviews that compare DLP to other DLP to see where it stands in the pack.

I compared the 5700 (and 7200) to a Sanyo PLV-70 (actually a Studio Experience 20HD) back in October at a projector shootout. For anyone not familiar, the SE 20HD/Sanyo PLV-70 is an LCD projector with the same 1368 x 768 panels as the Sony HS10/20. You can read what all kinds of different people thought here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=311193

BTW, folks, I am now officially aligned with AVS and am now able to offer my products and services here. Just check out my sig!

JOHN

My Infocus 5700 is coming in tomorrow but the screen will take several more days. I already have a white sheet on the wall that matches the 106" diagonal of the Da-Lite HCCV screen size that I ordered. The dealer will be maing up cabling for me. My choice is to place my DVD player by the projector and run a 40 foot 75 ohm coaxial cable to the amp or keep the DVD by the amp and run 40 foot component cables. Because the dealer is making up the connections himself using bulk rolls he promises a good price thoug I don't have an estimate yet. I do plan to purchase the Bravo D3 when it comes out and use DVI.

When I get the equipment in I plan to keep a diary and will share my impressions with everyone. Can't wait!!

John

PS-has anyone got the extended warranty on the Infocus 5700 (two additional years)?

I do not know many other companies that stand behind their product like InFocus does. So far an A+ hands down, I will report my progress on replacement time.

Direct reply about my one dead pixel problem from InFocus:

"Hello Henry,

We would be willing to cover this under warranty. The projector requires an engine replacement in order to fix this dead pixel. It's a stuck mirror on the DMD chip. We will need to repair or exchange this unit.

1) Repair unit under warranty - will be repaired in Kentucky at our Factory Service Center.

2) Standard Exchange - you send the projector in, when we have them in stock, we will send you a replacement.

3) Advance Exchange - we send the projector to you first, when we get more in stock and you send your unit in. Requires credit card to be billed and credited back upon receipt of the original unit.

Repair is the quickest solution at this point in time.

Please let us know.
If you have anymore questions, please let me know.

Thank you for choosing InFocus,

Ryan
Technical Support Representative
InFocus Corporation"

I only had to go one weekend without a projector. Now thats service! Projector works great now comes on perfect and no dead pixel. I would rate Infocus customer service as top notch.

Happy IF 5700 Owner
Henry

My Infocus SP5700 has arrived today along with my Da-Lite HCCV screen (106" diagonal). I set it up to play against a 6 foot wide piece of wallboard that I used to seal a window that will be under the screen and the results were spectacular.

The colors were bright and vibrant and I saw no screendoor effect from where I was sitting (14 foot back). There was good detail in dark scenes (Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring)and blacks were quite satisfactory.

Setup was extremely easy. I placed the projector on a high table behind my sofa, lined up the image on the "screen," attached my DVD player with a S-VHS cable and there was Lord of the Rings on my wallboard giving me the movie theater experience.

I can't wait to get my screen up and attach my DVD player using component cables. The only decision left is whether to get the extended warranty or not. The dealer felt it was not necessary.

Johm

jefny,
I just posted warranty details in the 7200 service thread as the 7205 had a link to the business projector warranty. The ScreenPlay warranties are indeed going to be the same as the business projector, and the distributors should be updating their price books. Which is good because for the 7200 the business warranty was half price the ScreenPlay warranty.

I usually let my wife make the warranty decisions.....I am sitting on top of two $1200 JVC executive HTiB that both had surge protection failures after the one year warranty was up. I get reminded of that every time I say why did you buy the extended warranty! Of course store warranties I would never get because they are pure profit margin - but I usually think it over on factory extensions.

I never push my customers either way - maybe they are not keeping it that long, maybe they are willing to gamble, maybe they are not.

Based on the latest bulb threads (availability and reliability) I think it is a good insurance to have an extra bulb though! Either it runs out and the change bulb idiot lite comes on at superbowl, or it fails early - either way you could get stuck in a shortage like now or happened last fall!

But that is good dealer did not push warranty on you just to make a buck!

Now you can do the Lord of the Ring marathon! Enjoy! And best stay off the forum reading about new projectors!

congratulations jefny,
I 've got exactly the same combination playing at my home,
it 's just gorgeous, you will love it!!!!
(at least until 1080p-machines are affordable :-) )

I am feeding it RGB right now,
I hope DVI will make it look even better in the future.

Krasmusik:

It's funny you should mention that its your wife who wants to get the extended warranties as this is exactly what the dealer said. His tendencies is not to get the extended warranty while his wife always pushes it. Is it something related to why men don't like to ask for directions while driving but women do?

Seriously, I do have some time to decide to get the warranty in question (three additional years). One consideration is the high cost of out of warranty repairs which, from another thread is quite high. There is an authorized Infocus repair facility in New York where I could hand carry my machine in. I wonder if there are any statistics on the percentage of machines that do need repair or is it like most electronics in that if it works initially it will work for a long time.

I am going to mount my Da-Lite HCCV screen this weekend. If the image looked great on a plain wallboard I can imagine it will look better on a proper screen.

John

That is a store warranty then - the infocus factory extended warranties are for additional 1 or 2 years (unless dealer is combining the two)

I have never figured the wife out on that one - she is happy going to Bingo (because her mounting losses go to "charity" and it is a tax "writeoff"). Yet she never wants to gamble by not getting the extended warranty!

What I never get lost - I know where it is - the street should be right up here. - this map is wrong - they moved....

Waiting to monitor the reliability of your unit and deciding at the end based on that is also a good idea - as long as you remember.

This info is from infocus.com. If you look on infocushome.com for the 7205 (accessories->warranties) - only the warranty extensions and not the spare or exchange are listed. Click on store->warranties and you get the list. The Integration&Installation (SI) warranty is not for home theater it is for ProVideo market. Home Theater has the same warranty now as the presentation projectors - this change was verified with the Infocus consumer products manager (I reserve the right for him to be wrong - as I thought the 7205 page had to be a mistake!). Previously the Infocus distributors had different (higher) pricing for each ScreenPlay product - though they did carry the exchange (not spare) warranty before.

You may want to wait a month while the distributor/dealer pricebooks are updated. I presume if the point is to offer the presentation projectors warranty - then the spare and exchange warranty could be purchased as well. I know the NEC exchange warranty has proven popular, keep in mind the repair warranty is a repair reserve the right to exchange warranty - no guarantee you got your old one or a new or used one!

SPP-1YEAR, SPP-1YEAR-SI: Extends InFocus and ASK Proxima new product limited warranty an additional 12 months.
SPP-2YEAR and SPP-2YEAR-SI: Extends InFocus and ASK Proxima new product limited warranty an additional 24 months.
SPP-1YEAR-RE and SPP-1YEAR-SI-RE: Extends InFocus and ASK Proxima remanufactured product limited warranty an additional 12 months.
PX-1YEAR or PX-1YEAR-SI: Provides unit exchange. Available in US and CA. Overnight service is not guaranteed in Canada.
PX-2YEAR or PX-2YEAR-SI: Provides unit exchange. Available in US and CA. Overnight service is not guaranteed in Canada.
SA-1YEAR or SA-1YEAR-SI: Provides customer with loaner unit while their unit is being repaired; Available in U.S. and Canada only. Overnight service is not guaranteed in Canada.

My general rule is mechanical things are worth the warranty extensions. (Also have a JVC DVCAM that overheats and eats tape - if I ever sell a JVC DILA it is because the customer convinced me they have to have it!) But purely digital electronic usually not - if it fails it will fail early or later (once it is obsolete). If it has analog electronics - even power supply it will fail eventually. If it has high voltage it can fail whenever.

A projector is all of those things (lamp, wheel, analog/digital circuits)

My first engineering job was as a reliability engineer for a military contractor - it is that part of me speaking here - not as a dealer trying to sell you a profitable warranty (not in my market anyways!)

Guys have you tried the ND2 or ND4 filters yet? Even just getting a cheapo $10-15 one at the local camera store before you splurge on a Hoya multicoated modal. It really is worth it - having a projector that can go both ways - I am firmly on the side of 12ftL movie brightness vs. 36ftL video brightness (which the 5700 is quite capable of on large screens)

In terms of the brightness of the SP 5700 I had read that this projector has an "economy" mode that extends bulb life to 3,000 hours from the normal 2,000 but I saw nothing in the manual how to get into this less bright mode. I called tech support and they told me that the "economy" mode is the default setting and to get to the brighter mode you must go into the settings menu and then the systems menu and check high power. This last shortens bulb life (see page 27 of manual).

If I leave brightness to the factory default does this mean I should normally expect 3,000 hours on the bulb?

John

I'm also interested in knowing when to use the NTSC pulldown settings etc. Why put it there and then not tell customers when to use it!

Yes - but I never got a straight answer if the lamp menu was smart enough to assume between 2000/3000 based on switching modes around - or did it just idiot lite at 2000 hrs leaving owner to keep track from there. One for Bob Williams to answer!

I've been using the Hoya 2X ND filter since the first week and it makes a big difference - better blacks, fewer rainbows and far less spill from the overbright image reflecting around the room.

I can't imagine taking the filter off, unless I wanted to watch during the day.

I wish there was a way to give the 5700 an iris like a few other projectors have - it would increase contrast and improve blacks and the unit is more than bright enough to survive a few stops less light!

In terms of placement of my 5700 I now have it behind the sofa where it sits on a box which is on top of a table. It is perfect in terms of the image which is high up on the opposite wall near the ceiling. This leaves me space for my regular TV below the screen. I had originally planned to put it on a back bookcase which is 7 feet tall but I discovered that in order keep the image on the opposite wall the FP has to be flipped on its back. This means I have to get a ceiling mount afterall. I realized that you can flip the image but not the offset which is still 1.33 times above the plane of the lens.

I should mention that noise from the machine is not a problem though it is pretty close to our ears behind us-sort of like a computer fan noise but unobstrusive.

I have also been playing around with the aspect. When watching Lord of the Rings (fellowship) the image appeared to be more like 20/9 rather than the 16/9 I set it at. When I selected letterbox it appeared to be closer to 16/9. I realize films often are not exactly 16/9 and LOTR might be wider than normal. I tried 4/3 with an old movie (Maltese Falcon) but my wife preferred the stretch mode. I will play around a bit more on the aspect.

