iSival MP720B1 LED HD 720p Mini Projector - Page 2

Playing games for 12 hours in a day.... a bulb is not what u need muchacho



I bet it works good for gaming. I throw contrast out the window when shooting people online or you can't see people hiding as well.

I just bought the isival which I should receive by next week. I'm going to compare it to my hs201 and I'll be doing a review.

You got specs for that pc, it's faster than mine * infinity.

I think a few people will be looking forward to that. If their specs are way off and the contrast is anything close to the 201 or 300, I think lots of people might like it. The price is significantly better than the hx300.

Thanks to Heenan for his posts and his YouTube links. Normally I'm sceptical of pictures and videos of screen images. They always seem to be accompanied by a disclaimer that the pictures/videos don't do the image justice. Everyone says it, it must be true. But this raises the question - what is the point of presenting evidence if the evidence isn't worth much?

This guy Art Feierman over at Projector Central spends a tremendous amount of time and effort taking photos of screen images and then warning every reader to ignore the photos and rely on his subjective assessment. I follow that advice. He takes pictures with random amounts of overexposure so it is impossible to compare different models. I used to try to pick up subtleties between various models but I gave up when I found that cheap projectors often seemed better than expensive highly praised models.

But finally I have found a comparison that seems to be show something. The YouTube link that Heenan posts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBnRh1a6Kek

can be compared with lots of other 720p bulb based projectors like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTfCaptXui0&feature=fvst

This is a video of an Optoma HD65 - a popular 720p projector that sells for about $550 on the Web. There are plenty of other videos posted featuring the HD65 and similar low cost bulb based projectors.

I'm sorry to say that the low contrast ratio of the LED iSival projector is quite obvious. Nothing looks white, the highlights aren't very high. There seems to be a gray film over the image.

Almost everyday I look on the web for the introduction of an inexpensive, bright 720p projector that uses LEDs. Alas the iSival is not that projector. The LCoS chip, the lens and electronics seem to be fine but the LEDs are just not quite bright enough yet.

projectorreviews.com



The camera's unfortunately process the image, so basically all videos and screenshots are rather pointless. I happen to appreciate art's overexposed images however.



That video of an HD65 is pure b.s. Have you ever seen one in person? The black levels are about 200x worse than that video would have you believe. That is the problem with digital cameras, they will adjust the black levels for you, making it impossible to compare them to another source.

Heeman,
One thing I find very cool is how little screen door you say there is with this pj.

I might be able to setup in a smaller room with a smaller picture than I had with my old bulb based projector (110" Hor.picture 126"Diag.).
If I could go into a smaller room with an 80"diag. picture which I think would be about 70"Hor. Now if what you say about the low screen door of this projector is true, I would be able to have the seating much closer to the screen.
In the end, it would not seem that much smaller than my old setup if I could sit closer.
How far back do you need to sit from an 80"diag. screen with this projector? Could you sit at 8feet ? I know thats close but would like to know your thoughts on it.

Also,what is the minimum distance the projector needs to be away from the screen to get an 80"diag. picture ?

12 feet for 80".
I thought it would need less distance for just an 80" screen ?

After reading LED Longevity Overrated? I'm not sure led projectors are the way to go. I'm hoping more companies will skip led and just go with lasers.

My Macbook pro that has an LED screen that I bought in 2007 gets at least 2 hours of use everyday day and I haven't noticed any lower brightness, I actually have to dim it because its too bright on the full brightness setting, I think it depends on the brand of LED.

LEDs dim over time but it's a long time guys. I would worry about other components failing first.

Waiting to hear from Mikey how contrast and black levels stack up to the lgs. I can't believe 200:1 contrast in 2010 that is insane. Maybe they meant ANSI.

Seriously... I hate the rave about how all these little projectors. Pico projectors and what not are just as good. Then why hasn't everyone switched over? It's fair to talk positively about the technology and its nice how small they're making it. But it's one thing to advise people in search of small portable projectors such as this, but its another to conclude that they are JUST AS GOOD as a 1k 1080p projector. Okay... perhaps your measurement of analysis and comparison is extremely poor hahaha

I think the 1k 1080ps are crap. I bet I really hate this thing.

hi, I will travel to Phoenix Arizona on this November, and will be staying at Arizona Grand Resort for 1 week, I'm thinking of getting 1 of this iSiVal MP720B1 projector, but I don't know where can I get it. Really appreciate if anyone here can advised where can I buy this, thanks in advanced.

It's on Amazon or Isival sivalinstruments

How would the Samsung SP-F10M 3LCD projector compare to the isival? Samsung 1024 by 768 vs 1280 by 768.

I got the projector but I've just been so busy, but I'll have my little review up tomorrow hopefully.

I am enjoying both of my Mitsubishi HC3800s very much, but then again they are just over the grand mark.

But I do have something to add here. I had purchased two of the Isival units back in July and this was my review of them, do with it what you all want:

I received these and set them up in my living room and the verdict is:

"GOOD GOD THESE ARE FAWKING TERRIBLE!!!"

I would go on and elaborate, but that would be a waste of your time and mine. Ill just put the bulletins up:

(1) Contrast is GOD AWFUL, I never realized how spoiled I am with my U2410 monitors and my old Z4 projector, but I am. Even at the best focus the text was very fuzzy to read.

(2) Color reproduction was Awful and the horrific black levels made me want to die. I had a headache in five minutes.

