Calibrating the Infocus 720x - get the best from your lightcannon  

If you use DVI reset default to 6500K.

Turn white peaking down to 0

Have fun playing in the TrueLife menu - maybe a touch of chroma and noise.
Try out the 48Hz 2:2 pulldown.

If you are fine tuning 6500K to D65 with instruments - cut gains never increase them as the colorwheel is optically synced to your color temp choice.

Projector expects 7.5IRE setting for no brightness adjustment. Use the blue screen mode rather than your blue filter for tint/color.

I find Faroudja DCDi with 480i even beats most of the Faroudja based DVD players at 480p. Either way make sure to redo AVIA/DVE for each scan rate before you compare.

I did try experimenting with a FLD on 9500K - but I actually got better results with ND2 on 6500K. The reason is the colorwheel is designed for D65 - the other settings are compromises. Sometimes I will use 7500K as a start point if I need to increase gains to get to where I need to go with 6500K.

If you use a Video DVI source with BTB and WTW passed thru - start with the RGB gains/offsets at 66/39 to clip BTB/WTW.

It is their business projector case for maximum ventilation! I actually like the handle - something to hold onto while you try to get it on the mount. The critical optics are sealed so no dust blob worries.

You want an Italian sports car case - you get a Sim2! You want a black Art Deco hush box you get a Runco. Seriously if you do a hush box you have to be careful - recommend 2' clearance so the case can breath - and you do not want to force feed it or improperly baffle the air flow.

For component aside from usual AVIA/DVE - check your chroma delay adjustment.

Infocus offsets are generally designed so flush ceiling mounts will work with target screen size and average room height. If that does not work - a little trig shows a little tilt goes a long way. Just overscan mask the angled edges - which if you did short throw you might expensive a bit of bottom bowing distortion (maybe 1/4" on 8' screen) so you want to mask edges anyways. Setup for furthest throw and smallest image is best use of optics.

Maybe glenned will stop by if I missed any tweak tips!

Krasmuzik

What DVD player do you like for the 7205?

Thanks for your reply,

rmlowz

None - I use HTPC. I generally think the Farouda does well on 480i so no need to go overboard on upconverting players.

"If you are fine tuning 6500K to D65 with instruments - cut gains never increase them as the colorwheel is optically synced to your color temp choice."

Could you explain this? Surely cutting gains doesn't dim the brightness so much that the sensor would be light-starved?

"I did try experimenting with a FLD on 9500K - but I actually got better results with ND2 on 6500K."

Interesting; I thought Sharp was the only one who did this.

This means the 6500 setting is the one where the drives/gains/contrast (or whatever they're called) are the closest to maxing out together, right?

Thanks

Will this light cannon work on a 133" 16:9 screen (1.0 gain) ?


:confused:


That is the real question I need answered... :)

noah katz

Infocus is unique in that the color temperature setting optically calibrates the color wheel - while it is designed for D65 - it adjusts the time spent in the blue segment to get to 7500K and 9500K. The RGB gain/offsets really are only used for fine tuning. This is why the color temp range is so narrow - they are not digital presets they are optical presets.

So what that means is the neutral setting is the optimal optical calibration. If you increase the gains - you will clip that color. They are already maxed out.

HaloKnight

It will be 10.5 ftL at 133" diag when your lamp reaches it's average half life - in high power mode though.

I would prefer a FireHawk at that size though to allow use of low power mode and save lamp life.

Infocus rates it's lumens at D65 factory calibration unlike every other manufacturer who uses some unwatchable uncalibrated mode designed to exposed maximum lamp with bad greyscale and colors.

^ Hey thanks for the response, its nice to get some figures in ft lamberts ... :cool:

How is the fan noise in high temp mode ?

My 7205 is mounted on the ceiling directly above my viewing position, so it's probably less than 5 feet away from my ears while I'm watching. If the fan is cycling during low volume moments, the noise is quite noticeable. I don't know if Infocus did anything to improve on the noise level in the new 7210 (with the DC3 chip); but if they did, that will be enough to push me over the top on the upgrade decision.

