Kamull, I did a search from within this thread and found the below information from an XP user. You may have already found this and tried it? From what I read earlier in this thread lots of people had problems partly perhaps because the infocus instructions apparently weren't entirely correct!

========================================

Go back and re-read the instructions word for word. I had a hard time too, using Windows XP SP2. You have to actually have the SP5000 unplugged to start the process. Here is what I did to get it to work:

Unplug (just turning it off using the power button won't work) the projector.

Connect your M1-VGA(with USB) to the PC and the projector.

Assuming your PC is on and the M1 cable is connected, press and hold the menu key while connecting the power cable to the projector. Immediately release the menu key and then press it once, you should see the status light display a steady amber. At the same time you should get the "New Hardware Found" wizard. From here you can point it to the correct driver and avoid all that "HID" stuff.

Now, disconnect the projector again. Start the flash utility and follow the prompts as instructed in the directions. You should stop when you get to the "Select Link Type" screen.

Press and hold menu, plug the projector in, release the menu key and then immediately press it once. You shouldn't be prompted for a driver this time.

Press next on the "Select Link Type" screen on your PC, you should see the projector begin to upgrade.

I hope this helps a little, I know that the instructions provided in the upgrade are a little unclear.

im not shure if we are even on the same topic anymore, but any of you with the screenplay 5000 how is halo/any split screen game in 4 player, on my sanyo z1 the background gets blurry because of lack of resolutiion, with 720 p will this be fixed, ie it is hard to tell a person from a rock on my z1 in 4 player split screen.

im not shure if we are even on the same topic anymore, but any of you with the screenplay 5000 how is halo/any split screen game in 4 player, on my sanyo z1 the background gets blurry because of lack of resolutiion, with 720 p will this be fixed, ie it is hard to tell a person from a rock on my z1 in 4 player split screen.

That is one of the first things I did. It looked extremely good (I played it on the 360 in 720p.)

Hey jman left you a PM as well, you may have already found these SP5000 IR codes, I found this from a previous post in this thread:

http://www.infocus.com/service/sp5000/downloads/SP5000-IR%20Codes.pdf

Jude,

Great minds must think alike-I did the same search today and found that post. My daughter and her boyfriend helped me and finally success!!! I have version 10 firmware.

Now I'll keep my fingers crossed that this solves my overheating and shutdown issue. I'm still enjoying my SP5000 and my new HT-it's a blast!

Thank you so much for your time Jude and your help. I appreciate my fellow AVSers very much. BTW Jude, are you anywhere near SeaTac?

Cheers!
Kari

awsome, thanks Hyper_Eye, my roomate traded in his xbox to get a 360 and now its up to me to sell my z1 to my family ( they were upset about me taking it to college even though i paid for it all, guess its just addicting that whole 100 inch screen thing) and buy a 5000, thanks again

Kamull I'm glad to hear that upgrade worked-- means when and if I need to do one I'll be in luck!

Since your unit is ceiling mounted I would guess it's more susceptible to overheating, as heat rises, but lets hope it doesn't happen-- I'm a bit worried about the whole thing really, and wondering if Infocus fixed one problem (like fan noise) with one of their revisions only to cause another problem. For me give me fan noise any day, I have never seen what the big deal is about fan noise... I mean, the old projectors we used to watch: slide projectors, 16mm, etc all had noisy fans, the sound of the movie usually drowns it out.

We're about 2 hours south of SeaTac, but we go up there all the time. Vancouver is really almost considered part of Portland, Oregon, just over a river and state border but all of our TV stations are Portland, etc.

Newbie and new 5000 owner--very happy.

After much forum reading, ordered some monoprice cables to establish my initial setup. Has anyone run into the situation where a monoprice M1-HDMI cable does not mate with the M1 port on the PJ? The supplied Infocus M1 cable mates beautifully. Do I just have a faulty cable or is this unusual? Also, the Infocus supplied M1 cable has 10 rows of three pins, then the parallel bar with 2 pins below and above the bar. The monoprice has the 10 rows of three pins and the parallel bar, but not the two pins above and below the bar. Is this a problem? My research appears to point to the two pin pairs as being used for analog signals, which I don't think I need because I have digital signals with a DVD player with HDMI out and an SA 8300HD with HDMI out. But I really don't know what I'm talking about.

My plan is to have monoprice replace the cable, but I want to be sure that there is no known problem with compatibility.

thanks

Welcome to the forum and to this specific thread as a new SP5000 owner!!

I think those extra pins must be on the infocus M1 cable because that specific cable is designed to accepting a signal from an analog VESA/(RGB)/VGA/15-pin port from the PC. The monoprice cable is digital only so if your research is correct I would bet that it doesn't need those pins on there.

If this is true, it's curious to me because since the projector already has a "VESA"/VGA/15-pin input on it, why would infocus design the M1 port to also accept analog, instead of just supplying a VGA cable on both ends to go from PC to projector?

I wouldn't return the cable-- my DVI-D to M1 cable I got from monoprice is the same, and you can click on the "larger image" icon on monoprice to see a closeup of all the cable-ends on each type. It doesn't appear that they are there, and that's probably normal.

What you probably want to do is email monoprice support and explain what you know and/or suspect, and see if they can confirm either way, please post your results!

Thanks for the quick reply. You answered my question about the extra four pins because the Infocus supplied M1 cable has a split end, one with USB and the other Vesa, so that must be why the extra four pins.

On the other issue, I did contact Monoprice. I told them the problem is that the M1 portion of the cable will not physically mate. They wanted an email explaining the same so I will compose that. Since I'm getting another M1 cable from them in the next few days, I'll see how that cable mates. Unfortunately, I already know I will have to return that cable since I ordered the wrong type (I now know I should be getting a VGA-VGA cable). See, I told you I was a newbie. But at least I'll convince myself the M1 will mate.

Hey jman left you a PM as well, you may have already found these SP5000 IR codes, I found this from a previous post in this thread:

http://www.infocus.com/service/sp5000/downloads/SP5000-IR%20Codes.pdf


Shoot ... that only lists one "power" code, so it's likely there are no discrete codes, only the on/off toggle. Lame!

Thank you for the information Jude.

HD Curious: First things first-- why do you think you need to get a vga-to-vga cable? What device will you be hooking to the projector? If possible I woudl think you want to stay with M1 to (your device type). In my case it was M1 to DVI-D.

It sounds like you bought an HDMI to M1 cable... do you indeed have a device that outputs through an HDMI port?

Good point on the pins... the usb from the split has to detect the device so one or more of those pins must be for that purpose. I still am confused, though, when you say "the m1 portion of the cable will not physically mate" -- do you mean, in some other respect other than these missing pins, the cable doesn't actually fit? Or do you mean, that it isn't a "perfect" fit because it's missing the extra pins? If you go to this link, does your M1 portion of the cable look identical after you click on the closeup of the M1 portion of the cable? I believe that to be the standard M1 connector and it works great for me at least! Mine also does not have the extra pins, but it fits snug into the back of the PJ

See link:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10238&cs_id=1023802&p_id=2699&style=&seq=1&format=1#largeimage

Jude,

The cable will not fit snugly, in fact, it is more like metal to metal contact. I didn't want to force the cable and bend a pin. But it fits so badly that I know I could not force it on. Strange.

Not really knowing what I am doing, this is what I came up for as far as connections go:

1) SA 8300HD (with HDMI) will connect to the Monoprice 2 HDMI push button switch
2) DVD player (with HDMI) will connect to the Monoprice 2 HDMI push button switch
3) Monoprice 2 HDMI push button switch connected to the PJ by a M1-HDMI cable (this is the one that does not fit)
4) XBOX 360 connected to the PJ by component cables
5) Computer connected to the PJ by VGA cable

All audio willl be RCA plug to an old receiver until I can upgrade.

Does this make sense?

Maybe I should say the heck with it and connect everything via component--do they make a component switchbox?

Thanks for your time.

I'm pretty sure they do but I would recommend going into the M1 if you can, it should yield a better picture assuming your source warrants it.

HDcurious... bear with me here I'm still confused-- you described the only physical difference between the included M1 - VGA/USB cable and the monoprice cable as the absence of two sets of pins above the parallel bar. If that is the case, can you describe what you think might be blocking the cable from getting connected into the port?

Is it possible they sent you an HDMI to DVI cable instead, and the end that you think is supposed to be an M1 end is actually DVI which is not as wide and thus would not fit onto the M1 port??? That wouldn't even come close to fitting, it would be metal against metal and would not be wide enough to cover the M1 port.

Jude,
Sorry, I should have mentioned that I have the HDMI/M1 cable. It is the same as the picture you linked. I did get an AVI cable to compare. That is definitely smaller and only has 8 rows of pins.

My problem is the PJ receptor port is essentially the same size as the cable M1 plug. The problem is the outside casing. So I have metal to metal contact. I don't know which, but one is supposed to be slightly bigger so the male and female mesh snugly. For example, the cable from Infocus slides on beautifully. I'll have to look more closely tonight in comparing the outside dimensions of the Infocus and Monoprice casings.

HDcurious,

Welcome to the gang!
I hope you are enjoying your new SP5000 as much as I am enjoying mine!! I too am pretty much a newbie but I'm loving it.

I will be interested in what specific cable you are buying, I would like to purchase one too. I currently have my HD box running by s-video and I'd like to change that.

Jude,

I was able to watch the entire Yankee/Red Sox game last night with no shutdowns. I'm feeling hopeful!!!

I have family in WA- so I travel out that way once in awhile!!

Cheers!
Kari

How do you guys get your geometry so perfect? Shining on the wall it didn't really matter. As long as I got it close it was fine. Now I am using a screen and I am having a real hard time getting the geometry right. My unit is sitting on a shelf and it is apparent to me that the shelf is going to need to be screwed into place as even the slightest movement completely messes things up. I can't get the sides of my image level. The top of the image is wider then the bottom no matter what I do. I can't even fix it with keystone correction (though I seriously want to avoid using it.) It is hard to get the bottom of the image perfectly lined up with the bottom of the screen. The bottom line is the only way for me to get the image to where I can even be slightly happy with it is to zoom it to the point that it is slightly larger then the screen so that the image extends over to the black border (more so in some places then others.) When I see pictures of people's screens it looks like they have the geometry perfect. Someone help me out here. :(

Bun: I would bet reflashing it to 10 will NOT bring back the wierd sub menus that you had. I'd bet you somehow had a corrupted 10 and pushing a new 10 to the unit would not bring the grey blocks back. Furthermore it may help with the overheating issues.

As far as the zoom, is your projector fixed in it's position, you can't move it any further forward or back from where you have it placed? I assume this is the problem you mean, from that position you can't zoom it in to a little smaller zie that you'd like. It sounds like you already had a screen all setup-- were you thinking about changing the size of your screen?

As far as the quality of HD, what other output adapters does that HD OTA tuner have? If component is the best, maybe you should try running component to component without any adapters in between, as short as you can go (move the tuner temporarily near the PJ just for a short test) and see if the PQ changes. Also, what do you have your gamma set at and color temp? Was your Benq unit shooting HD at the same sized screen?

I'll give it a shot reflashing to 10. I'm using the Photography gamma and it looks alright. The projector is fixed on a shelf on my back wall and really can't be moved anywhere. My ceiling is about 18' high so a ceiling mount with a shorter throw is not an option. Pretty much I'm stuck with this size and I'm making a new screen to fit the image. Not a big deal since I've actually started like this size. :)

The PQ is decent and will probably get better when I have a good screen rather than on to my textured wall. The best my tuner has is component, however, I'm going to grab my other HDTV tuner and try its HDMI output. While the Benq seemed sharper, I must admit the image size was slightly smaller. I'll give the suggestions with the cables a try, just haven't had time yet.

Thanks.

How do you guys get your geometry so perfect? Shining on the wall it didn't really matter. As long as I got it close it was fine. Now I am using a screen and I am having a real hard time getting the geometry right. My unit is sitting on a shelf and it is apparent to me that the shelf is going to need to be screwed into place as even the slightest movement completely messes things up. I can't get the sides of my image level. The top of the image is wider then the bottom no matter what I do. I can't even fix it with keystone correction (though I seriously want to avoid using it.) It is hard to get the bottom of the image perfectly lined up with the bottom of the screen. The bottom line is the only way for me to get the image to where I can even be slightly happy with it is to zoom it to the point that it is slightly larger then the screen so that the image extends over to the black border (more so in some places then others.) When I see pictures of people's screens it looks like they have the geometry perfect. Someone help me out here. :(

Getting the geometry right can be a real pain, it sounds like you're projecting "up" from the position of your SP5000 (the unit is sitting right side up on a lower shelf). This could give you the problem of the top of the image being wider than the bottom. Basically, you have to move the projector up slightly and tilt the beam down.

Or you can go drastically different and mount the shelf about 6-7ft high and flip the projector upside down to project the beam downwards to the screen. The hight at which you mount it depends on how far the throw distance is. Stand on a ladder holding the projector on the blue "blank" screen and have a friend help you find just the right hight to correct the geometry.

Now, when it's upside down on a shelf you have to get "ghetto-creative" like I did. Just get some small strips of cardboard and/or self-adhesive rubber weather stripping. I put one 6-8" strip along the edges of the top surface of the projector (parallel to the direction we'll be projecting). This give the projector a little breathing room and stablizes it. Place the projector upside down on the shelf, then using some flattened 1"x6" strips of carboard, I added just the right number under the rear edge of the projetor to get the tilt right. if your shelf's not level in the first place, you may have to help level out the left and right strips.

An added benifit to mounting at 7ft high is when people get up during a movie, they are less likely to block the beam. But you'll have to run longer cables of course.

Yes, there are much less ghetto ways to do this, but hey, it works.

I am going to mess with the geometry on the bottom shelves and see if I can't get it right. If not I will think about raising and flipping it. Good tip on raising and tilting down. I am going to try that. Thank you.

Raising it and lifting the back worked perfectly. After I did that getting it adjusted was a cinch. Thank you very much.

Who needs fancy mounting devices when everyday household items from the nearest recycle bin/trash can work just fine! :D Glad to hear it worked!

Hi there,

I have just received my refurb. SP5000 yesterday and spent part of the night playing :rolleyes: The lamp has 0 hours so either I'm lucky they placed a new one, or they just reset the counter ... This projector is not very popular in France here (I'm french), I did not find any useful resource around but this forum. I'm new to HT projectors but have a good experience in data ones ... So far, I'm very pleased with the colors, brightness, connected with the supplied VGA<->DVI-M1 cable. I saw no vertical banding, only the black level could be greatly improved in my opinion (maybe it differs form unit to unit, but I doubt?) I would say it's the only flaw of this projector, it does not have the auto iris feature like others. So here I go with my questions:

- Did someone already try to attach a specific filter (either ND or specific) in order to improve contrast? I saw some discussion on this topic but no one provided feedback.

- There's no scaler in the SP5000 (or at least no chip which deserves this name ;-) So, I used fffdshow from scaling DVD to native resolution. I found the result not that impressive compared to the Philips pixel+ technology from my TV set (it seems to do a much better job for scaling sources). Do you guys have experince whith ffdshow, what's your opinon?

Cheers,

I agree the black levels are this pj's flaw. Do a search and you will find a lot on ffdshow.

Gilsas,
Welcome from a fellow new poster. Where in France do you live? I was in the US Air Force and stationed in Stuttgart and Ramstein, Germany and traveled quite a bit in France. Had a ball!

I'm a newbie to HD projection, but I did a lot of research on increasing contrast by building a screen. Much of the research pointed toward using Behr Silverscreen, available at Home Depot. That may not help you in France, but I'm not convinced the specific brand is important, just the grey color. Someone in the DIY Screen forum recommended using a one step darker color like pewter grey because of the light cannon characteristics of the 5000. I mixed the pewter grey with about 30% white pearl opalesence (to give it some pop) and put on two coats. Then, for the finish coat, I added about 30% polycrylic (like a polyurethane) satin to the paint mixture. I rolled the paint mixture on standard blackout cloth stretched over a 1 inch square aluminum tube frame (about 72in by 40 in). The screen is tight as a drum and the paint dried perfectly smooth. Compared to the white background I used as an initial test bed, the screen color renditions are stunning, especially the black levels. Although I can control the light, the screen is very visible with full room lighting.

This may not help you, but we get oohs and ahs. I'm having fun. Now, if can solve my cable dilemna.

Chris

Gilsas: Concerning FFDSHOW... Can you describe in laymens terms what you're trying to do? Maybe give us the specs on your HTPC setup, what resolution are you set at , etc? I am confused when you say you want to use ffdshow to scale, I always thought ffdshow was used primarily to adjust existing video properties like improving sharpness, etc. Why do you need to scale anything, if your computer is set to 1280 x 720 ?

As far as an ND filter, as I understand it, it will improve your black levels and descrease brightness, but not improve your contrast (someone correct me if I'm wrong-- I'm no expert). Your CR can be improved by removing any white walls around your screen with black material or paint. Yes the black levels are not a strong point of this PJ, but my personal opinion is that the money we have saved with this PJ will certainly come in handy later when and if we upgrade. I bought a very popular 4:3 PJ back in 2002 and this was a good upgrade for me at very little net cost.

HDcurious/Gilsas/all:

HD: The paints you used, were they all "Behr" and is it as simple as buying the color called "Pewter Grey" and mixing in appropriate amounts with "White Pearl opalesence" ? (and for the final coat ask for something called "polycrylic satin"? Or did you get the polycryllic from some other source? Can you post?

I coincidentally have been emailing back and forth with the guy who used a grey paint to achieve a better looking picture with his SP5000. Any of us can printout these numbers below, take it to your neighborhood home depot (or any Behr paint supplier), and give them these numbers to mix a gallon of grey paint which apparently is a great matchup with the SP5000:
====
Colorant 0Z 48 96
B Lamp Black 0 20 0
C Yellow Oxid 0 4 1
1 Brown Oxide 0 4 1
====

Kamull: Depending on your source, I think you'll like the switch from S-video to M1 if you can-- Have you had a chance to look at anything over the other port, or only S-video?

Bun: Did you decide to keep your SP5000 or are you still evaluating it?

Jude,

I am using both s-video and component. Component to my dvd player and s-video to my cable box. I need to figure out the proper cable to order to connect my cable box with DVI. I'm a little confused with the M1 adapter and different types of DVI but I haven't really tried to fiqure it all out yet.

Still keeping my fingers crossed on the overheating problem. So far no more issues since I upgraded the firmware.

Fellow SP5000 users,
I was interested in reading the input concerning the Behr paint screen. I have been thinking of trying that too. Where can you buy blackout cloth?? Does it come wide enough that there would be no seam in the cloth if I want a 106" diag screen??? What do you think about just painting the wall and framing it with black moulding??

Happy Thursday to you all!

Kari

Jude,

I am using both s-video and component. Component to my dvd player and s-video to my cable box. I need to figure out the proper cable to order to connect my cable box with DVI. I'm a little confused with the M1 adapter and different types of DVI but I haven't really tried to fiqure it all out yet.

Still keeping my fingers crossed on the overheating problem. So far no more issues since I upgraded the firmware.

Fellow SP5000 users,
I was interested in reading the input concerning the Behr paint screen. I have been thinking of trying that too. Where can you buy blackout cloth?? Does it come wide enough that there would be no seam in the cloth if I want a 106" diag screen??? What do you think about just painting the wall and framing it with black moulding??