I will close by saying I am very impressed with the 5700. The black and white image was quite good even with ambient light ( our curtains are not finished yet).

John

WideScreen DVD usually are 16:9 but the have top and black bars to handle the variant aspect ratio of film. It should indeed be about 20:9 since it is a CinemaScope movie filmed at a 2.35:1 ratio.

Purists prefer the aspect ratio of the source even for B&W - otherwise people are fatter or skinnier than real life!


You would use the letterbox option only if the DVD says it is letter boxed. If it says optimized for widescreen or anamorphic then you do not use it. Most DVD's are not letter box as that encodes the black bars on the DVD lowering resolution. Better to go anamorphic and have the TV add the black bars.

Also - make sure the DVD player knows it is outputting to a 16:9 television. If not, anamorphically encoded movies are letterboxed by the player. This essentially throws away 25% of the picture, which is not good. I have seen many first time 16:9 set owners forget to do this (usually a quick adjustment in the DVD player's setup).

JOHN

Thanks guys. My DVD player was set to 4/3 and I reset it to 16/9. The resulting improvement was immediate. The height of the image increased noticeably. I just have to remember to put in the correct aspect of the DVD player for the movie I am playing.

I finally installed the Da-lite screen (HCCV with a 106" diagonal) and the resulting picture is superb. I do have video essentials and was wondering how much I would gain by going through and adjusting everything but I don't know how much better it could get. . I think I will invite all my neighbors to show off my new projector and screen.

If your DVD is set to 16:9 - then when a 4:3 source comes on it should just add bars to the side.

If you are using component it is worth using VE to adjust contrast/brightness/tint/color to your DVD player.

Is there still no word on those arcane settings that people have questioned in the past? NTSC pulldowns?

Anyone know whether we should check these boxes and when?

I invited Bob Williams to come poke his head in on this thread, so I thought I would repost a question I asked a while back that people told me I should ask him:

Can someone help me understand a few of the modes the 5700 has? The manual doesn't really go into any detail...

TRUE LIFE: What exactly do the true life setting do and when should they be used? What is the practical upshot of turning them on? Are they simply sharpness settings? Should they be turned DOWN in the same way that callibration guides usually suggest lowering sharpness on standard sets?

FILM MODES: I know what 3:2 pulldown is, but when should these setting be used on the projector? I thought the DVD player introduces 3:2 pulldown for DVDs that are stored in 24 frame format. Should I just leave 3:2 on for movies and switch to 2:2 mode for TV shows? What about DVDs of TV shows and video, should that always be viewed in 2:2 mode? Will I really see any visual diffrerence between these modes?

What should I set it for if watching 25 fps PAL?

NTSC 48Hz: The manual doesn't even say what this is!

NOISE REDUCTION: What KIND of noise is this supposed to be reducing? MPG artifacts? Static? Noise introduced by the projector? I have no idea. Has anyone played with this and found it to be good or bad?

If anyone has a solid understanding of any of these modes, please educate me and anyone else who will be reading this thread in the months to come :-)

Well i'll add another question for him. Is there any way to reduce or take off the offset? Can we send the unit back to you to take it off or maybe through a firmware update?

The offset is not anything that can be changed - it's a physical matter of how the image is aimed through the lens.

JOHN

The only way to change the offset is by tilting the projector. Infocus thinks lens shift detracts image quality more than it adds to installation flexibility. Lens shift is a opto-mechanical design - hardly something a firmware update could accomplish!

You would be suprised how minor the tilt needs to be, Infocus includes the calculations in their screen calculator. Then you (in quality order) either tilt the screen to compensate, overscan the image into the black frame to hide the keystoned edges, or use digital keystoning to reframe the image within the frame.


We are talking about lens offset right? It just occured to me maybe you are talking about RGB black level offsets - those are in the advanced calibration menu (on user menu - no service codes needed) - generally requires an expensive color analyzer to use properly!

Originally posted by Mojo_LA
TRUE LIFE: What exactly do the true life setting do and when should they be used? What is the practical upshot of turning them on? Are they simply sharpness settings? Should they be turned DOWN in the same way that callibration guides usually suggest lowering sharpness on standard sets?
The True Life settings are the image enhancements built into the Faroudja processor. The default has them all turned off, which should be fine for good sources. Chroma and Luma detail are similar to sharpness controls on TVs, one for the color information and the other for the brightness information of the picture. Chroma delay can correct for innacurate placement of the color information of a signal. If you have an image of a person's face in front of something with little color (grayish) and you see magenta on one side and green on the other, adjust this control until those colors are minimized. Also, the Avia test disk has a nice chroma delay test pattern for this adjustment.
FILM MODES: I know what 3:2 pulldown is, but when should these setting be used on the projector? I thought the DVD player introduces 3:2 pulldown for DVDs that are stored in 24 frame format. Should I just leave 3:2 on for movies and switch to 2:2 mode for TV shows? What about DVDs of TV shows and video, should that always be viewed in 2:2 mode? Will I really see any visual diffrerence between these modes?
In general you should leave the controls the way they are and let the Faroudja chip figure out things. These controls override the automatic detection of film modes and are used only for special situations. 3:2/2:2 Off turns film mode detection off and forces everything to be deinterlaced as video. This sometimes helps the appearance of animated sources created with video cameras because so much of the picture often is still, the Faroudja chip falsely detects the content as film rather than video. This leads to a pulsing sharpening and softening of the pictures which can be annoying at times. NTSC 2:2 Pulldown tells the Faroudja chip that the source was shot at 30 frames per second on film and switches to a special mode to deinterlace these sources correctly. There are a couple of DVDs whose films were shot at 30 frames per second (otherwise known as the Todd-AO process) including Around the World in 80 Days.
What should I set it for if watching 25 fps PAL?
Leave it the way it is by default and those sources will look fine.
NTSC 48Hz: The manual doesn't even say what this is!
NTSC 48Hz is a function that does not do anything in the 5700. This is a feature of a future Faroudja chip that was mistakenly put into the GUI of the 5700.
NOISE REDUCTION: What KIND of noise is this supposed to be reducing? MPG artifacts? Static? Noise introduced by the projector? I have no idea. Has anyone played with this and found it to be good or bad?
Noise reduction is used to remove visible snow-type noise from the video image through a frame-averaging technique. You may see some image persistence (comet tailing or an LCD-like effect) if you turn this setting up too high. Leave it off for good sources.

Bob,

I´ve forgotten what the default settings are. For most NTSC and PAL DVD´s, then one should have 2:2/3:2 checked, and 2:2 and 48Hz unchecked?

Should I use CCS like the NR, on for composite sources and off for good ones fed through component?

For standard definition sources, the defaults are:
Chroma detail 0
Luma detail 0
Chroma delay 50
CCS unchecked (for component and s-video sources), checked (for composite sources)
2:2/3:2 enable checked
NTSC 2:2 pulldown unchecked
NTSC 48Hz unchecked

Can you confirm which ScreenPlay projectors will optically sync the colorwheel to a 48Hz (or 72Hz) VGA/DVI source?

Thanks Bob!

I notice a green look to the image of my 5700(I´m using a 10m component cable if that makes a difference), but lowering the green offset my a few clicks seems to cure this, but http://www.guidetohometheater.com/ recommend lowering the green gain, which I don´t think looks as good... what´s the difference between these settings?

Can someone please tell me where I can order a bulb for the 5700 on the net. A friend of mine is in Pheonix but will leave in june and it would be awesome if he could get a bulb for me(they are insanely expensive here in Iceland).

gain is contrast - i.e. your bright greens, offset is brightness - i.,e. your dark greens. They usually interact - pulling brightness pulls down everything by the same amount, while contrast is more like a multiplier.

Lamps are insanely expensive in general (see recent threads on that topic). Did you try the infocus store here?

http://store.infocus.com/escalate/store/DetailPage?pls=infocus&bc=infocus&pc=SP-LAMP-006&tab=desc&clist=017080322b67&ret=Lamps&pls5catname=Lamps

The review confirms what I suspect - that the projector is factory calibrated to 6500K - as the before/after calibration was dead on. But most people do not realize is that 6500K is not white - it can be tinged green or purple. D65 is how you get that line centered on white - and Stereophile did not have any graphs of that. I went back and looked at my calibration of my demo unit - the D65 was a bit green while 6500K was right on. I'll message Bob Williams about this.

The other thing funny about this review is he complained about rainbows and covergence errors. But read the review - he says the max picture he could get was 61" wide! So this indicates that using max zoom puts you into the edges of the lens, better to set the projector further back and not abuse the zoom then.

If his projector was as bright as Infocus specs a 61" wide picture (and who knows what gain screen he had) at 1000 lumens is 127ftL. If it measured as bright as my demo unit at 1800 lumens (well over spec) then that would be 230 ftL. This is 10-20x brighter than reference film brightness and 4-7x brighter than reference TV video brightness - No wonder they saw artifacts! Then TJ Norton comes in and says he could only get 14.6ftL before calibration and after he get 21.6ftL. (This is about what I can achieve with a ND4 filter on an 8' screen . So who knows what they were watching - not the projectors I see that is for sure!

I see Stereophile Guide to Home Theater had the nerve to change their name to Stereophiles Ultimate AV.

Anyways here is my calibration report of a new lamp SP5700 (before burn in of 100hrs) - it was about 5% green, offset by about -10% red/blue.

And a few months earlier model (also before burnin)- and it was OK other than -10% red (the low IRE was off but that is the ColorFacts sensor - chopped this off in other report)

krasmuzik,

Thanks for the reply, it´s just too technical for me and I don´t quite understand. I used AVIA to adjust brigthness and contrast, and I had to lower contrast by a few steps and brightness had to go up a few. I don´t know if the green hue is always present, but I notice it when there are dark scenes, the black colour then has a green hue to it. How should I ideally get rid of that, lower both green gain and offsett, or increase red and blue, or either one??

Do you think I can order with my credit card to an address in the US from the infocus store? Somone posted a site to me that were selling the bulb for 3xx$, but I accidentaly deleted the message. Surely somone here knows of an online store that has it for cheaper than the infocus store... Anyone??

I agree that the review is very weird, and I find it strange that how few people are bothered by the temporal dithering. I find it to be much more than a slight motion artifact, first person shooters don´t look good at all!

