[Hoyt Griffith]

There've been lots of thoughts expressed about the Z2, 500L and HS20, but little about the InFocus SP5700 -- all I've seen is just a few favorable remarks on this site and a very positive Projector Central review. I'm seriously considering the SP5700 even though it does not have the resolution a WXGA unit could offer. I'm especially concerned about how well the SP5700 handles HD material which I'd like to project in addition to DVDs. Any thoughts you could offer would be appreciated. Thanks.


Hoyt

 

[Kidd Digital]

the SP5700 was present in the Cinelight booth, side by side with the JVC SX21.


I'd say that was a good comparison for HD.

They were showing Bikini Destinations... which was pretty cool source material, and the JVC did have more resolution, but the SP5700 looked VERY good for the price.


In all honesty, to my untrained eye, the SP5700 looked better than the SX21 in several categories (including contrast, and color)


The Cinelight guy (who was very nice) said that the SX21 wasn't so much better for HD, but when watching DVD's it really shined over the SP5700, which didn't make much sense to me, since that's a 480p source, but what do I know? I'm a newbie at the fixed panel stuff.

 

[Hoyt Griffith]

Thanks, Joe, for your sharing. I'm leaning towards purchasing the SP5700. You seemed impressed with it's HD capability. Projector Central was impressed with its DVD capability. I'm going to try to find a dealer with a good return policy.


Hoyt

 

[Kidd Digital]

I saw so many mind blowing things at CEDIA, but the SP5700 does stick out in my mind as a great value.

The picture quality in HD was very good, glancing between the SP5700, and the SX21, if the projectors weren't in plain view, I would have had trouble distinguishing which was the higher resolution.


Resolution is a small part of picture, I'm learning, and a lot of projectors can be lower resolution, but still give an enjoyable picture with lower resolution.


I was very impressed with the projector, and again, take it with a grain of salt, because I'm by no means a videophile, but highly recommend it to anyone looking in this price range. I was also told tonight that in an A/B comparison, it looked better than the 7200 on some DVD's.

 

[Threecard]

Sweet..I'm in the same boat...now to demo the 5700 Did youi happen to catch the screens they were using...I know it is a poor place to judge gain etc, but any little bit helps 3c

 

[Herakles]

I am very interested in the sp5700,

since I live in a PAL-country it seems the perfect choice for anamorphic dvd's.

I hope to see more positive feedback about it, ...


Why is there so little talk about it??, (compared to sony, sanyo, panasonic, epson)

 

[BobL]

We did a shootout the other night between the 5700 and the 7200. We used both PJ's with a Panny RP-91 DVD player, A Bravo D1 DVD player and Comcast Hi-def feed on a Motorola DCT-5100 cable box.


The screen is a 16:9 matte white 137" diag. and viewing distance was roughly 16-18 feet.


The 5700 did better in DVD and looked great with the both players but the D1 had a VERY slight advantage. The 7200 could show more detail in Hi-def but the 5700 was impressive as well. At 137" you can see pixelization on the 5700 at our viewing distance. BTW, surprisingly the 7200 looked better with the RP-91 than the D1. The 5700 looked better than the 7200 in DVD no matter which player we used.


I would suggest 100" or under screen size with the 5700. The 5700 has enough brightness to go bigger but the limiting factor is the resolution. At 100" it was tough to tell the difference between the 2 PJ's. The colors and brightness is similar between the 2 PJ's.


The projector is bright with vibrant colors and definitely has a WOW factor. It's absolute black is not as good as some other PJ's but CR is very good.


There were 3 people at the shootout not counting our wives which have seen many PJ's as well. My business partner and myself which are both ISF calibrators and calibrate a lot of PJ's. The third gentleman is an enthusiast which has seen a great number of PJ's. All 3 of us have also seen the HT-1000 and although it has better absolute black none of us would choose it over the 5700.


When I was doing some testing of the 5700 at my house on a 16:9 92" diag matt white screen. My wife humored me and joined me to give it a look. I have a number of PJ's in the house and I am always testing new ones so she humors me quite a bit and is not a newbie to PJ's. Current PJ's in the house: Piano 3100, Panny 300, X1, Electrohome CRT and 5700.


We started viewing various discs that I use for reference materials, TFE, Casablanca, Citzen Kane, Shrek, Shawshank Redemtion, Dances with Wolves, Sweetest Thing, U-571, Apollo 13, VE montages, DVE montages and HALO on Xbox.


During the viewing I didn't ask her opinion but she kept saying 'WOW' and 'Amazing'. At the end she said this is the best PJ she had viewed. She said she couldn't believe how amazing the colors were. I asked her if she wanted to compare against any of the others and she said "Why bother, It's better period."


My personal opinion is that this PJ is so bright and on my relatively small screen its WOW factor blew my wife away. It is not the best picture I've seen but I can't think of anything in its price range that hands down beats it. I haven't seen the Runco CL-510 yet. I generally prefer the Runcos for accuracy but not necessairly WOW factor. I will also get a Sharp 200 to compare when they are available.


Hope this helps.


Bob

 

[vbirdsley]

Quote:

Originally posted by Threecard Sweet..I'm in the same boat...now to demo the 5700 Did youi happen to catch the screens they were using...I know it is a poor place to judge gain etc, but any little bit helps 3c

I too would like to know which screen is recommended with the 5700. I was leaning toward a 92" diag 16:9 Firehawk, with back row seating in my theater at 14' and front row about 9.5' (side note - will the front row see pixelization at that distance with the 5700 on a 92" screen?).


