1 comments about InFocus Work Big IN35W DLP Projector.

1. I will be entering the presentation circuit soon, so I decided to pick up a projector. After some research, I found that a projector with the same native resolution as your laptop will produce the best picture quality, so I narrowed my search to projectors with 1280x800 resolution, the same as my Macbook. The InFocus IN35W was one of the few that came up.
   
   After reading favorable reviews of InFocus projectors online, I decided to make the buy. I ordered from Amazon a few days ago, and I picked it up last night after a near-UPS nightmare (Note to Amazon: STOP using UPS as a shipper, they suck!). I gave it several hours of usage, and here's my feedback:
   
   Pros:
   - Very easy to set up. Just plug in the power, the M1 video cable to the projector, and the USB and VGA to your laptop (those of us with Macbooks will need the Apple mini-DVI-to-VGA adapter)
   - As noted above, the IN35W's bundled video cable also has a USB connector, so you can flip slides in your presentation using the included remote.
   - Warms up and turns on fast, in about 10 seconds
   - Cools down quickly, in about 15-20 seconds
   - The picture quality is absolutely stunning. I've never seen a projector in my life that looks like this. Especially when running at native 1280x800, it's beautiful. Connected to my Macbook, I ran through my Keynote presentation, did various desktop tasks such as Mail and Firefox, and it looks great. I also connected the IN35W to my brand new Nintendo Wii, and it looked great as well. Not as good as the Macbook, since the Wii is only 480p and not at the native resolution of the projector, but still great.
   - Has a "Power Mode", which will reduce brightness by about 20%, and make the projector run significantly quieter. (By my estimations, about 50-60% quieter)
   - Comes with a nice carrying case.
   - Comes with a nice-looking remote, though I haven't tried to use it yet.
   
   
   Cons:
   - The rainbow effect. Yes, it is there, however slight. You can *just* notice it when watching a movie, but it's not too obvious or apparent. In my judgement it was not enough to make me return the projector, considering everything else it has going for it. When playing the Nintendo Wii, you can't notice it at all, nor could I notice it under regular desktop usage. Only on some scenes in movies, and a few other edge cases. In all cases it is a minor effect, and not everyone will be able to notice it.
   - In the default operation mode, it is loud, though probably not louder than any standard projector. Thankfully there is the "Power Mode" which reduces fan noise by a significant amount
   - Like all projectors, it runs warm. The fan sucks in cool air from the left side, and shoots out hot air from the right side. Woe onto those presentees who are seated at the right side of the IN35W! They are going to have their own personal heater, whether they like it or not. Again, this is probably true of any projector.
   - There is no optical keystone adjustment, rather just an electronic one. From what I've read, this will degrade picture quality, though through my own visual inspection, it seemed perfectly fine.
   - The projector sometimes seems to produce a crooked picture on some seemingly even surfaces, causing me to use a DVD case to prop up one of the corners. So far I haven't found any setting that can compensate for this.
   - The included carrying case does not have a shoulder strap, rather only a small hand strap.
   
   
   Verdict:
   This is an excellent projector. All of the "Cons" above would probably apply to 90% of projectors out there. The best thing this has going for it is the picture quality, which is stunning and in a completely different class based on what I've seen of projectors (if you are using a 1280x800 laptop especially). It is not in the cheapest class of projectors (sub $1000), but with it's picture quality level, it seems worth the money to me. You will love your Wii's huge picture being projected on your wall, I promise.
   
   For those of you with hangups about the rainbow effect, you will want to see this in person to see if it's a dealbreaker for you.

1 comments about NEC NP60 3000 Lumen, XGA, 3.5 Lb. Projector.

1. I travel the country and do presentations under conditions that are frequently less than ideal for lighting. This small projector does well under these conditions. My previous projector was smaller but required very dark rooms to work well and this was not always possible for my clients to arrange. I also find the auto focus and keystone to be a great convenience. It is the best of the three projectors that I have owned.

2 comments about InFocus IN24+ DLP Projector SVGA 2400 Lu.

1. After researching so many projectors that I thought my head was going to explode I came upon this one. It seemed to fit my needs since I travel and do a number of presentations. It has a high resolution that projects well from across a room. If you ever have to replace a bulb (I haven't yet) but these were a lot more affordable than most other brands. My only wish was that it would come with a travel case. The cases were out of stock so I have to wait 2 months to get the one that fits this. Still the projector is great.



