"Un-official" InFocus 5700 Owners Thread - Page 15

I have no regrets about my 5700 paired with a 92" Carada screen. The WOW factor hasn't diminished after 2 years. I just had got an HDTIVO set up and I think it looks great. Football has never looked better.

If you have a fully light controlled room and want a movie theater experience, you can't beat a pj. To save a little money, you may consider a Carada screen. I got mine for half the price of a Stewart screen and I love it.

The SP5700 is one if the few long throw projectors, which is great when you want it at the back of the room.

Don't discount the plasmer simulator though - I run the SP7210 demo on a 60" silverstar.

That would be the first I ever heard of the color wheel decolorizing. I have heard of LCD color filters depolarizing though. Maybe your DMD has come loose?

Send it in! I suggest taking a photo closeup to email them (and us!)

Maybe you will get lucky and it will take three weeks to repair if they are out of parts - might they offer a SP7210 for a very low upgrade fee!

Extra lamps and extended warranties - I assure you are something an Infocus dealer does not making a living on (unlike CircuitShack sales) - Infocus offers them for customer service. So if you want to keep it - buy the extra warranties after it gets back. Much Much cheaper than a projector upgrade or repair. But if you need the projector broke excuse for the CFO - now is the best time to invoke that upgrade clause!

After my bulb ruptured at 700 hours, I sent the pj in and Infocus ran diagnostics and replaced the bulb for free (which they didn't have to do. It was a very good experience with there tech support). Since my pj warranty expires soon, I decided to buy the extended 2-year warranty for $300. I don't plan to replace the pj in that time and since it hasn't been problem free, I think its worth it.

Back to an earlier question I asked - Any HDTIVO and 5700 owners out there? I was wondering if anyone saw a picture quality increase by using HDMI instead of component. Since my run is 30ft, I wanted to get some opinions before splurging on the HDMI cable.

Thanks

Depends on the settop box - normally the digital outs have been FCC mandated and are worse quality than the analog outs - even at HD. I would ask in the settop box fora for someone else that has compared. My cable box suffers that stupidity. Usually 480i is best for SD - then 720P for HD - but always component!

I finally got around to purchasing the extended warranty for my 5700. There web site had a small discount going but when I called up directly I got the two year extended warranty for half price? When I said that this sounds almost too good to be true the tech person said they are experimenting with lower prices. I assume they are doing this to get more people to sign up. I did.

John

PS-I have had no problems whatsoever with my unit (about 20 months usage)

Had not heard that yet - last I heard was the rep telling me that lamp prices went up and not down (they grandfathered my backorder). I did have some people go off warranty - half price would have been a keeper!

Has anyone experienced a kind of tearing on their displays. Some scenes in Saving Private Ryan look like the flames are 'ghosting' or tearing across the entire screen in a big streak. I get the same thing on Green Day's Bullet in a Bible concert DVD where some of the lighting goes weird. Am I the only one? Is this a problem with the 5700 or the sources?

Do you run HTPC? It takes a lot of work to run a tearing free HTPC.

If you are using a regular DVD source try widescreen vs. native aspect - I think I saw tearing when one or the other was used on the SP72xx.

tearing means you are not exactly perfectly matched up on sync rates.

So I'm considering upgrading my 5700 to a 720p model... at the very least something that does 576p (I am in the USA but I watch a lot of PAL discs). Black level is my main concern, and I have to admit, I have become disenchanted with the 5700's black performance. A friend of mine has a cheap (under a grand) 800x600 Optoma and that thing has the deepest blacks I have ever seen - it even beats the 5700 WITH an ND filter!

Anyone have any suggestions for something under 3 grand?

If I send my 5700 back to Infocus for some minor repairs it needs, and they offer to upgrade me to a 7205, does THAT unit have appreciably better blacks than the 5700?

I just purchased this projector after testing 9 differnet projectors. It is awesome. I was just wondering.
I was testing the projector with different inputs to see if there is any quality changes. When I plugged the VGA into the back of my DVD player using a DVI adapter I do not get a signal on the projector?

Any body know why?

The DVD player LG DV7832NXC does not have a switch to turn the DVI output on and off so I can only assume that it is outputting a DVI signal.

Thanks

Andreas

Oops! I missed this one. Thanks for the response Krasmuzik.

My source is a Pio 563a over component. I only use the 16:9 option and never use Native as it is too small on my screen. I love my 5700 but it has gotten very loud (fans mostly) and the color wheel grinds like mad when it is booting up and takes a while to sync up. Maybe the tearing is just another sign that my 2 year old projector with 2000 hours on it is dying.

Are you out of warranty yet? See if you can get a nozzle vac up in there - or send it to Infocus with a noisy fan complaint. Maybe it is just sighing that it will be replaced with a $2K projector with a nicer case! (IN74EX)

I think I'm out of warranty as I purchased my 5700 in the early fall of 2003 though I had warranty work for loud fans and a premature blown bulb after a few months of operating.

I've used one of those pressurized air cans and a vaccuum nozzle to clean it up but no joy on the noise front. Would it be useful to take the lamp out and try the cleaning again internally?