Hmm, maybe you are the only one playing high frame rate games? Video and film are much lower frame rates - gives the DLP more bandwidth to work with. Have you tried lowering the refresh rate from your PC?

I would lower green offset if your blacks look greenish. You could also raise the other two - but you run the risk of clipping those on the other end. Green usually has more head room to work with. We are straying into ISF calibration territory here - that is the reason it is on the advanced menu. I like to use DisplayMate (www.displaymate.com) to find my maximum range for each primary and then work my way in. To do this right you need instrumentation - but I cannot imagine that Iceland has many ISF techs!

Dark Green dithering is also easier to see than red or blue - you may be seeing that dithering more than the overall white balance being green. Th new HD2+ SP7205 has a forest green segment in the colorwheel to help that.

The business projector shares the lamp - if you search online for that part number on Infocus site you might find it. Infocus dealers are not supposed to sell out of region - so I cannot help you on that one!

Thanks very much.

I just play games from my nintendo and the motion artifacts are most noticable there, but I also notice them all the time during movies. I was watching "in america" yesterday, and there´s a scence where he´s throwing some stuff into a can, and the camera does slow pans many times, and the projector just threw a fit, the image looked horrible during the pans.

Here is a screen size/gain post I did on the SP4805 thread, it applies to the SP5700 as I assumed 800 lumens dimming down to 400 with old lamp. If you plan to crank up to high power 1000 lumens - then you can step down in gain. Of course some SP5700 are excessively bright my last demo unit was about 2x brighter than specified!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3758701#post3758701

keyser,
have you tried the NDx filters yet - in my experience this is most noticable with excessive brightness. It is a cheap tweak - surely B&Hphoto will ship to iceland and let you return if they do not help! I know only one person locally that even sees the motion dithering during pans - and he agreed that the NDx filter helped along with the AVIA tweaks.

I really don´t want to dim the picture. I like a picture woth a lot of "popp" to it. I do sit rather close to my screen, about 4meters from a 106" image. The projector is only a little more than 4,5meters from the screen, so the zoom is almost at full... maybe that has something to do with it. I notice some temporal dithering on almost all tilts and pans.

I had never seen a DLP before I bought the 5700, so it was a bit of a risk. I do like the PQ alot, but I just find it strange that rainbows and screendoor(although both very visible) are the things that bother me the least. The temporal dithering is the worst, and and posturizing(noticable on fade in and outs, especially when it´s of something like a sky with gradients - like the beginning of ice age).

OK help me with my metric - was that 106" diagonal or wide? 4m is 13.1ft?

If it is wide - you are a bit too close - really need to sit back at least half meter more. If diagonal you are OK.

This is the drawback to the digital technology in general - you cannot set as close as you can with film because of the artifacts.

If you like it bright and close - then I think maybe time to put the Infocus up on VideoGon/AVS classifeds and investigate a bright DiLA/LCOS/LCD unit! DilA/LCOS has no screen door, LCD does but you are not bothered by it. They are both higher resolution allowing closer in seating.

All we can do is suggest that you darken the picture for your setup and set further back - the temporal dithering will be less distracting and you will get more enjoyment out of your purchase!

Max zoom is theoretically less contrast and potential optical artifacts at edges. I don't think that is source of what you are seeing.

The posterizing though - that seems you can try some more RGB tweaking - the pattern I am thinking of in displaymate shows RGB colorsteps - if your bright/dark colors are banding together then you might be clipping/compressing the RGB and not using all of your displays bits. Maybe your sources are lacking in dynamic range. Do you have a DVI source to try to at least eliminate that as problem (HTPC or Bravo DVD player?)

Maybe it's my eyes but I do NOT see rainbows or screen door effect and there is no green tint to anything. I am not quite sure what dithering is but to me the picture quality is excellent. I have a 96" wide da-lite HCCV screen and sit about 14 feet back. Are some of the issues I read in this thread a result of particular projectors that have a problem unique to them but not the rest or am I not seeing something.

I should mention that I recently ceiling mounted my projector using a Peerless mount for the ceiling plate and ball and socket swivel with an Infocus plate that is screwed to the underside of the projector. The resultant cost was about half of what it would have been if I ordered the whole kit from Infocus. I should mention that the dealer stated that he gave me the whole package at hiswholesale price.

I had to tilt the projector slightly upward (my screen is about 5 inches from the ceiling, not 20 as would be the proper offset). I was going to tilt the screen forward but despite theprojector tilt and some slight keystoning (the projector is about 19 feet back) there doesn't seem to be any gradation in picture quality. So I haven't bothered to tilt the screen.

I will end by saying that everyone is amazed at the picture quality of my setup.

John

I thought I would post some pictures of my 5700 mounted... The mount is from Chief.

http://thewebbspot.com/stl-web/gallery/albums/050104/IMG_0493.sized.jpg
http://thewebbspot.com/stl-web/gallery/albums/050104/IMG_0494.sized.jpg

patrickwebb,
if you need a little more height to avoid tilt - that bottom bracket also functions as flush ceiling mount - the pipe is not needed! Or maybe you have it on the pipe to get it exact? Is that a DE design - MDF fiberglass soffits is one of his trademark styles!

jeffny,
See the advantages of sticking with the local dealer - they eventually start cutting you a deal! To Infocus credit originally the mount was $400 - dealers complained when the SP5700 came out - they cut to $300. Discovered that the OEM was charging $200 - so Infocus came out with a universal mount at that price.

I still like the Premier Mount that Infocus used to OEM - flexible height/angle/flush wall/ceiling mount. Premier Mounts sells it now that the Infocus exclusive elapsed.

http://www.premiermounts.com/product.asp_Q_PartID_E_1080

Infocus also changed the warranty program to be identical with the presentation projectors. Same low price for all projectors now!

Yeah, I am still in the adjustment stages of setting the mount just right. I haven't leveled it or anything yet, just put it up rough. I think that height is going to work out for my screen height, so the pipe is needed. I designed my entire HT layout with about 12 months of AVS research. And of course, DE theaters are so well done that a lot of ideas were borrowed.

In reference to my ceiling mount I used the "flush" mount pipe. My setup gives me total movement (bend, tilt and turn) but to raise or lower it I have to remove the projector and turn the mount pipe which is not too convenient.

The only change I am contemplating is getting the new Bravo DVD player with DVI (the D-2) so I can use a DVI connection instead of component though I am not sure if the improvement will be worth it).

John

It absolutely will be worth getting the new Bravo DVD player. I have a D-1, and the change from component to DVI is not subyle, but a major improvement.

I did do the firmware flash on the D-1 to access customs resolutions from the D-1 and have it running at the native resolution of the 5700. However, I can't say that I saw any improvement in that tweak versus just junning at 720p over the DVI.

Kurt

Kurt,

What do you have your Infocus 5700 settings on when using the DVI input from the Bravo D1?

I hooked up my D1 to the 5700 over DVI and really was expecting more, something closer to HD. Far shots still look pretty bad to me.....

Let me know so I can play around with the settings tonight.

Gruson,

keep in mind that even with a digital source - their settings may not work! Seems to have been variability in lamps lately, witness the posts about green casts that others do not have. I am not convinced that the projector is individual calibrated at the factory - I think rather they are settings that they arrived at for the line based on the average lamp!

I´m sitting 13-14 feet from an 106" diagonal image, so it´s a little closer than most rules recoment. I can´t place my seats much further back because I only have about 4-5 feet to the backwall, and sitting right next to it makes the rear surround sound bad. But I am gonna move my seats a bit further back so I won´t notice the dithering as much. I originally put them there because at that distance I couldn´t see the screendoor and liked the size.

Gruson,

Are you asking for my contrast and brightness settings or the set-up values required for a custom 1024*576 resolution?

If it is the former, I use a brightness of 47 and a contrast of 53 (going by memory).

If your image seems to lack clarity, however, i would recommend that you revisit the lens focus.

Kurt

can the infocus 5700 pass 1080p?

Speaking of a DVI connection, I walked into my local Radio Shack and they wanted around $100 for a 2 meter DVI cable. If the Bravo D-2 goes for $200 the cable adds 50% to the cost! I hope I can find a better price.

PS-Last night my wife and I sat through a double feature on our 5700-a Woody Allen movie (Curse of the Jade Scorpion) and since we were in a 1930's mood we saw Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Infocus sells their 10m cable for $150 (ask your dealer or pay retail at the infocus store). You have to use their cable because they use a hybrid adaptor that also supports USB. Lindey cable sells an adaptor and cheap DVI cables - but I would hesitate to use it...

DVI is high bandwidth - crossing impedances with another adaptor could harm the signal. Others have used it OK so you could always return it - make sure you try the highest bandwidth signals you plan to use.

I use a Lindy #41225 P&D to DVI adapter cable with their 10m High Res. Dual link DVI-D cable with absolutely NO problems. Lindy's cables are top notch and much cheaper!!

I think with a HTPC sending 576P should be OK - but I would worry about the 1080P sources at 60 Hz. Even Lindy's own site cautions against the adaptors here!

http://www.lindy.com/us/tips/uk/Digital_Monitor_Connections_Explained_/index.php

But if it works without any data errors for your setup - great! Either Infocus or Lindy is better than RadioShack Gold!

I use the Lindy 7.5 m cable, plus their adapter. It works brillianty for 720p and 576p. Of course, I have not tried 1080p, there is no need to with the IF 5700.

I contemplated using Infocus's all-in-one cable but I was reluctant to run what I consider to be a non-standard cable through the ceiling. Although it is running through a conduit, I would rather not have to swap out my cabling when I upgrade projectors. This way when I upgrade to a 1080p (hopefully with a standard DVI input) projector in the future, all I will have to do is ditch the adapter.

Kurt

Where can I order a bulb for the 5700 online? I tried emailing infocushome for info but they don´t reply me!

Originally posted by angilasaurus
What you are seeing is the bulb warming up and/or the colorwheel getting in sync with the DMD. My demo unit does this as well. Interestingly I have not seen the 7200 do this, but it seems to occur on most (if not all) the 5700s I have seen.

JOHN

how can I get a demo unit. Is it similar to the free 10 day
evaluation they have on X1?

