Although I haven't owned a TV in many years, I enjoy watching movies. When the prices of DVD projectors started to come down, I knew we'd be getting one to use for watching movies while enjoying all the comforts of home. (Specifically, cozy furniture and
oil-popped popcorn with real butter.) We bought the InFocus LP70+ projector about two years ago and it has worked very well for us ever since.
I am notoriously averse to reading instruction manuals. I'll do it if I have to, but my feeling is that most consumer goods should be designed so that they are pretty self explanatory and susceptible to common sense and intuition. The InFocus projector passes this test. There's a little adjustable foot on the bottom of the projector to set the angle of projection and get the image pointed where you want it. Using the remote, it was easy to set up the projector so that the image looked right, correcting for the angle of projection through "keystoning." (I generally don't use the remote any more, since the DVD player is right next to the projector and I'm there loading the disc anyway.) Once the image is in the place you want it, and adjusted for angle, the focusing is done manually, just like on those old-fashioned SLR cameras.
There are some minor issues with this projector. For one thing, it makes a decent amount of noise on its own when it's running. Depending on how you set the projector up, this could be annoying. The projector can't be boxed up or covered by anything, because it needs to have air circulating freely around it when it's in use. You might find yourself turning up the volume to mask the noise of the projector. When we first got the InFocus, the only place we could really put the projector was behind our heads as we watched movies. That meant the noise was really noticeable. Now we have the projector in front of us but not in our line of sight. Having something between us and the projector cuts the white noise considerably.
There is one minor problem that I have to report. When we set up our projector after our last move, we noticed a very small sort of shadow in the lower right corner of the projected image. It looks as though something might have come loose inside the machine, perhaps because of a jostle during the move. It hasn't gotten worse over time, and it affects such a tiny part of the image that it doesn't bother me at all. When viewing movies in letterbox, it doesn't touch the frame at all. I just thought I should mention this as a warning for those who might buy a projector and then move. Save the original packaging and make sure it's well protected if you're planning a move.
I don't have a very good basis for comparison with other projectors when it comes to the image brightness. Our projector is set up in one of the brightest rooms in our house, and we don't do anything in particular to shade it. I don't even consider watching a movie until dusk. This is fine by me as I'm not tempted to goof off during the productive hours of the day. When it's very dark outside, the projected image is good enough that a little indoor light won't ruin it. Still, I like it best when all the lights are off.
We don't "throw" the image very far when we watch movies. Only about 8 feet or so. That produces an image about 3 feet across. It more or less fills our Kodak slide screen from side to side, but not top to bottom. At that size, the image quality is excellent, far better than an average TV. If you plan to use a projector in your home, remember that you're not likely to need the image projected 20 or 30 feet. Don't pay for higher quality resolution than you will ever need.
One thing I don't like about this projector is how much electricity it sucks up even when it's turned off. Although there's only one little led light that stays lit, the top of the unit stays very warm to the touch even a full day after it was last used. That sort of heat can only be generated by drawing electricity. Since I'm a frugal sort, I've learned to keep the projector and the other electrical elements of my "home theater" system plugged into a power strip, which can be shut off so there's no phantom load from the projector.
The lens does seem to attract dust motes pretty well. I keep a packet of lens cleaning tissue nearby, a revenant of wet chemistry photography now repurposed for the digital age. Cleaning the lens about once a month is all it needs. I keep the dangling lens cap over the lens when the projector isn't in use.
I watch a fair number of movies at home and haven't had to replace the bulb yet after about two years of use. I'm glad about this, as I understand the bulbs are quite expensive. To the tune of a few hundred dollars, in fact. For this reason, I make sure to turn the projector off as soon as I'm done watching movies. The projector goes through a cool-down phase, cooling with an internal fan with the bulb turned off. If you take my advice about the power-strip, be sure to let it go through this cooling phase before completely powering down the projector.
All together, we are quite pleased with this DVD projector. It suits our household very well because of the fact that we like movies but don't want a television, and we don't mind waiting until it's dark to get our cheap entertainment. If you're looking for a reliable alternative to an expensive television, I can recommend the InFocus LP70+ based on two years' use and ownership.
CompuVest
