Hi again - I'm fresh in from a wonderful day in HUll where my wife (Ruth) and I once again spent three 1/2 hours in the company of Lee @ Sevenoaks Sound & Vision.
This is the awaited Part II peeps. First though although the last few posts give valuable info, this thread is not about the merits or not between plasmas and DLP - it's no contest - I thought everyone knew that - this thread is about the Infocus 5700 (not 4800 which has significantly lower resolution) and the Sim2 Domino 20 and/or the Optoma Themescene H56 - which I discounted several posts ago on noise lol!
So where were we..................
Armed with a copy of "Behind Enemy Lines" (DVD A) - the chapter with the flying scene at the beginning - gives stunning fast moving photography (and by the way the sound aint that bad either!) and of course the previously viewed Monster Inc (DVD B) - the scene where the hairy monster is in bed which moves on to the rather blurred TV scene and then into a wonderful 3D scene of a street scene with vivid colours etc.
We went for a like for like demo on a seven foot screen of the Infocus and Sim2 Domino 20.
Unfortuneately again Lee could not pull down the Sim from the ceiling to place it directly behind us where the Infocus machine was, so the Sim was exactly 53" behind the Infocus, zoomed in to fill the 7' fixed Owl Screen.
First the Sim2 Domino 20
DVD A - the detail was stunning, crisp/sharp and the blemish on the "M" of the "SAM" console light in the plane's cockpit was something I had not seen before. The other fantastic detail was at the end of the scene where the Parachute chords were really sharp when the two guys had ejected and were falling back to the ground. During the setting up both Ruth and I thought that the brightness could have been better - more on this later. We were captured in the film (which was heard with poxy sound as we had not come to listen but watch) suggesting the realistic imaging which we had not seen before - maybe the blacks were black as Peter has already pointed out?
DVD B the thing we noticed above all else was the breathtaking detail of the hairs of the hairy monster and the red car out in the street, where a relection in the cars front was a shade of orange - you could distinctly see a reflection.
Next the Infocus 5700
DVD A Again during the setting up we noticed how bright the picture was - much more so than the Sim2. Indeed with ambient lighting - compared to our Seleco 150 it was amazing. During the scene we noticed that the whites were really white and at the end of the demo we thought that maybe the contrast/brightness ought to be turned down a touch. However very importantly, the imaging was nowhere near as sharp as the Sim2. The details previously noted where not there. The picture was very grainy in comparison to that of the Sim2 - the blemish on the "M" was not there at all and you could only just make out the chords of the parachute as it was descending. I made fully sure that the pj was focused correctly.
DVD B The hairs were just not as sharp and the reflection whilst there was just not as clear. Here the orange of the reflection and the red of the car just "bled" together and rather than seeing a reflection you gained the impression of a badly painted car.
After a ton of questions by Ruth who was not with me on Thursday, she rather liked the idea of a fixed screen as opposed to a motorised one, which staggered me. So I left her to debate the merits and demerits of each with Lee, whilst I took the important measurements.
Ruth asked for the Sim2 to be projected onto the Motorised screen so she could see the difference between the two screens. The thing that amazed us both was this: -
As the motorised screen (8ft wide) came down approximately 1ft in front of the fixed screen, even though Lee had not focused properly (he had just zoomed in to 7ft approx) the additional brightness that this alone provided was brilliant. Now think back - the Sim2 was 53" further back to start with so now the difference was only 41" appx, but the overall brightness increased noticebly. When correctly focused but more importantly fixed to my living room ceiling it will be even closer to the screen than another 41" - possibly overall appx 57" when compared with the Sim2 at Hull fixed to the ceiling projected on to the 7ft screen, then I think at the very least the overall brightness will be on a par with the Infocus.
Next the cost of bulb replacements. Lee quoted me appx £350 for the Sim2's and appx £300 for the Infocus's. The Sim2 is quoted to last for appx 6000 hours - the Infocus's only 2000 hours. Cost of the Sim2 pj - £3500 - Infocus £3000. It does not take a rocket scientist to calculate that in two bulbs time, you will have spent £3600 on the Infocus - with at least 2000 hours remaining for the Sim2's bulb, if we can believe the quoted specs.
Next the noise - as said earlier the Sim2 is at a frequency much lower than the Infocus's and you just do not notice it. However the Infocus we auditioned, was not that bad.
Now for the settings as we viewed: -
Sim2
Brightness 74/100
Contrast 44/100
Colour 62/100
Keystone 0
Infocus
Brightness 45/100
Contrast 60/100
Colour 55/100
Keystone 50/100
You can now put in perspective what we saw - the Sim's brightness was turned well up - on the other hand we felt we had to turn down the brightness of the Infocus
Placing the Sim2 closer to the screen should make up the difference.
Adding to all this, taking into account the motorised Focus and Zoom functions together with one or two other interesting features - to us anyway, the Sim2 Domino 20 was it.
So we came away having spent our dosh on the Sim2 Domino 20, a 7ft Owl Fixed screen, ceiling mount, a JB Technology RGB-Component Converter and 10 meters Liberty Flex Screened Cable all wired up.
Overall we have spent around seven hours in the shop - time was no problem to Lee and experiencing an absolute "non-pressurised" sales culture. Coffee was delivered with a smile and could have been intraveinus if I had requested it.
SO ABSOLUTELY WELL DONE SEVENOAKS SOUND & VISION, HULL.
We thoroughly recommend them.
Lee was terrific and I learned bucketloads of info from him including "how to focus a DLP pj".
Great stuff and I look forward to calling in to collect the equipment later next week - I will be doing a self - installation.
Now all I need to do now is to acquire some curtains and a motorised track etc.
Hope my account helps others out there trying to make their own minds up - it was frightening at first but gradually all becomes clear (if you pardon the pun)
I would be happy to answer any further questions
Paul