Mupi,

John is a dealer as am I. When we refer to demo units we are refering to units that we get to demo to potential purchasers, hopefully we get a break and get them below dealer cost, but not always! Of course by the time they are used up we are lucky if we can sell them used for what we paid for them, or hope we sold enough projectors to cover our loss because nobody wants to buy last years projector ;-)

If you have a good local dealer - maybe they will come by your house for a demo!

The Infocus X1 had that demo unit for business purchasers trying to evaluate between projectors, usually to make a large buy decision. Infocus hopes that your local ScreenPlay dealer will help you make your decisions for the HT brand.

Keyser,
the Infocus store is here for the lamp.

http://store.infocus.com/escalate/store/DetailPage?pls=infocus&bc=infocus&pc=SP-LAMP-006&tab=desc&clist=017080322b67&ret=Lamps&pls5catname=Lamps

Beyond that we cannot help as dealer links are against forum policy. But if you search for that part number on any shopping bot you should find the lamp - it is common with one of the business projectors.

Why does it say that the lamp is 1500, not 2-3k hours on the infocus website, maybe it´s because it doesn´t last as long on their business projector?

Since infocus don´t even reply my email, maybe someone email me or pm if they know of a online store with the bulb

Originally posted by krasmuzik
Mupi,

John is a dealer as am I. When we refer to demo units we are refering to units that we get to demo to potential purchasers, hopefully we get a break and get them below dealer cost, but not always! Of course by the time they are used up we are lucky if we can sell them used for what we paid for them, or hope we sold enough projectors to cover our loss because nobody wants to buy last years projector ;-)

If you have a good local dealer - maybe they will come by your house for a demo!



will the dealer let me borrow the PJ using my credit card for a home demo just like hi-fi audio stores lend speakers for home audition based on the credit card. I know a seller who can give me a very good deal on 5700 but he cant lend me the PJ for home auditioning nor he has it set up in his store. He will get it from elsewhere if I want it. Before I buy I wanted to see it in my room. I know it will look stunning in the store with ideal conditions. But my living room is not in that ideal condition except at night, even then I have light walls and light carpet. So I didnt want any surprises after paying a lot of money.

Mupi,

John has a saying here called earning a sale, if they are just giving you a low price for sight unseen - then why are they a local dealer? Might as well be mail order. I have wondered about loaning about my demo to local buyers for extended auditions - but the thought of getting taken is not appealing. Even a credit card charge is not safe insurance - because of chargeback potential. I get around this whole issue bringing the demo for in-home - but only while I supervise.

If your dealer has a 7200 maybe he can demo that? They are the same brightness as SP5700 - so you would at least be able to evaluate that situation! I can understand not stocking every demo model - I just sold off my SP5700 demo to get a SP7205 demo. Demo projectors are not free!

I hear the only authorized mail order place has a 30d money back guarantee. Not that I am advocating using that as a demo trial ;-)

I understand your need to have a in-home demo - that is why I setup my local business like this. But do realize that lots of people are getting projectors from AVS sight unseen. I would never spend that kind of cash online - but to each his own!

I'm having an image quality problem with my unit.

I'm experiencing quite a bit of motion artifacts which kind of look like ghost trails. They are really bad in dark scenes and sometimes even in bright scenes.

I'm hoping it's just my set-up. I've got my non-progressive DVD player hooked up through one of the component inputs. I'm using some old audio cables (I know :( ) as a temporary hookup.

Are my cables the problem? I'm planning to get a DVI DVD player shortly in hopes that it will solve my problem.

This projector has DCDi, shouldn't it look good with even an S-video connection?

Any help would be appreciated.

Anthony

Poor cables can lead to ghosting - DCDi does not have de-ghosting circuitry though some VCRs/TV have that capability

I think your problem is likely chroma delay - do you have Avia's test pattern for that? The adjustment is on the TrueLife menu - you need to make sure RGB pattern is lined up with the grey pattern. Likely a signal is being delayed.

Considering that I only see the problem in some scenes, could it still be chroma delay?

This Ghosting effect is not subtle.

Could it be a defective projector?

It is most easily seen on moving edges - get the AVIA it is worth it regardless. Or at least play with the control to confirm that things change or not!

I had the same problem when I was demoing the controls - forgot to set it back to default. Then we wondered what was up with the ghosts!

I don't think the green hue of the 5700 is simply a minor color temperature difference... when I first got mine out of the box, it was perfect. Within a week or 2, the picture had tuned very noticably green. REALLY green. After watching a DVD on the projector and simultaneously comparing it to a well adjusted 27" TV, I was able to get them to match with both the green gain and bias lowered to about 40-42.

This gave me a hue that I thought was accurate.

Of course, this has noticably affected my contrast and brightness and I can't say I'm happy about it - especially after all the reviews that said the 5700 had dead-on perfect color right out of the box.

Now that I've got the color wheel whine, I'm getting ready to send it back to Infocus for repair. I shouldn't have to reduce my green channel by 20% to get decent color.

Obviously this is creeping up with quite a few users so I hope it's not a permanent flaw!

It may be a longshot, but the only time I really noticed any ghosting is when the noise reduction was turned on. Make sure it's off.

Thanks,

I'll take a look at the noise reduction setting tonight.

I'm gonna try several different things over the next week and if I can't get rid of the ghosting, I'll send the unit in for warranty repair.

Anthony

Audio cables have a different impedance (either 30 or 50 ohms) than video cables which are 75 ohms. Over a long enough run this impedance mismatch could certainly cause ghosting.

Before yous end your PJ in for repair at least experiment with some proper cabling, even if it is a s-video or compostive video instead of component.

Kurt

If it is not allowed here on the forum to post a link to a store that has the 5700 can someone email me or PM... bulbdirect.com doesn´t have them in stock and I need a bulb pretty fast.

Tonight my 5700 started making bad noises... usually when it boots up, for a few minutes it's pretty loud (I assume it's the color wheel) and it eventually becomes a very quiet whine... well tonight it stayed VERY loud... a sort of whine and grind noise... after about 20 minutes I realized it was not going to quiet down so I turned it off.

This happen to anyone else?

I've had a 5700 for about a month and use it almost every day. Over the last week when I turn it on and the image comes up on the screen from the DVD player I get a kind of flickering and even sort of reverse image. This seems to end within a few seconds and everything is normal after that.

I should mention that when the lamp is warming up and the Infocus logo comes up this does not happen. Could this be a lamp problem, a connection problem or a DVD problem?

Any ideas?

John

Originally posted by jefny
Over the last week when I turn it on and the image comes up on the screen from the DVD player I get a kind of flickering and even sort of reverse image. This seems to end within a few seconds and everything is normal after that.

I get a form of flickering every time I use it,
after the lamp is warm,
it lasts 2-3 seconds and doesn't come back.
I believe it has something to do with synchronizing,
but I might be wrong.

It's completely normal I'm told.
(i hope it is :rolleyes: )

After further use the flickering I get during the warmup period is strictly the projector as it happened before I even turned on the DVD layer. It only lasts for a few seconds.

I may call Infocus directly to ge their take on this issue-maybe something that is perfectly normal.

John

Originally posted by jefny
After further use the flickering I get during the warmup period is strictly the projector as it happened before I even turned on the DVD layer. It only lasts for a few seconds.


I've got exactly the same,
it just waits for the lamp to get warm,
flickers a second or two
and after that :D :D :D

This sucks has anyone else had a problem with the color wheel getting really loud?? I checked the Infocus website and it says there is a 2 week delay on shipping out product due to a warehouse move or something like that... so I won't be able to replce this one for a while!

Well what constitutes "really loud"?. DO you by any chance have a Radio_Shack sound Level meter that you can use to measure how many decibels your unit is putting out?

I can certainly here my high-pitched color-wheel whine of my replacement 5700 but it is pretty much in line with what I expected. Which is too say that I can hear it during quieter passages of a movie but much of the time I don't notice it. That is with the PJ ceiling mounted about 4 ft about seated ear height and an additional 6 ft behind me.

I would strongly encourage you to listen to a couple of other 5700s before you go through the hastle and cost of getting a replacement.

On a slightly different note, my replacement unit does subjectively seem a little green while watching LOTR, the Fellowship of the Ring Extended Version. FUnninly enough, in the scenes at the beginning when Frodo first greets Gandalf, flesh tones seem very realistic. However, at the end of the first disk, at the house of Elrond, faces seems kind of yellow.

I do recall that in the theater, I noted that faces throughout the LOTR seemed a little more golden-hued than red-hued, so the 5700 may actually be acurately reproducing gray-scale. Still, I bumped down green offset one noth and green gain a few notches and the image looked a little more accurate.

I'll try and measure color temperature this weekend using a chroma-meter.

Kurt

I've had my 5700 for over a month now and the fan noise is barely noticeable. I can only hear it in quiet scenes when I intentionally try to pick it up. I don't hear the whine of a color wheel but rather the rush of air pushed by the fan. As for color I wonder if the differences have to do with the lighting of particular scenes. Flesh tones using indoor light (sound stages) appear warmer than when using outdoor light. At least this is what I think. I can't remember these differences in a movie theater.

John

It's definately 'too loud.'

The color wheel whine USED to be a barely audible, high-pitched whine, but as of the other day it is a loud, loud drone. You can hear it from every room in the house. If the movie is very loud (i.e. something blowing up) you might not hear it, but otherwise it is the prevalent sound in the room.

In fact, it's so loud you can't even watch a movie without wanting to throw the thing out the window.

Does anyone know the best way to contact Infocus support? I have emailed them twice in 2 days and gotten no response... I can't find a support phone number on their website.

This is a little annoying, I know Infocus is supposed to have great support but it shouldn't take me more than a few minutes to get in touch with someone!

Does anyone know the best way to contact Infocus support? I have emailed them twice in 2 days and gotten no response... I can't find a support phone number on their website.
This is a little annoying, I know Infocus is supposed to have great support but it shouldn't take me more than a few minutes to get in touch with someone!

There is a "Contact Us" link at the bottom of every page on thier web site. Truthfully, I don't see how it can be any easier.

Contact Page (http://www.infocus.com/company/contactus.asp?site_lang=1&site_region=1&)

htr

Originally posted by Mojo_LA
It's definately 'too loud.'

The color wheel whine USED to be a barely audible, high-pitched whine, but as of the other day it is a loud, loud drone. You can hear it from every room in the house. If the movie is very loud (i.e. something blowing up) you might not hear it, but otherwise it is the prevalent sound in the room.

