Comments on: InFocus ScreenPlay 8602 Home Theater Projector – A First Look review

By: Art Feierman

Art Feierman — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:53:20 +0000

Greeting’s “G.”
Actually I did discuss in depth, about the new iris firmware, in a blog done on June 1 I believe. I recently (last two days) finally updated, the review itself (and it now also links to the blog about the iris).
Also of note, as mentioned in a previous blog, with the improved iris action, I updated the 1080p Home Theater Comparison Report. As part of that, I tossed out the original Special Interest award it received when the report first published. With the improved iris (though not perfect) but thanks to sharpness, and brightness, and natural skin tones… I decided that the SP8602 earned a tie for Best of Class – Runner-up ($3500 – $10,000), with the JVC RS25… (I know, blasphemy from a JVC RS20 owner, but still, the InFocus’es color handling is at least as good as the JVC, and all those extra lumens… Even I have to start wondering if those lumens are worth more, than the JVC’s black level advantage compared to an InFocus projector with very respectable blacks… -art

By: G. Baeten

G. Baeten — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:36:16 +0000

Hi Art!

Great reviews as usual!

Are you going to “re-review” the updated InFocus 8602 that InFocus has promised to send you with the “fixes” you told them to make in your review – namely the iris?

Let us know!

Thanks!

By: Art Feierman

Art Feierman — Mon, 24 May 2010 02:14:23 +0000

Whoa, max offset is lens shift. -art

By: Art Feierman

Art Feierman — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:11:13 +0000

I’ll take a look next time I fire up the 8602 – probably in the next couple of days. Mike does the calibrating, and while I tend to readjust the brightness (when Mike has to choose between two adjacent numbers – say a 51 or a 52, for brightness, where, say, 51 is just crushing the most minimal dark detail, and 52 is no crushing, but blacks lifted a fraction more than ideal, then he sets for 52. Me, I’d change to 51. While I readjusted brightness, I hadn’t noticed any crushing of near whites, and never checked that.

Well, like I said, I’ll take another look, next time I fire it up. -a

By: Art Feierman

Art Feierman — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 07:16:36 +0000

Hi Ken, yes, I’m catching up on blog responses in reverse order. So:

Lori usually takes a week or two so to completely proof each review (there’s a lot to do, and she does have another job too). She checks for old images. (I always start with a review of a competitive projector, as a template, as that means many of the comparison images are already in place.) I tend to miss replacing a few… I have a list of a few, and will be replacing. Remember,

Both the 1059 and the 1110 numbers are with Brilliant Color on, about 864 in “best” with BC off (normal). When you consider the purpose of a “brightest mode” it wouldn’t make sense to turn off a feature that adds a lot of brightness.

By: Art Feierman

Art Feierman — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:49:54 +0000

Hi Ken,

Hmm, no, I’ve had two units here. The first, an early engineering sample (last fall), (so early HDMI wasn’t fully operational on the projector – couldn’t access color controls to calibrate). Didn’t spend much time with that unit, but don’t recall a problem then.

However, I’ve go the 8602 still queued up in my main theater (alternating with one other projector (another LG model). I’ve probably got 75+ hours on this one, and NO, I do not recall it hanging up once. (And I’m supposed to notice things like that.)

But, like many such problems, even if 10 – 20% have an issue, when you consider the limited number of reviewers, it’s quite likely none of us will encounter it. Tell the truth, this is the first I’ve heard of this one. (I avoid reading other reviews, until mine are done.) Then, usually a few days later, then I’m up visiting the forums to find out what I might have missed. More typically, I’ve heard of problems even before the review is up, because I do get 20-40 emails or blog comments a day (though I can’t answer most). Yours is the first, this time.

Darn! Looks like a call tomorrow to my favorite InFocus product manager to find out what the story is. I’ll be posting a blog about the 8602, though more on other things, but related, this evening or tomorrow. -art

By: Ken McMillan

Ken McMillan — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 11:43:24 +0000

Well looks like alot of us are having a lockup issue with the sp8602 even after the first firmware release, which did fix the tearing problem some were having. When the unit locks up it will not respond to the remote or buttons on the pj. Art did you have any of these issues with your review unit?
Thnaks Ken

By: Ken McMillan

Ken McMillan — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:31:13 +0000

Hi Art:
After reading the full review again a little closer, i see that your readings were taken with brilliant color on, at max offset, with high lamp and i assume no lens shift.
Thanks, Ken

By: Ken McMillan

Ken McMillan — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 04:38:52 +0000

Hi Art:
Thank you for the very detailed review on the SP8602. On your readings with high lamp on in best mode 1059 and brightest mode 1110 i took as being with brilliant color off? Meaning that with it on we would see an additional 35% on top of that for around, say 1429 in best mode and 1498 in brightest mode with maximum offset and the lamp on high.
Also, and please correct me if i’m wrong here but when i clicked on the screenshots of the 8602 to view them and then checked properties the file names indicated that a few of the 8602 pics weren’t actually of the 8602, could you look into that please, and replace them for us if that is the case?
Again, thank you Art for the very detialed review, i ordered my SP8602 today, it should be a very good upgrade from my sp7210. Ken

By: Kendall Luelf

Kendall Luelf — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:28:31 +0000

Art, sorry I will clarify. I tried using spears and munsil cal disc and while setting contrast very few of the gray test bars were visible because of clipping. Not sure if this makes sense or not. But nonetheless, adjusting contrast was not able to make more bars visible.