Happy Thursday to you all!

Kari

I bought blackout material to cover my window (this stuff rocks) and I got it at a regular material store. Go to a store that sells material, sewing supplies, etc. and ask them for blackout material. It is a thick material that is white on one side and slightly grey on the other (the grey side being the side that is supposed to be sewn into curtains.) I don't know about sizes.

Kamull, typically blackout cloth comes in 54" height, is available in any fabric store, and you can make it as wide as you want. So for 16 x 9 , you'd buy 96" long of it, to make 96 x 54, would be 110" diagonal. That's what I have been using for years. If you wanted 106" diagonal you would just cut into the material's height to match the dimensions you need.

Another use (it's original intended use) for blackout cloth.. if you have any light coming in from windows blackout cloth really does a good job of blotting it out, like Hyper Eye mentioned! This is the reason people use the material for HT screens-- since it does not let any light through, then you know you're not losing any in your image.

Whatever you want for a screen is probably doable. I think lots of people use a plain wall, you just want to make sure it's not textured, you could paint it with the grey paint people are talking about and make molding around it, some people even do something creative with the space when not in use for HT, like putting a painting in the space when not in use then pulling the painting out when the show begins.

Kari, if your cable box has DVI out then you just need to verify if the DVI is DVI-I or DVI-D. If you're not sure and the manual doesn't tell you specifically you might be abel to email their support and even monoprice.com 's support and they can probably tell you for sure. Once you figure out which of the two it is you go to the page below and order the length you need, from either the DVI-D section or the DVI-I section.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10238&style=

p.s. I have a 15' DVI-D to M1 cable that I will sell you for half what monoprice has listed, I have since gotten a longer one from them and have no need for the 15' one. If it doesn't work for you you could always send it back to me for a refund. Just a thought--

If the cable box has DVI out, a DVI-D cable would work. DVI-I accepts digital or analog, then there is DVI-D and DVI-A. I don't think I've ever seen a DVI-A plug. That's probably mostly for a VGA to DVI adapter.

You can see what the different connectors look like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvi

Jude,

Fellow SP5000 users,
I was interested in reading the input concerning the Behr paint screen. I have been thinking of trying that too. Where can you buy blackout cloth?? Does it come wide enough that there would be no seam in the cloth if I want a 106" diag screen??? What do you think about just painting the wall and framing it with black moulding??

Kari

See here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7786557&&#post7786557

Jude:

I think I'm going to stick with the SP5000. I watched some more on it last night and it was so bright and the colors were so vivid, I think I can live with the flaws. Of course I'm still going to work on optimizing the picture when I have time and my new screen material (5x10ft Sintra board) comes in.

All,
All the paint I used was from Home Depot. The main color was the Behr pewter grey, paint card #770E-3 (on the same card as the silver screen, which is 770E-2). The White Opal Pearlescent (#751 on the jar), is in a 31 oz plastic jar. Finally, I used Miniwax water based Polycrylioc protective fininsh--clear satin in a 32 oz can. I based this on the innumerable posts in the silver screen section in the Screen DIY forum. Worked nicely for me. The blackout cloth I purchased at JoAnn's fabrics. I used 2 inch binder clips from Office Depot to secure the stretched cloth on the aluminum tube frame. Was pretty easy to stretch tight. I painted the rubbery side of the blackout cloth, which 99% of people recommended.

Also, in reference to my M1-HDMI cable not mating with the 5000 problem posted earlier, my other cable from Monoprice arrived, this time an M1-VGA cable. This time, the M1 mated perfectly with the 5000, so I definitely have a bum M1-HDMI cable. I will return and get a replacement.

Side note: although I have not yet used them, the cables are very substantial feeling. Others have recommended them, so I anticipate no electrical problems.

Hi All,

I writing this post as a very frustrated SP5000 owner. Don't get me wrong, I really like my SP5000, except for that nagging little problem of turning itself off in the middle of a movie!!!!!

Tonight was my third episode in about a week. No shutdowns prior to that. I've had this unit since early April. Honestly, if it had been doing this during my return period I probably would have sent it back.

As I posted earlier, I did upgrade to version 10 firmware. I really don't know what could be causing this sudden problem. My HT is in the basement so it's a very mild temp, we usually cover ourselves up with small blankets because it can even feel a little cool sometimes.

The only thing I can think of is to try a cooling (muffin?) fan mounted near the pj on the ceiling. Do you think I can find one at BB or RadioShack so I won't have to wait for it to be shipped?

I'm also going to call Infocus when they open today and see if they have any ideas.

Is anyone else having this problem??

Well, I'm off to bed. I hope I can sleep-this @#*% pj is annoying me!! Nite all!!

No overheating problems for me yet, but I did run into a new problem today. My DVI connection just gives me a black screen. I don't know if it's the projector or the cable. It was working for a week and when I turned the projector on tonight I got the black screen. If I turn the cable box off and back on I get a picture for a few seconds before it goes black. Very weird. The M1 to VGA cable still works and he cable box DVI out still works, so I guess I'll order another M1 to DVI cable and hope that's the fix.

Gilsas,
Welcome from a fellow new poster. Where in France do you live? I was in the US Air Force and stationed in Stuttgart and Ramstein, Germany and traveled quite a bit in France. Had a ball!

I'm a newbie to HD projection, but I did a lot of research on increasing contrast by building a screen. Much of the research pointed toward using Behr Silverscreen, available at Home Depot. That may not help you in France, but I'm not convinced the specific brand is important, just the grey color. Someone in the DIY Screen forum recommended using a one step darker color like pewter grey because of the light cannon characteristics of the 5000. I mixed the pewter grey with about 30% white pearl opalesence (to give it some pop) and put on two coats. Then, for the finish coat, I added about 30% polycrylic (like a polyurethane) satin to the paint mixture. I rolled the paint mixture on standard blackout cloth stretched over a 1 inch square aluminum tube frame (about 72in by 40 in). The screen is tight as a drum and the paint dried perfectly smooth. Compared to the white background I used as an initial test bed, the screen color renditions are stunning, especially the black levels. Although I can control the light, the screen is very visible with full room lighting.

This may not help you, but we get oohs and ahs. I'm having fun. Now, if can solve my cable dilemna.

Chris

Chris, thanks for the warm welcome! I'm living in south France, Montpellier, nice mid-size city. I also spent a couple of years in Germany, in the Frankfurt area, there are some US Air Force bases around, I met some US fellows there, it helped me improve (a bit only) my poor english...
The DIY screen seems to be a nice way to improve the dark levels, and if colors are further improved that should yield an astonishing result since color rendition on that unit are already very good (to my taste at least). I'm not that much a DIY guy, as a French expression says well, I have two left hands :D I'll look around for a grey screen, that seems to be a nice solution to start with.

Cheers,

Gilsas: Concerning FFDSHOW... Can you describe in laymens terms what you're trying to do? Maybe give us the specs on your HTPC setup, what resolution are you set at , etc? I am confused when you say you want to use ffdshow to scale, I always thought ffdshow was used primarily to adjust existing video properties like improving sharpness, etc. Why do you need to scale anything, if your computer is set to 1280 x 720 ?

As far as an ND filter, as I understand it, it will improve your black levels and descrease brightness, but not improve your contrast (someone correct me if I'm wrong-- I'm no expert). Your CR can be improved by removing any white walls around your screen with black material or paint. Yes the black levels are not a strong point of this PJ, but my personal opinion is that the money we have saved with this PJ will certainly come in handy later when and if we upgrade. I bought a very popular 4:3 PJ back in 2002 and this was a good upgrade for me at very little net cost.

Jude,
My setup is so far a vaio laptop connected through the VGA <-> M1 cable, but I'm gonna order a DVI<->M1 cable and have the PJ connected to my main desktop PC.
Actually, I'm trying to improve image quality with ffdshow. This can be achieved through both upscaling the DVD (720x576) movie to the projector native resolution (180x720) and applying useful filters like sharpening, denoising, etc. The upscaling process can be of course handled without any specific adhoc software (in that case the video card hardware does that) but using ffdshow resize function usually yields a better result (Lanczos method is one of the most popular).
There are many available filters in ffdshow that can be combined in order to further improve quality; some people claim to reach almost HDTV-like quality whith good DVDs.
The ffdshow topic here on avsforum is very instructive in this regard, though not very synthetic :D Are there many of you using ffdshow for improving IQ on the SP5000? And which specific filter combination/parameters are you using?
Other than that, I completely agree with you, this PJ is terrific value for the money! Its seems that ND filters help lowering the black levels at the cost of an overall brightness decrease, but I also heard of some other filters non-linear filters that behave differently (CC10R, CC20R).

All,
All the paint I used was from Home Depot. The main color was the Behr pewter grey, paint card #770E-3 (on the same card as the silver screen, which is 770E-2). The White Opal Pearlescent (#751 on the jar), is in a 31 oz plastic jar. Finally, I used Miniwax water based Polycrylioc protective fininsh--clear satin in a 32 oz can. I based this on the innumerable posts in the silver screen section in the Screen DIY forum. Worked nicely for me. The blackout cloth I purchased at JoAnn's fabrics. I used 2 inch binder clips from Office Depot to secure the stretched cloth on the aluminum tube frame. Was pretty easy to stretch tight. I painted the rubbery side of the blackout cloth, which 99% of people recommended.

Also, in reference to my M1-HDMI cable not mating with the 5000 problem posted earlier, my other cable from Monoprice arrived, this time an M1-VGA cable. This time, the M1 mated perfectly with the 5000, so I definitely have a bum M1-HDMI cable. I will return and get a replacement.

Side note: although I have not yet used them, the cables are very substantial feeling. Others have recommended them, so I anticipate no electrical problems.

I use the Behr "Pewter Mug" painted on my wall after not getting good black levels with Silver Screen. I mistakenly referred to the color as pewter grey in the big SS post, but I found the color card and it is actually called " behr pewter mug"
770E-3. The picture is near perfect. Thankfully, the SP5000 throws enough light to overcome the adverse effects of the dark grey that would make most projectors look bad. It really works well in daylight also. The 5000 is now my main TV.

You can see the pics I posted by clicking HERE (http://gallery.avsforum.com/showphoto.php/photo/19450/cat/500/ppuser/7471308)

Tonight I used DV Essentials to tweak my SP5000. I started with Derm38's settings from the first page of this thread. Using DVE I tweaked my brightness and contrast. I also switched my gama to film. I have gone from a content SP5000 user to an incredibly happy SP5000 user. The colors look so much better and the black levels look fantastic... 100x better then before I used DVE. I watched Ice Age (which I was very unimpressed with yesterday) and it looked absolutely stunning. I also played some Oblivion and Halo2 and I was simply blown away. The picture is incredible. I use a 72" manual pull-down infocus screen. I could not be happier with my system.

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to follow-up on my earlier posts about shutdowns related to the pj overheating.

I installed a small fan near the pj to circulate the air and so far it seems to work like a charm...no evidence of overheating with about 11 hours of use.

I bought a small cooling fan at RadioShack and wow!...is it loud!!! It sounds like sitting under an airplane! I will be returning it to RS. I tried just using a small personal size fan and it's much quieter and seems to do the trick!

Keeping my fingers crossed!!! ;)


Cheers!
Kari

Hyper Eye: That's funny, most of twhat I've read and experienced myself seemed to put the "photography" gamma at the top of the PQ? I used the THX video optimizer and the only way I could even see the contrast bars correctly was in the photography gamma. I felt like in "film" mode, although in some respects superior, in more respects washed out the picture and was too contrasty.
Although generally infocus projectors are supposedly best put at "film" gamma, I think the SP5000 might be an exception although I'd be interested to hear your findings against the "photography" setting? You actualyl got better CR results using "film" mode during your calibration?

Glisas: I have a feeling you have been "unimpressed" with your results because you have been using a laptop to drive your video. The chipsets in them are not as good as a desktop PC with a quality video card. Even many OEM or on-board video cards in desktop PCs are also not up to snuff of projecting large images without artifacts. Get a good NVIDIA or RADEON card to put in yoru desktop if you haven't already!
I still have a lot to learn about FFDSHOW. My use up until now was always just the "dsharpen" to make the picture a little sharper looking, and that was it. I have never used to upscale or whatnot, would love to find specific procedures on how to do those things.

Kamull: Sorry to hear about your annoying overheat problem. I think the fan WOULD help but if I were you I would get a communication line going with Infocus and basically tell them everything you've done (cleaned the filters already, upgraded the firmware, and how many shut downs you've had.) The worst case scenario to me is you getting a fan to mount near it to imprve cool airflow. Are you CERTAIN there are NO objects of ANY kind to the sides of the projector where it's mounted, including the edge of a wall? Somehwere I read that you need to have a certain number of inches or feet to both sides. I personally think since the filter is on the bottom that the unit shoudl ideally have lots of space betwen it and the shelf or ceiling but obviously that's not easy or sometimes even possible to do.

Bag: So are you saying that just getting the color "pewter mug" did the trick for you? I looked at your screenshots and your room looks almost identical to mine, with white walls and such (I dont have backlighting though-- very cool!), so I'm woindering if I should take a shot at it. I'm confused about what you painted exactly, did you paint some screen material or your wall itself? If it was the wall, how did you get it backlit!!

Well after lurking around the forum for a while and reading this entire thread about the SP5000 and I decided that I would make the upgrade from my Insignia 30" widescreen direct-view CRT, it is an HDTV capable set that does 480i/p 576i/p 720p 1080i, does anybody know what the native resolution could be for that set?

I had the Insignia since black Friday and my parents wanted to upgrade to HD in their room, so they gave me $400 for the Insignia, and then I searched and searched for a projector that was around $1000 that was a native 720p display and had the inputs that I want and need to have.

I found a couple that were out of my price range, the SP-5000 normally would be but the rebate offered by InFocus will allow me to be able to afford this. I was looking for Component, DVI, VESA (VGA) inputs and HDCP compatible, for the futures lovely copy protection. S-video and composite are a pointless inclusion, along with the built in speakers but oh well.

I also agree with others that have said it is pointless to have a proprietary DVI connection on a modern projector, does anybody know exactly what makes it different? It looks to me like it is a normal DVI-D port.

I was originally going to purchase from Radioshack but they went out of stock about 4 days ago, so I searched around again and found it $9.99 cheaper at LACC L.A. Computer Center is the site...but with shipping it was $0.01 more than at RadioShack

I have looked at countless reviews and opinions of this projector, and I think that it will be a perfect entry level projector for me. This will be in a room where ambient light just doesn't exist, it is in a basement with no windows in a 17'x20' room.

I am planning on projecting at about 12-13 feet away onto a light gray wall, I am hoping that it will help to produce a better black level that I have seen many complaints on. IMHO I wouldn't expect an awesome dark black from any projector, just think about the insanely bright lamp inside the projector and how hard it is to block that much light from this "light cannon". I think that it isn't something to complain about so much. I would prefer to not need to buy a screen because they are so expensive, and am hoping the wall will be effective.

The main use of this projector will be for my Xbox 360 and PC, I will also be using it for our Charter cable HDTV services. After seeing the reccomendations on the site in regards to the monoprice quality and price, I decided to purchase a 50ft DVI-D to DVI-M1 cable for a good price. I remember when we purchased our 57" widescreen Hitachi rear-projection and my parents got suckered into buying a 6' Toslink optical Mon$ter Cable for $100 granted this was in 2000 or 2001, since then I only buy Mon$ter if I can't find another brand. The last Monster Cable I purchased was for the PS2 to have HD component cables to use with Gran Turismo 4 in 1080i.

I can't wait to have Project Gotham 3 in 100" diag widescreen, with the in car view it will be like I am in the car. Playing G.R.A.W. and Halo 2 will be an insane experience.

I have a question about my receiver, it is a Sony STR-DE685, anyways I was wondering about the built in Component Video switch it does two sources and my question is:
Is it possible for this to cause sync issues on my TV?
When I see the old Xbox loading screen the image on my direct view CRT bounces up and down, it seems to do this on images that are primarily white, and are in 720p when in 1080i the image is steady.
It is not only affecting the 360 it also does this on some of the HDTV from Charter, it is also connected thru the receiver, so I am not sure if it is the TV that is the issue or if the receiver is causing the issue, any help would be appreciated. I would have tried a direct connection to the TV but it is a pain to move the 100+ pound TV to access the rear inputs.

I was originally planning on a ceiling mount for the projector but I just cant spend the 200 or so that InFocus wants for the small chunk of metal and then another 200 or so for a 12" extension, I need the extension to get around a beam that is running in front of where the projector would be mounted. I don't think the image would make it around the beam without the extension, the beam comes down 11 inches and the projector would be mounted about a foot behind it.

I will be forced to set it up on a coffee table for now, any suggestions on the height of the table or does it not really matter. i would like it to project as close to the ceiling as possible. The ceiling where the image would be displayed is about 7' it is the same height as a door frame with molding on it if that helps.

This has become a very long post..if any one is still reading it I hope you can help.

Hyper Eye: That's funny, most of twhat I've read and experienced myself seemed to put the "photography" gamma at the top of the PQ? I used the THX video optimizer and the only way I could even see the contrast bars correctly was in the photography gamma. I felt like in "film" mode, although in some respects superior, in more respects washed out the picture and was too contrasty.
Although generally infocus projectors are supposedly best put at "film" gamma, I think the SP5000 might be an exception although I'd be interested to hear your findings against the "photography" setting? You actualyl got better CR results using "film" mode during your calibration?

In photography I found contrast to be fairly lacking and colors looked rather dull. When I switched to film it seemed to make things "pop". My blacks were off at first but using DVE I was able to adjust them very nicely.

I still can't make up my mind between photography and film mode. Depends what I'm watching. The color filter that comes with Digital Video Essentials doesn't help me at all. I've tried changing all the color settings and when looking through the filters it barely changes when using the test patterns. Red and blue always look correct or close to it, while green is way off.


I can't even begin to answer all of ludacris' questions. I'll just start with it's not a proprietary connection, it's just not a conventional connection. Seems to be sort of all purpose. It's called an M1 connector. You get M1 on one side and seemingly whatever you want on the other, component, VGA, DVI or HDMI.

Today I should be getting my 2nd M1 to DVI cable from Monoprice in the mail. This is to find out if the cable I've been using went bad or if it's the connection on the projector. I'm hoping it's just the cable. My M1 to VGA cable still works, but not DVI. If it's the projector I'm sending it back and probably getting something different.

Glisas: I have a feeling you have been "unimpressed" with your results because you have been using a laptop to drive your video. The chipsets in them are not as good as a desktop PC with a quality video card. Even many OEM or on-board video cards in desktop PCs are also not up to snuff of projecting large images without artifacts. Get a good NVIDIA or RADEON card to put in yoru desktop if you haven't already!
I still have a lot to learn about FFDSHOW. My use up until now was always just the "dsharpen" to make the picture a little sharper looking, and that was it. I have never used to upscale or whatnot, would love to find specific procedures on how to do those things.