In fact, it's so loud you can't even watch a movie without wanting to throw the thing out the window.


Ugh, That sounds really, really bad.

I can live with the whine of my unit, though I probably willa dd a hush-box in the near future to further silence it. However, there is no way you can hear the while fron the next room, even though the projector is right up against the dividing wall.

Have you contacted your dealer? I originally went that route but my dealer is useless so eventually I contacted infocus myself. The very next day there was a knock on the door and it was the UPS guy with a new unit.

Kurt

Kurt

Yes, of course I saw the contact page, but all the service stuff is email only. The best I got from them was and email (after 3 days), being told to ship the unit back, at which point it will take 15 days to fix.

How are all these people getting new projectors the next day??

If I needed service I have an authorized repair facility within driving distance (Manhattan) and I would bring my projector directly to save on time and shipping. Fortunately, after a month everythings seems fine. I hope front projectors are like electronics. If nothing goes wrong during the first month or so you can expect a long period of no service problems (other than the bulb). Am I wrong in this?

John

Hi All,

Nice thread.

I've had my 5700 up 4 months absolutely no issues. Yesterday the screen started to display a replace lamp message. The manual says this message appears when you have used 1780 or so hours. I'm at 240. Any ideas?

Waiting until Tuesday to call Infocus.


:confused: :confused: :confused:


Jerry

Linden Theatre
Screenplay 5700
Da-lite 92" Cinema Countour
5 Lane Hollywood Seats

Mojo,

I too thought my 5700 was loud when I first got it (50db from a foot away on a sound meter). So, my dealer replaced it. The 2nd unit was 50db from a foot away. So, I just learned to live with it. Now, I really don't notice it at all when the movie is playing. However, yours seems to be even worse than that so I would pursue repairs.

Jerry,
many other IF5700 owners have had the same issue. Try reseating the bulb. I believe there was a bad batch of bulbs for a while. I am at 150 hours with no problems yet. Do a search and read some of the older threads on the bulb problems. Worse case is getting a new bulb. I would contact your dealer if reseating the bulb doesn't take care of the problem.

When using the Excel calculator for the Infocus 5700, it calculates an offset of 17.08 inches for a 92" wide screen. Just so I'm clear, this means the top of my screen would need to be at least 17.08 inches below the lens center in a ceiling mount setup?

Originally posted by Mojo_LA
Yes, of course I saw the contact page, but all the service stuff is email only. The best I got from them was and email (after 3 days), being told to ship the unit back, at which point it will take 15 days to fix.



First of all, don't use e-mail, call the 1-800 number given and talk to someone directly. Select the option to talk to some one in tech support rather than customer service. The rep I spoke to (Mandy) was VERY helpful and as I said, the very next day I had a new unit at my door.


How are all these people getting new projectors the next day??


How it works is that after you talk to someone in tech support, they e-mail you a credit authorization form. You fill it out and fax it back to them. They charge your credit card $4000 + local sales tax when they send out the replacement unit.

After you've got your new unit, you mail your old unit back to Infocus. You have to pay the shipping and insurance charges to send your old unit back.

If you're convinced that you've got a problem, I would go that route. If you don't have the available credit, then go the repair route.

Kurt

Originally posted by BousquetP
When using the Excel calculator for the Infocus 5700, it calculates an offset of 17.08 inches for a 92" wide screen. Just so I'm clear, this means the top of my screen would need to be at least 17.08 inches below the lens center in a ceiling mount setup?

Yes, at least the top of the reflective portion of your screen would be 17 inches below the center of the lens. Most screens have some border, however, usually of a black velvet material. The top of this border would obviously be less than 17 inches down from lens center.

Kurt

I just purchased a 5700, and the picture is great. A local retailer mounted the unit on the ceiling using a Peerless mount in a dedicated room. However, I find it quite disconcerting that the projector had to be stabilized and aligned with guidewires. Even now it wobbles when it is touched, and the picture isn't perfectly centered on the screen. When trying to align the picture, the tech just kept putting pressure on the wires until it was close. The retailer said that although the unit isn't quite stable, it is secure, and being a little off centered and some overscan is normal. This is my first fp, and I had envisioned a mounting system that was stable and easily adjustable. Was I expecting too much? Is there a different solution?

I'm using the Peerless mount as well and like you I expected something that could lock down individual axis, kind of like mounting a small DBS satellite dish.

The Peerless mount uses an articulated joint which can be rotated in all axes. However there is considerable flex in the mount itself. You have to point the projector in the right direction and then tighten down the locking screw with the hex wrench provided. The problem is that if you do this and then release your hold on the projector it springs up a couple of degrees. So you have to anticipate that your projector will do this and compensate for that before you tighten the screw. It takes quite a few tries to get right and your installer did not have the patience and motivation tokeep going until it was so.

My installer had the projector pointing down too far so that I had about a half inch of black at the top of the screen. When I got my replacement 5700 (the first one had a bad fan bearing) I used that as an opportunity to dial in my installation just right. It took quite a bit of time and frustration but now it is perfect.

Even so now that it is "locked down", the projector can still be rotated sideways. Every so often I find that for some reason I need to give it a little nudge to get it centered (left-to-right) on my screen. Also I noticed that adding cabling ot the back of the projector changes the tilt, so that if I ever change dthe connections I used, I would have to re-do it.

Kurt

See if you can get your installer to dump that peerless ball/socket joint......look at chief or premier mounts. They have serious allan wrench and locktite washers - you can keep it loose or tight - however you like it. I am partial to the Premier Mounts GyroLock model for install flexibility.

Can anyone help me undestand if/how you switch from one format to the other on the 5700? I can't seem to find the info I'm looking for on the IF site.

Bohnzy,

Your remote has a button that looks like rectangles. Push it to change aspect ratios.

I am looking for the Momitsu v880 custom settings for the IF5700. Can anybody help?

Originally posted by nagyg
I am looking for the Momitsu v880 custom settings for the IF5700. Can anybody help?

From the Momitsu website:

HorizFreq....... 48363____VertFreq..........7877
VideoWidth.....1024_____VideoHeight.....0576
HSyncTotal.....1344_____PreHSync.........0024
HSyncActive....0136_____PostHSync.......0160
VSyncTotal.....0614_____PreVSync.........0003
VSyncActive....0006_____PostVSync.......0029
HSyncPol........0000______VSyncPol.......0000

Regards,
Steve.

Those are the exact settings I tried with my Bravo D1. The picture was very nice but when text was displayed, like on the main menu of The 5th Element Superbit, the text kind of jumped around for a couple of seconds before becoming stable.

I ended up using the stock 720p setting. The picture is just as good as with the custom setting but without the wierd jumping around. 480p is also just as good.

So basically I do not think it is worth the effort with these custom settings, at least not for a projector witha s good a built-in scaler as the 5700.

The advantage of keeping the signal with a DVI connection far outweighs any "HDTV" scaling a DVD might do. The latter though is what sells, and I do grant for sets with poor scalers, performing the upsampling in the DVD player probably will improve picture quality.

Kurt

It sounds like your DVI players deinterlacer/scaler is not up to par with that on the Infocus. 480p is probably best as it is a simple multiple of source, 720P is probably second best. I agree that at 576P you have to compare the scaling/deinterlacing and see whose chip is best.

Ideally you would want to send 480i DVI but that is not supported - though this is something that the HDMI standard is supposed to support. Which I understand the Infocus M1DA port is supposed to support .

So question for Bob Williams - can any of these DVI/HDMI players be set to interlaced so that the Infocus Faroudja can be used on the digital signal?

I've been looking at replacing my old Pioneer Elite 606D and I was looking at the Momitsu. Even though I'm ecstatic at the 5700's image to date, I'm wondering how far I can push it to be even better. The Zenith 318 & the Momitsu are both very intriguing, and I was leaning towards the Momitsu, but am curious if it will give me the performance increase I'm hoping.

What would be the best DVD player to mate with the 5700 within the pricepoints < $500, <$1500, > $1500?

At present I am using a really inexpensive Toshiba (from Costco) with component cables and the picture quality is quite good with my 5700. Will a DVI connection from a Bravo or Mommitsu make a noticeable difference? Other than the DVI connection the Bravo D1 seems to have problems from the reviews I read and maybe the D2 will be better.

I would like to hear from someone who went from component to DVI and what results they got.

John

PS-I mentioned earlier in this thread about a flickering problem when my system comes on. I called Infocus Tech support and they said it is no particular problem to worry about. If it was half an hour into use and it occurred for minutes at a time would be a different issue. The tech person said as the bulb matured even this initial flickering (5 seconds or so only during the warm up period) this might go away. In fact the duration is down to about 2 seconds.

The new Arcam DV79 claims it can send out 480i from its HDMI port.

However, if you don't utilize the de-interlacer nor the scaler in the DV79, then you are paying a LOT of money just to get a 480i digital signal out of it. Maybe the upcoming Panasonic S97 will do 480i over HDMI?

BTW, anyone selling an HDMI to M1DA 10 metre cable?

- Kirk.

Maybe Infocus should release a DVI/HDMI DVD player containing their Faroudja/scaler implementation as the TrueLife menu options are pretty good. Kinda redundant to have it in both places - but who would go to the expensive of DVI/HDMI licensing just to output 480i?

Hopefully there will be more HDMI choices as it becomes commonplace - lot easier to run than a DVI.

Just checked. The Arcam DV79 does not perform any scaling. Sorry if there was any confusion.

- Kirk.

It sounds like your DVI players deinterlacer/scaler is not up to par with that on the Infocus. 480p is probably best as it is a simple multiple of source, 720P is probably second best. I agree that at 576P you have to compare the scaling/deinterlacing and see whose chip is best.

Well one would assume that the scaler on the 5700 has been optimized to give the best results scaling to the native resolution of the 5700 (i.e. 576p). That would not be true of the Bravo, Momitsu or any other player aimed at the US or Japanese markets.

However a scaler may give a sub-par performance at one resolution and still produce stellar results at a different setting. The Bravo D1 produces an outstanding image at both the 480p and 720p settings, via DVI. Personally I could not tell the difference between them.

In theory, I would have thought a 480p setting would produce the best results. The DVD player would then do the de-interlacing and the Faroudja scaler on the 5700 would upscale from 720*480 to the required 1024*576 resolution.

