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Hello everyone,
I am a CRT guy who recently decided to buy a new PJ for my bedroom setup, so I looked at the LCD and DLP offerings at the last HE 2002 show, and sight unseen, I purchased the InFocus X1, based on its specs and the FLI2200 chip it uses for deinterlacing. Since I also own a Marquee 9500LC, arguably the finest projector made, I have stated in other threads that I would be posting my comparison between these 2 very different machines. First, let me start by saying that I have only had the X1 for one day, so these are only preliminary findings.
The screen is a 100" x 56" 1.7 gain screen (I made it myself, but it is better than any Stewart screen I have ever seen), and the room is totally light controlled, with a black velvet ceiling and very dark carpet covered walls. That being said, let's begin:
Using a stock Panasonic RP-56 DVD player connected via s-video, the picture from the X1 was quite amazing, though far from perfect. Color saturation and sharpness were excellent, but in very dark scenes, the X1 just didn't put out the detail, making these very dark scenes look like a single black mass, rather than displaying the subtle nuances and details contained in the picture. Since the 9500LC only accepts RGB, I could not make any comparison at all. This was probably the worst I have seen out of the X1, and from here on it only gets better.
Switching to my HTPC, I used Theater Tek DVD player at 1440 x 960 @ 71.928 hz and played short excerpts from a few movies (the same ones I tried on the RP-56 via s-video), but this time I fed the RGB output to the X1 - the same output I feed to my 9500LC. I am happy to report that with the better connection, the X1 rose to the occasion and performed significantly better than it did via s-video (no big surprise here), and the picture quality was truly outstanding! The black level detail was there and revealed even very subtle nuances in the picture. For these tests I used chapter 5 of Ice Age, various scenes from Men In Black II, and Monsters, Inc, along with Austin Powers in Goldmember for color rendition and saturation. Here's how I scored it:
Marquee 9500LC:
Color rendition - 98
Color accuracy - 96
Sharpness - 95
Black level - 99
Shadow detail - 98
InFocus X1:
Color rendition - 98
Color accuracy - 97
Sharpness - 95
Black level - 90
Shadow detail - 93
As you can see, the X1 is every bit the equal of the 9500LC in terms of color accuracy and rendition, but the Marquee is really a monster when it comes to black level and shadow detail.
I have a few quibbles with the X1, and here they are:
1. The 16:9 mode is not truly 16:9, but is more like 15:9, with the left and right sides cropped or squeezed (I don't know which). I would like to see a true 16:9, or at least have the ability to adjust it myself.
2. Screen door is something I have never experienced with a CRT, and I have to say that I could see it on this size screen, though I did not find it overly objectionable. Also, since I have no other digital projector to compare it to, I don't know how the X1 compares relative to its competition. I also tried out the X1 on my smaller bedroom screen, which measures 60" x 45", and I could not see any screen door at all.
3. Although the X1 is extremely simple to set up, I would like to see a LOT more software control of the picture. With CRT's, we are able to control many aspects of the picture, including all of the geometry (size, phase, pincusion, bow, skew, etc.) and picture (focus, brightness, contrast, etc.), and I found the X1's controls too limited in scope for my tastes. With more control I feel that I could tweak the best out of this already great projector.
4. Rainbow was not an issue at all. After reading posts by some of the crusaders, even I was getting a little nervous about it, but I didn't see ANY rainbows at all, but don't forget that my source material was also excellent.
5. Noise - what noise?
My first impression - I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW MUCH PERFORMANCE THIS 6.8 POUND LOW COST PROJECTOR DELIVERS!! I am thoroughly amazed that I could even compare it to my 9500LC in any way whatsoever. On a small screen (like my 60" x 45"), I really feel that it could give the Marquee a run for its money. The sharpness and color rendition blew me away and was much better than I had expected. The better the source, the better the X1 performs. I was a bit disappointed in the s-video performance, but as soon as I gave it a better signal, with more color information, the better the X1 performed. Now don't get me wrong, the s-video performance was quite outstanding given the limitations of the format, but if you really want to see what this projector can do, feed it a software DVD player of the calibur of Theater Tek via RGB and prepare to be amazed!
In the next few days, I will be testing the X1 with a variety of signals, including a SDI modded DVD player feeding the Immersive Holo3DGraph board (even better than Theater Tek!), a DTC 100 with both OTA HDTV and satellite HDTV, and then a poor quality source - regular satellite. Also, since most of my testing tonight involved software deinterlacing done in the HTPC, I will make it a point to test the Faroudja FLI2200 chip's deinterlacing capabilities by presenting it with a number of challenges, including poorly flagged DVD's, highly compressed MPEG2 streams, and video based material. I'll be giving it a good workout for sure.
