[starvinmarvin]

i would like to put an infocus 7200 or something around that price range in my living room but i have a few window to deal with, the sun doesnt set or rise infront of them but of course lots of light comes through anyways, that being said i watch 75% of my system at night and i thim[nk my wife is sold on some dark curtains , first what projector does best in bright areas and which screen, also the screen size is going to be 82", also this unit will move to the palyroom in a few years when i switch it over to a theater


thanks in advance for any help


mark

 

[Mick Seymour]

Hi starvin'


Don't just go for dark curtains, go for thick dark heavy curtains, preferably lined, and make sure they cover the windows completely with at least 6" covering the walls around the window. That's what I did and I still get some light in during the day but it is watchable, if not perfect.


I think the real way to do this is black out blinds. You may find a photographic supplier who can advise on these for darkroom use.


Mick

 

[WanMan]

There are many approaches to reducing eliminating the light passing through a window, but the method and performance depends on what you are willing to do and afford.


First, ask yourself that if you eliminate 100% of the light passing through the living room windows will there be light spill from other openings into the room? Mine has a +9' wide opening between the breakfast/kitchen area and the family room where the RPTV resides. So, while I can control probably 80% of the light coming in through the family room windows (I could make that 95% controlled with window tinting), the amount of light during the day coming from adjacent rooms is very difficult to deal with.


Front projection in environments with ambient light will cause front projection to suffer more than rear projection or flat-panels or direct-views. You might want to consider some window tinting from Home Depot layered with light-blocking roll-shades and finish that off with dark drapes as a layered approach.


A more extreme, but certainly more efficient (high performance) would be to resolve the window-painting option. If this 'extreme' is something that interests you consider painting the windows such that they appear like ordinary window treatments on the outside, but include a couple of black-paint layers on the inside before placing the final coats.


My one word of advice, though, is to not even attempt it. Find a room to dedicate to your projector and eliminate ALL light sources from entering the room. I wrestled with my family room for more than a year and finally gave up. This was for a TV room and its now known as 'kitchen TV' because of the abundance of light that enters to the family room from the kitchen and breakfast areas, and reflects off of the screen protector on the RPTV.


Right now I've got a bedroom of the garage that's being converted to a dedicated TV room. One window that will be light controlled (95% or better light filtering). Just remember that serious light infiltrations may call for serious light control methods.

 

[metallicafreak]

I recommend you take a look at www.smithandnoble.com they have honeycomb blackout shades there. I just bought enough for 4 windows (70x58, 3 57x58) and had them installed and working great in about 20 minutes. Very easy. Cost was ~$600 after a 20% off discount coupon. Register with them and they always seem to have some deals. I think currently they are doing a buy one get one free.

FREAK!

 

[glenned]

IMHO, the SP7200 is the only HD2 that is bright enough to overcome significant ambient light. The Firehawk is the best screen for it, especially if you have ambient light.


With a screen size of only 82" D, you will be able to overcome some pretty high light levels during the day, but at night the very bright image will result in grey looking blacks due to the very high brightness of the SP7200. You should plan on adding an ND filter for night viewing to darken the blacks. If you could go with a larger screen, say 110" D or larger, you will have a better night time image.


For curtains, just have them lined with blackout cloth. The curtains can be made of any material your wife likes. They don't have to be heavy. The lining blocks the light, protects the curtains from sun rot, makes them look like new longer, and makes them look more attractive from the outside.

 

[Paul_Seng]

I have a 7200 mounted in my activity room. We have an 8' balcony overlooking the foyer. The stairs also come up in the foyer. There are 2 windows in the room (one 36" wide the other 72" wide). We have regular shades and a curtain on the windows. The activity room has 4 rooms opening to it. And right now at 10:30 in the morning, my wife is watching discovery HD while walking on a treadmill. (The screen is an 80" wide matte white screen). Even with the lights on above the stairs the 7200 gives an excellent picture.

 

[Dawn]

We won't go into how I found this out, but leave a gap for air circulation between your window and blind. And DON'T use aluminum foil on either side of the window. The window will break with a loud BANG and then you'll have to call the window replacement guy. (Or for you DIY guys, you still have to buy new glass.) Oh, yes, it also had to be the 5ft X 4ft window pane, too.


Blackout cloth is good. It's white and breathes. There are also blackout roll-down vinyl shades that are cheap and work.

 

[MikeA]

It also depends a lot on what your watching. Casual viewing of stuff is just fine with some light (LT150). However if it's a space opera I'll wait till night. If I really want to watch a dark movie during the day I have black out cloth I can put over the windows.


In our bedroom we have Hunter/Douglas blackout shades - work great but they're not cheap. They'd work great in the living room but since my wife already spent $3K on window treatments for the living room/dining room I don't feel inclined to suggest a change.

 

[starvinmarvin]

thanks for all your help, i have went to a bigger screen around 100" and this weekend had a chance to watch a sceenplay 4800 and i was shocked on how good the picture was on my brown wall, aslo during the day wasent that bad for as little as i watch during the day i think with the light output of the 7200 and the screen i will be satisfied, but at night me and my wife watched Chicago a dark flim and we were both pretty impressed even know the wall is light brown, i would go with the 5700 but i watch alot of hd and really want true 16x9, the other question i had is is there any reason to get the infocus over the toshiba, other than price

 

[glenned]

Infocus has much better customer support. They warrant that the SP7200 has no bad pixels, Toshiba does not. I payed about $300 more to get the Infocus over the Toshiba, and I would do it again.

 

[WanMan]

InFocus support is only as good as the purchase mechanism that was used to acquire their products. I've turned away three purchase opportunities because the seller was a) not or no-longer an authorized reseller, the reseller was selling a demo unit outside of InFocus' guidelines for sale, or the dealer was an out-right liar with the consequences that the buyer gets screwed on the warranty.


Like Denon, InFocus does not permit their ScreenPlay projectors from being sold on the Internet. I've called InFocus several times on this matter. The previous MIR on the SP7200 is null & voided if a demo unit is bought, even locally, from an authorized agent.


I have also had some rather enlightening emails from those 'questionable' dealers on Videogon regarding the sales endeavor, which are Jekyll & Hyde from their ads.


Buyer Beware. Make sure you buy locally, from an authorized reseller or that nice IF customer support will go bye-bye.

 

[shumi_9]

I agree with WanMan,

Infocus has been cracking down big time. The SP line is not meant for the internet. They are also very wary of authorized dealers selling way below MSRP. When I called Infocus to check on the approved status of a local dealer they also asked how much the dealer was selling the 7200 for (like I fool I told them). The called the dealer immediately after I hung up toexpress their disappointment on the selling price. Buy from a local authorized dealer only or you may get stuck when it comes to service.

 

[nigel_ht]

Quote:

Originally posted by shumi_9 I agree with WanMan, Infocus has been cracking down big time. The SP line is not meant for the internet. They are also very wary of authorized dealers selling way below MSRP. When I called Infocus to check on the approved status of a local dealer they also asked how much the dealer was selling the 7200 for (like I fool I told them). The called the dealer immediately after I hung up toexpress their disappointment on the selling price. Buy from a local authorized dealer only or you may get stuck when it comes to service.

Um, screw that then. When the time comes I'll look at BenQ instead...it's also a 1000 lumens. While I haven't heard much about BenQ's Xpress Exchange service (48 hr hot swap unit) if its like the Sharp one, that's good enough warranty service for me.


Nigel