I'm on a quest to audition the SP5700 and the Runco CL510 within the next 2 weeks (I've narrowed my decision down to these two), with a purchase to be completed by month's end (my theater will be done late October).

 

[filmnut]

vbirdsley, I am also seriously considering the CL-510, but not the 5700 because it's fixed offset is too great. I'm anxious to hear your impressions of both of them though.

 

[BobL]

Offset and throw should be factors in a PJ decision. No, I don't think you will have pixelization at the distance of your front seats. The firehawk is great if you have light walls/ ceiling or can't control ambient light. It reduces reflections tremendously. However, in a dark light controlled room it may be a little bright with that gain. Keep your conditions in mind when viewing PJ's and try to simulate as best as you can. Some dealers will let you try it in your home with a tripod screen temorarily.


Bob

 

[Threecard]

Bob, My main veiwing will be done at night...so light shouldn't be a problem. Would you look at that or would you go for the all in one type screens...meaning yes, at some point in my life I may want to watch a movie at 3pm...but not usually Here is a pic from behind on of my seating areas...any thoughts on a screen type/ setup I could go with...don't really want to mount anything to my ceiling that is too heavy, and that window makes wall-mounting impossible..I'm thinking 100" screen...thanks much...keep this thread goin 3C

http://home.mchsi.com/~toml/wsb/html...e-skip-15.html

 

[Julius C M]

I auditioned the 5700 over the weekend - unfortunately saw rainbows almost immediately though not as bad as the 4800. Interestingly I did not get headaches as with the 4800. Apart from this, the picture was outstanding & felt really sorry that I was susceptible to rainbows. I wonder if anyone has had similar problems but then gradually became "immune" to rainbows over time.


I also saw the Epson 100 sided by side & though now cheaper, the picture was still great though not as outstanding as the 5700 - the 5700 was simply more filmlike with fantastic black level rendition.


Anyone know what Epson will be replacing the Epson 100 with?

 

[BobL]

If your walls and ceiling are going to stay white and with a 100" screen, I'd recommend either a Firehawk or High Contrast Cinema Vision. This would help viewing at other times of the day as well. On a 92" screen I would consider a grayhawk or Hi-def gray. All the screen companies will send you samples if you call and ask. I'd get the PJ first then decide on the screen.


As far as mounting, I'd spend some time figuring the throw and offset for your room and where you would have to place your screen. For a 100" diag your are going to have to be between 15-20 feet away and if the PJ is mounted flush to the ceiling the top of the screen would be about 18.5" from the ceiling. Now unless you have access to above the ceiling flush mounting is difficult. So you would have to add about 6 inches to that for a regular mount. This all means that your Screen would start apporximate 2 feet down from the ceiling and would go to Aproximately 2 feet off the floor on a standard 8' ceiling. You'll have to check sight lines and make sure seating isn't going to interfere with the picture.


You'll also have to figure this for the Runco as well. You would have to go to there website for the info.


Hope this helps.


Bob

 

[Dimitris]

Quote:

Originally posted by Julius C M Anyone know what Epson will be replacing the Epson 100 with?

Check this thread .

 

[Hoyt Griffith]

Thanks BobL for the details on the fixed offset. For me having the top of the projected image 2 feet down from an 8 ft high ceiling makes the SP5700 unacceptable. Unless there's away around the problem. For example, suppose I ceiling mounted the pj and beamed it up to get the top of the image about 8 or 9 inches from the ceiling. This would produce a keystoned image with the top of the image wider than the bottom -- a condition that perhaps could be solved as follows:


1) Tilt the the top of the screen forward to eliminate the trapezoid shape and restore the image to the proper rectangular proportions. I'm wondering how extreme the tilt would have to be.


2) Don't tilt the screen, but use black light absorbing masking to create the correctly proportioned screen. The wide parts of the trapezoid image would be lost in the masking. This is the historical approach used in movie houses for years without there being a noticeably out of focus image at the top and/or bottom of the screen. Would this apply to video projection as well?


3) Simply use the the keystone controls to eliminate the trapezoid. I understand, however, that this produces noticeable artifacts that deteriorate the image.


I'd really like to get this PJ, but only if I can find a way to neatly get the image higher. Any thoughts any of you might have would be appreciated. Thanks.


Hoyt

 

[BobL]

1. Is the best way. If you mount the screen inside a shadow box and the tilt isn't too great most people would never notice the screen is tilted.


2. Picture would still have distortions but rectangular.


3. Not recommended for anything but the smallest adjustments. I notice a difference with keystoning. Some people don't.


hope this helps


Bob

 

[vbirdsley]

Just thought I'd tell everyone I just purchased the SP5700. The offset and throw distance were perfect for my room... and the reviews have been stellar. Good price too!

 

[A. Vandelay]

Quote:

Originally posted by vbirdsley Just thought I'd tell everyone I just purchased the SP5700. The offset and throw distance were perfect for my room... and the reviews have been stellar. Good price too!

Let us know how you like it after it arrives. The long throw and lens offset make it perfect for my room as well.

 

[juhis]

I'm also considering to buy sp 5700. I tested the 5700 over weekend and my experiences are wery similar to BobL. I'm just wondering how sony hs20 competes with dlp. Did anyone compare these two projectors at Cedia?

 

[A. Vandelay]

Quote:

Originally posted by BobL No, I don't think you will have pixelization at the distance of your front seats.

Bob,


Could you clarify this? In your earlier post you said you saw pixelation at your seating distance of 1.6x-1.8x screen widths, but his front row is about 1.4x screen widths. Just want to clarify since this PJ is looking like a good candidate for me. Thanks.