I am a CRT guy who recently decided to buy a new PJ for my bedroom setup, so I looked at the LCD and DLP offerings at the last HE 2002 show, and sight unseen, I purchased the InFocus X1, based on its specs and the FLI2200 chip it uses for deinterlacing. Since I also own a Marquee 9500LC, arguably the finest projector made, I have stated in other threads that I would be posting my comparison between these 2 very different machines. First, let me start by saying that I have only had the X1 for one day, so these are only preliminary findings.
The screen is a 100" x 56" 1.7 gain screen (I made it myself, but it is better than any Stewart screen I have ever seen), and the room is totally light controlled, with a black velvet ceiling and very dark carpet covered walls. That being said, let's begin:
Using a stock Panasonic RP-56 DVD player connected via s-video, the picture from the X1 was quite amazing, though far from perfect. Color saturation and sharpness were excellent, but in very dark scenes, the X1 just didn't put out the detail, making these very dark scenes look like a single black mass, rather than displaying the subtle nuances and details contained in the picture. Since the 9500LC only accepts RGB, I could not make any comparison at all. This was probably the worst I have seen out of the X1, and from here on it only gets better.
Switching to my HTPC, I used Theater Tek DVD player at 1440 x 960 @ 71.928 hz and played short excerpts from a few movies (the same ones I tried on the RP-56 via s-video), but this time I fed the RGB output to the X1 - the same output I feed to my 9500LC. I am happy to report that with the better connection, the X1 rose to the occasion and performed significantly better than it did via s-video (no big surprise here), and the picture quality was truly outstanding! The black level detail was there and revealed even very subtle nuances in the picture. For these tests I used chapter 5 of Ice Age, various scenes from Men In Black II, and Monsters, Inc, along with Austin Powers in Goldmember for color rendition and saturation. Here's how I scored it:
Marquee 9500LC:
Color rendition - 98
Color accuracy - 96
Sharpness - 95
Black level - 99
Shadow detail - 98
InFocus X1:
Color rendition - 98
Color accuracy - 97
Sharpness - 95
Black level - 90
Shadow detail - 93
As you can see, the X1 is every bit the equal of the 9500LC in terms of color accuracy and rendition, but the Marquee is really a monster when it comes to black level and shadow detail.
I have a few quibbles with the X1, and here they are:
1. The 16:9 mode is not truly 16:9, but is more like 15:9, with the left and right sides cropped or squeezed (I don't know which). I would like to see a true 16:9, or at least have the ability to adjust it myself.
2. Screen door is something I have never experienced with a CRT, and I have to say that I could see it on this size screen, though I did not find it overly objectionable. Also, since I have no other digital projector to compare it to, I don't know how the X1 compares relative to its competition. I also tried out the X1 on my smaller bedroom screen, which measures 60" x 45", and I could not see any screen door at all.
3. Although the X1 is extremely simple to set up, I would like to see a LOT more software control of the picture. With CRT's, we are able to control many aspects of the picture, including all of the geometry (size, phase, pincusion, bow, skew, etc.) and picture (focus, brightness, contrast, etc.), and I found the X1's controls too limited in scope for my tastes. With more control I feel that I could tweak the best out of this already great projector.
4. Rainbow was not an issue at all. After reading posts by some of the crusaders, even I was getting a little nervous about it, but I didn't see ANY rainbows at all, but don't forget that my source material was also excellent.
5. Noise - what noise?
My first impression - I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW MUCH PERFORMANCE THIS 6.8 POUND LOW COST PROJECTOR DELIVERS!! I am thoroughly amazed that I could even compare it to my 9500LC in any way whatsoever. On a small screen (like my 60" x 45"), I really feel that it could give the Marquee a run for its money. The sharpness and color rendition blew me away and was much better than I had expected. The better the source, the better the X1 performs. I was a bit disappointed in the s-video performance, but as soon as I gave it a better signal, with more color information, the better the X1 performed. Now don't get me wrong, the s-video performance was quite outstanding given the limitations of the format, but if you really want to see what this projector can do, feed it a software DVD player of the calibur of Theater Tek via RGB and prepare to be amazed!
In the next few days, I will be testing the X1 with a variety of signals, including a SDI modded DVD player feeding the Immersive Holo3DGraph board (even better than Theater Tek!), a DTC 100 with both OTA HDTV and satellite HDTV, and then a poor quality source - regular satellite. Also, since most of my testing tonight involved software deinterlacing done in the HTPC, I will make it a point to test the Faroudja FLI2200 chip's deinterlacing capabilities by presenting it with a number of challenges, including poorly flagged DVD's, highly compressed MPEG2 streams, and video based material. I'll be giving it a good workout for sure.