Setting the Bravo to output 720p would result in the Bravo doing both the deinterlacing and an then upscaling to 1280*720, followed by a second scaling, down to 1024*576.

Of course all this occurs in the digital domain and while the theory suggest that setting the Bravo to output 480p would be preferable, the scaler in the Bravo is so good that either solution produces very good and indistinguishable results.

Kurt

What about just using component with the 5700 and having the momitsu? My DVI run would be about 25 feet...too much? My picture looks fine, but probably could use a tweak, but all in all I'm happy. Just wondering what setting I should have the momitsu on (480p?) while sending the 5700 signals via component?

Thanks.

A DVI run of 25ft should be fine. Mine is right about that (7.5 m I think) and I have no problems, even though I use an adapter at the end to convert to the non-standard format of the 5700.

If you have a Momitsu then there is no question whatsoever: Go with the DVI connection and forget about the component. The DVI removes and ground-loop based noise, alliminates an unecassary pair of D-to-A and A-D conversion and just gives botha smoother and a more detailed image.

If I did use component though, I would experiment as to what looks best but I would guess that would be 480p, or even 480i.

Kurt

You want to take advantage of Infocus very well done Faroudja implementation - many of the chip controls are exposed on the TrueLife menu. If you use anything else other than 480i - then you are using the players deinterlacer/scaler - and it is likely not as good or controllable as the Faroudja in the Infocus.

Infocus standard M1DA2DVI cable is 10m - which is more than 25ft, It works fine with no sparklies, but you have to tradeoff the quality of a digital connection vs. Faroudja implementation. If you go the M1DA2DVI adaptor route make sure you can return it - even the sellers caution they can reduce signal integrity. This is the cause of sparklies on a DVI signal.

The comment about line flickering on the DVD video menus is an indication of a poor deinterlacer in the player.

I was planning on a 7200 with Firehawk (92" wide) due to some ambient light issues but the HT budget has changed and am looking at the 5700 now and considering the Carada Grey. Comments? Suggestions? Thanks!

Wayne

Wayne,

I basically went you route. My initial plans were for a 7200 + Firehawk. However, my home-theater was just aprt of finishing my entire 1400 sq ft basement and that project ran 12K over budget.

SO I cut back on the home-theater equipment and got the 5700 and coupled it to a 106" diagonal 16:9 Carada High Contrast Gray screen. I'm very happy with the picture.

However, I feel that if I had to do it again I'd justgo for the matter white screen and same myself a few bucks. After 1000 hours of bulb use your overall image with the matte white screen should be comparable to a new bulb on the gray screen.

Really I'm delighted with my set-up. DVDs are very very good and HDTV is breath-taking. I have two rows of seats, the first 12ft from the screen and the second 16.5 ft. I thought I'd prefer the front row but some of the wild pans on the Two Towers DVD during the battle scenes left me feeling a little dizzy, which was much less the case when seated in the second row.

My only complaint is that the color-wheel noise emanating from the 5700 is a distraction. I'm pursuing a hush-box to solve this problem.

Also I detected a little over 200 degK color-temperature shift with the Carada gray screen, when measuring light directly from the 5700 compared to the light reflected off the screen with a Motorola CL-200 chroma meter. I tweaked the color offsets and gains to get back to D-6500 but you would not be able to do so without access to the required equipment. The matte white screen would likely not suffer from that color shift.


Kurt

The comment about line flickering on the DVD video menus is an indication of a poor deinterlacer in the player

Actually the problem is not in the deinterlacer but in the scaler.

I only got the jitter when using the 576p custom resolutions available from a secret menu on the Bravo D1. When I use a default 720p or 480p settings from the Bravo the jitter goes away, which rules out the deinterlacer as the source of the problem.

Another user on this forum (Innova) uses the D1 with the 5700 and he swears that the 576p setting gives an improved picture. I must say that on normal program material (i.e. not a menu) I never saw a problem with the 576p setting but it was still sufficiently worrying (to me) that I went back to the default resolutions.

Kurt

Kurt

Thanks for your reply. The reason I am considering the grey screen is the ambient light issue. This setup is in the living room which has very light colored walls and ceiling and a wall of glass. So daytime viewing is impossible but at night I can get it pretty dark but never as dark as I would want it (like a theater). Would you still consider the white screen? If you did, would you use an ND filter when the bulb was new? Thanks

Wayne

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it make sense to simply send ALL material to the 5700 at 576p?

When I watch a PAL DVD, I see a noticable improvement in image quality - not just from the extra 100 lines of resolution, but because the 576 PAL signal is a 1:1 pixel match for the 5700. No scaling is needed and the image is smoother.

The only reason I'm considering an upscaling DVD player is so I can play NTSC discs and upscale them to 576p in the hopes that I will see an improvement in image quality for the same reasons. I suppose the only question then is which upscales better - the DVD player or the projector?

I'd love to hear some thoughts (or personal experience) with this.

Well I actually think you answered your own question. The signal is going to get scaled to 576p, either by your DVD player or by the projector itself. So it is going to depend on which utilizes the best scaler.

Now if you are playing a PAL disc on which the signal is at a 576p format to begin with, then the iptimal solution would be to set your DVD player to 576p and have the 5700 display the inage exactlyas it is encoded on the disc. No scaling is needed and with this arangement none is undergone.

However for NTSC discs which are encoded at 480p, we are back to the question of whether the DVD player of the 5700 does a better job of scaling from 480p to 576p.

My personal experience with the Bravo D1 (which uses the same Sigma Designs scaler as the momitsu) is that I see scaling artefacts when I set it up to output 576p, but that these artefacts disappear when it outputs 480p or 720p. For that reason i recommend that you stick with one of these default outputs.

However, that should not disuade you from getting an upsampling player. To my knowledge the only DVD players with a DVI output are upsampling players.

The advantages of DVI are completely separate to upscaling and have to do with resistance to noise and avoiding an unecessary D-to-A followed by an A-to-D conversion of the video signal. So I'd wager that you would see an improved picture quality with a Bravo D1 even if you do not use it to output any resolution higher than 480p.

However be cautioned that all DVI equiped players that I have investigated either suffer from design flaws, quality issues or are very expensive. My Bravo stutters repeatedly on some of my older discs to the poin t that it is unusabel with these discs. On the odd newer release (LOTR-ROTK) I sometimes have to eject and reload the disk before it will play without stuttering. Fortunately most of the new releases play trouble-free.

Kurt

Hi people

I am a new SP 5700 owner, and I need some help form you.

I have found the noise of my projector is not kept at the same level, for most of the time, the noise is low and barely noticeable, but for about every half an hour, the noise goes up, and that last for a minute or two, then back to normal.

Please tell me whether this is normal.

Thank you.

Wayne,

The Firehawk screen is absolutely the best for rooms with ambient light such as yours. As such I would try very hard to fit it into my budget, even if it meant going with a slightly smaller screen. Anything else will be compromising the performance of the 5700 by allowing ambient light to wash out the image.

If you cant shoehorn that into your budget, I would recommend that you go to Carada's web-ste and fire off an e-mail to sales. David Giles will contact you and give you a recommendation for your particular situation. I suspect that the gray screen would work best with light colored walls.

Kurt

SteveLC,

My 5700 keeps the same fan speed. Funny thing about the color-wheel whine is that sometimes I forget about it alltogether nad other times I find it distracting. I'm investigating adding a hush-box to quiet things down.

I would say that my fan noise is pretty constant. However, if I select high-power mode in the menu, it jumps up to a higher level. If your fan is really jumping up to a higher output, I would be concerned that your unit is not being adequately cooled. Do you have any obstructions around the unit which might impair airflow. Is your room kept sufficiently cool? Try turning your AC down a couple degrees.

Kurt

Kurt

thanks very much for the reply.

Yes, come to think of it, the higher noise comes more often when the room is warmer.

I don't have any obstructions around the unit, but I do from time to time running the projector for more than 3 hours, and that may cause it to hit up a bit? I think.

by the way, what is "the color-wheel whine", it is on all the time or does it comes and goes?

I have no problem with the noise level even when it goes higher during that minute or two, my sound system covers most of the projector noise anyway. I am just concerned that there may be something wrong with the noise not being constant. it doesn't seem to be the case, does it?


Other than this concern, I think getting a SP5700 is one of the best decision I have made for a while.

thanks again

Steve

Steve,

Do you have 2 feet away from all sides? The projector needs to breathe.

krasmuzik

it is about 20cm from the ceiling and nothing near the sides.

But I realise however, one of the heating output is on the floor, right under the projector and keep blowing hot air upward. I may need to close that heater output and see whether the projector breath easier.

Thanks

Steve

Heat? Oh I see you're in Melbourne!

The 5700 puts out almost enough heat to warm a contained room so turn that heating down.

The color wheel whine is a very high pitched noise, that is caused by the color wheel that all single-chip DLPs use.

Fan noise is more of a low-pitched whooshing noise. Personally I find the color wheel whine more bothersome than the fan noise.

Kurt

My 5700 was installed not quite dead center to the screen. It is off maybe 8-10 inches to the right. The projector is mounted on the ceiling about 15 feet back from a 92inch screen. After the initial honeymoon period with the projector, I began to notice that the image is not quite square...it's shorter on the right side of the screen than the left (about an inch on top and bottom). Although the physics of the problem are obvious, I wonder if there is any way to address this without remounting the projector (my understanding from the users manual is that the keystone adjustment addresses a different issue). In any case, when I raised the issue, the installer said that a correct/acceptable installation can be 15 degrees off either way. This doesn't seem right to me, especially because there are no structural issues that would prevent a dead on set-up, and I wanted second opinions before I press the issue further.

Getting back to the color wheel whine of the IF 5700,

John posted this on another thread:

The 4805 and 7205 have a new color wheel sleeve bearing instead of the ball bearing used on the 7200/5700.

I asked him if there is a way to retrofit the new bearing design and he said he is trying to find out from Infocus but has not been able to get an answer as yet.

Pine cone asked

I wonder if there is any way to address this without remounting the projector

Yes, there is, move the screen.

Seriously, keystone is meant to correct for projector tilt, which causes the top of the image to be of a different length than the bottom. I don't think it is meant to correct for side to side variations.

8 to 10 inches is way off. I would move either the 5700 or your screen.