2. Concise and easy to set up. Worked really well right out of the box. High quality projector. Found the focus to be a bit short of crystal clear when looking at a Word document. At 15 feet I'm well within range. However, it was certainly readable when I increased the size of the text. Such inconvenience easily ignored with overall benefit. Bright and easy to read in well lit conference room with 30 people.

No comments about Optoma EP7155 Microportable XGA DLP Multimedia Data Projector.

1 comments about Optoma EP727 XGA 2200-Lumens DLP Multimedia Data Projector.

1. Great quality projector. I hooked it up on my laptop and had great picture. The reason I gave it a 4 star is because it doesn't have a RCA inputs.

No comments about Optoma EP721 SVGA 2200-Lumens DLP Multimedia Data Projector.

2 comments about Optoma EP1691 WXGA DLP Multimedia Data Projector.

1. This is an exceptionally compact and well designed projector.
   The menus are intuitive. The features are practical.
   At 2500 lumens it is perfectly adequate for all but the brighest rooms.
   Some projectors are difficult to figure out the keystone correction controls... this one is simple.
   I think it's worth the $1,000 I spent on it.



2. I selected this model for its size and portability and wasn't disappointed in either. It also had good light output and excellent resoulution. On a recent business trip I used it for presentations up to six hours per day without a glitch.

No comments about InFocus Work Big IN10 Ultramobile DLP Projector.

1 comments about Optoma EP749 Multimedia Data Projector.

1. I bought this product at Best Buy. It seemed to be the best as far as resolution and still below $1000. They call it a data projector, but in fact I use it for movies and the like. DVDs play with good clarity on a typical DVD player. Settings for the computer require some adjustment. It does get a bit grainy watching mpg quality video. It seems to be better for a ceiling mount due to the projection angle. The product is impressive, but not over impressive for what is on the market today.

5 comments about Optoma HD72 720p DLP Home Theater Projector.

1. great projector! with HD now a days..can't stand S-video anymore..
   easy hook up and auto detect is just great! whatever you input, it will find the signal and you are good to go with no setup hassle.
   right out of the box was good enough setting already ready to shoot and watch your favorite movie. 1.take out from the box 2.plug the AC cable
   3.plug the video cable of your choice 4.play DVD! so simple!!!
   while watching the intro, get the fresh batteries out which is included and watch your remote light up in the dark!
   only negative is the heat. it gets hot really fast...instantly.
   don't put any soft things near this fire...
   
   and finally, i didn't like the packing they (amazon labeled box) did..
   much bigger than the projector(about the size of laptop box)and it was
   losely packed with just one SHEET of brown paper..what's with that?
   no air bubbles, no peanuts
   i picked it up from UPS and it was all shaking.. I hoped the "bulb" was alright..afterall..bulb is the most expensive part of the projector...
   luckly everything was alright...but i hope these guys see my review and pack their boxes really good next time!!! it's not cheap stuff we are buying you know.....



2. I completely renovated a room in our basement to a home theater using the Optoma HD72 and DaLite 110 diagonal Cinema Vision screen. What I learned:
   - you've gotta plan any projectors location, whether Optoma/JVC/Panasonic/etc, including distance from screen, offset from ceiling, height/size of room, etc. So...if the HD72 fits within your room requirements it should be strongly considered
   - the screen is as important as the projector, so any review that doesn't tell you what type/size screen is teamed with the projector limits its usefulness.
   The basement room I put this in is 7ft 9in with excellent light control. Being 110" diagonal, the screen sits a little low on the wall. However, it is just fine when either sitting or standing.
   Picture is outstanding...rivals a 50" plasma
   Bottom line, I can't imagine I could have the quality image I have for the price I paid with any other combination.