Thanks for your feedback! I am now using my main desktop PC for driving the SP5000, my video is a Radeon 9700PRO. That doesn't make much a difference, but I'm still using the provided VGA <-> M1 cable so some benefits are to be expected with DVI. Also, I didn't calibrate my unit which should help further improving the quality. I am actually very impressed by the HDTV trailers, but DVDs I'm watching are not that good ... lack of sharpness, colors also not that saturated. That's the main reason why I'm giving a try to ffdshow. One impressive filter I discovered this week-end is the DNM (Digital Natural Motion) of WinDVD which increases the framerate and renders playback way smoother, give it a try if you don't know that (that's actually the TrimensionDNM filter that high-end Philips Pixel+ TVs use).
I also decided that rather than buying an AVIA calibration kit, I'm gonna build the HCFR colorimeter fro around 50 bucks ...
Google "HCFR colorimetre" and you'll find it
I don't know if such intiative exists somewhere in US (probably!), this is a french website of enthusiastic HT fans and they came up with a DIY colorimeter and its software. If someone's interested I can provide a rough translated summary.

ludacrisvp, of all of the topics you covered I have some info on a few of them:
1. If you dont mind a refurb unit you can get them direct from infocus for about the same price after rebate, the difference being obviously it's not a new unit but at least you wouldn't have to wait for the rebate. You still get a no questions asked return period and warantee plus you're buying direct from IF which has a value to it.
2. The M1 connector is about 25% wider than DVI.. not sure why it needs the extra pins. I'm sure it's less about providing the consumer with something useful and more about marketing and more income for more pricey cables.
3. I, like you, would NEVER spend the amount of money they are asking for a piece of metal to mount it. Luckily I always table mount mine (I have a fold-up AV cart that I just put behind our sofa and my cables are hidden as well under the sofa, and I just pull them out and cable up the SP5000 when we watch movies. I would make my own mount before ever buying something, but I like to build stuff like that anyway so that helps. My av cart stands about 4 feet high or so, and our screen is hanging just about at eye level while sitting on the sofa. I'll be posting some pics in the coming weeks.

Hyper eye if you can I/we'd love to see yoru final PJ settings as far as brightness, contrast, gamma, color temp, etc that you ended up with to yield what you felt was the 'best' picture.
It seemed to me that I could never get the bars to show up correctly when in film mode, using the THX optimizer. When I first saw photography mode I thought 'film' looked better initially, but after watching enough material I went back to photography. I am still open minded about going back but need to know the right settings. Is DVE basically lika AVIA-- you buy it for about $50 ?

Roto, if I remember your original post describing your problem, I seem to remember a switcher involved, it seems like I've read quite a bit that the SP5000 doesn't do well switching sources. But you had all of the same cables plugged in, and it was working fine, when suddenly the problem started? I would just use the cable ONLY to see if it still gives you the black screen.
I've had a few issues with mine resynching when changing resolutions and/or sources, but when I press the 'auto image' button it always has resolved it.

gilsas, I didn't see too much difference between the VGA connector and DVI, I wouldn't expect that it's going to change the state of your image much.
I would say, maybe a 10% improvement in picture quality/sharpness/artifact improvement for my seating distance and HT environment moving from VGA to M1.
I would wonder if you need to re-install some of your software on your PC. Do you have the latest catalyst drivers for your ATI card? If you read back in this thread you'll find that I thought something was wrong with my SP5000 when I first set it up but after I stripped everything off my HTPC and resinstalling all the latest versions suddenly my picture looked great to my eyes. I don't think the newer catalyst drivers necessarily fixed the problem, I think it was just reinstalling it that helped.
So in general I feel strongly that we should rebuild/reinstall our HTPCs on a fairly regular basis, or have a clone image of your hard drive ready to put into action once your main drive gets enough new software installed on it.

Roto, if I remember your original post describing your problem, I seem to remember a switcher involved, it seems like I've read quite a bit that the SP5000 doesn't do well switching sources. But you had all of the same cables plugged in, and it was working fine, when suddenly the problem started? I would just use the cable ONLY to see if it still gives you the black screen.
I've had a few issues with mine resynching when changing resolutions and/or sources, but when I press the 'auto image' button it always has resolved it.
Nope, no switch involved with my DVI connection. It worked fine for a week with no changes and just quit working one day. Time to go check the mail and see if the new cable came today.

I have a VGA switch with everything else hooked up to it with component cables, and that's been working fine. No synchronization prolems, just have to hit auto-image sometimes to center the screen.

1. If you dont mind a refurb unit you can get them direct from infocus for about the same price after rebate, the difference being obviously it's not a new unit but at least you wouldn't have to wait for the rebate. You still get a no questions asked return period and warantee plus you're buying direct from IF which has a value to it.
3. I, like you, would NEVER spend the amount of money they are asking for a piece of metal to mount it. I would make my own mount before ever buying something, but I like to build stuff like that anyway so that helps. I'll be posting some pics in the coming weeks.

I am buying the projector from LACC and I thought about getting a refurb, but I can get a new one with LACC for $100 less after the rebate than the refurb would be.
Maybe InFocus is hoping that we will use our $300 rebate to buy their mount and their M1-DVI cables. I have also thought about making my own mount but I will need to wait until the projector arrives before I can do that. I would like to see some of those pics.
Are you projecting on a screen or a wall?
If you do manage to make a ceiling mount that works could you send me some plans or give some ideas that are better than a speaker bracket?

Well, good news regarding my DVI connection, the new cable works, so apparently the first one I got has something wrong with it. I guess I'll see if I can get a refund from Monoprice for that one since I just bought another one from them.

OK scratch that, it wasn't the cable, it just quit working again after I switched over to my HTPC and back to the cable box.

Before I switched to the new DVI cable I unplugged the projector's power cord to get it out of my way. I'm thinking that's what must have got my picture back. It probably has to do with the DVI connection on the Motorola 6412 cable box. My LCD TV would have problems syncing to it sometimes when you first turn the TV on. Unplugging the power to the TV and plugging it back in would fix it. I always thought the TV had to be at least partially to blame, but every odd thing it does on my TV via DVI it's done on the projector by now.

I'd consider exchanging the cable box, but I've heard the new model has worse bugs and they probably use HDMI now, which would mean a new cable again :rolleyes: I can work around it now that I know what the problem is.

I am buying the projector from LACC and I thought about getting a refurb, but I can get a new one with LACC for $100 less after the rebate than the refurb would be. Please make sure that LACC is an authorized reseller of the SP5000 if you want to get your rebate - you may want to call the rebate line. Also, one time when I spoke to customer service/tech support re: my problem, he made a comment re: good thing that I bought my projector from a reputable online retailer. Not sure if buying from a non-reputable retailer would affect the warranty, but it is something to keep in mind.

Well, I got another RMA number. InFocus will again pay for shipping to their service center.

RE: an exchange...I was told that the exchange would not be for a new unit, but a like-new, and that I would be charged $99. So, we'll see what happens with the second repair effort before I contact a service supervisor.

This time, I will send a few photos along to highlight the issue for the tech.

Thanks for everyone's help.

I received my unit back last week. Well, it's not really "my unit" as they seem to have sent me a different one. I noticed that the number of hours on the lamp was significantly less, so I looked for scuff/scratch marks that were on my original unit, and they were not there. Also, the S/N sticker had peel marks and was not sticking as soundly as before.

I've watched a few movies since getting the different unit. The VB is barely noticeable if at all. It comes up here and there (mostly grayish backgrounds), but nowhere near the defective nature that showed up before.

One thing that I observed was the following:
Step A) Slight to no VB - power cord wound up, plugged in and wrapped around one side of the projector.
Step B) Noticeable VB - power cord wound up, plugged in and wrapped around the other side of the projector.
Step C) Slight to no VB - power cord wound up, plugged in and wrapped around same side of the projector as in Step A.

Step A and step B were hours apart. I just wanted to position the cord a different way.
Step B and step C were within 5 minutes of one another. Between step B and step C, I turned the projector off and let the cooling fan run its course.

The observation I made re: the position of the cord may or may not have any contribution to the issue. The VB may just have resolved itself with the shutdown/power-up procedure.

Given this issue, I'm afraid that bad VB may eventually develop and be an issue, so I'm watching closely. Not sure why this is happening, but one of the explanations that I've read on VB is that VB is due to how electricity is passed through the panels.

No overheating problems for me yet, but I did run into a new problem today. My DVI connection just gives me a black screen. I don't know if it's the projector or the cable. It was working for a week and when I turned the projector on tonight I got the black screen. If I turn the cable box off and back on I get a picture for a few seconds before it goes black. Very weird. The M1 to VGA cable still works and he cable box DVI out still works, so I guess I'll order another M1 to DVI cable and hope that's the fix.

Your blank screen is because the connection between your cable box and projector lost the "handshake". It's not your cable. What you have to do is switch off/unplug the projector and plug it back in before you turn on your projector and cable box. It's no big deal. :)

Please make sure that LACC is an authorized reseller of the SP5000 if you want to get your rebate - you may want to call the rebate line. Also, one time when I spoke to customer service/tech support re: my problem, he made a comment re: good thing that I bought my projector from a reputable online retailer. Not sure if buying from a non-reputable retailer would affect the warranty, but it is something to keep in mind.

Good catch I am trying to cancel my order, it was messed up anyways. I looked at the InFocus site for a list of dealers that claim to be authorized but are not and found out this.
This is a list of unauthorized dealers. from the InFocus site.
Products sold by unauthorized dealers are not warranted or supported.

A&M Photo World
kellocity (related to Net Enforcers)
Abes of Maine
L.A. Computer Center :mad:
Audiogon
Miracle Computers
Best Buys PC's
Monitor Outlet
Best Price Cameras
Next Warehouse
BrandNamez
Nuovadata
Broadway Photo and Video
PcVideo Online
Butterfly Photo
Pinnacle Micro
Buyers Edge
Planet DTV
Cameras and Electronics
Plasma
Century 21 Electronics
Plasmacity (related to Planet DTV)
COL (computeronline)
PlasmaPlanet (related to Planet DTV)
CompuAmerica (compu-america)
Preferred Photo
Dbuys
Prestige Camera
Dependable Audio Video
pricemad
Digital Liquidators
Projector USA
Dream Theatres
Rite Buys
Electrified
Sales Stores, Corp.
Electronics-Depot
Shop HIQ (related to COL)
Foto Connection
Software More USA
Garrett's Smart Electronics
TVS Depot
GB Shopping
Videoproiettori
HomeTheaterByTheSea
I Buy Digital
I Offer
Infinity Micro
inoax (related to Foto Connection)

I am going to buy a refurbished one then, unless RadioShack comes back in stock soon.

Update: my order has been canceled, the projector hasnt even been shipped yet.
Thanks for the warning Spincontrol.
Are the refurbs on eBay in the InFocus store considered authorized?

Your blank screen is because the connection between your cable box and projector lost the "handshake". It's not your cable. What you have to do is switch off/unplug the projector and plug it back in before you turn on your projector and cable box. It's no big deal. :)
Where were you before I got another cable and figured it out myself? :p
Unplugging the projector was the one thing I didn't do the first time.

The important thing regarding this thread is that it has nothing to do with the projector and everything to do with the cable box.

Where were you before I got another cable and figured it out myself? :p
Unplugging the projector was the one thing I didn't do the first time.

The important thing regarding this thread is that it has nothing to do with the projector and everything to do with the cable box.


I have this projector since last Febuary and I have it all set up for a while. So I have been spending majority of my time enjoying the projector instead of reading up on the forum. ;)

When I first got the projector, I don't understand why this projector do not get better reviews and recommendation. A year later, it became one of the most popular projector in this price range. :)

Your blank screen is because the connection between your cable box and projector lost the "handshake". It's not your cable. What you have to do is switch off/unplug the projector and plug it back in before you turn on your projector and cable box. It's no big deal. :)

I have the same issue on my Hitachi Rear projection tv, the easiest way to solve the issue and protect the projector's bulb is to turn off the cable box and turn it back on, you may need to unplug the cable box if a power cycle doesnt fix it. the cable box we have is a Motorola DCT-6200 using the DVI-D connection.

When I first got the projector, I don't understand why this projector do not get better reviews and recommendation. A year later, it became one of the most popular projector in this price range. :)
That's what happens when something dips into 3 digits. The 5000 was so cheap I had to at least give it a try before spending twice as much. I only bought it because it was obviously time for my X1 to get a new lamp, but I'm not paying $300 towards that . It still works at 3800 hours, it'll make a good backup when a lamp dies or if I have to send in the 5000 for repair.

At this point I'm pretty sure I'm keeping the 5000. I have about one more week to find something wrong with it. It makes a great livingroom projector, especially for those with low ceilings.

I have the same issue on my Hitachi Rear projection tv, the easiest way to solve the issue and protect the projector's bulb is to turn off the cable box and turn it back on, you may need to unplug the cable box if a power cycle doesnt fix it. the cable box we have is a Motorola DCT-6200 using the DVI-D connection.
Unfortunately that doesn't work with my 6420. I have to unplug the display device. I think I'm going to have to pick out my best component cables and use those for the cable box to the projector.

Update: my order has been canceled, the projector hasnt even been shipped yet. Thanks for the warning Spincontrol. Are the refurbs on eBay in the InFocus store considered authorized?

They are authorized as they are straight from Infocus. They come with a 90-day warranty on the projector, lamp, and screen. You even have the option of getting an extended warranty from their website. But, Infocus does not give rebates on refurbs. But, you can get a refurb with a screen from their for less then a unit after rebate.

Can I get an opinion on what to do?
Ok I can get a new 5000 from radioshack and get it for less than a refurbished model from InFocus directly or from their eBay store's refurbs it would be for 50-100 less depending on taxes and shipping.
Is it worth the wait for the rebate and to wait and hope that radioshack gets more in-stock before the rebate offer is gone?
Is it worth it for the new one to get the 1 year warrenty compared to the 90 day on the refurbs?

Can I get an opinion on what to do?
Ok I can get a new 5000 from radioshack and get it for less than a refurbished model from InFocus directly or from their eBay store's refurbs it would be for 50-100 less depending on taxes and shipping.
Is it worth the wait for the rebate and to wait and hope that radioshack gets more in-stock before the rebate offer is gone?
Is it worth it for the new one to get the 1 year warrenty compared to the 90 day on the refurbs?

A one year extended warranty on the lamp alone is $90.

ludacrisvp,
First of all I did confirm that there is no difference between buying the refurb from infocus over ebay vs. through the infocus website-- neither give a rebate, and both have the same warantees.
I like the idea personally of getting a refurb.. because you know that if the PJ had a problem, it's been fixed and most likely that problem will not rear it's head again. Couple that with a fair window to return it in and a fair warantee, and I don't see how you can go wrong.
The IF ebay seller account was setup by IF and priced cheaper to "compete with market" as I was told by the rep, so IMO ebay is the better choice.
Another thing to know is that you have a 15 day window from when you receive the projector to return it with no questions asked & full refund. This is true with either way that you buy it as well.
I am still deciding on my warantee extensions. I don't think the bulb warantee is a wise choice. I would rather spend $200+ for a new bulb than $90 for a bulb replacement insurance that expires. Once it expires, I lose the $90 towards a new bulb. If you froogle a new bulb I think you can find it for a little over two hundred, and I've seen it on ebay for less.
The projector extended warantee I think I may do, depending on the cost, because I am worried about the overheating possibilities and/or development of VB.

p.s. The Radio Shack deal is a great one.. if they have them in stock, and I was going to buy now, even though I DESPISE rebates, I would probably get the new one if it meant getting that 1 year warantee on it, and as I understand it you'll end up spending even less after you get the rebate check.

p.s. The Radio Shack deal is a great one.. if they have them in stock, and I was going to buy now, even though I DESPISE rebates, I would probably get the new one if it meant getting that 1 year warantee on it, and as I understand it you'll end up spending even less after you get the rebate check.

The RadioShack SP-5000 is back in stock today, and I have placed my order with them.
IMHO I think that this company is 1000x better than LACC, I see why IF says no to giving them authorized dealer status.
RadioShack properly processed my credit card unlike LACC, and my credit card company called to confirm the amount with me.
In my opinion it is worth the wait for the rebate to get a new everything and have a 1 yr warrenty.
The refurb comes with a lamp that may be up to 25% of life or 500 hours of usage, I would prefer the new lamp also.
Thanks for the assistance, it has saved me at least $300.00 and eliminated headaches down the road if there is issues with the projector.

[QUOTE=Jude]
Kamull: Sorry to hear about your annoying overheat problem. I think the fan WOULD help but if I were you I would get a communication line going with Infocus and basically tell them everything you've done (cleaned the filters already, upgraded the firmware, and how many shut downs you've had.) The worst case scenario to me is you getting a fan to mount near it to imprve cool airflow. Are you CERTAIN there are NO objects of ANY kind to the sides of the projector where it's mounted, including the edge of a wall? Somehwere I read that you need to have a certain number of inches or feet to both sides. I personally think since the filter is on the bottom that the unit shoudl ideally have lots of space betwen it and the shelf or ceiling but obviously that's not easy or sometimes even possible to do.


So far so good with the new fan installed next to the pj. No more overheat/shutdowns. I'm certain that there is nothing blocking the exhaust vent or the intake vent. The pj is ceiling mounted almost in the center of the room HOWEVER there is ac ducting (sheetrocked) at 2'8" to the left of the exhaust vent. I wonder if the duct work traps hot air exhausting from the pj up near the ceiling. Anyhoo, the fan seems to be doing the trick....

As far as the topic of replacement lamp or extended lamp warranty, I have tried froogle, google ebay,etc... I can not find a replacement lamp for under $286.00. I am still undecided as far as the extended lamp warranty goes. I have two more weeks to decide. It may make more sense for my situation due to my potential for damage from running hot. What do you guys think???

BTW, did anyone receive their rebate check yet?? I sent mine in two months ago but I'm still waiting....

Jude,

Thanks for your offer on the DVI cable but I would need one at least 25 ft:)

BTW, did anyone receive their rebate check yet?? I sent mine in two months ago but I'm still waiting....

Have you checked the status on InFocus Rebate status (https://www.infocusrebates.com/start/rebates.php) website?

ludacrisvp,

Yes, I check every few days. It always says "received,submission being processed." It just seems to be taking a long time.

Jude,

I folllowed your advice and contacted InFocus about the overheating/shutdown problem.
They want me to send the unit in for service. They said it may be an internal fan not working properly or a sensor that has failed. It's the right thing to do but I'm not looking forward to going without my pj, especially during the World Cup:(

I hope they fix it correctly and quickly!!

The pj is ceiling mounted almost in the center of the room HOWEVER there is ac ducting (sheetrocked) at 2'8" to the left of the exhaust vent. I wonder if the duct work traps hot air exhausting from the pj up near the ceiling.
I have a question regarding the mount.

Are you using the IF provided ceiling mount or is it one of your own creation?

How close to the ceiling is it if it is the InFocus mount?

I am hoping that if I need to mount on the ceiling I could get by without an extention, I think I will need one because of a support beam that is running through my room that comes down 11" into the room and the projector would be mounted behind the beam by about 1 foot or so.

I will be projecting onto a wall that at most can have an image 95" wide, I was hoping to project an 87" wide image to have 4" border around the image.

If this is an IF mount can you test some thing for me?
Could you see how far back the pj needs to be with something coming down 11" in front of it to not block the image...you could use a sheet of computer paper.
Any help would be apreciated, I dont have the pj yet and havent decided what mount to get and if i need an extention or not.