Kurt

Kurt

pinecone,

Your installer needs to get a clue - tell him then that your invoice payment is acceptable if it is 15% off. You need to center the projector horizontally - ideally it should be installed with proper vertical drop - but keystone or matte framed if compromise must be made (low ceilings etc.) If you have structural stud issues - then slap some MDF support up there for the mount and bridge that to the studs.

If he still has no fricking clue - tell him to get a long piece of string and tie a pencil to one end - and tape the other end to one screen corner. Draw a circle on the ceiling. Repeat with the other corner. The strings will intersect at screen center (Isn't basic geometry taught in high school anymore?)

My gas line installer for my (wife's....) new gas oven left it out 6" from the wall - I told him it was supposed to be flush. Did not want the cat and food stuff back there. He said it was only a little off and he wanted to go home - I said fine I am not satisfied - you can keep your 50% down and I will find someone else to finish the job on your other 50% and I will complain to the referring appliance store. He fixed it in fifteen minutes. And then tried to charge me an extra hour - even though his install bill was already more than the damn oven!

Have the same problem. Replace lamp message started coming on after only 600-700 hours. Emailed tech support a few days ago - no reply yet. Will have to call I guess.



QUOTE]Originally posted by hoosierjerry
Hi All,

Nice thread.

I've had my 5700 up 4 months absolutely no issues. Yesterday the screen started to display a replace lamp message. The manual says this message appears when you have used 1780 or so hours. I'm at 240. Any ideas?

Waiting until Tuesday to call Infocus.


:confused: :confused: :confused:


Jerry

Linden Theatre
Screenplay 5700
Da-lite 92" Cinema Countour
5 Lane Hollywood Seats [/QUOTE]

Originally posted by ktoolsie
Heat? Oh I see you're in Melbourne!

The 5700 puts out almost enough heat to warm a contained room so turn that heating down.

The color wheel whine is a very high pitched noise, that is caused by the color wheel that all single-chip DLPs use.

Fan noise is more of a low-pitched whooshing noise. Personally I find the color wheel whine more bothersome than the fan noise.

Kurt


Thanks Kurt.

The noise is getting worse, my projector is under warranty, I am going to bring it to the dealer tomorrow, the dealer then will send it to the Infocus authorised repairer here in Melbourne to check it out. I was told it will be a 10 days turn around.

Steve

Well good luck but I would not expect too much improvement if I were you. It appears as if the bearing Infocus chose for the 5700 is inherently noisy. I actually tried measuring my decibel level with a Radio Shack analog SPL meter and was not able to get a reading even right up close to the 5700, despite the meter being able to read down to 50db.

So it is not as if the color wheel whine is tremendously noisy. I think I'm just extra sensitive in that frequency range. I know my rear projector developed a similar noise some while back and my wife could not really hear it, despite it bothering me. Anyways, I'm pursuing a hush-box to quieten things down.

Kurt

I have also had changes in fan noise in my 5700 that occur 15-30 minutes into viewing. This is definitely not due to overheating as the room is often at 15 celsius or 60 F and there is plenty of ventillation all around. I wonder if there may be a problem or if this is normal functioning. It is loud. So loud that I can hear it unless it is a very loud action scene or there is a lot of music.

If it is a high pitched whine then unfortunately this is normal and is color-wheel related and not due to the fan.


Kurt

To change the subject here for a moment ...

I'm familiar with the SMART III calibration tools for the HS20 and other LCD projectors. Can this be used with a 5700 or other DLP projectors?

Is there any reasonably priced color calibration equipment suitable for the 5700?

Mojo

ktoolsie,

It is clearly a lower pitched fan noise, not the color wheel. Note, there are built in fans on the bulbs, I wonder if there are differences among the bulb fans that account for the variations experienced by people or if it is in the PJ itself. I had no problem with fan noise with my first bulb, although I had plenty of problems with a grinding color wheel that would not light and had to cycle 5-10 times to work! And all after only 90 hours on the lamp! IF replaced it and perhaps 75 hours into this bulb I started to notice the change in fan noise during programs. The fan is very loud and I find it distracting. It makes you wonder why you invested all of that money into a decent audio system to eke every little bit of hiss out of your sound floor when you have this loud distraction underlying everything you watch...

I sent my 5700 back to Infocus last week for the following problems:

- Color wheel noise had gotten VERY loud (you could hear it in the next room with the door closed!
- Strong green tint of image
- 2 'replace bulb' messages after only a few hundred hours

They got it on Friday, of course I'm eager to see what sort of condition it comes back in.

As far as the color wheel noise goes, I'm sorry but ANY high pitched whine of any volume level is unacceptable. It's just too distracting.

The main point here is that for the first 2 weeks there was no noise at all... so I feel that ANY noise which develops is clearly a defect and I simply will not tolerate it - not when I've spent 4 grand of a piece of hardware and the noise detracts from enjoying the whole point of the hardware - watching a movie in a dark and quiet room.

Fan noise is something we all know is part of the deal, so that's ok - but I don't think anyone should have to tolerate color wheel noise... especially if it's NOT part of the spec!

Morris,

Milori Colorfacts rents out for a month at a budget price (though hiring ISF is about the same price). SmartIII is generic - just they tailor the software to specific versions familiar to the author - you can get the generic DLP version. I hear Milori Colorfacts may have something in the DIY price range - since their target market became ISFers.

outlier2,

while your room is not overheating - is the projector still able to breathe? Does it have 2ft clearance on front and sides?

Krasmuzik,

Yes, it has about 6ft on either side clear and free of obstruction and it hangs 15" or so off the ceiling as well.

I sent my 5700 back to Infocus last week for the following problems:

- Color wheel noise had gotten VERY loud (you could hear it in the next room with the door closed!
- Strong green tint of image
- 2 'replace bulb' messages after only a few hundred hours


Well here's hoping it comes back with all issues resolved. The bearing Infocus used on the color wheel of the 5700 is clearly inadequate. Some squeal louder than other but aall will become a nuisance eventually until Infocus comes out witha replacement bearing.

As for the green tint I really wonder if you are not just used to seeing inaccurate images. I would say that just about every consumer set out there has greens that are overwhelmed by blues or red. So an accurately calibrated image oft times will look more green than we are accustomed to seeing.

For the record I calibrated my 5700 using a Minolta Chroma Meter. I started with all three gains set to 66 and and all three offsets set to 39. After calibration the offsets had not changed and but the blue and green gains had dropped to 58 each. I calibrated the light that was reflected from teh screen and not the direct light from the 5700. I did a quick comparison between the two and there was a couple of hundred degreesK difference.
Given that I had to drop both green and blue a tad I can deduce that my original uncalibrated image had a subtle cyan tint to it.

My lens only had 20 hours on it when I performed the calibration, and I'm planning on doing a quick re-calibration every couple of hundred hours or so.

Kurt

I'm pretty sure my color balance was WAY off... it started out fine but definately went more green over a week or two. Comparing the image on the projector to my well-tuned 27" TV showed a night and day difference. Yes, I know both display devices will offer a markedly different picture, but we're talking WAY off. I had to lower my green bias and gain to about 40 each to get the color looking right - and that substantially lowered my brightness and contrast.

Several other people here have also had a problem with a green image, so I'm confident it's not my eyes :-)

Well, it's been exactly THREE WEEKS since Infocus got my 5700 and I haven't heard a peep out of them. They said it takes a maximum of 15 days to repair. This is beginning to stink. I emailed tech support and asked what's going on... the 'status check' on their website simply says "received and being repaired."

Not much help!

It just blows that I had the thing for only a few months and now it's been in the shop for 3 weeks. I know everyone talks about how great Infocus' service is, but so far I'm not being convinced that my next projector should be an Infocus!

After two emails to tech support, I finally got a status report on my broken 5700... they told me they were waiting for backordered engines and didn't expect them for several more WEEKS!

I had originally been told it would take a maximum of 15 days to fix the projector and it has already been nearly a month.

The good news is they offered to send me a new 5700 as a replacement. The only catch is the waranty will date back to when I purchased my original projector, but that's fine by me (it was only 5 months ago).

I only hope the new unit doesn't go green and have a loud color wheel!

After hearing so many glowing reports about Infocus' customer service, I was a little surprised at the so-so treatment I got, but in the end it looks like they're doing the right thing. I'll just be happy when I finally have a projector back in my house! A month is way to long to go without...

I never thought I'd see the day when I thought 27 inches was not enough ;-)

Mojo - Did Infocus send you a replacement projector yet? Have you noticed any difference with the colorwheel whine and fan noise?

I got my new projector early this week. Thanks to infocus for taking care of me.

I still think the color balance of the image is shifted to the green. Since this is a new projector, it's hard to say if I'm seeing things or if it's a problem. Others have said they have also noticed a green tint so the jury is still out. Still, I've been working in film and video for many years and I'd be hard pressed to believe that an image this green is correct!

The color wheel noise is very low now. It's like a dim humming coming from the projector that can only be heard in a quiet room or during the most quiet moments of movie.

While some people would say I should be happy with this low noise level, I am still spoiled by the first two weeks I had a 5700 back in February. Out of the box, the color was perfect (is slowly went green over a few days) and for 2 weeks all I heard was the fan. Then I began hearing a high pitched whine and then one day it just got so loud it was obviously broken.

While the low level of color wheel nosie on this new unit isn't very bothersome, I still feel that I should be expecting no noise apart from the fan. Fan noise is a part of owning a projector, we all know that... but since when are we informed that color wheel hum is also to be expected? I don't think it is... especially when I've spend 4 grand!

So, I'll keep this for a few weeks, see if anything else develops and get back to Infocus and see what they have to say.

Hi all, I posted this in the HDTV hardware forum, but no one seemed to have an opinion. Thought maybe all you 5700 owners might have some thoughts. Sorry for the common knowledge information about the 5700, but I thought some people might read this post that were not familar with the 5700. I'm really wanting to know if running 1080i or 720p would look better, on same or whatever. thanks again

"1080i, 720p or variable?
Hi everyone, thought I would get some opinions. I have a Sony SAT HD300 connected to an Infocus 5700 (1024 x 576 resolution) not true HD, but very impressive none the less. Just got the Sony, and it gives me the option to display everything in 1080i, 720p, or variable (which will display SDTV in 480i). I'm just wondering if there is a preference between having everything displayed in 1080i or 720p? (of course it is down converted to the native resolution of my projector)

I'm getting ready to switch from component cable to DVI for this piece, so I don't know if that will change anything or not, but wanted to get everyones opinion on the best way to go."

