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Review 1 of 1
Price Paid:
$6000.00
from Abt Electronics Summary:
I guess it's time to contribute to this forum since I look for other reviews here. My wife and I wanted a front projector based system but our house did not lend itself to such an installation due to too much uncontrollable ambient light. That is until we converted an unused bedroom to a mini-home theater where opaque shades could be employed. The projector is ceiling mounted using a universal mount.
We had decided that DLP provided the minimum quality we wanted and that LCDs did not quite meet that criterion. We had seen the Sharp XZ12000 and a comparable Runco as well but these even discounted were 9K+ without a better picture... darker, in fact... although never compared side-by-side and were eliminated. With the new InFocus 7210 intro, the virtually-as-good 7205 was heavily discounted and put it near the range of LCDs but with far better performance so we purchased one. Surprisingly, we had a problem with the color wheel (it worked but the shaft was buzzing uncomfortably) which gave us the opportunity to upgrade to the 7210 with the DC3 chip just as it was being introduced.
To make a front projector work, you need three things: a good projector, a good screen and a DARK room since any light on your screen becomes your black level by definition. My screen is a 92" diag. Stewart Filmscreen Firehawk with a gain of 1.3. This gain has virtually no effect on your viewing angle except in the extreme and is significantly more viewable than even the best RPTVs.
The image? In a word, stunning. Eccept for a level adjustment, the color remained untouched out of the box. The picture is beyond vivid and the unit can be run on the extended bulb life setting in most cases. No faded images here. The 3:2 works even better than in my Sony progressive DVD player (quicker to pick up) using the flag from the Video Essentials disc. Separate memory for different inputs is a pleasure and really helps to balance DTV tuners, DVD players, X-BOX etc.
A word of caution: Unlike some projectors, this one should have its lens centered on the screen (at the top). Keystoning will not perform well when left or right of center. Although it is rare, I will remain wary until more time passes with the color wheel issue. It is like a hard drive shaft... they can fail but rarely do. Incidentally, one advantage of a color wheel over a 3-chip format that is rarely ever mentioned is that there is no convergence issues possible by definition, right out to the edges of your screen.
Speaking of which, there is no evidence of rainbow or screen door concerns and the extra color segment provides perfect fleshtones. We are thrilled to get this picture quality for almost 1/2 the price of other DLP projectors. Black levels are amazing although there is some contouring during some dark scenes. This is true for most fixed pixel displays, either flat screen, plasma, RPTV or front projector. For specs and inputs, visit their website. Highly recommended if you have the venue for it.
P.S. HDTV is awesome. It's too bad that 1080 projectors are still in the $20K range since resolution gains importance as the screens become larger. Nevertheless, you will be dazzled.
Incidentally, my e-mail has changed to andy8400@sbcglobal.net if you have any questions. Good luck with your decision. Strengths:
Stunning, bright and high contrast image. Lightweight. Attractive (as projectors go). Good 3:2 pulldown. Weaknesses:
Shaft (color wheel) problem on the previous 7205 model. None so far with the similar 7210. Must be centered horizontally. Some fan noise. Since it was not on this unit, It will not affect my rating. Similar Products Used:
InFocus 7205 for 6 weeks.
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