Infocus 4805 $999 w/ free 76" Draper Screen [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

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midfiguy
01-12-2005, 12:42 PM
So, I'm thinking of taking the plunge if the wife lets me, especially at this price. I'm lucky, my wife is VERY tolerant/understanding of my HT/Music craze. Anyways, word is this infocus which is pretty highly regarding will be avail for $999 in Costco w/ 76" draper screen after $100 MIB. From the discussion, sounds like it works great.

Out situtation is such that I'll be using my regular tube TV for regular TV watching and the projector for movie watching, so most use will be at night so lighting won't be a huge issue. The windows have blinds and curtains, so that should be sufficient too.

While the screen may not be fantastic, I think it should be more than adaquate to start out an experience in front projectors.

Anyways, my question is, once and for all, can regular high quality RCA cables be substituted for Component Video cables? Are they the same thing? If not, what exactly is the difference?

I think I'd like to take the plunge, especially at this dirt cheap cost.

ericl
01-12-2005, 03:14 PM
I'd love to get a projector but I had written them off due to costs. That sounds like an awesome deal..

I wonder how practical these are for watching television?

woodman
01-12-2005, 04:17 PM
So, I'm thinking of taking the plunge if the wife lets me, especially at this price. I'm lucky, my wife is VERY tolerant/understanding of my HT/Music craze. Anyways, word is this infocus which is pretty highly regarding will be avail for $999 in Costco w/ 76" draper screen after $100 MIB. From the discussion, sounds like it works great.

Out situtation is such that I'll be using my regular tube TV for regular TV watching and the projector for movie watching, so most use will be at night so lighting won't be a huge issue. The windows have blinds and curtains, so that should be sufficient too.

While the screen may not be fantastic, I think it should be more than adaquate to start out an experience in front projectors.

Anyways, my question is, once and for all, can regular high quality RCA cables be substituted for Component Video cables? Are they the same thing? If not, what exactly is the difference?

I think I'd like to take the plunge, especially at this dirt cheap cost.

Congrats ... you're about to enter the world of real "Home Theater". Once there, you'll never look back. In fact, you'll wonder why you didn't take this "plunge" a long time ago. Of course, a long time ago there were no such bargains to be had like this InFocus deal. All front projectors were CRT-based, were quite expensive, were very heavy (making support/positioning more of a problem), and took a lot of "tweaking" and adjusting - sometimes by a professional - to get the performance up to snuff. Today, virtually all front projectors are either DLP or LCD based, so they are very light in weight, easy to position, and take very little - if any- "tweaking" at all to produce spectacular pix. What little adjusting that might be needed, you can easily do yourself.

As to your Q about cables: RCA is not a type of cable ... it's a type of connector. So, when you say "high quality RCA cables" I have no way to know just what type of cable you're talking about, therefore making it difficult to answer your question. RCA connectors are used on all sorts of interconnect cables - from the skinny, cheap, stereo audio cables that come packed with all sorts of components - to the dedicated Component-video cables - to "digital audio" coax cables - to subwoofer cables - to composite video cables, etc. Any cable with RCA connectors on it will "work" ... but in order to give the best possible performance, the cable must be made of 75ohm coax ... that's the only requirement. Composite video, digital audio coax, and subwoofer cables all will most likely meet that criteria. Skinny stereo cables will not. If you're talking about using composite video cables, then yes - they will substitute for component video cables just fine. The only caveat is you need to be careful about cross-connecting them. Although it wouldn't cause any damage if you did, it will result in all sorts of weird pictures that you weren't expecting. It would be wise to "color-code" them somehow so that you don't get them connected incorrectly.

Hope this answers your questions

midfiguy
01-13-2005, 04:10 AM
Hey wood,

Seems like you know alot about projectors, thanks for your answer. I'll make sure whatever wires I use with RCA ends :D are of 75ohms.

Since you see to know alot, questions...

1. We currently live in an apartment but we'll be purchasing a home in the next 6 months (hopefully sooner if this ridiculous east coast market slows down more) so we don't have a huge space for it and the distance (screen to projector) will only be about 6 feet. While this won't produce a huge picture, it's only temporary and I'll have a dedicated room once we get a new house. There's no problem using it this close, is there?

2. Is setup pretty easy of these things, or is there alot of calibration? For example, if I put it on my coffee table vs. mounting it on the ceiling with a mount, do you have to account for the angle of it? Or does that only adjust where the picture is thrown?

3. Are there alot of downsides to the projector? Again, we'll mostly be using it at night and for the day/evening, we have decent light control.

4. Lastly, do you think the 4805 has everything I would need to a projector that can last 5+ years without having to do an upgrade? Is there another projector for about $1000 that I should look at? What other costs besides the bulb?

Any other insight/hints you can provide would be great. Thanks again!

woodman
01-14-2005, 10:58 PM
Since you see to know alot, questions...

1. We currently live in an apartment but we'll be purchasing a home in the next 6 months (hopefully sooner if this ridiculous east coast market slows down more) so we don't have a huge space for it and the distance (screen to projector) will only be about 6 feet. While this won't produce a huge picture, it's only temporary and I'll have a dedicated room once we get a new house. There's no problem using it this close, is there?

Is there no way to get a longer "throw distance" in your present room? Having only 6 feet could present some challenges, if not out and out problems. See the answer to #2. below.



2. Is setup pretty easy of these things, or is there alot of calibration? For example, if I put it on my coffee table vs. mounting it on the ceiling with a mount, do you have to account for the angle of it? Or does that only adjust where the picture is thrown?

Where will the screen be setup? How high? Could the screen be set at a lower height? If you have the projector sitting on a coffee table, and the screen is up high on a wall, there could be some difficulties achieving proper image geometry. The projector will have some capabilities in this regard ... I just don't know if it will have enough if the screen is much higher than the projector. Check with Projectorcentral.com - they know a TON more than I do about front projectors. But not to worry ... if you need to, you can always build a 6 ft. high "table" out of some 2 x 4s and a shelf of plywood or whatever as a temporary residence for the pj for the next 6 months.



3. Are there alot of downsides to the projector? Again, we'll mostly be using it at night and for the day/evening, we have decent light control.

No, there isn't much of any "downsides" at all - and there are plenty of "upsides"



4. Lastly, do you think the 4805 has everything I would need to a projector that can last 5+ years without having to do an upgrade? Is there another projector for about $1000 that I should look at? What other costs besides the bulb?

Yes
No
None


Hope this helps you