InFocus IN82 Home Theater Projector: Physical Tour

Posted on October 4, 2007 By Art Feierman

The InFocus IN82 is a larger projector, completely black and sculpted, with no hard edges. It resembles both the less expensive IN76 and IN78, as well as the much larger 3 chip SP777. If there is a criticism of the styling, it has to be that, since it’s black, people just won’t notice it.

InFocus assumes that this projector will be ceiling mounted, a very logical assumption, as they expect it to end up in dedicated rooms. Don’t worry though, it will work just fine on a table or low shelf. As is typical for most DLP projectors, it lacks lens shift, which tends to make it impractical for mounting on a rear wall. You could, however, have a high shelf, and mount the IN82 projector, (ceiling mount style), under the shelf. A swivel (and tilt) base is provided in the box.

Viewing the IN82 from the front of the projector. The 1.2:1, recessed, zoom lens, is mounted off-center, to the far left. A non-centered lens is typical for most DLP projectors, but not all. For a 100″ diagonal screen, the front of this InFocus IN82 projector can be as close as 13.5 feet, and as far back as 16.2 feet. Those are approximate numbers from the manual. I’ll discuss lens offset, in the General Performance section. That’s all that’s going on, at the front of this InFocus projector. There are no adjustable feet, of course, because of the provided InFocus swivel (and tilt) base (not shown). The smaller InFocus home theater projectors come with the base attached, right out of the box. As I said, though, most will mount this projector so InFocus packed them separately.

On the top of the projector, or rather on the front left edge, at the top (if looking from behind), is only infra-red sensor. From using the projector in both my theater and testing room, that one is all that is needed. It is essentially invisible on the projector itself.

On the opposite side, the front right, if looking from the back is a removable door that lets you access large zoom and focus wheels for the zoom lens.

On the top of the projector, centered, right at the back is a black Indicator panel, that when the projector is unplugged, is essentially invisible. However, on that panel are indicator lights for Power, Temperature, Lamp, and Service.

That takes us to the back of the IN82, where all the input connections are hidden behind a large removable panel. the IN82 is reasonably well endowed, in terms of inputs, but certainly not exceptional. As with the larger SP777 InFocus projector, all the controls are labeled upside down. Again, this is due to the presumption that the unit will be ceiling mounted and therefore upside down, making all the labels right side up. It certainly is no big deal, but worth a quick mention. I have therefore flipped the image so you see it as you would, if it were mounted.

From left to right (assuming its mounted – I might as well get with “the program”), first is the HDMI 1.3 input, with the power cord receptacle just above it. Next comes InFocus’s M1-DVI connector, which supports the image part of HDMI, so that essentially gives you two HDMI inputs (although you can use the MI-DVI port alternately, for component video or an analog computer signal. Now here’s a good point, right out of their manual. If you don’t need to use the M1 for any sources, it can also be used as a power source for accessories mounted with the projector (such as a cable signal amplifier). Moving further to the right, come three RCA jacks for a component video input, then a single RCA for composite video. Below that, is an RS232 for command and control by a computer or room control system. Finally, on the far right is the S-video input (DIN connector), and below it, a 12 volt DC output (typically that is used as a screen trigger, to control properly equipped, motorized screens).

That completes our physical tour of the InFocus IN82, except for the remote, which is covered in the General Performance section, right after the menu system.

Let’s see now. The IN82 is a good looking projector, with a typical limited range zoom lens, and the usual inputs. That’s all well and good, but it’s time to consider how good the image looks. That, of course, is what home theater projectors are all about.