Thanks
Jeff

I also would like to add a big thanks to everyone, for helping with my decision to get the 5700. I don't feel like I am missing anything when watch HDTV. This thing looks just simply incredible on my Dalite 110" HCCV screen, infact it is so bright (I didn't think I would do this) but I am going to use my ND2 filter after all. Finally watched my first movie on it, after having finished setting up my dedicated room. Now I just have to wait for my furniture to get in, and my custom cabinet to be finished and the room will be complete.

Thanks again
Jeff

I spent some time with mine, switching ABC output between 1080i and 720p from my HD TiVo, and some CBS output. To be honest, I couldn't really see any noticeable difference. Maybe a trained eye looking for a specific artifact could tell, but that wasn't me.

Mojo

I would suggest variable output - one would think that the Faroudja DCDi does a better job at 480i than your settop box - and it gives you adjustment control that your settop box does not have. You also go thru only one scaling conversion. My Panasonic tuner box does that (they call it native) and I think that is the way to go. You will suffer some annoyance when projector resyncs as you flip channels though.

I feed my IF5700 with 1080i from my comcast cable box. When I set it up months ago it appeared to have the best PQ.

It's nice to see some other folks on this forum buying the IF5700. It seems to be somewhat of a "forgotten" PJ on this forum - with the folks who want 720p going with the 7205 or the Benq 8700, and the 480p folks getting the new 4805.

Honestly if the SP4800 had not been a rewarmed version of the X1 sold at BestBuy and instead was the SP4805 - would you have bought the SP5700? Shows you the shelf life of a new projector on this forum - nine months.

I could preach all day long about the better casing, more inputs, deeper reds, better lens, better HDTV, 8' screen. But for the DVD watcher they only see $2500 more.....why that is 250 DVDs at WalMart!

I have no inside info on this - but a SP5705 would be nice. Throw in the new color wheel and DarkChip2. Any other goodies that you think will get buyers excited about it again? Or is it possible nobody bought the NECHT1100 and just no close competition to argue with anymore ;-) ;-)
Or maybe everybody is just off watching movies and could care less about the forum anymore?

According to my dealer on Long Island the 5700 is one of his better sellers, especially after the price reduction some months ago. The dealer recommended the 5700 over the 7200 to me because of my seating distance from the screen (14 feet). He said, using HDTV, I wouldn't really see a difference from 14 feet away (on a 110" diagonal screen). I assume if I was sitting closer I would need the added resolution of the 7200. The $2,600 price differential made it a no brainer to me.

As of now I do not have HDTV with no plans in the near future to get it (I dislike my cable company and don't want to give them any more money) and use my projector for DVD's only.

I am immensely satisfied with my purchase and dinner and a movie at our house is taking hold with friends who becomealmost as enthusiastic about my 5700 as I am.

John

I use my 5700 for both DVD and TV (SD and HD). I sit about 13 feet from a 8 foot wide screen, and don't feel like I've lost anything by not going with a 720 projector. I love it, and everyone who sees it is very impressed. I might consider upgrading to a higher resolution project a few years down the road, when the 3 chip DLP's hit a resonable price point.

Jeff

Hey all, I was wondering about ISF calibration. has any of you other 5700 owners had their projectors calibrated? Did it make a big difference. I have about 90 hours on my projector and am wondering if I should get it calibrated? What are typical cost for ISF calibration? (if I am allowed to ask that)

Thanks
Jeff

The recommended ISF fees are $325 for front projecton, $125 additional inputs. If ISF techs do more - especially with CRTs they tend to work on an hourly basis. Infocus ScreenPlay is pretty straightforward - close out of the box and easy to adjust. You are getting into that 100-200 hour range when the lamp is stabilized and it is a good time to calibrate.

Even with DVI input, the lamps differ and Infocus defaults tends towards slightly greenish greys as that increases brightness.

The real problem comes from using consumer DVD players - they are going to make your greyscale off and need calibrated to. If you have test patterns you can adjust color/tint/contrast/brightness - the ISF tech will have more experience at the interactions between controls/player/display.

I posted earlier in this thread some calibration charts....

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3754616#post3754616

The first greyscale is about 12% toward green , the second greyscale about 7% towards cyan.

If you compare the price of calibration to the projector - that extra 10% more money can get you that last 10% of performance. Usually it takes 100% more money to get the last 5%. So IMPO it is worth it!

I'm on the calendar for a calibration in the next week or two. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Right now my whites have a distinct bit of pink to them. :)

Mojo

I'm very pleased with my 5700 for DVD's and haven't invested in HD yet although it is available in my area (set tops are still overly priced IMHO). Also, I don't want to go back to being a slave to the TV programmers. I watch most TV now from DVD's and I love the flexibility, lack of stupid commercials, and superior picture/sound.

I calibrated my 5700 using DVE and the adjustments were very small from the out of box settings. Every review/test of this PJ suggests it is one of the best calibrated out of the box. Unless your picture looks very strange I wouldn't invest in an ISF calibration (if it is strange I would send it back anyway before I paid for calibration).

David Abrams visited last Thursday evening and calibrated my 5700.

I was originally driven to this by watching the hockey finals and noticing that the ice was pink. (I think actually it was cyan.)

On the first pass, he found that my default settings were way low on green.

Anyway he brought it into spec for DVD and the HD sources. Now I'm kind of getting used to the picture. I think it'll take a little while to get accustomed to having a calibrated image.

As he adjusted the green gain to bring my greys back to grey, the InFocus menus, which used to have a grey background, turned distinctly green. This means something, but I'm not sure what. If my picture is good, then that's what matters, but why is an internally generated signal from the projector going so far off? (A cable issue of some sort? Doesn't really make sense.)

Secondly, I now have two sets of presets, one for DVD on User 1, and one for HD on User 2. If only there were a discrete remote control code to select a preset User, I could automatically select the right settings with the right source. Tsk tsk on you InFocus!

Mojo

Morris,

This is a player issue!

The projector menu is going to use the greyscale native to the projector itself.

The calibrated settings have adjusted your greyscale because of the variant voltages on your analog inputs due to consumer grade equipment. Most likely you have a low voltage on the Y cable which is where most of the green comes from. Conversely, someone seeing green on the SP5700 likely has hot analog inputs - if there menus are actually grey.

All that Infocus can do is create a greyscale for the statistical lamp - they cannot create a greyscale for your variant sources. That is why ISF is needed even for projectors that are supposedly preset at the factory.

DVI is one way to avoid the variant voltages - but even DVI DVD players have been known to do signal processing on the bits to make a 'subjectively' better picture - which of course turns out to be objectively wrong.

If your calibrator left User3 set to the defaults - then come back to it after a couple weeks - you will wonder how could you have watched it before!


The user settings are unique to each source/sync and it should remember the last one you used. So you should be able to have User1 for DVD and User1 for HD and just leave it alone.

Thanks KRAS, that's about what I figured.

Unfortunatley my DVD and HD receiver both share the same component input on the projector. They're switched at the equipment rack. Thus the need to use two of the User presets for the two sources.

The projector appears to use the same memories for 480p, 720p, and 1080i format, and an independent set for 480i.

Best regards,
Mojo

AAH - I could have sworn Bob Williams said sync rate as well - had not tested to see that it was 480i vs. others only.

If that is the case you could use 480i (but it may have different color temp than 480p even though same DVD player!). My bet is the Faroudja implementation in the projector is better than that in your DVD player. So you would benefit from better deinterlacing and automated preset switching.

HAs anybody had any experience with using the DVDO I Scan with the 5700? Has it made a big difference with DVD and with off air broadcasts?
Any inputs would be really appreciated.
George.

This might have already been covered already in this thread, I am sorry if it has. I wanted to hear about DVI dvd players other 5700 owners might be using? Currently running my Denon 2800 through component, and my Sony sat box through DVI. Want to get a DVI up-converting dvd player, and would like to hear about what has worked good for you all out there.

Also I was wondering, I am running my 5700 with factory settings, on a Dalite HCCV (110") in a completely light controlled room, also using a Hoya ND2 filter. I have noticed on really bright white scenes that the whites are really over powering, sometimes blinding. For example in the movie Usual Suspects, when Kevin Spacey is giving his testimony to the court, near the beginning, they have a white light shining on his face, and it seems like that white light is just washing out his face completely. I'm just wondering if that is how it is suppose to be, or do I need to adjust something on the projector. I have noticed other really white scenes that seem to be over powering. I only have noticed this on the color white, not sure if it's the projector or my dvd player, haven't been watching a lot of Directv lately.

Thanks
Jeff Troiano

With the default settings, (Contrast and Brightness at 50) my 5700 was clearly crunching both the blacks and the whites. My current calibrated settings are about 16 for contrast and 70-something for brightness. That should bring back the white detail.

To be more precise, you can check your settings with one of the calibration DVDs.

Mojo

Another question on DVI upconverting dvd players, is it worth upconverting with a player, just to have it downconverted back to the 5700's native resolution?

Thanks
Jeff

toiano,

Finding Nemo has THX Optimode patterns that will solve your white/black crush issues so you can adjust your brightness/contrast defaults. Make sure you are using film gamma and white peaking is zero.

I don't think up/down converting makes mathematical sense. You will have scaling error in both directions! Best limit yourself to one set of scaling errors. Some people like it though because the scaling error is oft performed thru excessive interpolation filtering - leading to a softer image. Some people call it film like - I call it lacking in detail!

Go way back in the archives and Bob Williams posted settings for dealing with Video rather than PC DVI.

With a DVI upconverting player, it would be best to sent out native 576p to the projector, but what about NTSC 480i DVD´s... send out 480p(I assume they don´t scale 480i to 576p?)?

My colorwheel just went out. I asked my dealer and he said that it would be fastest to deal with Infocus directly for warrantee. He said if I had any problems to let him know.

He also mentioned that they would either repair or exchange the projector, but when I called support they said they could only repair the 5700. Is that correct? What warrantee options does Infocus have? The projector is about a year old....

I would like to do the advance exchange as mentioned in this post: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3512698#post3512698

Should I have been given that option?