I emailed Infocus to ask about noise on the 7210, and they said to expect about the same noise level as occurs with the 7205. But since this was before the 7210 was in production, and the answer probably came from tech support rather than product development, I don't know how reliable this information may be. Does anyone have any other word on noise levels for the 7210?

According to John (angilasaurus), InFocus fixed the cycling fan problem, but I don't know how much, if any, lower the overall noise level is in the 7210.

I just went to my friend's house last night to see his new 7205 on a 133" Dalite High Contrast Matte White screen (1.1 gain), and with brightness set to 40, in low power mode, with 17 hours on the lamp, the image was AWESOME! ...and it was plenty bright even with some minor ambient light coming in from the next room.

Edit: Sorry, I didn't have any measuring tools, but compared to the lifeless, dim image I get from my 9" CRT, the image was amazingly bright, yet still had great black level, despite many people's claims to the contrary.

Hi Scott,

My understanding is you only need a neutral density filter on small screens.
I have a 120" diagonal Stewart Firehawk screen mated with my 7205 and no filter is necessary.

Larry

Hi Bob,

What do you mean by "fixed". I thought the 7205's were designed to cycle to the higher speed to increase cooling based on an increase in the ambient temperature? Did they simply do away with the additional cooling in order to make the 7210 quiter?

Thanks.

Larry

Hi Scott,

The smaller the screen the brighter the image. The 72xx's are so bright that it causes smaller screens to hotspot, thereby requiring a neutral density filter to reduce the brightness.

Larry

What I mean by "fixed" is that they redesigned (or replaced) the fan so that it no longer cycles back and forth depending on temperature. If they have redesigned the cooling so that it runs at a single speed, yet is as quiet or quieter than the 7205's low setting, then I would consider it "fixed". If, however, the single speed is noisier than the current low setting, then it will be a mistake. We will just have to wait until reports come in, which shouldn't be too long now, as I think John will have his first 7210 in his place today....:)

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the response.

Larry

Hi Scott,

My understanding is that the only thing neutral density filters do is reduce brightness. If you are reducing brightness by increasing screen size there is no need for a filter since the reduction in brightness will make blacks appear darker. However, adding a filter while increasing screen size could hurt picture quality by making the overall picture too dim, especially after the bulb ages.

Larry

LarryChanin

I recommend designing setup to achieve 12ftL with the half life low power lamp - I do not think anyone is happy with high power modes - either claims of noise or increased replacement lamp cycles.

So then you start off with 24ftL - which is between movie and TV. For those that value movie - use the ND2 initially - say until you fall to 8ftL and find it too dim. Take it off to get back to a pleasant 16ftL. Kinda like a free new lamp!

If you never want to be below 12ftL - then make your starting point 32ftL - with ND2 that gives you 16ftL. Use until you are 12ftL - then up to 24ftL. Thow in high lamp for more variation! The idea is to stay in teens ftL.

I recommend this for any projector - even the dim ones. Sadly dim projectors cannot even come close to 24ftL without a Vutec SilverStar on a small screen. Which means old lamp they are less than movie brightness - thus the upgrade posts on this forum.

Hi KRAS,

Thanks for the elaboration. However, could you give us an idea of what that means in terms of typical screen sizes, say 110" or 120"? In other words how many ftL would Firehawk screens of this size provide with a new lamp?

Thanks.

Larry

If you assume FireHawk is 1.35 gain - even though it might be less, then assume low lamp spec of 880 lumens - high lamp of 1100 lumens - though Infocus is usually more - so figure screen vs. lamp one washes the other

the math works out like this

ftL = lumens*gain/sqft

which means a new lamp firehawk achieves 12ftL at 183-204" diaq depending on lamp mode. You can go even more if you engage white peaking to crank the contrast up to spec and brightness well beyond spec.

at 110-120" you are at 27.8-33.1 ftl. So a ND2 is well worth it at that size if you value movie brightness for better blacks and a more filmlike experience.

Hi KRAS,

Very helpful as usual.

Roughly how many hours of usage would it take until you got to the point where the filter should be removed for these examples?

Thanks.

Larry

Hi Bob,

Here's John's comment about the fan in his shootout thread:

Larry

Yeah, thanks, Larry, I saw that. I guess they didn't fix the fan after all....:(