Could you see how far back the pj needs to be with something coming down 11" in front of it to not block the image...you could use a sheet of computer paper.
Any help would be apreciated, I dont have the pj yet and havent decided what mount to get and if i need an extention or not.

You need an extention. The 5000 offset value is 105% .

Multiply the height of your screen (in inches) x 5% to get the offset in inches.

My screen is set back 13 feet from the screen and the height of the center of the lens is 2.5" higher than the top of the screen. (100" diagonal - 2.5" offset)

50" tall x 5% = 2.5"

For those shying away from ceiling mount because of the cost, I found a very nice projector mount at mountdirect.com/special for lots less than you would expect. Sorta like monoprice.com price differences with other cable sources. I used the LMS version, which was very easy to assemble, is rock solid and comes with an extension. I don't use the extension. It arrived the next day.

Chris

Kamull, can you wait until after the world cup to send it in? ;)

If after all is said and done it's still overheating I would bet that duct has something to do with it, the airflow and the temperature of the air that isn't circulating. I bet your little mini fan will /would have fixed the problem indefinitely, I'm skeptical they will change anything at the shop but they may be right about the fan after all. If it were me I'd time it to when you can do without it for a week or two. (like a summer vacaition???) :)

Mine is setup on a fold-up av shelf whenever we use it. I am contemplating cutting a hole directly under the projector where the air filter is -- cut at the same size -- into the shelf such that airflow comes in from the open air beneath the shelf, just to help make sure I never have the overheating problem.

HEY SPIN CONTROL! Are you still out there?
I found your post very interesting, about the wound up power cable and this possibly being related to VB... is it possible, even though it might be a pain, for you to try the same test again, using the wrapped up cable, just to verify one way or the other if the VB may be related? That would be a stunning discovery if it turned out to be the cause.

Kamull it looks like you're right on the lamp prices.. I could have sworn when I froogl'ed it about a month ago I was seeing around $230 but I could be mistaken or they all got swept up fast. It makes the bulb warantee more attractive but still, if you look at the statistics, I would bet the chances are that you won't need the bulb warantee and will have lost the $90 towards a new bulb. Just like any insurance I suppose.

Hyper eye if you can I/we'd love to see yoru final PJ settings as far as brightness, contrast, gamma, color temp, etc that you ended up with to yield what you felt was the 'best' picture.
It seemed to me that I could never get the bars to show up correctly when in film mode, using the THX optimizer. When I first saw photography mode I thought 'film' looked better initially, but after watching enough material I went back to photography. I am still open minded about going back but need to know the right settings. Is DVE basically lika AVIA-- you buy it for about $50 ?

Here are my current settings:

Gamma = Film
Color Temp = Low
Contrast = 65
Brightness = 36
Green Gain = 45
Red Gain = 50
Blue Gain = 40
Red Gamma = 56
Green Gamma = 50
Blue Gamma = 54

The thing I was having a really hard time with was not greens as I have seen a lot of people express. I had a hard time with purple. Blue looked great and red looked great but I couldn't get good purple. After some adjustment I managed to get my colors to where I had great looking purples while keeping my red and blue looking great as well. These settings are providing very nice black levels for me.

I found that these settings work wonderfully for me in movies but I tend to have to turn the brightness up just a bit in my game settings (which play in 720p.)

I took a picture of Oblivion. The camera is not all that great so this in no way represents the quality of my picture. But, if you look at the rooftops you should be able to tell that they are purple and not blue or red. There is also some green in the picture.

http://www.huntsvegas.org/my-games/P1010252.JPG

Digital Video Essentials is very similar to Avia.

HEY SPIN CONTROL! Are you still out there?
I found your post very interesting, about the wound up power cable and this possibly being related to VB... is it possible, even though it might be a pain, for you to try the same test again, using the wrapped up cable, just to verify one way or the other if the VB may be related? That would be a stunning discovery if it turned out to be the cause. But Jude, the image is tolerable now - I'm SCARED :eek: to move the cord!

Actually, I was planning on testing a few things this weekend, so I'll report back.

NOTE: If I look at the image 6 inches from the wall, I can see the VB in almost every scene. However, at proper viewing distances, it only shows up in some scenes visibly, but tolerable. Based on comments here, I don't think that I'm going to get much better without trying different units (buying/returning, etc), as most have some faint VB. Therefore, understanding the limits of LCD, I feel what I have is tolerable. Right now, I'm projecting onto a textured wall, so there are some shadow artifacts from the wall itself. I'll pull out the Parkland Plastic (or buy some black out cloth) this weekend to see how it compares.

I've had my SP5000 for 18 mos now. I've had about a dozen shut-downs, but none in the last 6 mos. It seemed to be more prevelant before upgrading the firmware. I don't think it is really an over-heating issure, but rather a glitch in the thermostat or firmware.

BoyScout



The only thing I can think of is to try a cooling (muffin?) fan mounted near the pj on the ceiling. Do you think I can find one at BB or RadioShack so I won't have to wait for it to be shipped?

I'm also going to call Infocus when they open today and see if they have any ideas.

Is anyone else having this problem??

This weekend I put on some cartoons for the kids, I really appreciated the SP5000's performance with ambient light: There was a ton of it all over the place but I didn't want to bother setting up the DIY blackout blinds nor shut the duvatyne curtains we have to darken the room, we just left it all wide open and had a great time watching Looney Toons on the big screen at dinner time.

Just received the SP5000 this morning and it is perfect. I purchased it based on stats and reviews, and I think that the complaints about black level are not valid. IMHO they look better than the direct view insignia 30" widescreen HDTV that I had.
This is just being projected onto a plain light grey wall.
I am extremely satisfied with the image that it produces.
I am having an issue however with the image from my computer, I was playing UT 2004 on my Media Center Edition via the DVI-D --> DVI-M1 cable from Monoprice.com, the cable is 24awg and is 50ft single link cable.
The SP5000 will only display the game in 2 resolutions, 640x480 and 1280x1050, I hate 640x480 and the 1280x1050 has issues displaying, it is what i would desccribe as digital static... it is like a bunch of white grey squares and rectangles all over the screen... any ideas on what is causing that, or how to fix it?
It will display the normal desktop 100% perfectly at resoulutions 800x600 thru 1920x1080 (1080i).
Is this a bad cable?
I also tried running my Moxi in 720p and 480p and 1080i the projector would not display any picture in any resolution besides 480i...I tried with component and with the same DVI-D --> DVI-M1 cable.

The artifacts you are seeing are probably because you are not running the PJ at it's native resolution of 1280 x 720 and the PJ is trying to compensae.
What happens if you try 1024 x 768?
Does the game work when you run it at 800 x 600, or 1024x768 on the standard monitor, before you plug in the SP5000? If it works on your PC's monitor it should work on the SP5000 assuming it's within the PJ's supported resolution range. Make sure the refresh rate is set to 60HZ.
Ideally you'd want to set your PC to 1280 x 720 and have the game either run at that 16:9 ratio or have it run at 4:3 with black bars on the side and pipe that out to the SP5000.
Other gamers should chime in for other helpful hints as I don't use mine for gaming at all.

The artifacts you are seeing are probably because you are not running the PJ at it's native resolution of 1280 x 720 and the PJ is trying to compensae.
What happens if you try 1024 x 768?
Does the game work when you run it at 800 x 600, or 1024x768 on the standard monitor, before you plug in the SP5000? If it works on your PC's monitor it should work on the SP5000. Make sure the refresh rate is set to 60HZ.
Ideally you'd want to set your PC to 1280 x 720 and have the game either run at that 16:9 ratio or have it run at 4:3 with black bars on the side and pipe that out to the SP5000.
the game works fine at 800x600 and 1024 x 768 on a standard monitor, I was able to find a hack of the games .ini files to allow 1280 x 720 and to increase the Field of view so the image has no streching involved
So that issue has been resolved, thanks for the info, I was just afraid it may have been a bad DVI cable.
1024 x 768 also worked on the projector I just didnt want a 4:3 image.
There is no way that I know of to control the refresh rate inside of a 3-D application, maybe with vista it will give the option to control a 3-D application refresh rate not just the 2-D refresh rate.

Any SP5000 owners out there able to play Battlefield 2 on it? My 6600GT allows 2 resolutions to my SP5000 (1024x768 and 1280x720). I can't get BF2 to launch under either rez, it immediately crashes back to the desktop on both.

I also tried the fix of editing the application shortcut with the command line parameters ("+szx 1280 +syz 720" or "+szx 1024 +syz 768") but it still will not launch.

It is just me?

nope, i never got BF2 to work either.
Eve works great though.

refurb'd sp5000 direct from infocus through ebay lowered their price by twenty-five bucks

I've had my SP5000 since Dec/05 and I have about 70hrs on it now. I am now noticing VB pretty bad. I see it when watching HD cable and DVDs. I also see it on the blue Infocus screen. I updated to the v10 firmare and I was happy to see when the blue Infocus screen came on the VB was virtually gone. But when I turned on my HD cable which I have connected through component it would say searching and nothing would ever come on the screen. I reflashed it with v10 again and now I can get the HD cable to come up but now it is all green. WTH? Thought maybe the cables were bad so I tryed another set but no luck. I am going to try going back to v9 firmware tomorrow and see if goes back to normal.

If you search this entire thread I believe you will find someone else (if not a few) who had the same problem, not sure what their resolution was. I am fairly certain that moving back to firmware 9 did fix the searching/source problem although I don't think they had VB to betgin with so they had no problem staying at 9.

Assuming you stay at 10, Is it possible to route your HD through M1 instead of component, if you already have something going to the m1 port can you get a switcher?

Is the SP5000 really that bad? I just found a very reliable merchant that has the SP5000 for well under $1000.00 brand new after the rebate. I'm tempted to get it to replace my 4 year old XGA Panasonic.

Scott

No, it's not that bad... as long as you feed it progressive scan content. I find 480i content to look bad. 720p content looks absolutely stunning on it and 480p looks almost as good (minus the resolution.) The biggest thing people knock it for are it's black levels which I don't find to be that lacking. I was watching the music visualiztion on the 360 yesterday (thanks Jeff Minter!) and the blacks in it looked great IMO. If you can get a chance to view it in the proper environment it would be a good idea to do so.

SKoprowski, I remember your nickname and believe you are a 75u owner, like myself-- I upgraded to the SP5000 from the Panny 75u, and am quite pleased. If you read this entire thread you will find my review of the two side by side but feel free to ask pointed questions in here to determine what you need to know.
In a nutshell I would say there's not a HUGE difference between the two as far as image quality, in a typical living room with white walls, the colors and overall image quality are superior on the SP5000 but not by much. Keep in mind that this is based on using an HTPC in both instances.
I DO think it's brightest brights are significantly brighter than the 75u, but the blackest blacks are about the same. However you get a new warantee and new bright bulb and 16:9 which is the biggest reason I made the move because I couldn't stand 4:3 anymore.
I wouldn't use the phrase "is it really that bad", it's more "is it really that good"? Take a look at this thread below talking about an AE900 vs. SP5000 shootout!!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=639502

No, it's not that bad... as long as you feed it progressive scan content. I find 480i content to look bad. 720p content looks absolutely stunning on it and 480p looks almost as good (minus the resolution.) The biggest thing people knock it for are it's black levels which I don't find to be that lacking. I was watching the music visualiztion on the 360 yesterday (thanks Jeff Minter!) and the blacks in it looked great IMO. If you can get a chance to view it in the proper environment it would be a good idea to do so.

My goodness is it every really that bad. Trust me, if you've ever used a DLP projector before you could never go to this. I was using a Infocus 4805 and saw the 5000 really cheap at Costco and picked it up. It was terrible. Trust me, black level is a lot more important that you might think. Unless you are going to look at this projector in a really bright room where the screen is washed out anyway, or unless you have never seen a good projector before, then it will be ok. But anything else and it's terrible. You would be much better off with the 4805 than the 5000, even at the lower resolution. I can't believe someone would say 720p looks stunning, 720p looked way better on my 4805 than it did on the 5000, even at the low resolution. And yes, I have a 360, it looked like crap as well.

Every DLP projector I have ever looked at gave me a headache- so DLP is out of the question. I can get a SP5000 for $699.99 brand new- that is the reason I am thinking of it.

Thanks for your response Jude- I'm still a little hesitant about the SP5000 due to some quality issues I keep reading about. The only bad experiences I have ever had with the 75U was dust blobs and a bad blue polarizer- which Panasonic took care of under warranty. I keep telling myself I will not buy a projector without a 3 year warranty but did not anticipate on seeing a 720p lcd projector this cheap.

"bad" and "good" is obviously such a subjective thing not only on the person viewing it, the viewing distance, the equipment they have it setup on, how sensitive your eyes are to rainbow and/or screen door, you name it! etc. etc.
I did not like the picture(artifact wise) very much using the SP5000 and a standalone DVD player. Once I got my HTPC tweaked and humming the picture looked and has remained "stunning" to me. I did see an AE900 in my same HT environment and I personally did not see much difference. If I had a dedicated theater room I think the differences would become more apparent.
I have seen DLP as well and do prefer the "pop" of a DLP picture but for many other reasons had to opt for LCD. I do believe the SP5000 to have a higher incidence of vertical banding and overheating. If you thoroughly test your unit and make sure it is absent of these flaws, and that you can return it during yoru evaluation period no questions asked, I think it's a safe buy. That price you mentioned is a SWEET deal in my opinion.
If you end up opting for the SP5000 be sure to come out here and post your thoughts!

My goodness is it every really that bad. Trust me, if you've ever used a DLP projector before you could never go to this. I was using a Infocus 4805 and saw the 5000 really cheap at Costco and picked it up. It was terrible. Trust me, black level is a lot more important that you might think. Unless you are going to look at this projector in a really bright room where the screen is washed out anyway, or unless you have never seen a good projector before, then it will be ok. But anything else and it's terrible. You would be much better off with the 4805 than the 5000, even at the lower resolution. I can't believe someone would say 720p looks stunning, 720p looked way better on my 4805 than it did on the 5000, even at the low resolution. And yes, I have a 360, it looked like crap as well.


Well I am sorry your experience with it was so bad. I went from a HDTV CRT to the SP5000 and I am very pleased with it. I guarantee my CRT has better black levels then your 4805. I find them to be better then people make them out to be. It took proper adjustment using DV Essentials before I got them to where I wanted them but since then I have found the image to be quite pleasing. This is a typical response from a DLP owner. Not everyone is interested in DLP or can even use it (some being sensitive to it.) It's like a console war among a smaller market.

Both technologies have their pros and cons. You should look at different units and pick what best suites YOU! If it looks good to your eyes then it is good. I think for the price quoted, the SP5000 can't be beat. But that's up to you to decide.

Skprowski, the sp5000 does also seem more susceptible to dust blobs. The good news is though that they seem to clear themselves out every time when the PJ fires up and/or is cooling off with the fan circulation.
The real things to worry about with this unit is the overheating (which hasn't happened to me and, I'll wager, 95% of SP5000 owners) and the vertical banding. Again, as posted previously, if you arrange to make sure you can return it within 10 days no questions asked and no restocking fee... how can you go wrong-- you may regret not giving it a try!

Well I am sorry your experience with it was so bad. I went from a HDTV CRT to the SP5000 and I am very pleased with it. I guarantee my CRT has better black levels then your 4805. I find them to be better then people make them out to be. It took proper adjustment using DV Essentials before I got them to where I wanted them but since then I have found the image to be quite pleasing. This is a typical response from a DLP owner. Not everyone is interested in DLP or can even use it (some being sensitive to it.) It's like a console war among a smaller market.

Both technologies have their pros and cons. You should look at different units and pick what best suites YOU! If it looks good to your eyes then it is good. I think for the price quoted, the SP5000 can't be beat. But that's up to you to decide.

Actually I've had a Panny 900 as well, this isn't a DLP vs LCD, this is a 5000 vs everything else. I've tried tons of different projectors, and nothing has been as bad as the 5000. If you don't care about black levels that's fine, some people don't care as much as others. But I think anyone that is used to watching projectors will not be able to stand the 5000. It probably depends on how much your spoiled already by a good PJ. Anyway, I have the Onkyo H72 right now, that has a beautiful picture. By the way, your headaches will dissapear within a week of watching DLP. I just would spend my money on anything but the 5000, there are good LCD's out there like the Panny.

Every DLP projector I have ever looked at gave me a headache- so DLP is out of the question. I can get a SP5000 for $699.99 brand new- that is the reason I am thinking of it.

Thanks for your response Jude- I'm still a little hesitant about the SP5000 due to some quality issues I keep reading about. The only bad experiences I have ever had with the 75U was dust blobs and a bad blue polarizer- which Panasonic took care of under warranty. I keep telling myself I will not buy a projector without a 3 year warranty but did not anticipate on seeing a 720p lcd projector this cheap.
Go for it, and make sure you have a good return and warranty policy. Don't pay any attention to the notorious SP5000 basher who is still at it on this thread after six months. His name begins with "r" and he "warns" people not to buy the SP5000, but despite his warnings satisfied owners are multiplying. But he doesn't stop there, he ridicules them. Sick, sick sick.

I bought mine directly from Infocus just before Xmas 05, and the unit shut down just twice due to what I believe was an oversensitive thermostat. However, Infocus replaced it with another new unit without any fuss or expense to me. The second unit also shut down once during the first 10 hours. Now after six months and about 300 hours (no we don't use it everyday), it works perfectly in our large family room at night with only partially controlled lighting.

I have not experienced any vertical banding at all. Yes, 720p HDTV is stunning on the SP5000 and you must see it for yourself. Don't let someone else's judgement deprive you of the experience.

Black levels? Again, don't let someone else sway you from trying the PJ. This PJ puts out so much light that unless you have black velvet all over the place, you'll have plenty of light reflecting off walls to lighten blacks on the screen. You'll find a very minute difference between dark gray and a shade darker gray. I watch the program and not judge minute differences in black levels.

Like I said, just try it. You won't find any other 720p PJ at that price.


TH

Actually I've had a Panny 900 as well, this isn't a DLP vs LCD, this is a 5000 vs everything else. I've tried tons of different projectors, and nothing has been as bad as the 5000. If you don't care about black levels that's fine, some people don't care as much as others. But I think anyone that is used to watching projectors will not be able to stand the 5000. It probably depends on how much your spoiled already by a good PJ. Anyway, I have the Onkyo H72 right now, that has a beautiful picture. By the way, your headaches will dissapear within a week of watching DLP. I just would spend my money on anything but the 5000, there are good LCD's out there like the Panny.
I went from an X1 and the 5000 was definitely an upgrade. In fact I'd say the black levels are pretty similar between the X1 and the 5000. Granted the X1 had pretty poor black levels for a DLP, but it's far from being unwatchable. I used that for 3 years.

I assume you meant the Optoma H72 is what you got. That was on my short list as well, but for half the price of my other choices I decided I better try the 5000 first. Turned out to be a good fit for my livingroom and a much better picture than I expected after reading all the negative comments here.

