The 1st Official Infocus 4805 Thread  

The 4805 needs its own mini-forum!

And just for completeness, the original speculative thread (all 60 pages) is here

http://www.infocushome.com/amer/eng/...lay/sp4805.asp

the infocus 4805 link with calculator

Well, if this thread has to be the one, here's my reviews from the other thread. I encourage other people to do the same...

Post #1

OK, I've spent a few hours watching the 4805 and here are the initial impressions. I did the 10 day in-home evaluation of the X1 around 6 weeks ago and put around 40 hours on the bulb, so I'd like to think I'm past the "Oh my God, the picture is HUGE!" phase. The X1 (or what I remember of it), will be my point of reference for this review.

SETUP
I have the 4805 connected via 45' of Bluejeanscable's Belkin 1694A component cables to a Pioneer Elite DV-45a. I wish the cable run could have been shorter, but my room is my room and Bluejeanscable tells me they tested the Belkin out to 100' and saw little if any difference between that and a 6' run. I hope they're right. I fed the 4805 interlaced signals from the Pioneer and let the onboard Faroudja do all the de-interlacing (no brainer here). HD is available in my area but I have not picked up the necessary box from my cable company yet. Therefore, this review only
addresses DVD performance.

I don't have a screen yet, so I projected the image on my lime green wall. It isn't the best for flesh tones, but it really enhances grass tones. I'm kidding! - actually the good news here is that my wall is an offwhite color that almost exactly (and I mean exactly) matches the color of DaLite's cinemavision material (not high-contrast cinemavision, the regular kind). It was very hard to distinguish a swatch of the cinemavision from the wall when projecting an image. Yes I know, it's not a real screen, but what are you going to do. No way was I going to decide on a screen size or material before seeing the PJ in action.

I do not have AVIA yet, so I only did a basic calibration of brightness and contrast using the THX optimizer on Finding Nemo.

MOVIE TIME!
Alright, I've kept you waiting long enough. How does it look? Well, I'll avoid the usual over the top superlatives that always seem to sound phony, and just say that the image is beautifully rendered. Colors are rich and deep, much richer than I remember the X1 having. Absolutely no rainbows for me. I saw them on the X1 relatively easily, not so here.

How about blacks? Very good. The CRT gamma setting seems to be the best for black levels and I think this will be my normal setting. I do think the blacks suffer a little because of the brightness of the PJ however. Don't get me wrong, they are very good as I said, but I think with a filter or a grey screen, they could be phenomenal.

Speaking of brightness, I do have one observation. I am almost, and I emphasize the word almost, positive that I am seeing more screen door on the 4805 than the X1. Let me clarify. I have the 4805 set up the exact same way that the X1 was set up. In both cases I was about 12 feet from the screen (er, wall). With the X1 I was consistently watching 87" wide images and tolerating the SDE. With the 4805, I have to shrink it down to 84" or it's just too bothersome. I can only assume the extra brightness emphasizes the SDE in bright scenes. I don't want to make a big deal of this. After all, 12 feet from 84" is 1.7x width, that's as close as you can expect to get with a 480p projector. I think a grey screen may help here too. I think I'm going to ultimately be around 1.8 to 1.9 width with my final setup. Tom/Guitarman - since you asked, I looked at the pixels from a foot away and the lines between them appear light and very thin to me. I don't remember how they compare to the X1 however.

Other points? Well, the fan does appear to be quieter than the X1. It shouldn't be according to the specs I've heard, but that is my perception. Remember though, it's been 6 weeks since I had the X1 so I could be wrong. It's also interesting to note that the manual is incorrect in spots. It does not show the Gamma submenu in the Picture menu, and it shows Presentation, Film, and Video in the Presets menu when these in fact, do not exist. Oh well, no doubt a firmware change that will be reflected in later editions of the manual.

CONCLUSION
Simply put, I couldn't be happier. I'll echo the sentiment that the wait was worth it. I have all the screen samples from DaLite, Stewart, and Carada. I plan on testing these out soon and I'll post a follow up review in the near future. But for now however, time for another DVD!

Post #2

After watching the 4805 for a few more hours last night, I just wanted to post some follow up thoughts to viewing distance and screen size. In my original review I stated that I was pretty sure I was seeing more screen door on the 4805 than what I remembered seeing on the X1, and as a result I was watching a smaller image. I attributed this to the extra brightness of the 4805. While I still think this is true, I'm now thinking the difference in SDE between the two is much closer than I thought and there's something else at work here as well.

Let me explain. With the X1, you had to deal with several image quality issues. In addition to SDE if you were too close, the image could occasionally look a little washed out. Rainbows were sometimes present. Unlike SDE, these last two issues were independent of screen size to a certain extent. As a result, I used a larger screen to emphasize the increased impact that a larger screen can bring and accepted the image quality compromises. The 4805 is different however. Color saturation and rainbows are not a problem. The only thing standing between you and a beautiful image are the resolution based issues that result from sitting too close. Because of this, I'm no longer willing to make the image quality compromises of the larger screen and plan on using the 2x rule often recommended by Kras and others.

Now don't get me wrong. If you want a shorter viewing ratio, say 1.7 or so, the 4805 is up to the task. You'll just be making some slight concessions to image quality. It really is a personal choice and preference.

If anybody is reading this and is on the fence about getting a projector or not, one simple piece of advice for you. Do it. Convince the wife if need be. Do what it takes. But do it. I can't imagine any first time projector owner being anything less than thrilled with the 4805. If you prefer 4:3, get the H30. I'm sure it's equally impressive. But get something. In a way we're all lucky. Because of this forum and others like it, we know that FP exists and that it isn't something that only the rich can enjoy. Somewhere out there right now is a guy who just completed finishing his basement and is going to Best Buy tonight to buy himself a "big screen TV". He's doing this not because RPTVs fit his needs better than a projector, he's doing it simply because he isn't aware he has a choice. I'm glad I was able to avoid being that guy.