(3) There is a 15% restocking fee, which totals $150. I have asked customer support in an email to wave the fee so I will have to wait and see how expensive this terrible experiment turns out to be. If they bang me on the fee, I will never buy their products again and make it a mission to make sure nobody else does either. I will keep you posted on this.

Basically, the LED tech is a far way from being ready. The contrast, color, and brightness ratios need to come way, way up before the tech is doable.

And for the seam argument...well you would not be able to hide it with these projectors, I will tell you that right now. Even though both had the same exact settings, their colors were off from each other and there was a very, very, noticeable difference.

UPDATE:
Yep, they are going to waive the restocking fee. A classy company indeed and when the tech improves I will buy from them again.

I can't say i'm super surprised with this. If i had to speculate, i would say the light output just isn't near what it needs to be with these cheap led projectors. In order to boost light output, they are removing every trick in the book that gives better contrast and black levels. At least, that is my speculation. In one of the other LED threads they were posting measurements that i think a german website measured. Needless to say, the contrast was 1/20th what the manufacturers were claiming.

Hi everyone here is my review of the iSival 720p led projector vs the LG Hs201 led projector.

My source is my 2008 macbook pro and its being projected directly on to my white wall.


First impressions when opening the box and holding the projector in my hand is that its built very solid the build quality is on par the LG. It comes with your typical accessories, like power supply, cables,manuals and it comes with a small mirror you can attach to it and project onto a ceiling.

Brightness
When I first fired it up I could tell it was noticeably dimmer than the LG, it was about 10-15% less bright than the HS201 on eco mode which is the lowest brightness setting on the Hs201, this is the setting I use with the LG normally. The lamp brightness on the isival is fixed so you can't adjust it and the LG has three brightness modes ECO ,normal, and presentation. I thought the brightness was fine though, in a dark room even if it has some ambient light that is not directly hitting the wall your projecting on the brightness is very good.

Contrast
The contrast on the isival is noticeably lower than the LG, but its not as bad as I thought it would be though. Very dark scenes sometimes have a green tinge and look a little blocky instead of just smooth, bright scenes look very good though except for the occasional dark spot in a bright scene like the underside of a tree which has more of a light to medium gray color. When I was watching the movie Mr. Brooks which has many dark scenes it was very noticeable and it bothered me a little but it didn't completely take away from enjoyment of the movie.

Rainbow effect
I noticed that there is a noticeable rainbow effect that I could see when there is fast scene or if I turned my neck fast and sometimes when I blink. This was distracting when trying to watch a movie but I did get used to it eventually and now I don't really notice it as much although its still present. The LG doesnt have any rainbow effect I notice, but it does have the screen door effect which kind of makes it look like you're looking through a screen mesh and takes away from the resolution IMO. If I had to choose one of these flaws to live with it would be the rainbow effect but if there was none of these flaws it would be a lot better.

Throw Distance
The isival has a longer throw than the LG which means you have to put it further back to get about the same size screen. The only issue with that for me is that it puts the projector closer to you and you can hear the fan noise more.
Fan noise
The fan noise on the isival is about the same as the LG on normal mode, which is not that loud but not quiet either. The LG on eco mode is very quiet.

Focusing issue
The isival has a focusing issue where its not possible to get the screen 100% in focus. This is especially noticeable with text. For example if I focus the projector to be 100% in focus on the bottom of the screen, the center and most noticeable the top 1/4 of the screen is blurry and vice versa. You have to focus it at the center which gives the overall best focus but the bottom and top will be only about 85-90% in focus. With movies its not as noticeable but when youre using a computer it makes text kind of blurry mainly on the top and bottom 1/4th of the screen. The LG doesnt have this issue its very sharp and as far as I could tell its 100% in focus.
Resolution
The resolution is obviously better on the isival you get more detail than the LG and the native 16:9 ratio makes movies more enjoyable to watch IMO. With the LG when watching movies I find myself concentrating sometimes on the resolution and the aspect ratio instead of just enjoying the movie, with the isival I find myself just enjoying the movie more and not thinking about that.

Speakers
The speakers on both projetors are crap, I never have any need for the built-in speakers anyway, I feel they should just not come with speakers and lower the costs of the projectors.

Colors
The colors on the LG are better than the isival, it seems the LG has a wider range of colors, though this might be due to the increased contrast of the LG.

Conclusion
IMO the isival has the edge for movies and I presume playing games as well, but it would not be that good for computer use and businesss presentations the LG is much better for that.


Main cons of the isival:
Focusing issue
rainbow effect
low contrast
noisy fan

Cons of LG:
Screen door effect
low resolution & native 4:3 (16:9 would be better IMO)

here is a few crappy pics I was able to take before my camera died


LG HS201


ISIVAL

Thanks. Size was about 60-65". Wall was white. My macbook pros player doesn't have video settings to change, I did play around with the isivals video settings for a while and Improved the picture a little bit.


If you look closely at the pics and look at the mouse arrows you can see the one on the sival is a little more blurry.it looks like the camera was out of focus but this is actually the focusing issue I was talking about

What about in-car video?

My car came with an LCD screen for watching movies.

When I have to wait in my car, I thought that would be suitable, but the screen was too small for me. Because a low-cost projector and a white board might serve better, I have been reading here with great interest and much gratitude for info presented here.