3. The HD72 is a decent priced midrange DLP projector (even for Texas Instruments nestled between their HD70 and HD80)that does what it claims to do, but is not without it's limits. I tested it ceiling mounted on a 110" screen (96"x54" viewing) at approx 13'-15' distance. Various tests were done, first using the component(Red,Blue,Green) inputs, S-Video, and Composite (RCA), and finally HDMI for high def. Component input basically gives you the 720i, or 1080i if the source is there, without using the HDMI input. The projector will do its best to digitalize the signal on all inputs, but it does not do well with the lower end inputs. Even in componet mode darker colors are not perfectly read across the grey scale and results in the familiar "metalic sheen" look in certain areas (when certain colors can not be determined by the processor and as a result produces the next closest color which gives off distinct lines rather than a smooth transition between colors). Even with Optomas TrueVivid and TrueVision technology turned "on" it did not correct the problem. This would probably not be as noticeable if the screen size were smaller, or the viewing distance was further away. Which is fine if you were, say, in a "theater" but assuming that most people will be using this in a designated rec room, or even their living room, larger pictures will propose this problem. I would advise that if you plan on being within 12-13' of your screen at any angle, produce a picture around 72"-80" maximum. I was impressed however that I had to get very close to the screen to see the actual squares of the projected image. They are very small and virtually unnoticed as compared to older models that produced what many have referred to as the "screen door" affect.
   Optoma claims that there is a 7-segment color wheel to deliver great color saturation. Outside of the problem mentioned above, I will say that the colors in the basic spectrum are indeed bright and true. By putting up a test pattern and going through the contrast and brightness settings using a blue filter, I did fine that the spectrum of these two settings needed a little fine tuning. Turning off the TrueVivid and TrueVision settings, and sharpness set to zero, I was able to at least get the brightness and contrast little closer to where they should have been, but still was prevented from getting them perfect. [A note on sharpness: You should really always have this setting to zero or less, especially for Hi-Def, as it produces artifical elements that are not part of the original source material and can cause bad destortion].
   
   After getting the 16:9 format centered on the screen (which, if necessary, can be done with various methods of Keystone correction, screen shift, zoom, etc) when I switched to the 4:3 format (for those older films or video tapes that certainly exist in most librarys)I was saddened to see a very small square in the center of the screen. Yes, the zoom function can make it a little larger, but the result was that the picture shifts dramatically to one end of the screen and under no circumstances can you get it to fill the whole screen. I should also mention that you would also need to refocus whenever you use the zoom funtion on the projector. The problem exists that both the focus and the zoom are manual on this projector, so if you have it in the ceiling mounted posistion you will need to go up there and do it yourself the hard way. If you set your projector in the maximum resolution (1920x1080) which can be done by the remote in setup mode, it does make the picture a little larger. [Helpful Hint: In the 1920x1080 resolution you can actually view anything recorded in the 4:3 format (even televison) in 16:9 and even get enough away from the "Short-fat" syndrome that results in trying to view 4:3 source in a 16:9 invironment].
   The seperate modes available [Cinema, Bright, TV, RGB, Native] can all be adjusted to your liking individually (brightness, contrast, color, etc) and the projector's memory chip will remember these settings for you. You can also lock in your source if you don't wish for the projector to continually search for a source everytime you have multiple sources going into the projector that are turned on at the same time.
   There are also computer inputs RS-232, and DVI inputs if you don't have a recent Hi-Def DVD player or Blue-Ray yet to connect to the DMI input.
   Finally, there is also a life meter for the lamp (ave life 2000-3000hrs)that can remind you when it is time to think about replacing the bulb (average price around $350).
   I used to own a 3-CDD LCD projector that probably out performed this one in overall performance, but did not have as high a contrast ratio and was not ready for the HDMI future. If you really want a dedicated smooth picture with all color and gray information interpreted correctly, I would probably stick with a LCD projector or televison. But again, with a little more work, the right adjustments, and viewing distance, and lets not forget the price range, this little quiet DLP projector can deliver as much as the it's bigger brothers.



4. I have owned this projector for over a year and a half now and it still blows me away every time I use it. Connected to a Toshiba HD-A2 or HD-A3, the picture quality on either HD-DVD or standard DVD is exceptional. I paid half again what it is currently selling for on Amazon and that was considered a bargain at the time. The current price is a very good deal. I have also used this projector connected to a laptop for digital slide shows with excellent results. I can recommend it without reservation.



5. I am the lead installer for a company that installs RealHomeTheaters, so hopefully my experience can be of some help.
   
   This projector has been on the market since 2006. There is newer better technology out there at better prices. Shop around. Consider the Mitsubishi HC1500 or the Panasonic PT-AX200 and be sure to read my reviews on them too.
   
   Hope this helps get your RealHomeTheaters off the ground!