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want to buy a new tv
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shardian:

--- Quote from: Dustin Mustangs on October 03, 2006, 11:38:38 am ---A word of warning, DO NOT buy an infocus front projection TV.  I did almost a year ago (Screenplay 5000) and it has literally been a nightmare ever since.  I could go on and on, but I will just leave it at a warning instead of clogging up this thread with all the dirty details.  In fact, lets just say avoid Infocus in general.  I'm sure there are some satisfied customers out there (like severdhed), but lets just say it's not a bet worth taking considering there are other, comparable, options for every product they offer. 

With that said, front projection TV's are by far the best bang for the buck given you have the right room for it (ie. big and good control over ambient light).

--- End quote ---

Actually, please go into details about your problem. If you are going to slander a product, at least give some details. Personally, I have heard nothing but good things about the infocus 4805. It is cheap and very reliable.
I am guessing you just ran it too much and burnt out the bulb. For those of you who don't know, a front projector uses a precision high output bulb and some sophisticated optics to project the image onto a wall or screen. The bulb is rated to last 2000 hours, but this is effected by use and abuse. If you don't let it cool down, turn it off and on too quickly or frequently, or don't keep the air filter clean, the bulb life can be cut down quite a bit.
These projectors are not meant to be a sole source of TV usage. I use one for movies and movies alone. At a rate of one 2 hour movie a day, the bulb would last for about 3 years...but if you watch a movie every day, then you really need a life.
ChadTower:

I've read in quite a few places that a "used with care" Infocus bulb actually lasts closer to 3500 hours before any real dimming sets in.  Don't know firsthand.
boykster:
I too have heard mostly good things about Infocus and their projectors....

 :dunno
alomar721:
you guys have given me alot to read about. thankls for the advice so far it gives time to make up my mind.  :dunno

scott
Dustin Mustangs:
Sorry to leave this thread hanging, I kinda forgot I posted here.

Anyways, alot of folks do call projectors front projection tv's.  I guess it's just who you ask.  Look at crutchfield for example ( http://www.crutchfield.com/S-XqCplzjc3jP/cgi-bin/superprodgroup.asp?g=260050&cm_re_o=kwufEzM*l5TnxiiDi*yBBf ).  People just seem to take the word projector the wrong way and think I am going to show them a slide show or a film strip or something, lol.


I will elaborate for you shardian, but fyi slander is technically only slander if what you are claiming is not true.  I am on my 4th sp5000 right now and it still isn't right (however I have never burnt out a bulb, lol).  For one, this thing has some horrible vertical banding (somewhat faint vertical lines in the screen every 50 or so pixels, hard to see on a busy screen, hard not to see if the screen is a solid color like desert or underwater scenes).  Initially they claimed my unit was defective on account of this and attempted to service it twice (at their expense) to no avail.  Now just recently they have changed their story and claim that it is a product of the LCD technology my projector uses and can not be fixed.  Hmm, ok.  I wonder why all LCD projectors don't show these lines if it is a "product of LCD technology"??  My unit also features picture in picture according to their ads for it, the manual, their web site when I bought it, any other site that sells it, ect...   I have gotten this feature to work ONCE.  I have spent, I would estimate, over 10 hours on the phone with them just trying to get just this one feature to work.  Guess what, they serviced it twice more (again at their expense) in an attempt to fix this, again to no avail.  Now, again they change their story and tell me that pip isn't a supported feature of my model.  Hmmm, ok!?!?  So why does it tell you how to turn it on in my sp5000 user manual and why is there an option for it in my TV's menu??  So then I tell them that this just isn't going to work and that I needed to return or exchange this boat anchor (I think that seems more then reasonable at this point and so did my lawyer).  They refused a refund and said they would give me an 'even' exchange for a refurbished sp4805.  Well, thanks but no thanks, a refurbished sp4805 is $300 (~30%) cheaper then my sp5000 according to their own website at the time of the conversation.   Hardly an even exchange.  It turns out that a new sp4805 is the exact same price as my projector, they had some available at the time, and they refused to exchange me one of those.

So long story short, two different problems that they initially agreed were issues that needed to be fixed are now apparently accepted design flaws in their product that they refuse to address and in the end the only thing they offered me was an exchange for inferior projector that was $300 cheaper at the time.  Needless to say, they are just about to get a summons from my district court's small claim division.  I doubt they'll even show...

Sorry, this got a little long!

 :cheers:
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