I haven't run into any problems aside from dust blobs. Those all went away the next time I turned it on, and they seemed to appear only when I had it unplugged for a length of time. I don't know if it's related, I only mention that because I think I have gotten 4 dust blobs in about 6 weeks. A few days ago I took the dust filter off for the first time to clean it and I couldn't see anything on it at all, so it isn't as if there is a ton of dust around.

Has anyone found a ND2 filter that fits well on the SP5000? I have a completely light-controlled room and I am interested in using a filter.

just out of curiosity, how much do you guys think I can sell my used SP5000 w/ a bulb about 1700 hours on it for in the used market?

just out of curiosity, how much do you guys think I can sell my used SP5000 w/ a bulb about 1700 hours on it for in the used market?

1700 hours is only 300 away from the rated 2000. I wouldn't buy it.

"I'd buy that for a Dollar!"

Yeah it would have to be cheap because you need to assume a purchase of an additional bulb

Blazemaster, I would guess you would be able to sell it for around $350 based on what I've been monitoring fo the past few months.

I havent posted in a while, but for those on the fence, I just love watching EVERYTHING on my 5000, when you factor in the price, its a slam dunk!

Well...........I waited too long:( The offer is over- J&R must have sold out of them :( They had them for $999.99 new and then you could have used the $300.00 rebate. Oh well..

I've been living with the sp5000 for about 160hrs now (about 3 months and I have to say that for me this has been a great projector with zero issues . I mentioned before that it almost seems like in this thread we are talkin about diffrent projectors. It does trouble me that i see so many people having problems with this projector , in all honesty if i had read this thread before buying the 5000 i would have not made the buy . In my case i'm glad i never saw it because the projector has been so great.

Before sp5000 i owned a DLP BenQ 6100 , and i have viewed in homes not stores the Panny 900 , the Sony H51(?) < and the Infocus sp4805 . The sp5000 gives up a little in the black level detail when compaired to the Panny 900 but the sp5000 has a much brighter picture and convays white's better . Other then that all 3 of these projectors are very close in performance . If all things were equal price wise i would take the 5000 over all of them for the simple reason detail and colors are about the same but the bright picture is such an advantage because there is no need to have the room dark to still watch an incredible picture.

I gave the thumbs up to two friends to buy this projector and both of them have had the same results as me . I have yet to see a plasma on display that has a better HI-DEF picture then my sp5000 (black levels not withstanding).

For the $998.00 after rebate I paid for it (i got me rebate check 2 weeks ago) it was the steal of the century .

I've had my SP5000 since Dec/05 and I have about 70hrs on it now. I am now noticing VB pretty bad. I see it when watching HD cable and DVDs. I also see it on the blue Infocus screen. I updated to the v10 firmare and I was happy to see when the blue Infocus screen came on the VB was virtually gone. But when I turned on my HD cable which I have connected through component it would say searching and nothing would ever come on the screen. I reflashed it with v10 again and now I can get the HD cable to come up but now it is all green. WTH? Thought maybe the cables were bad so I tryed another set but no luck. I am going to try going back to v9 firmware tomorrow and see if goes back to normal.

I am having the same issue and was wondering if you ever came up with a solution. Anyone else here feel free to chime in. This is in a client's game room and I have an HD cable box and a DVD player both going to an Arcam receiver via component. I have a 12' component cable going from the Arcam to the SP5000. DVD's look fine, standard channels on the HD cable box look fine. But when I switch to an HD channel - GREEN. You can see an image, but it is dark green and I am not sure how to remedy this.

Thanks

I am having the same issue and was wondering if you ever came up with a solution. Anyone else here feel free to chime in. This is in a client's game room and I have an HD cable box and a DVD player both going to an Arcam receiver via component. I have a 12' component cable going from the Arcam to the SP5000. DVD's look fine, standard channels on the HD cable box look fine. But when I switch to an HD channel - GREEN. You can see an image, but it is dark green and I am not sure how to remedy this.

Thanks

Reflash the firmware back to v9

Is this on Infocus' website because if it is I am overlooking it. Thanks again.

Link: http://www.infocus.com/Products/Projectors/SP5000.aspx

That's the general page that I've been to countless times. I'll poke around and see if I can find it in the service area. Thank you for the link, however.

That's the general page that I've been to countless times. I'll poke around and see if I can find it in the service area. Thank you for the link, however.

http://www.infocus.com/service/sp5000/sp5000.asp?site_lang=1&site_region=1&

That's the support site.

http://www.infocus.com/service/soft...753-0363-09.exe

Why does everyone dislike the sp5000? I am going to get the In72 but really want a 720p PJ and the sp5000 seems to be the cheapest 720p PJ but everyone says to stay away from it. Any opinions?

Why does everyone dislike the sp5000? I am going to get the In72 but really want a 720p PJ and the sp5000 seems to be the cheapest 720p PJ but everyone says to stay away from it. Any opinions?

There are a lot of opinions in this thread. Read through it.

I am looking at the following ND4 filter:

http://www.wolfcamera.com/product/251490678.htm

It appears that this is the filter without the holder. Could I cut this to size and just slip it in front of the lens? It would seems better to slip it in the groove in front of the lens then try to fit the holder in. Any thoughts? Also, this pj is pretty bright... an ND4 filter should be alright on it correct?

EDIT: I have never seen these filters before and I just realized that these filters appear to be glass. In that case this would not be possible. So, I guess I will ask my old question again. Does anyone know of a filter that will fit on the SP5000?

Hey all need advice on what screen to get for my projector. Im looking at a 16:9 92" fixed frame screen. I will have total light control, and projecting from around 18 or so feet. Should I go grey with 1.4 gain, or matte white with 1.4 gain . thanks/

Hyper_eye: You can cut glass with a glass cutter, but probably not recommended in case you mess up on that filter (if it's at all expensive). Having experience with DIY lenses I don't think you need to, you just need to create a mount to rest in front of the PJ such that the filter is in perfect path for the image to pass through.

It seems some folks are using that filter and within this thread much earlier on you will find confirmation about it, but can't be sure if it's the same model.

jnorton Screens are the toughest piece to decide on because you have to see it in action to really decide. You can get samples and all that but it's not the "big picture" (pun intended).
If deeper blacks are very important to you then grey is probably the better choice. I have heard from many folks that grey is the way to go with this PJ, not only for blacks but better PQ overall, but I have not made the change yet.
Someone posted earlier in this thread the exact mix/paint name at home depot to go pickup if you want to DIY. I am still using a matte white / DIY blackout cloth screen and like the picture enough not to really be motivated to change it (yet).

I am having the same issue and was wondering if you ever came up with a solution. Anyone else here feel free to chime in. This is in a client's game room and I have an HD cable box and a DVD player both going to an Arcam receiver via component. I have a 12' component cable going from the Arcam to the SP5000. DVD's look fine, standard channels on the HD cable box look fine. But when I switch to an HD channel - GREEN. You can see an image, but it is dark green and I am not sure how to remedy this.

Thanks


im having the all green problem on my sp4805 as well starting today. sdtv and dvd is fine, just hdtv. i didnt touch my firmware since the day i bought it, and suddenly today it started acting up. i wonder if comcast sent out some signal upgrade that f;ed this up

Wow a 4805 owner collaborating with .... >>shudder<< ... sp5000 owners??

Just joshin ;)

Are all of your inputs sdtv dvd and hdtv going to the same port on the projector? Are they going to a switcher first? If they are using different ports on the projector then it may be your cable or one of the ports (out device or in on projector), if you are using a switcher it may still be a cable somewhere in the loop (loose or bad?) or the port on the switcher that you are using, use another port if you can just to isolate it.

i am using a switch. but only to swap between my cable box (component to the box handles both sdtv and hdtv) and my dvd player (component). whats so wierd is that everything works fine, except for HDTV. the cables that HDTV and SDTV are one in the same, yet sdtv is fine and hd tv is green

I decided to spring for a ND4 filter and this is what I ordered:

http://www.wolfcamera.com/product/241664820msk.htm

I ordered the 72mm. It was close to fitting but just slightly to big. A little tape is holding it right in place and using clear tape it is not even noticeable. When I first fired the pj up after putting the filter on I had a hard time getting used to what I perceived to be a dim picture (I have been looking at the unfiltered SP5000 picture for a while and you know how bright it is.) After a few hours I have adjusted to the filtered picture and I have realized that the image is still quite bright. I can even turn the light on and STILL see the picture clearly (this thing really is a light cannon.)

I like the results a lot. I can use it for extended periods of time now without getting a headache. If you are in a light-controlled room like I am this projector really is too bright to view for hours at a time. The filtered image is much easier to look at. I had to turn the brightness up (from 34 to 45) as the brightness settings without the filter were not suited for the filtered image. I put in Batman Begins and played a few games (Quake 4, Oblivion, and Halo 2.) This filter has really made an improvement to the black levels. I am amazed at what this $25 part was able to do. I would take a picture of the results but I don't have a camera good enough (or photography skill for that matter) to do the image justice.

If you are using your SP5000 in a light-controlled environment I absolutely recommend this filter. After getting adjusted to it you will find your picture to still be quite bright (but closer to ideal levels) and the black levels to be much more satisfying.

Oh yeah, with this filter, the little VB I was experiencing is eliminated (at least visually.) I guess the reduction in light output has masked it.

After sending it back to Infocus 3 times to get the VB repaired, they finally sent me a replacement projector. None of the VB my old unit had. It only took three months for them to get it right! The whole experience pissed me off so bad that I bought a Sharp Z2000 during the three months my projector was gone. Now that I have a working SP5000 I need to find a use for it or sell it. I'll probably put it in the bedroom. I haven't check to see it the panels are misaligned like my last old SP5000 projector either. Not sure I want to know. I probably just hook it up to my Xbox360 and be happy.

After sending it back to Infocus 3 times to get the VB repaired, they finally sent me a replacement projector. None of the VB my old unit had. It only took three months for them to get it right! The whole experience pissed me off so bad that I bought a Sharp Z2000 during the three months my projector was gone. Now that I have a working SP5000 I need to find a use for it or sell it. I'll probably put it in the bedroom. I haven't check to see it the panels are misaligned like my last old SP5000 projector either. Not sure I want to know. I probably just hook it up to my Xbox360 and be happy. I'm going to send my 4 month old unit back as well for an exchange unit. Personally, I think that I got a different unit with my last attempt at repair - although I was not told that by InFocus. The VB (while not as bad as with the brand new unit) is still noticeable and distracting; it comes on after 20 minutes of use. This time, it's not blue scenes (while they are affected), but flesh-tone and foggy scenes. One thing that I can verify is that a 72mm ND4 filter works really well at toning down the VB (especially when increasing the contrast). If the VB on my projector was barely noticeable, I think I would just keep it and use the filter. Unfortunately, it is not. What I want is a projector that has the smooooooth color gradients that I see when I first turn on my projector; it's frustrating to notice the image degrade after a few minutes of use. Anyway, I'll report back; InFocus has been very good about paying for shipping and not balking at my requests. Otherwise, this projector throws a phenomonal image - especially with the filter installed.

I am having the same issue and was wondering if you ever came up with a solution. Anyone else here feel free to chime in. This is in a client's game room and I have an HD cable box and a DVD player both going to an Arcam receiver via component. I have a 12' component cable going from the Arcam to the SP5000. DVD's look fine, standard channels on the HD cable box look fine. But when I switch to an HD channel - GREEN. You can see an image, but it is dark green and I am not sure how to remedy this.

Thanks
I think that the issue you are having is the pj is not changing to the correct color space..in the menu got to picture and advanced and color space and make sure auto is checked if that doesnt work choose either REC709 or REC601

I have had this SP500 since 6-21-06 and i have 184 hours on it right now, purchased new. I use it as my everything display. It looks way better than the direct view CRT that i had (Insignia 30" HDTV). 720p looks stunning 1080i from cable box has a slight alignment issue but that just could be a Charter problem, the image is too high up and you can see the bottom bar that is the edge of the HD image. 720p from the PC and the 360 are amazing.
This is a great buy for a 720p LCD projector, I see no VB and dont notice SDE unless i am within 1 foot i have a 90" diag screen projected on to a light grey wall, black level to me seems better than the direct view CRT and better than the 57" Hitachi rear projector HDTV that we have.
You will not regret buying the SP-5000.

I have had this SP500 since 6-21-06 and i have 184 hours on it right now, purchased new. I use it as my everything display. It looks way better than the direct view CRT that i had (Insignia 30" HDTV). 720p looks stunning 1080i from cable box has a slight alignment issue but that just could be a Charter problem, the image is too high up and you can see the bottom bar that is the edge of the HD image. 720p from the PC and the 360 are amazing.
This is a great buy for a 720p LCD projector, I see no VB and dont notice SDE unless i am within 1 foot i have a 90" diag screen projected on to a light grey wall, black level to me seems better than the direct view CRT and better than the 57" Hitachi rear projector HDTV that we have.
You will not regret buying the SP-5000.

Put an ND4 filter on (if you are in a light-controlled room) and the image and black levels will be even better. As for your 1080i alignment issue, go into the advanced menu and you can change the vertical position as well as the horizontal length and position.

How good are the refurb sp5000s directly from Infocus? I see they dropped the price $100.00. Are they really checked out that well? Can I request Infocus to update the projector to the latest firmware and check for VB before they ship one out?

Thanks,

Scott

How good are the refurb sp5000s directly from Infocus? I see they dropped the price $100.00. Are they really checked out that well? Can I request Infocus to update the projector to the latest firmware and check for VB before they ship one out?

Thanks,

Scott

I got a refurb and it works great. It said there were 0 hours on the lamp. The unit came with the latest firmware.

Scott, I have yet to read about someone who returned their refurb. Keep in mind that for ANY reason if you want a full refund you have 14 days to just return it with no questions asked. In fact, the rep I talked to admitted that if in the unlikely event that your refurb had some kind of issue and you preferred just exchanging it vs. repairing it, that you could do so in the first 14 days, get a full refund, en route to starting all over again by making another (different) refurb purchase. Furthermore, you get 90 days on bulb & PJ, and can purchase extended warantees for both.

Also keep in mind that the picture in my opinion isnt' that different than the Panasonic 75u. However, you will get a fresh new image, probably brighter because you'd be getting a newer bulb... but most importantly, you'll be moving to 16:9. That was what eventually made me grow tired of the 75u, got tired of the 4:3.

I purchased my refurb in October 2005. Didn't really fire it up until January, but picture was great, firmware needed to be updated, and lamp clock said zero hours. Still loving it. :)

I have had this SP500 since 6-21-06 and i have 184 hours on it right now, purchased new. I use it as my everything display. It looks way better than the direct view CRT that i had (Insignia 30" HDTV). 720p looks stunning 1080i from cable box has a slight alignment issue but that just could be a Charter problem, the image is too high up and you can see the bottom bar that is the edge of the HD image. 720p from the PC and the 360 are amazing.
This is a great buy for a 720p LCD projector, I see no VB and dont notice SDE unless i am within 1 foot i have a 90" diag screen projected on to a light grey wall, black level to me seems better than the direct view CRT and better than the 57" Hitachi rear projector HDTV that we have.
You will not regret buying the SP-5000.

You must have the worst calibrated CRTs in the history of mankind. :) The SP5000 shouldn't even be in the same galaxy as a CRT when it comes to black levels.

Try calibrating your CRTs better with avia or something and maybe gamma correct your source if you have to and then put the same dark scene on both the SP5000 and CRT and you'll see how washed out and grey the SP5000 is in comparison during dark scenes. Of course the large image will still be more fun to watch. My 4805 isn't even close to my CRT PJ's blacks and the SP5000's darkest black is quite a bit brighter than my 4805's darkest black.

As I have said before... throw a ND4 filter on there and have satisfying black levels. The pj is too bright not to use one anyway (in light-controlled conditions.)

Found you all today and have read through the thread this early am and it prompted me to fire up the SP 5000. I have a few dust issues and two power downs(one today). But generally I am very happy with this 720p projector. Bought in 4/06 and use use it forDVD with toshiba SD 4980. It upconverts to 480p/720p/1080i and I can see the pores in the actor's face. I too had issues with the M1 adapter; I got one from RAM and it had the four little prongs at the horizontal plate in the M1(which is for analog) and it kept me from using the dvd player-sp5000 couldn't recognize it. More web research and I ordered the correct adapter. Truthfully, I ordered a bunch of adapters- in case. Found an Infocus hdmi adapter for 25 and jumped on it, next day 50% increase. Watched V for Vendetta last night- movie rating 4.5/5, Infocus rating same. Like others I am waiting for affordable 1080p but I will keep this SP5000 till then. Also, for lamps, Tiger Direct. Gotta go, Family Guy is on.

**** SP5000 DVI connection not working -- any suggestions? ****
Hi all. First, I'd like to say thanks to all of you posting on this site. The information has been very helpful. I have a sad story to tell, and wonder if anyone has some advice on how to fix my problem.

I purchased my SP5000 about a month ago. For the first couple of days, I ran it with the M1/DVI on my computer, but then it suddenly stopped working. I contacted InFocus tech support and tried a new cable and a differeent computer with no luck. I sent it in for repair (they would not honor their DOA policy because the SP5000 is now discontinued), and they had it for 22 days! The tech support guy said that the projector was faulty and that they replaced the digital engine.

As soon as I got the projector back, I took these steps:
1) Connect an M1/DVI cable to the M1 on the back of the projector and turn it on.
2) Check my computer settings: 1280x1024 @ 60MHz. When I press the source button on the LCD monitor, it displays DIGITAL.
3) Disconnect the DVI from my monitor and attach the DVI end of the M1/DVI cable to the computer
4) Press the Source button on the projector.
5) The projector displays Searching... and then returns to the InFocus screen
6) Repeat steps 1-4 on a second computer, with the same results.
7) Repeat steps 1-4 with a DVD player with a DVI connection, with the same results
8) Purchase a new M1/DVI cable and repeat these steps with both computers and the DVD player, with the same results

Keep in mind that both these computers worked with the projector when I received it new.

I think the best diagnosis is that InFocus did not repair the projector. The InFocus tech says the problem is on my end, but I really don't see how that's possible. The next step, I guess, is to return it for repair. Geez -- the InFocus repair shop has had my projector longer than I have.

Any suggestions for what I might try to get a DVI connection?

Thanks,
Jim

Hook up the computer to the VGA port and see if it works that way.

1) Connect an M1/DVI cable to the M1 on the back of the projector and turn it on.
2) Check my computer settings: 1280x1024 @ 60MHz. When I press the source button on the LCD monitor, it displays DIGITAL.
3) Disconnect the DVI from my monitor and attach the DVI end of the M1/DVI cable to the computer
4) Press the Source button on the projector.
5) The projector displays Searching... and then returns to the InFocus screen

First, you should make all the connections before you turn the projecter on.

Have you searched all the ports for a signal? press the specific source button on the remote for the source you're trying to aquire. The monitor icon is the VGA port, the USB icon is the M1DA port.

I really think you should try 1280 x 720 (*NOT* 1280 x 1024)
Set your rez to 1280 x 720 and loop in the projector (while it's off). Shut down the PC. Turn on the projector so you see the Infocus Splash screen, turn on the PC and it should synch up fine.
Then... work from there, if you want to use the upscaled resolutions, play around with what the projector can handle and the boot order between the devices, etc. However... I wouldn't recommend using anything but 1280 x 720 though, as the projector is having to work harder to handle the non-native resolution. You might be using that resolution because you notice some kind of PQ improvement but you are probably sacrificing something else (like tearing or other artifacts).