Cannot hurt. Stay away from compressed air - just use the nozzle vacs. On the SP4805 I also took a QTip (distilled water and rubbing alcohol) to the blades to clean off the gunk.

Just curious about what is wrong with compressed air?

compressed air spits....you want to suck not blow

Reading the post on compressed air, etc. I was wondering if I should be doing any kind of regular maintenance? There doesn't seem to be anything in the manual on this. My ownership is approaching 2 years and I have had no problems whatsoever with my 5700.

John

I have a question for my fellow 5700 owners. I have enjoyed the picture this projector has given me for over 2 years and I use almost exclusively a DVD source. I have never fed it an HD source but I'm starting to consider getting cable HD. What do people think about the 5700 for an HD source? I've seen some pretty inexpensive 720p projectors and was wondering if an upgrade was desirable. I was also wondering about the newer upconverting DVD players. The 5700 has onboard Faroudja processing but are the newer chips in upconverting players getting superior to what I can get from my 5700? Just wondering.

upconverting players are a tradeoff - you get pure digital signal - but they are rarely better than what the projector does already - even when they have Faroudja they lack the TrueLife controls. Just because it is digital means it is easier to muck up the signal!

Get the HD you will be amazed at the difference - especially on DiscoveryHD etc.

Outlier2,

I got HD about 6 months ago and have been amazed at the picture via the 5700 and our 92" screen. When I demo'd projectors, I saw not noticable HD difference between the 5700 and more expensive 720P projectors. Sporting events look amazing and you will get a new appreciation for nature TV when you see it in HD.

A DirecTV HDTivo feeds our 5700. OTA signals look slightly better than DirecTV signals IMO. All signals are fed via component so I can't speak about HDMI but I am in no hurry to buy digital video cable since analog looks so good.

Get HD, you won't regret it.

Thanks ATDahl! That's exactly what I needed to hear.

Outlier

I've had my 5700 in my HT for 6 months now. All I can say is "It's Awesome" especially when teamed with a HD source. I have HD Cable(Mediacom) OTA HD attanea in attic and regular CAble. The HD is awesome, all my friends jaws just drop when they see it on HD. All major sporting events etc. my house is "the Place to be".

I looked at a lot of FP before choosing teh 5700, and like my Plasma (an ED Samsung) I didn't feel the step up to "true" HD projector was worth the cost difference. Yes the picture on true HD might be a smidgen better, not very much, so when this one dies, years down the road, I'll probably look at a HD then maybe not.

I'm extremely pleased with my 5700 and have no buyers remorse.

Bob
www.customjigsandspins.com

I am interested in others experience of lamplife. Had my 5700 for 15 months now, and the lamp just exploded (but stayed behind the glass screen thankfully) at 1,800 hours on the timer. It had been looking very dim for a couple of weeks, so I thought something was up.

Since I've used it in low power mode, this is a bit unexpected!

My previous projector (Sanyo LCD) the bulbs just slowly slowly faded away - when feeling broke I ran one way past its 2,000 hour rated life and only had to put up with a rather dim screen.

The new lamp seems brighter than the original when new (compared with the LCD screen I also use).

As long as it doesn't keep using lamps at this rate it is a great projector, and the picture using DVI-D from my HTPC is great. , while not strictly HD, it can deliver much better than DVD quality with an HD source.

I just purchased a refurb 5700 and really like what this pj does well. One odd thing however. When I change channels ( I use a DVD recorder to tune tv stations) the unit appears to go through a re-sync each time the channel is changed. Is there a setting on the pj which can remedy this? Also, when I attempt to use the high power mode, a get a persistent message in the lower left corner which instructs me to change the bulb. The counter indicates that I have very few hours on the lamp.

Thanks

My SP5700 arrives in a couple days. I have a couple questions:
1. What is the best way for me to watch DVDs?
I use a yamaha RXV2400 reciever. It takes Svideo or com[ponant and upsacales/changes it all to RGB out. Currently I use my XBOX360 with RGB out and run it through my reciever- it then goes rgb to the projector. Is this best? Or am I not taking advantage of the farawhatever processor?

2. Hi-def TV. I currently has Dircet tv. Do I need to pay more nad buy a different box?

3. I've heard my local TV has high def. Do I need to buy a special antenna to recieve this? And Should I run this through my Svideo out on my VCR? Or do I ned a tuner box?

It depends on your needs. If switching is a big deal to you then run it through your receiver. Most people here use component direct from the source to the projector-- fewer connections to cause problems. You have to switch manually though between devices. If you have a lot of sources, I'd strongly consider switching at the receiver.

For an Xbox or any cheaper DVD player I would run it out at 480i NOT 480p. 480i means your PJ which has excellent deinterlacing and scaling is doing the work. If you send it 480p you are betting that your $200 DVD player has a better processing than your PJ.

I can't answer your HD questions though.

Thanks,

I'll have to find out if it's possible to scale down my XBOX360 to 480i... It has native 720P for the games.

So will my projector see a 480i signal comming from an RGB cable? Then upscale it? Or does it only upscale from like an s-video jack?

I've been bitten by the upgrade bug. I have a mint condition 5700 with 445 hours that I am selling. PM me if you want to talk.