Hey, InFocus has new online dealers posted.

So whats the deal with TV********* has anyone heard anything? Should we expect somthing next week? I'm going on a 12 day trip soon, thankfully I'm having this sucker shipped to the office.

I have an idea. Let's have a forum where we can't discuss some of the most important aspects of projectors (price and where to buy). Then, lest anarchy insue, instead of letting posters post and the discussion lead where it may, let's just have mods endlessly argue with themselves about thread content (kysersose has 7 of 21 posts so far) thus filling up the thread with meta-talk.

A couple of questionsL

1) After powering down with the remote, the fan runs fast for awhile to cool the lamp, then it runs slowly. Forvever. According to the manual, this is by design. The only way to stop the fan is to hit the switch on the unit. Mine will be relatively inaccessable when mounted. Should I let this fan run all the time or add a ladder to my decor. Wonder how much power is consumed in this mode.

2) (already asked in a separate thread). I tried to make a composite connection for my non HD cable box (via a VCR) using a 25 foot RG6 cable (RCA brand from home depot) with gold decent looking RCA brand F to RCA adaptors. From what I have read here, that should be a good cable but the picture has horizontal broad crawling bands. Anybody know whats up with that ? Another cable (which is 20 feet,too short to use) works fine.

Please let the mods do their job. Please keep things on topic. If you have admin complaints address to me off line direct.

Thank you.

timesnewroman,

I can unpower my projector at the surge protector which is more handy.

Sounds like your cable has a ground problem.

Lots of threads about this in relation to the X1. A search would find them (use the "crawler" setting in Search Options. The default "faster" is not faster and really is pretty useless.)

You should NOT let it run and be a room air cleaner. your filters will clog (clean every 200 hrs unless it is different from the X1) and your bulb will have a short life.
Radio Shack has many remote control power devices. (X10) Home centers have them now as well, I think.

Good luck

If H30 is anything to go by there is no such thing as too larger of a thread!

timesnewroman, I concur with the others... to reduce dust issues it would be best to get a remote AC power module that lets you fully power the projector off when not in use. And for those rolling bars, do a search here for "ground loop".

Why no problem with the shorter component cable?... There's probably nothing wrong with the longer component cable you are using, but rather that the problem shows up because you are plugging into a different AC outlet when using the long cable.

Quoting Admiralpumpkin: "Let's have a forum where we can't discuss some of the most important aspects of projectors (price and where to buy)."
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Sarcastic off topic comments don't contribute anything to the thread. This is not a public service paid for with taxpayer dollars where you have a voice regarding policy. It's a website that offers home theater products for sale as well as discussion. I thought this was obvious. They can't offer free advertising to their competitors. As it is, AVS is very liberal and bends over backward to accommodate everyone as long as they don't go way out of bounds. I for one appreciate the helpful information available here and simply having the courtesy not to mention a competitors exact price is a very small price to pay. Y'now, your free to start your own website and run it any way you like.

I'm very interested in the 4805 and want to hear more regarding HDTV down conversion and how it looks, not only the first impression, but after getting used to it for a while.

I just got my 4805 a few days ago and had a couple questions.

1) I have read about people suggesting not using the keystone correction because it takes away from the resolution. Does the horizontal and vertical offset work the same wayand decrease the effective resolution? If so, what should they be set at to aviod decreasing the resolution 0, 50% or 100%?


2) Can I use the old X1 component (Svideo or VGA) connectors to have a second set of component inputs on the 4805?

-jim

Martin puts it well. This is a great community sounding board. It certainly is better than trying to have an intelligent discussion on a Newsgroup.

We're fortunate to have AVSFORUM. Perhaps people who want something else can go out into the Net, find some e-space and some Networked computers and offer it to us for free.

BTW, thanks to the mods for all their work.

The link I posted, and Kysersose deleted, was to InFocus's "where to buy page" and showed authorized online dealers offering the unit at the standard "street price" (or whatever it's called).

I am fairly new to these boards (longtime lurker) and I'm sorry if I violated the rules. I didn't see the link being an issue, as it seems to be the general B&M price and it was the manufacturer's site.

I'll do better.

:rolleyes:

Here, here, I am getting so sick of tv... this & cr... that. If you want to discuss other retailers you should go to their forums, oh, wait they aren't kind enough to offer such a great service.

I am sure AVS is every bit as competitive as the other retailers, there should really be no question as where you should buy from. In the past I have bought from AVS even when they have been priced slightly higher than others, and was happy to feel like I was contributing to the continued sucess of a great forum.

I have only had dealings with Jason but he is always very helpful, responsive & honest.

I'm kinda frightened to ask this, but here goes:

1) does anybody know what Canadian MRSP is?
2) can AVS sell to north of the border without warantee issues?

Thanks,
Martin.

Even if they do ship to Canada, be prepared to pay GST and a nice hefty duty fee when it comes across the boarder.

I should have a 4805 in a few weeks (first FP). I have placed an order for a Draper Fiberglass White Matt Screen (gain ~1.1) although I am thinking I should have ordered the High Contrast Grey (gain ~0.8). I can control the light in the day time by pulling down shades and adding curtains to the passthroughs to the other rooms.

I am trying to determine the tradeoff between the best image possible vs having the ability to use the projector on more occaisions (i.e. during the day without artifically darkening the room.

Would the white be a better choice for this projector if I was to make the room dark whenever I used it? Would the grey allow for a good image if I allowed indirect light into the room?

Thanks in advance for any recommendations.