Yes 1280x720 only and make sure your cable is NOT analog. I had the same problem with a cable. If you have four little prongs around that horizontal flat prong-mine did't work. Either on the M1 or DVI. Digital doesn't have those. That's my experience. I'd get another cable and try a friends DVD player . Try to remember if you made any changes to settings on your computer. And maybe try a restore to the day it worked-you can undo the restore. Firmware changes, etc. LOL

The VGA connection works fine. I'll try shuffling the boot order and try the 1280x720 resolution.

Thanks all.

Jim

The VGA connection works fine. I'll try shuffling the boot order and try the 1280x720 resolution.

Thanks all.

Jim

Why not just use the VGA connection then? a 30 foot VGA cable is like $12

Absolutely, the best results will be at 1280x720 @ 60hz no matter what.

Hi, I recently purchased this projector from woot, and First of all I will say that this thing is very impressive. The sharpness alone is amazing. I am just curious about a little "problem" that I am experiencing. Aside from mild SDE, which I can live with, I have a very weird pattern on the screen. About every inch, starting from the left side of the screen on to the right side, there is a vertical line which is roughly the same color as the pixels around it, but slightly brighter. Watching anything with a flat color on it is very distracting as this effectively ruins the illusion. I just am wondering if this is another problem that anyone else is having, or is this covered by a warranty or what?

neonic - sounds like vertical banding to me. There are probably many threads on this issue. It is basically a semi-common manufactuing defect with this generation of LCD projector panels. It can be reduced through tweaking. Some have eliminated it.

neonic make sure you are using the powercord that came with the unit if possible, and make sure the cord is not tightly wound into loops, etc -- its kind of a long shot but someone in this thread (apparently) had the VB disappear simply by unwinding a cord.

neonic make sure you are using the powercord that came with the unit if possible, and make sure the cord is not tightly wound into loops, etc -- its kind of a long shot but someone in this thread (apparently) had the VB disappear simply by unwinding a cord.That was me! :)

Anyway, the unwinding did not work for prolonged periods. I came to find out that VB was really bad 15-20 minutes after powering up the lamp.

Neonic, call InFocus, go through their repair process and get it "fixed". Most likely, you'll have to go through this return/repair process at least 2 times before they offer you a warranty exchange (WE) unit (if they cannot repair it). It does matter what technical/customer service rep you get. The more experienced reps may expedite the exchange model for no fee; the least experienced reps will say that it costs $100 for an exchange.

Given how new your unit is, I'd expect them to also pay for shipping to and from InFocus. Depending on where you live, and how long it takes for them to repair, sending it in on Monday (UPS ground) will result in you getting your unit back w/i 2 weeks. I'd take pictures (get them processed at Walgreens.com - first 10 prints are FREE - and pick up instore), and put a note in with your projector explaining when the banding occurs.

DO NOT SETTLE FOR LESS. Many on this thread report SMOOTH colors. They need to make it right. I do not care if these are no longer manufactured. My experience has always been cordial with them - they have always offered to make this right. We'll see how long that continues. I get my WE unit tonight.

Movies like Chronicles of Narnia will drive you insane b/c of all the gray backgrounds and skin tones. Since this is a HOME ENTERTAINMENT projector, I'd expect nothing less than smooth colors (or at least extremely MILD VB).

With mild VB, you can neutralize a lot of it with an ND4 filter (72mm) (my experience) or a gray screen (what I've read).

Check out my posts on this thread. I think that the links to my photos of VB (on my post) are still active.

Good luck!

I'm looking at getting the SP 5000 as an upgrade from my old Sony vpl-w400q. I have a couple quick questions - and will probably have some more:

how does 1080i HDTV look scaled down to 720p? do most people let the projector do the downconversion?

I'm thinking of painting my flat white screen with behr silverscreen because I'll have a lot more light with the SP 5000 - is anyone else doing this? how's it look in ambient light conditions?

thanks.

Check out my posts on this thread. I think that the links to my photos of VB (on my post) are still active.

Good luck!

Holy Crap! I checked out your pics.... man that is pretty bad VB. Mine is barely noticeable on grey backgrounds only.

Ive had mine since Nov 2004. Glad I got a good one

Some screen shots from mine

http://www.nightskyscopes.com/site/htweb_screenshots.html

Holy Crap! I checked out your pics.... man that is pretty bad VB. Mine is barely noticeable on grey backgrounds only. That was with my original unit. I just received by WE unit, and so far so good. I'll really put it through the wringer this weekend.

Last night, as a test, I threw up for ~1 hr Speed, The Last Samurai, and one downloaded episode of "24". Everything looked great. On the other units, The Last Samurai had very noticeable VB with the foggy scenes in the forest. On this WE unit, all colors were smooth and VB-free; even the foggy scenes were smooth. Only "24" looked bad, but that was projecting at less than ideal resolution as it was downloaded off the net, so some VB, dithering, pixilation was noticeable.

My returns experience (returns for "static banding"):
Return 1 (19 days): sent in just a description = no fix = BAD VB still
Return 2 (15 days): sent in photos and a description = unofficial* exchange unit = 2 hours on lamp with mild VB
Return 3 (11 days): received Warranty Exchange** unit = 0 hours on lamp and image perfection! (so far)

*unofficial=removing S/N off defective unit and putting it onto another projector
**Warranty Exchange=a repaired/refurbished unit; mine had scuffs and dings when I took it out of the box; nevertheless, the more important thing is that the image (so far) is VB-free. There was also a little "WE" sticker next to the S/N sticker.

For those who are unsure about the SP5000, I've always been really happy with the images (sans VB) projected onto my textured off-white wall.
Now, the image looks very good to phenomonal. I cannot wait for FOOTBALL in HD!! :)

[Note: I was not a soccer/World Cup fan, but with HD on a 98" screen, I became a fan! WOW! This projector can do miracles! It creates excitement for a sport that (I personally feel) is boring to watch on TV! Now, to see if this works for regular season baseball. he he. :) ]

Spin, glad to hear you finally have a unit you're happy with.
Good quote, I would add: "This projector can do miracles FOR THE PRICE".

TO ALL: Keep this in mind, for all of you who are considering buying an SP5000, make sure if you purchase you have the option of returning so you can evaluate the unit. This will be true if you buy from IF or through IF Ebay. IMPORTANT: Prepare yourself by having benchmark material to test for VB and/or other artifacts, that way you can test quickly rather than wait to see it weeks later if you happen to see the right conditions.

IMPORTANT: Prepare yourself by having benchmark material to test for VB and/or other artifacts, that way you can test quickly rather than wait to see it weeks later if you happen to see the right conditions.My primary benchmark material* (based on how I found issues in the past) includes:
1) Finding Nemo (lots of blue shades; some green brown near the end)
2) Chronicles of Narnia (lots of off-white, bland colors 50% of the movie; cinematography of this movie is not as dynamic as LOTR; this film is good for testing flesh tones as well)
3) Last Samauri (forest battle scene for its moving fog; green background scenes on the test range)

*You'll have to use DVDShrink (compression required on some of these) to get around the copy-protection and use DVI input.

**In my experience (unlike reported for other FPs), VB seemed to occur badly after 15-20 minutes of use.

In addition to testing for VB, it's a good idea to test all of your inputs, too. A few people on this thread have reported color problems with different inputs.

Looking for your VB pics, Played Last Samauri (per your post, and I liked the film) and I thought I saw something but seemed like SD effect. Is it your experience that these effects may be the quality of the DVD? Star Wars 3 is pristine but filmed in digital and I have SD effect if I stand up next to the screen. I have noticed differing quality in DVDs. But mainly I feel the Sp 5000 is too green at times. But, NOHD junkies' screenshots look great. I have some dust blobs or digital leakage that won't go away. But I'll put up with it till just before warranty. Thanks.

Looking for your VB pics, Played Last Samauri (per your post, and I liked the film) and I thought I saw something but seemed like SD effect. Is it your experience that these effects may be the quality of the DVD? Star Wars 3 is pristine but filmed in digital and I have SD effect if I stand up next to the screen. I have noticed differing quality in DVDs. But mainly I feel the Sp 5000 is too green at times. But, NOHD junkies' screenshots look great. I have some dust blobs or digital leakage that won't go away. But I'll put up with it till just before warranty. Thanks.It IS my opinion that VB is more prevalent with lower resolution material. I haven't watched Standard Definition TV on my WE unit yet, but I'm sure that I'll see some slight VB. I bet that using DVDShrink to compress some of the larger video files (in order to see them via DVI) will also result in a greater chance of VB. You could always compare component (off original DVD) to DVI (re-authored shrunk version).

Here are shots of bad VB on The Last Samauri with my original projector:
The Last Samauri _ 1 (http://www.geocities.com/sp5000_vb/LS_01.jpg)
The Last Samauri _ 2 (http://www.geocities.com/sp5000_vb/LS_02.jpg)
The Last Samauri _ 3 (http://www.geocities.com/sp5000_vb/LS_03.jpg)

Anytime you get up close to the screen, you will see SDE. So sit 10-12 ft. back, relax, and enjoy the show..... :)

It IS my opinion that VB is more prevalent with lower resolution material. I haven't watched Standard Definition TV on my WE unit yet, but I'm sure that I'll see some slight VB. I bet that using DVDShrink to compress some of the larger video files (in order to see them via DVI) will also result in a greater chance of VB. You could always compare component (off original DVD) to DVI (re-authored shrunk version).

Here are shots of bad VB on The Last Samauri with my original projector:
The Last Samauri _ 1 (http://www.geocities.com/sp5000_vb/LS_01.jpg)
The Last Samauri _ 2 (http://www.geocities.com/sp5000_vb/LS_02.jpg)
The Last Samauri _ 3 (http://www.geocities.com/sp5000_vb/LS_03.jpg)

Anytime you get up close to the screen, you will see SDE. So sit 10-12 ft. back, relax, and enjoy the show..... :)
Thanks, SpinControl for the VB shots-now I see what you mean. I use a Toshiba upconverting DVD player and an ATI HDTV tuner card through an ATI 9250 from my computer with a DVI output. I turned down the green and green gamma to 45 but on some DVDs it just seems a bit much-my next move is some color tuning DVD. Been reading about some, but none seem a good fit for a projector. Any experience concerning this? Thanks. Dave

I turned down the green and green gamma to 45 but on some DVDs it just seems a bit much-my next move is some color tuning DVD. Been reading about some, but none seem a good fit for a projector. Any experience concerning this? Thanks. DaveI used AVIA and DVE (NTSC version) for my initial setup. But since I've been shipping my unit back and forth to Infocus, I have not re-calibrated the WE unit (except for brightness/contrast). What I noticed with my first projector (after using some of the settings from this thread) was that how you like the colors in a movie may depend on the movie itself. For example, after I had configured the FP to my specs, I watched Sleepless in Seattle. Tom Hanks' lips and skin tone looked horrible in a scene at his job in the beginning. I figured that while these user-defined specs were good on some movies, it did not work in this case. In short, I really do think that the color balance is really good out of the box for the SP5000. Your greens being too bright was a comment that I heard on another thread (or was it this one?). I have not had that issue with any of my units. I do project onto an off-white wall and have installed an ND4 filter, so the brightness might be toned down in my case.

I'm thinking about the SP5000 becuase it's in my price range and I want a projector that will be good for hdtv. I'm wondering if I should wait a bit and get the AE900 or HD72. Everyone says the SP 5000 is a bad choice, but actual owners seem to give it good reviews. Anyone else in this situation?

I'm upgrading from an old 480P projector so I've ruled those out. Great for dvd's - but I want something that's better for watching football games with a little ambient light in the room.

My short experience with the sp5000 is get it if it's a good price-remember it's a 720p, and compare from there. With it's problems, I'd buy a second unless 1080i/p projectors really come down in price. No experience with AE900/HD72-if you're serious, research,etc.

I Googled ND4 Filter, and only found them for specific cameras. Is there a place anyone can recomend for a filter. I have had my SP5000 since Nov 04 and have enjoyed it. I am waiting for a reasonably priced 1080P projector, then I will upgrade.

I Googled ND4 Filter, and only found them for specific cameras. Is there a place anyone can recomend for a filter. I have had my SP5000 since Nov 04 and have enjoyed it. I am waiting for a reasonably priced 1080P projector, then I will upgrade.
ND4 72mm @ Wolf Camera (http://www.wolfcamera.com/product/241664820msk.htm)
This does not fit "perfectly", but is snug.
Just place in front of the lens and use invisible tape around it to make sure it does not pop out. Not the nicest, but image looks really good.

Anyone using an outboard Video Processor , like the DVDO HD+ , with their SP5000 ?

Very curious how this combo is working together . The DVDO website has "Hot Deals" section for B-stock older models but the HD+ was very reliable and will suit a 720P display very well .

Just thinking out loud :p

Scott............... :)

Hey, I know im kinda jumping in i didnt really read the whole chat going on but i just got a SP5000 I got to say I love it i only had it for a week now have no problems so far, The HD is great on it my xbox360 looks amazing ED/SD cable looks good too and DVDs just look great too i have it running on a 105" screen from 14foot away and have no problems at all here are come pics if you want to take a look the cam that they are taken on aint the best but it gives you someone of a look at what you will see.

My Screen (http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/Nicklgs/Theater/PICT0026.jpg)
ED Cable (http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/Nicklgs/Theater/PICT0013.jpg)
ED Cable 2 (http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/Nicklgs/Theater/Screenshots/PICT0040.jpg)
DVD 1 (http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/Nicklgs/Theater/Screenshots/PICT0049.jpg)
DVD 2 (http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/Nicklgs/Theater/Screenshots/PICT0036.jpg)
Xbox360 (http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/Nicklgs/Theater/Screenshots/PICT0041.jpg)
Xbox360 2 (http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/Nicklgs/Theater/Screenshots/PICT0042.jpg)
Xbox360 3 (http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/Nicklgs/Theater/Screenshots/PICT0043.jpg)
Xbxo360 4 (http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/Nicklgs/Theater/Screenshots/PICT0044.jpg)

Hey, I know im kinda jumping in i didnt really read the whole chat going on but i just got a SP5000 I got to say I love it i only had it for a week now have no problems so far, The HD is great on it my xbox360 looks amazing ED/SD cable looks good too and DVDs just look great too i have it running on a 105" screen from 14foot away and have no problems at all here are come pics if you want to take a look the cam that they are taken on aint the best but it gives you someone of a look at what you will see.
Xbox360 (http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d191/Nicklgs/Theater/Screenshots/PICT0041.jpg)


I have this PJ and a 360 as well running in the component input.
I noticed in your first screen shot of the 360 you have it running in 1080i, in my opinion, and others here would probably agree that you will get a better image if you set the 360 to output 720p instead.
I say this because you might be using the 360 to upscale a 720p only game to 1080i and then the image gets to the PJ and it must downscale the image from 1080i to 720p, to match the resolution of the PJ.

First off, the SP5000 has a native resolution of 720p and you will get a much better image out of the 360 if you use 720p. Secondly, 720p is better then 1080i regardless. Progressive Scan > Interlaced. Some 360 games do 60fps and you are nullifying that ability. You will be much more impressed with your image if you use 720p. There is a big consensus on this. 99 out of 100 people (just a guess) will tell you they find 720p to be much better then 1080i (especially on a 720p display.)

Use native resolution,720p. This machine can look good in other resolutions but it works best native. Use your source to drive the 720p and the sp5000 will deliver-big screen.

Use native resolution,720p. This machine can look good in other resolutions but it works best native. Use your source to drive the 720p and the sp5000 will deliver-big screen.

It depends on the source. My HD DVD player, my Upconverting DVD player and my Dish Network 622 all look much better outputting a 1080i signal to the SP 5000.

My HTPC looks fantastic @ 720x1280.

It depends on the source. My HD DVD player, my Upconverting DVD player and my Dish Network 622 all look much better outputting a 1080i signal to the SP 5000.

My HTPC looks fantastic @ 720x1280.
You're right, I looked at your photos. Let's add: Use what looks best to you. Is that 720x1280 a typo? Interested in your thoughts on use of the HD DVD player verses the upconverter DVD?

It depends on the source. My HD DVD player, my Upconverting DVD player and my Dish Network 622 all look much better outputting a 1080i signal to the SP 5000.

My HTPC looks fantastic @ 720x1280.

I agree. But, with the 360 in particular 720p is the better resolution to use. The 360 always renders at 720p. If you send a 1080i signal the 360 is scaling the rendered image to 1080i. The SP5000 is then scaling it back to 720p. So, you are scaling twice when you could display at 720p without any scaling at all.

The color, tint and sharpness controls are "greyed out" in the picture menu :mad:

I'm using component video...so I don't understand why it's doing this...picture looks hoorible. Blooming and washed out like crazy...WTF??!!

The color, tint and sharpness controls are "greyed out" in the picture menu :mad:

I'm using component video...so I don't understand why it's doing this...picture looks hoorible. Blooming and washed out like crazy...WTF??!!

Color Tint and sharpness controls are only for the Composite and S-video connections (480i)

To adjust color for component, VGA, DVI etc... you need to use the gains/offsets.

Best bet is to make sure your color temp is set to High and the gamma is set to "presentation" then adjust your brightness/contrast.

ok - I'm a dumbass...I just realized that my Calrad 40-816 does not pass HD - picture is great now that it's direct :rolleyes: :D

NOHD... I know JB got his problem fixed but do you really think "presentation" looks better than "photography" or "film" for gamma setting ? I ran "photography" through some tests and it came out on top as far as contrast ratio.. the other two espectially presentation had very poor CR. Maybe with animated bright films like Monsters, Inc or the Incredibles, presentation may indeed look better? But ones with more shadow detail I would bet look better with "photography" gamma, please debate this !

You may be right. I know that there is one setting that is Obviously superior to the others and it's not "Film".

My greyed out areas only work when I have video supplied to sp5000. Tonight ,Jet Li-THE ONE.,Have it on VHS, but now, DVD on upconvert- will seem like a different show! Turn on your feed, no need to start the show, mine works if it senses a connection after "searching". Then you can get deeper into the menu. Enjoy.

NOHD... I know JB got his problem fixed but do you really think "presentation" looks better than "photography" or "film" for gamma setting ? I ran "photography" through some tests and it came out on top as far as contrast ratio.. the other two espectially presentation had very poor CR. Maybe with animated bright films like Monsters, Inc or the Incredibles, presentation may indeed look better? But ones with more shadow detail I would bet look better with "photography" gamma, please debate this !

As you know from one of my earlier posts I like film better. After many adjustments I still find film to be better (I only use component.) Photography just seems washed out in comparison IMO.

Best bet is to make sure your color temp is set to High and the gamma is set to "presentation" then adjust your brightness/contrast.
Best bet is to try all 3 gamma settings and use the one you like best. If we were to take a poll among sp5000 owners, I don't think the majority would use those settings.

In other news, I got my $300 rebate in the mail today, 2 months after I sent it in. Not bad :)

Best bet is to try all 3 gamma settings and use the one you like best. If we were to take a poll among sp5000 owners, I don't think the majority would use those settings.

