[jrwood]

InFocus LP340B or Sony VPL-CX1 which one would be best for a Home Theatre PC?. The room it will be going into has windows but is fairly dark even in the day and


is about 12 foot wide by 30 feet long. Also I can get a Whiteboard very cheap 70" by 47" would this be a good start for a screen?. I also plan to hook it up to Digital


Cable television either directly or via the HTPC.


Cheers


p.s the Infocus retails around in the UK for about £2000 and the Sony I can get for £1300.

 

[Tim Smith]

From the specs it looks like the LP340B is a dlp, 800x600 machine with 1300 lumens. The sony is LCD, 1024x768 with 550 lumens.


If you're concerned about black levels you should probably consider the dlp. Also given that you'll be watching with ambient light the 1300 lumens makes it attractive. However, if you're going to be watching high resolution sources like HDTV, the sony is 1024x768, which would be nice.


I don't know anything about these machines as I've never seen them. I'd suggest looking around the board and consider some of the other models discussed here, like the LT150.


You also might be better served going with a used projector. There are a lot of 800x600 dlp machines listed in the classifieds. For example, this projector with the modifications sounds wonderful - http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/Forum8/HTML/005477.html


Good luck.

 

[Huey]

I own a Sony VPL-CX1 (1 month old) which is in repair due to a single annoying green dead pixel in center of image. It's beautiful and low in screen door effect. Of course there is no rainbow to deal with. Dead pixel is very annoying though if you're picky. I was told this is normal for LCD technology. Some company won't fix less than 5 pixel defect (fortunately Sony will if the pixel is central location and "distracting"). To tell you how prone the dead pixel problem is with LCD, Sony ordered 2 brand new panels to replace mine and both had 1 or 2 dead pixels; so they're ordering a third one. I hate dead pixel so I would now rather chance the rainbow of a DLP. Of course you've to pay more for buying and maintaining the DLP units. DLP will give you greater contrast (800:1 on NEC XGA LT150 and SVGA LT85), less screen door than comparable LCD, and less dead pixels (dead mirror is uncommon but possible). DLP tend to be noisier, hotter, and may cause rainbow on 10% of population (rainbow artifacts on panning/scrolling, high contrast scenes--especially if you shift your eyes rapidly). What ever your choice, you'll enjoy the larger, crisper picture than your smaller TV you have now Good luck.


------------------

Huey ;-]

 

[shahram72]

There are two versions of the Infocus projector you are considering. The LP340 and the LP340B. The 340B has an inferior deinterlacer and scaler for video and should be avoided. At least this is what I have heard.