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Hardware Review: Infocus X1A DLP Projector| Category | | | Summary | Infocus X1A DLP Projector
While this review deviates somewhat from what strictly would be called computer hardware, I'm going to talk about the Infocus X1a DLP Projector. Granted, a projector is not what one normally considers a peripheral, but they ar |
| | Body | Let's start off with a quick rundown of the specs. It features a 2000:1 contrast ratio, supports both 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios, has a 1100 lumen brightness, and a 4000 hour lamp life. It has native SVGA resolution (800x600), but is capable of supporting XGA, and it weighs only 6.8 lbs. It is compatible with a variety of video types including NTSC, PAL, EDTV, and HDTV (1080i and 720p). It has VGA, S-Video, and composite video inputs (as well as supporting component through the S-Video port).
OK, now we can get into the fun stuff. As the name indicates, this is a DLP projector. In the projector world, there are really 3 types of projectors - LCD, DLP, and CRT. LCD Projectors use backlit LCDs (like laptop monitors), reflected off mirrors and through lenses to create a picture. Now, while this is cheap, easy, and small (generally), it has a few problems. If you look very closely at an LCD monitor, you can see the individual pixels. On a projector, all that gets blown up. This means that you frequently encounter a "screen door" effect, where you can see the little dots - like looking through a screen door. That's not all, though. LCDs tend to have problems with fast-moving images or video. You can get a comb effect, where the motion is choppy, and there are blurry edges and video artifacts. LCDs also tend to not be very bright, meaning you need a very dark room to use them in. While LCD technology is getting better, it still creates problems for projector use.
CRT Projectors are the best of the best. They give you the brightest and clearest picture possible. You never have to worry about artifacts or the screen door effect or anything else like that. A good CRT projector can be used in full daylight. However, they are very big, very heavy, and VERY expensive. They can also suffer burn-in, which is caused by static images being left on the screen for prolonged periods of time (if you watch letterbox movies all the time, for example - you don't want black bars burned into your screen).
DLP projectors are essentially the middle ground. They are small and light like an LCD projector, but since they work using a spinning color disc, they don't have the combing or screen door effects. They are extremely bright and clear like a CRT projector, but since they don't have those huge tubes to worry about, there is no risk of burn-in, and there are no weight or size issues.
Despite all that, they aren't perfect. As I mentioned, DLP projectors work using a color wheel spinning at very high speeds to show the various colors on the screen. This works quite well, but it does create a rainbow effect. Most people cannot see this, but some can (and it can be very annoying to those who can). Newer DLP projectors have color wheels that spin much faster, solving this problem, but it is something you need to watch out for while shopping for a system like this. The X1a is not a very new projector, meaning it does not have one of the new ultra-fast color wheels. Personally, I can see the rainbow occasionally, but only ever out of the corner of my eye. I quickly adapt to it and tune it out, but other people may respond differently (or not see it at all).
The X1a was designed to be a data projector - that is, it was meant to have computers as the source hooked up to it. However, it has a native resolution of 800x600. Honestly, no one runs that anymore - certainly not on a laptop, which is the most likely video source. It can support XGA - 1024x768 - which is more reasonable, but it doesn't look as good. This is a serious fault in my mind, as at 800x600, you WILL get a screen door effect from a computer input if you are projecting to any reasonable size.
However, it has a lot of good features, too. The picture quality of this projector is AMAZING. It is very crisp and clear, and works in full winter daylight (though not direct sunlight). The picture size is tremendous. It can support up to a 21 foot (diagonal) picture. It is small, light, and quiet. Most of all, it is relatively cheap (under $800USD). Also, since I use it primarily for home theater purposes and not the PC input, I don't run into the problems caused by its limited resolution support. All this lets me forgive its faults, and I can recommend this projector to anyone who is looking for a cheap home theater projector (and might occasionally want to hook up a laptop).
By ravn for CAU's CAAHP
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This article was imported from zZine. (original author: ravn)
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