In other news, I got my $300 rebate in the mail today, 2 months after I sent it in. Not bad :)

What's this about a rebate? :D

What's this about a rebate? :D
Some retailers and I think Infocus were offering a $300 rebate. I don't recall the dates. For example I got mine from SAH/TV and they offered this rebate and 106" screen plus 5 pay plan, after reading the specs-it was click to buy. I got mine in May.

I guess I'm wondering if I can realize a rebate even though I purchased through my distributor...probably not.

Gotta ask that distributor-also the rebate form was in the box.

Fellow SP5000 users, I found an awesome external fan - 4 inches - (120 V AC plug) that is quieter than the SP5000 fan in low! It cost me less than 5 clams at Wallymart (on end of season clearance, but they had atleast 50 of them still at my store). Brand=Lakewood. Color=various, but I got the black one.

(See my, hee hee, 'low-def' "current" illustration below):
I have my projector mounted on the ceiling, so I added the fan about 5-6" from the vents directly behind the lens (looking at the input plugs with the projector upside-down, the fan is aimed at the the RIGHT REAR) with one eye-hook and 2 "S" brackets (< $2).

I had the projector running for 2 hours, and THE PROJECTOR STAYED IN LOW FAN MODE the whole time!! Nice and quiet. Also, I did not have any grounding problems using the fan on the same AC outlet.

REASON for external fan installation:
1. less noise (definitely! overall, the external fan and the FP fan in low are a LOT quieter than the projector fan in high mode)
2. maybe longer lamp life if I can keep FP/lamp cooler?

The only question for those who have installed additional cooling for the projector, is:
Since the lamp is in the UPPER LEFT (next to the lens, instead of behind the lens - LOWER RIGHT or LOWER LEFT where the vents are), the lamp did not seem to get any cooler to the touch. Therefore, am I aiming the fan at the wrong location? Should I get another fan to blow directly on the projector housing where the lamp is kept (see "proposed" illustration below)? My concern is that I may be blunting the thermostat with this external fan, so it does not engage the FP's fan in high mode thus making the lamp get hotter than normal...which would be BAD.

While looking at the input plugs with the projector upside-down, here is an illustration (where ">" and "<" indicate air direction):
Current:
[LAMP][LENS]
[VENT][VENT] <<<<< FAN[/INDENT][/INDENT]


Proposed:
FAN >>>>> [LAMP][LENS]
[VENT][VENT] <<<<< FAN

I love DIY stuff like this. What section specifically did you find that fan Spin?
Do you have the fan blowing air in or out? I might recommend that you make it PULL HOT air from the projector. I'm no expert though. I would like to pick one of those fans up maybe not for the SP5000 but for some other cooling needs I have. After I pick one up I can probably be of more help once I see it and have it in my hands.

The other benefit of using that fan is preventing the PJ from ever going into it's overheat mode which this model has been known to do.

I love DIY stuff like this. What section specifically did you find that fan Spin?
Do you have the fan blowing air in or out? I might recommend that you make it PULL HOT air from the projector. I'm no expert though. I would like to pick one of those fans up maybe not for the SP5000 but for some other cooling needs I have. After I pick one up I can probably be of more help once I see it and have it in my hands.The fan is blowing air at the projector into the vent right behind the lens. This is not a computer fan, but a household/personal fan. I found it in the hardware section where they keep their box fans, etc. I went this route b/c I wanted an AC fan; plus I heard that some of the computer muffin fans are loud (per Kamull, and personal experience with my desktop computer).

It looks like a miniture PATTON high velocity fan (see link below) - half the size of a box of small popcorn at the theater (at least when I USED TO go to the theater!).

It's not the prettiest setup, but I can remove the fan when not using it - then, all I would have are eye hook(s) in the ceiling. The appearance actually IMPROVES the viewing experience since (1) no one will look in the direction of the projector to see how ugly the fans are, but (2) the FP stays in LOW FAN mode keeping the ambient noise to a pleasant "ffffffffff'. :)

PATTON FAN (http://www.amazon.com/Patton-U2-20-20-Inch/dp/B00002N8C1)

I may be ABANDONING this external fan setup due to harm. The reason is that the use of this fan keeps the projector fan from going into HIGH mode. In comparing the lamp temp with external fan/without external fan setups (by placing my hand on the housing around the lamp), it seems that the lamp area is HOTTER with the external fan setup (blowing directly behind the lens).

When I placed a second fan blowing directly on the vents NEXT TO the lamp, (1) the area did not seem cooler; (2) I got a dust blob.

I will check more accurately my temperature suspicions with a wireless indoor/outdoor thermometer.

If anyone has any comments on where to place the fan, that would be great. I'm not sure if placing it directly in front of the projector fan (and increasing suction by blowing away from projector) would work.

Shouldn't the internal temp sensor tell the 5000 to change to high fan with or without an external fan - if the heat is there. It's a great idea, but maybe not so close. Earlier this summer when heat and humidity was here, I had a temp shutdown. Not thinking about the 5000, I setup a rotating 12" floor fan - for my benefit. But now with your post, I don't recall it overheating since. Maybe it just needs some air movement. For me I don't hear the floor fan nor the SP5000 fan, cause with Surround(beer almost vibrates off table) all my attention is on the movie. I'd put it a few feet away-don't want those blobs. Haven't been ableto get rid of mine.

It is interesting that people have trouble with dust blobs. The only time I ever had dust blobs was after my unit was return from the Infocus repair center. The first time I turned it on after it came back there was blobs all over the picture. I turned it off and then back on that evening and the blobs were gone.

I've had one particular spot that just stays no matter how many times it's been started. Question: on some threads it's mentioned that dlp lenses are sealed verses lcd lenses unsealed/open to the blob problem. When I have a sunny day/weekend-cloudy/rainy days = movie time, I'll take down the projector and use canned air to try and remove the blob. I've even come across it described as digital leakage, this got me worried but I'm sure it's a dust blob. I watched Star Wars 6 last night-again- and I still am impressed with this 720p projector. But I must add the tranfer on this disk is good. Some dvds- the tranfer is lacking to say the most. (I watched it for the dialog between Sidious, Vader, and Luke to see how they matched dvd 3 to the original show-so there.)

David you're sure it's a dust blob and not a dead pixel/pixels? Is it like a cloud of green color or is it some solid colored/pixel shapes?
Somewhere earlier in this thread are some procedures for removing dust blobs from the SP5000 assuming powering it off and back on does not (which it usually does).

Well, truthfully, I'm not sure. The descriptions I've read seem like dust blob, but as mentioned before-digital leakage. I've never seen an example of dead pixal except on puter monitor and just seems like a period(.) It's about a 2 inch circle of green, edges are not sharp. With a ceiling mount-on the upper right hand side, 2 feet from the screen edge. Funny thing, If a light is turned on in another room, a slit of light may reflect on the screen(whatever shape) and it's the same color as the blob. Not a great problem, but something I'd like to resolve by warranty. JUDE, I guess I'm missing the removal procedure-I'll rehash the thread and try it. Thanks.

Well, truthfully, I'm not sure. The descriptions I've read seem like dust blob, but as mentioned before-digital leakage. I've never seen an example of dead pixal except on puter monitor and just seems like a period(.) It's about a 2 inch circle of green, edges are not sharp. With a ceiling mount-on the upper right hand side, 2 feet from the screen edge. Funny thing, If a light is turned on in another room, a slit of light may reflect on the screen(whatever shape) and it's the same color as the blob. Not a great problem, but something I'd like to resolve by warranty. JUDE, I guess I'm missing the removal procedure-I'll rehash the thread and try it. Thanks.

When you say a slit of light may reflect on the screen the same color as the blob what do you mean? When the pj is off? I have a speaker right below my screen and it can reflect light onto the screen which looks like a spot in the picture (this is only ambient light. My pj dosn't hit the speaker right to cause this.) If it is something that occurs with the pj off see if light is reflecting onto the screen from an object in the room.

Shouldn't the internal temp sensor tell the 5000 to change to high fan with or without an external fan - if the heat is there.I guess it would depend where the temp sensor is. If I blow directly on the temp sensor, the internal temp near the sensor may not reach the required temp to trigger HIGH FAN mode. So the question is...where is the temp sensor? Is it close to the lamp or is it behind the lens?

RE: Dust Blobs
They're just a fuzzy "blob" of color. Since it's dust on an LCD panel, the colors do change as the scene changes, but the color projected will not match the surrounding colors.

I do not have success blowing out the blobs when the lamp is on. I try to blow out the blobs when the projector is off. Everytime, the blobs are gone when I power up the next time. So, the cooling off could be what gets rid of the blobs.

When you say a slit of light may reflect on the screen the same color as the blob what do you mean?
.
When watching a show there's that ever present circle -about 2". The edge is blurry - color stays the same, constant. I'm in the dark(talking about lumens) and if a light is turned in the next room, a slit of light, like from the edge of a doorway will hit the screen and for some reason it's about the same color. So maybe we are talking digital leakage. Infocus told me if it does it with no cables, then it's a service issue, but offered no explanation. But it does it with no cables. I know, I know - where's the photo? Never done that so, this weekend I'll fireup the SP5000 and post a screenshot. ( Negotiated time for personal pj viewing)
SpinControl: The blob color is constant. The blob appeared about the third time I used it. For fans, I just haven't had a problem since turning on the floor fan on hot days-but up here, there's only a few left. Thanks All.

Hey fellas!!

It's been awhile since I checked in with you all, busy sending my daughter off to college!!

To give you an update on my overheating /shutdown problem-it has not occurred in the past fews months, not even once (I am now knocking on a piece of wood!!). Like SpinControl, I too added a small personal size fan mounted next to my pj but it has not been necessary to use it at all. I cannot pinpoint why my overheating stopped as suddenly as it started but I'm glad it did. It does seem as if my HT room was cooler over the summer with the central AC running upstairs.

It has also been months since I've had a dust blob and luckily mine cleared simply by turning the pj off, letting it cool for awhile and repowering it.

Still having fun with the SP5000!!!

Wow, a nice long thread about the SP5000. Back when I bought mine I couldn't find anyone who had tried it out, and ProjectorCentral hadn't reviewed it (and they still haven't). Now my projector's sitting on 2300 hours, with no sign of the lamp dying (though it complains about being beyond the lifetime everytime I start the sucker up). Anyone else have their lamp last this long, or longer?

On another note, after all this time I'm finally planning on getting an adapter to hook something up to the annoying M1 port. Which do you think would be a better choice: my HTPC (currently hooked up via VGA), or my HD cable box (currently hooked up via Component)?

On another note, after all this time I'm finally planning on getting an adapter to hook something up to the annoying M1 port.

Just watch out for those analog adapters.

Here's the blob:

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l6/davinleeds/Picture063.jpg

Hey Dreamwriter, long time no hear!!! Good to see you back again. I would cast my vote for the HTPC, as that is what I'm using with the M1 adapter and in fact the only device I ever hook to it. P.S. I would just get a DVI to M1 cable from monoprice.com -- dont mess around with any adapters.

Hey Kamull haven't heard from you either. Must be kids back in school eh, bring us back out from the woodwork ! Glad to hear you ahven't had any overheats lately. Has ANYONE out there had them at all recently???? These are the tail ends of summer here, seems like it would be occuring more than ever now.

Davin:
That looks like a dust blob to me. I'm not sure though as you said it stays the same color. The one(s) I had seemed to always be sort of a ghostlike green. Did you try the procedure yet earlier in the thread? That definitely would be annoying... you may need to contact infocus technical support via email as well. Send them that photo and they may give you some hints too.
What movie is that anyway-- "the fly"? Or "The Ring" ! ?

Infocus is ready to repair/fix as soon as I send it to them. I haven't tried to open the case and blow canned air, but tried while attached to the ceiling-no luck. There's a lesser blob above the fingernail, towards the top. Aeonflux. She got a bug in the eye.

I just wanted to write a quick comment regarding the utterly frustrating experience with InFocus's technical support/customer "care" that they offer. Since I bought my projector, I have noticed very bad Vertical Banding. To the point where I just don't like watching DVDs on it anymore. It doesn't just appear on DVDs either. Its on full HD, through the VGA, DVI, and Component outputs. I obviously contacted InFocus as to what I could do about this. They arranged an RMA, and the projector was off. So I wait a total of 25 days from the time I shipped it until the time I got it back. Not a word from tech support. I called twice, and was told on two separate calls it would be shipped out the next day, two days in a row. So I get the projector back, excited as hell that I can finally enjoy a movie or TV show on my projector. Well I hook it up, and boom Horrible VB clearly apparent. It looked like they didn't even work on it at all. So I gave InFocus a ring and go through the motions of giving my name and RMA number. He looks at his computer for about 2 seconds and says "Oh yeah well Repair couldn't replicate the issue so they didn't repair it." So I start telling him how horrible the VB was. He went on to tell me that there was nothing they could do to if they couldn't reproduce the issue. I then told him that I was very dissatisfied and was there anything that I could do. He told me that I have to fix whatever it is in my "environment" that is causing the defect in their product to happen. So I told him that if it is my environment that is causing it, then I would rather just have my money back and get another projector.

So in summation:
- My projector is in repair for 25 days.
- They "worked" on my projector for a total of 4 hours.
- They did NO work on it, and didn't try to contact me to clarify this problem, or discuss
alternatives
- I called them back and they would not budge, and basically told me that they would not
accept another repair from me.

If they refuse to give me my money back for this projector, or at the VERY least, repair or exchange it, then I may very well take this to court. I will never, ever buy another product from InFocus ever. I would suggest that you never do the same.

Also would anyone recommend to me a decent projector, hopefully DLP. Within the $800 - $1,000 range. I was looking at the XR-10X from sharp. The only thing I don't understand is it is 1024x768 instead of 1280x720. But it says the max resolution can goto 1400x1050. Does this mean it can display a full 720p image, and if not, does the HD still look decent after it is scaled. And what if it is scaled through an HTPC then output into 1024x768. Which would look better?

Thanks in advance.

. The only thing I don't understand is it is 1024x768 instead of 1280x720.
.
You have some more homework to do. If you want HD, your projector's native resolution must be 1280x720 or more. The 1024x768 will "fill in" to make it seem like 1280x720. Other posts in this thread explain it better. I feel for you about Infocus. It looks like I will be beginning that same journey. Whatever comes of it, keep trying and remember that they'll always be another even if it worked perfectly. Resolution prices will come down and you'll be enticed to purchase a better projector. I think we're all looking forward to affordable 1080p projectors, made by whoever, and we'll pick a good one because of these shared experiences-that's why I'm here. See post 631, Fred sent it back many times to get it right.

I just wanted to write a quick comment regarding the utterly frustrating experience with InFocus's technical support/customer "care" that they offer. Since I bought my projector, I have noticed very bad Vertical Banding. To the point where I just don't like watching DVDs on it anymore. It doesn't just appear on DVDs either. Its on full HD, through the VGA, DVI, and Component outputs. I obviously contacted InFocus as to what I could do about this. They arranged an RMA, and the projector was off. So I wait a total of 25 days from the time I shipped it until the time I got it back. Not a word from tech support. I called twice, and was told on two separate calls it would be shipped out the next day, two days in a row. So I get the projector back, excited as hell that I can finally enjoy a movie or TV show on my projector. Well I hook it up, and boom Horrible VB clearly apparent. It looked like they didn't even work on it at all. So I gave InFocus a ring and go through the motions of giving my name and RMA number. He looks at his computer for about 2 seconds and says "Oh yeah well Repair couldn't replicate the issue so they didn't repair it." So I start telling him how horrible the VB was. He went on to tell me that there was nothing they could do to if they couldn't reproduce the issue. I then told him that I was very dissatisfied and was there anything that I could do. He told me that I have to fix whatever it is in my "environment" that is causing the defect in their product to happen. So I told him that if it is my environment that is causing it, then I would rather just have my money back and get another projector.

So in summation:
- My projector is in repair for 25 days.
- They "worked" on my projector for a total of 4 hours.
- They did NO work on it, and didn't try to contact me to clarify this problem, or discuss
alternatives
- I called them back and they would not budge, and basically told me that they would not
accept another repair from me.

If they refuse to give me my money back for this projector, or at the VERY least, repair or exchange it, then I may very well take this to court. I will never, ever buy another product from InFocus ever. I would suggest that you never do the same.

Also would anyone recommend to me a decent projector, hopefully DLP. Within the $800 - $1,000 range. I was looking at the XR-10X from sharp. The only thing I don't understand is it is 1024x768 instead of 1280x720. But it says the max resolution can goto 1400x1050. Does this mean it can display a full 720p image, and if not, does the HD still look decent after it is scaled. And what if it is scaled through an HTPC then output into 1024x768. Which would look better?

Thanks in advance.


I had bad VB with my SP5000 when I first hooked it up last year . I just assumed that this is what everybody was talking about and that for a PJ in this class I'd simply have to live with it . The setup was completely temporary with the PJ on a small table and an extension cord run from another room . When I completed more of the room and ceiling mounted the PJ and added a "dedicated" electrical outlet , the VB went away .

Two things happened here of course . Dedicated , clean power and a power cable that was efficiently wound out of the way . Several people have commented on the results seen as related to coiling or winding the power cord . A better shielded cable is next .

Recently I added a UPS backup for the PJ in case of a power failure . When I overloaded the UPS with too much draw , the SP5000 would only put out a Blue picture . I reduced the load through the UPS and now have a very good , no VB picture that I'm more than happy with .

Infocus may be right when they say they can't reproduce your problem . Try some of the above ideas and let us know how it turns out .

Scott.............. :)

I watched a little of DIY network this weekend and a home theater setup included a power conditioner. This item would smooth the power to the home theater and control spikes and brownouts. I am seriously considering an ad on like this, cause it has happened to me. Ruined cband receivers with lighting spikes to the dish mover. After watching the reasoning, it make CENTS! Might be a fix. My pj and puter , and dvd upconverter are on the same cord. I think these projectors may be "sensitive" ( I cant get the wording) to setup-electronic variables may affect display. But then there's area 51. So, WTF, is that the acronym? Basicaly, others have indicated powercord placement makes a difference. Test!

I just wanted to write a quick comment regarding the utterly frustrating experience with InFocus's technical support/customer "care" that they offer. Since I bought my projector, I have noticed very bad Vertical Banding. To the point where I just don't like watching DVDs on it anymore. It doesn't just appear on DVDs either. Its on full HD, through the VGA, DVI, and Component outputs. I obviously contacted InFocus as to what I could do about this. They arranged an RMA, and the projector was off. So I wait a total of 25 days from the time I shipped it until the time I got it back. Not a word from tech support. I called twice, and was told on two separate calls it would be shipped out the next day, two days in a row. So I get the projector back, excited as hell that I can finally enjoy a movie or TV show on my projector. Well I hook it up, and boom Horrible VB clearly apparent. It looked like they didn't even work on it at all. So I gave InFocus a ring and go through the motions of giving my name and RMA number. He looks at his computer for about 2 seconds and says "Oh yeah well Repair couldn't replicate the issue so they didn't repair it." So I start telling him how horrible the VB was. He went on to tell me that there was nothing they could do to if they couldn't reproduce the issue. I then told him that I was very dissatisfied and was there anything that I could do. He told me that I have to fix whatever it is in my "environment" that is causing the defect in their product to happen. So I told him that if it is my environment that is causing it, then I would rather just have my money back and get another projector.

So in summation:
- My projector is in repair for 25 days.
- They "worked" on my projector for a total of 4 hours.
- They did NO work on it, and didn't try to contact me to clarify this problem, or discuss
alternatives
- I called them back and they would not budge, and basically told me that they would not
accept another repair from me.

If they refuse to give me my money back for this projector, or at the VERY least, repair or exchange it, then I may very well take this to court. I will never, ever buy another product from InFocus ever. I would suggest that you never do the same.

Also would anyone recommend to me a decent projector, hopefully DLP. Within the $800 - $1,000 range. I was looking at the XR-10X from sharp. The only thing I don't understand is it is 1024x768 instead of 1280x720. But it says the max resolution can goto 1400x1050. Does this mean it can display a full 720p image, and if not, does the HD still look decent after it is scaled. And what if it is scaled through an HTPC then output into 1024x768. Which would look better?

Thanks in advance.neonic,
Sorry to hear about your continued problems. You may just want to keep hounding them until they/someone says "yes". I think there was a thread that stated that InFocus has a Customer Liason/Relations group that handles issues above and beyond the Tech Support/CSR.

If I do not get results with the front person, I usually ask for escalation to a supervisor.

LESSON: You need to SEND IN PHOTOS with your projector showing the problem. For $0.19 a print, you save yourself aggravation.

Best of luck!
SC

P.S. My warranty-exchange unit still has VB, but 99% of the time it's not visible or is too faint to see. So, it seems that VB may not be completely removable, so what you describe, neonic, seems unreasonable.

Hey guys I have had my sp5000 for a while I have a pc in the m1 and a direct tv receiver in the component inputs I wanted to overlay the tv feed on the computer using the PIP option but it is greyed out. I have the version 9 firmware is there something I can do to get this functionality from what i read in the user guide it should be possible.

Thanks
Dave

Hey guys I have had my sp5000 for a while I have a pc in the m1 and a direct tv receiver in the component inputs I wanted to overlay the tv feed on the computer using the PIP option but it is greyed out. I have the version 9 firmware is there something I can do to get this functionality from what i read in the user guide it should be possible.

Thanks
Dave

The only thing you can do PIP with are sources connected through the Composite (yellow RCA) and s-video connections on the SP5000.

ie. VCR connected with composite in PIP window and viewing PC in main window.

or DVD player connected with S-video in PIP and Satellite on main via Component.

Or vice versa. But you can't do PIP between the M1, VGA or component connections.

This is common with most PIP situations because in Digital TV's there is a Digital section of the electronics and an analog section. Only certain inputs can be displayed simultaneously.

This is the way it works on all my HDTV's (Samsung DLP, Infocus LCD and Sony CRT)

So to do what you want, you would have to connect the Direct TV reciever with either Composite or s-video to the sp 5000

Has anyone had a problem with the SP 5000 refusing to turn OFF?

Mine has been working fine for over 6 months, now if it is left on for over 20 mins (approx), the PJ will refuse to run off. Remote does not work, and none of the buttons on the PJ itself work either. Any ideas?

i think i know what you are talking about...it's not that it refuse to turn off....it's not displaying anything but the fan is still going. I think mine only does that when it is idling for too long(displaying and sensing no video signal at all), then I press the power button a few times, the infocus screen save will go back on again.

Mine keeps displaying the picture/tv or whatever I'm watching. When I press the power button though nothing happens. It is supposed to pop up the screen "turning off, press power to cancel" - but it never does. No "ding" either! None of the buttons works. It's locked displaying my source still!

Mine did this one time on an overheat shutdown. The light blinks a specific number of times indicating the problem. I had to unplug it. But I said "darn it" (not really) and restarted it, and has worked (except blob) fine. XMEN 2 last nignt. Guess what plays tomorrow? Blob and all.

Hey timdg -- are you at the latest firmware?
I've never heard of anyone else having that problem no mention of it in this thread or elsewhere.

Hey timdg -- are you at the latest firmware?
I've never heard of anyone else having that problem no mention of it in this thread or elsewhere.

Still on version 9 of the firmware.
Funny thing is, had this happen multiple times in one day, and now I cannot get it to do it again. I've left if one for hour, several hours and everything works fine...

I really don't want to send it in for warranty work just for Infocus to say" Can't duplicate"!

Well I bought the thing back in march but I still haven't hooked it up. I wanted to make sure I got the rebate (what a joke, see further down) which is why i bought it so long ago. It should be up on friday and we should be watching star wars as the first movie on saturday :)

Regarding the rebate. I've been fighting with infocus for months now. they never got my info right in the system and claim to have sent two checks and subsequently canceled each to the wrong address. I finally contacted the BBB and Infocus went and lied to them sahying a check was being fedexed to my house by 10/4. I'm just amazed and don't know what to do about it now.

Rebates are iffy. I've lost out on about $150 in various rebates. I guess, keep it alive by bugging the heck out of them-they're just waiting for you to give up. Don't wait too long to crank it up. Ask them for the Fedex tracking number.

Anyone know where I can find a good deal on a replacement bulb for the SP5000. The hours are really starting to rack up and I'd like to have a bulb in reserve for the inevitable failure.

Thanks.

Has anyone in this thread had an opportunity to compare the new Optoma 720p HD70 DLP projector to your SP5000??

I admit I am not a big fan of the SP5000 but believe it might provide a better calibrated PQ than the HD70.

What say you?

Huh? I am not a big fan of DLP but even I will admit the HD70 should really be a huge step above the SP5000.

I will admit the HD70 should really be a huge step above the SP5000.I agree - the operative words being "should really be a huge step" - but the HD70 is turning out to be something less than the expectation.

That's why I am looking for someone who has a nicely calibrated SP5000 who has actually compared the HD70.

I love this thing! Finally got a chance to see 5 movies this past week.
Over the Hedge
Curious George
Lucky # Slevin
X-Men - The Last Stand
Click

Got a headache after watching the last 3 movies in a row (until 3a), but hey, it was worth it! :) Until the next day when the wife and I had to handle two rambunctious toddlers. :( Man, were we tired! he he!


Just wanted to report back on my Warranty Exchange unit. I have an ND4 filter on it to reduce any VB that might show up. Plus, this light cannon needs a little taming, and with LCD, the blacks are much better.

Ironically, pretty bad VB (even with the ND4 filter) occurs at first start-up, but after 10 minutes, IT'S GONE!! Totally different than my first two "new" units where VB occurred 20 minutes after startup and never went away.

Not sure what makes these units so different, but it's weird. Since VB was not present when I received the WE unit, I'll keep watching this issue. Hopefully, this issue will not get worse by not clearing up after 10 minutes from startup.

BTW, baseball playoffs/WS and college FB/NFL are awesome! But I'm sure all us SP5000 owners already know that!

Mine is the same and always has been. Once it warms up the VB dissapears.

Mine is the same and always has been. Once it warms up the VB dissapears.Thanks for the reply, NOHDjunkie. It's good to know that I should expect the VB to clear up always as the unit warms up.

I find that issues are mostly with the dvd. Some are so smooth and some just need floss. I can't wait until hd/bluray machines are affordable and then..... we'll see 720p .

Just watched Jericho HD with adjusted colors and It's a new machine. Lamp cost is now the factor.

Well I have owned my SP5000 since Dec. 05 and have been disappointed since day one. This was my first projector and HDTV. I have always seen SDE from 14ft away from a 106" screen. It was to the point where it was distracting, i just figured you get what you pay for and thats the way it was. After about 30hrs on the lamp I got real bad VB showing up on the blue start up screen and any material I watched. I upgraded to firmware 10 hoping it would help, and it did help the VB some, but SDE was still unacceptable and now for some reason the projector does not detect a signal from the component in connection. Hearing how some people are very happy with their SP5000s I think Im gonna call Infocus and see what they can do, will they fix this for a reasonable price?

Well I have owned my SP5000 since Dec. 05 ... now for some reason the projector does not detect a signal from the component in connection ... Im gonna call Infocus and see what they can do, will they fix this for a reasonable price?Didn't yours come with a 12 month warranty? Should be covered except for shipping to (~$16) if you bought it new. Now, whether they address the VB or SDE is another story - their technicians may not see what your issue is (unless your VB is clearly visible and/or you send in photos).

Ok, just pulled out my manual and it is under waranty. And I figured out that the projector wont detect a 1080i source through component. I had my HD-A1 and my comcast hd cable all set to send a 1080i signal and the projector would just flash "searching", once I switched output to 480i, 480p, and 720p on my HD-A1 it worked fine but once I swtich back to 1080i I lose the picture. Now before I updated the firmware I did not have this problem. Is there anyway to switch back to version 9?

Update: I recently moved and when my PJ and computer stuff got packed up I may have mixed up the power cords with one of my PC cords. After reading some of the past threads and seeing how the power cord could affect the picture I swapped one of the cords and immediately I saw a difference. Both VB and SDE seem tollerable now. I think I might just be sensitive to SDE, I think it may be time to upgrade to a panny with smoothscreen.

Always, always, always make sure you are getting both clean power and clean signal.

Neatness does count when it comes to power and signal cables.

If possible, use a power conditioner and keep your PJ isolated from fans, heaters, and other work-a-day appliances.

Try to keep your signal cables insulated from power cables.

Not saying this is always the cure, but it is worth checking before sending your PJ off to strangers.

I have had my SP5000 since January and it has performed flawlessly. I keep it "loose" and have used it on vacation at the beach, and for outdoor theater.

I normally use it on my white living room wall. One of my "beefs" with current high def is the reproduction of caucasian flesh tones and the over-representation of red. I see the same "defect" in 75% of the plasmas I see at the big box stores. Panasonic and Pioneer seem to have a handle on it - all the rest, everyone is sunburned. Suprisingly, the Cheap Akai's and Magnavox's did not suffer from this, but their screen were much less vivid.

The SP5000 seems to be no better than the rest - side by side with ye olde tube tv (which does favor orange/tan to just as bad a degree) it becomes distracting. I had just assigned myself to accept it as part of the package.

This week I used my SP5000 on light blue walls - and the red tinge to the faces seemed to be neutralized. Yet, the whites were not affected. Can anybody explain the science behiond this? Is my solution to use a lt blue screen? Is there a adjustment in the projector I'm missing that will do the same thing?

Thanks in advance.

Back in this thread a grey screen is recommended for the 5000. I'm not there yet. But will try it when I find a deal. So far, I like it, blob is annoying but blends in among background.

I have had my SP5000 since January and it has performed flawlessly. I keep it "loose" and have used it on vacation at the beach, and for outdoor theater.

I normally use it on my white living room wall. One of my "beefs" with current high def is the reproduction of caucasian flesh tones and the over-representation of red. I see the same "defect" in 75% of the plasmas I see at the big box stores. Panasonic and Pioneer seem to have a handle on it - all the rest, everyone is sunburned. Suprisingly, the Cheap Akai's and Magnavox's did not suffer from this, but their screen were much less vivid.

The SP5000 seems to be no better than the rest - side by side with ye olde tube tv (which does favor orange/tan to just as bad a degree) it becomes distracting. I had just assigned myself to accept it as part of the package.

This week I used my SP5000 on light blue walls - and the red tinge to the faces seemed to be neutralized. Yet, the whites were not affected. Can anybody explain the science behiond this? Is my solution to use a lt blue screen? Is there a adjustment in the projector I'm missing that will do the same thing?

Thanks in advance.

You need to get a calibration DVD and calibrate. All televisions should be calibrated. Those colors can be completely adjusted. Get a good calibration disc and get the fleshtones spot on.

Ahh yes, the calibration disk. The variance hasn't been that far off, and I have noticed the projector to be better at color nuance than the tube tv.

I just was struck by the effect the blue wall had on the picture.

Anyway, I have been too cheeep to pick up a calibration disk. I guess its time. :D

Bit of a problem here with my SP5000 - no HD inputs are working. It seems a couple people have had this problem, but I haven't seen a real solution yet.

My projector has been working great for a few months (HD through component, upconverted DVD through HDMI->M1), but i decided to hook it up to my computer with a DVI->M1 cable, so I unhooked everything and took it into my office. After a few unsuccessful attempts with the computer I gave up, and hooked up a DVD player through S-video and watched a movie.

Fast forward a couple days and I took the projector back into the living room, hooked up the component, HDMI->M1, and S-video connections - and ... nothing, until I switched over the S-Video. THe picture comes through on S-Video, but nothing on component or HDMI. I've tried a factory reset and unplugging it for a while, but nothing seems to make a difference.

Is it possible that I fried something by sending a DVI signal with too high of a resolution + refresh rate? When I plugged it in, I got a black screen with garbage on the top. However with a DVI-D connection, I would expect the projector software to recognize a bad signal.

Any suggestions? Should I box it up and call Infocus? Should I try reflashing firmware? (it's got the latest version already) Has anyone fixed a similar problem?

Thanks,
Erich

Firmware??? I have had to hit the rescan before. A previous poster had a problem with connecting the video while plugged. Can cause a short.You switched to s vid? Usually it searches for active video. Mine can sense when I have computer connected but monitor not enabled. It will stay on 1280x720 until enabled. I have had issues with incorrect dvi cables. Keep trying but watch your warranty date.

Update on my SP5000:

- Bought new from Tigerdirect back in June 2006.
- Received $300 rebate from InFocus about 2 months after mailing it in (I'm glad I called their rebate center soon after I mailed it in because they had my address information horribly wrong in their computer).
- Connected to Dell XPS 400 HTPC with Dvico Fusion5 RT lite HDTV card via VGA/M1.
- Logged in over 200 hrs
- Only one small dust streak that went away after filter cleaning (unrelated, probably).
- Tried upgrading the firmware just for the heck of it, but wasn't successful with the button presses. I don't have any loud fan noise though.

Minor Complaints:
- LCD contrast isn't the best
- Not the brightest to use during a bright room during daytime with bad light control (works great at night 8' x 4.5')

No major complaints so far... the best $700 projector out there!

bikepoet,
I'm thinking about the Dvico to use with my SP5000 cause my HD Wonder is sub par, you seem happy with it. ????? Good stuff?

Finally got my SP5000 hooked up and I LOVE it!!!

I've got it projecting on a 135" custom built screen in a completely dark room and it is fantastic. All my friends are envious. :)

My only question is that since I bought it used on ebay, I think that it was setup to auto go to economy mode. I'd like to try it in standard mode, but I can't seem to find the menu setting or key combination to get take it out of econo. What am I missing?

Thanks for the help.

...My only question is that since I bought it used on ebay, I think that it was setup to auto go to economy mode. I'd like to try it in standard mode...The Infocus Screenplay 5000 does not have an econo mode. The bulb-life is rated at 2000 hours only - no mention of an econo mode to extend the bulb-life or to decrease the lumens. Therefore, you're already in standard mode.

Welcome to the club! :)

For some reason , NextWaveG, those modes sounded familiar, but they must have been on a Sharp projector I've used. Only thing I saw was color temp. On another note, for kicks I tried native ( no scaling by the PJ) and my upscaling Toshiba dvd player and It seemed slightly better. Only one scaling the dvd verses player then projector. Used 720p. Anyone else think there's a difference? Better or worse?

Welcome to the fun.

>My only question is that since I bought it used on ebay, I think that it was setup >to auto go to economy mode. I'd like to try it in standard mode, but I can't seem >to find the menu setting or key combination to get take it out of econo. What >am I missing?

A new bulb.

As the unit has no manually switchable econo mode, what leads you to believe it does? You say you use it in a dark room? A healthy sp5000 without filters in a dark room should almost require sunglasses to watch. Do you need the dark room for a good picture?

Maybe your bulb is on its last leg.

>- Not the brightest to use during a bright room during daytime with bad light >control (works great at night 8' x 4.5')

Heh, heh, heh.


I'm amazed that we are to the point that this is worth mentioning in a sub $1k projector... how long ago was it that any projector had to have the shades drawn to work well?

What a time we live in, eh?

I've got a problem...same one that Roto had a while back. I've got my cable box hooked up to the 5000 via M1, and I get no picture (it finds a signal, but displays all black). The trick is, whereas Roto only had to unplug his SP5000 once to get it to resync, I have to do it *every time I turn on the SP5000*. As in, if I want to watch TV, when turning on the SP5000 I must first unplug the power, replug it in, turn it on, and then once it's warmed up switch over to the M1 input (if I wait too long to switch over, it may not work, and I'll have to turn off the SP5000 and unplug/replug it again). And same as Roto, if I turn the cable box off and then on, I get a picture for a couple seconds, then it goes away.

Any ideas? This is a *really* annoying problem (especially as I wanted to hook up the cable via M1 to make it more convenient than having to use my manual component switchbox just to watch TV, and this is far from convenient). I've got firmware 9, do you think the problem could be solved by firmware 10?

i have had my sp5000 since june this year. a couple of weeks ago it develope a fault and had to be returned to infocus. repair and return time and also service is great. the only problem i have now is the same one that vic y had with his. when using my xbox 360 through component the image looks very purple ( looks like no green ) i have run it also through composite and the image is fine. i have spoken to infocus and they have told me my lead is faulty, i have got a new lead now and the problem is still there. i have reflashed back to 9 and now again 10 with no better result. please can someone help with this, it is really starting to bug me now. i have tried it also through m1 to component which also has the same results. maybe there is a setting in the service menu which would help if any one knows the password

thanks paul

Dreamwriter,
I have a similar problem using the M1 w/ my setup... and wrote about it a long time ago. No luck yet finding a solution. The 2 problems I have are a flashing standard def picture or a disappearing hi-def picture (both through M1).

Unplugging/replugging works to solve the flashing SD. I 'only' have to do it every 4-5 turn ons. The plug/unplug doesn't fix the HD picture disappearing problem, though. The only fix I've found besides waiting is to use another input like component.

I wanted to let you know that I've always been on F/W 10, so the F/W wouldn't be the only problem if it contributes at all.
hpw

Help please.

I get a green tint when I use the component cable input. Infocus said it was my DVR since it worked with my DVD player. Cable guy switched out the DVR box and still had green tint. Cables have been replaced and everything is pointing to the SP 5000. When I press the source info menu button, it shows a VGA 480 picture at 60 hz. and says the "sync is green". Anyone have this problem?

Help please.

I get a green tint when I use the component cable input. Infocus said it was my DVR since it worked with my DVD player. Cable guy switched out the DVR box and still had green tint. Cables have been replaced and everything is pointing to the SP 5000. When I press the source info menu button, it shows a VGA 480 picture at 60 hz. and says the "sync is green". Anyone have this problem?

Are you saying that you got an acceptable picture , no green tint , from you DVD Player also using Component cable ? Is the DVR Component cable the same as the one from the DVD ? If so , then it would appear to be the DVR .

However , I've seen different signal inputs "change" the previous Colorspace settings . You can try and set the Colorspace to "Auto" or try using the REC601 option. Check to see if the User Menu Settings are the same as when you last looked at them for the DVD . You wrote them down didn't you :D ?

I've recently seen my 5000 change to different user inputs , which have vastly different color settings . I'm lucky that I only feed the PJ DVD's so I store the same settings in all User locations now so I'm not bothered by the odd hiccup :D

Let us know how you make out ,

Scott........................ :)