Infocus Screenplay 5700 Vs. Optoma 739EP

[Calgary28]

In the process of buying a projector and just wondering if anyone had any input between these two projectors: pros and cons

Infocus Screenplay 5700 and the Optoma 739 EP.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Talk about horses of a different breed.

The Optoma is a 4:3 projector with a dongle needed for component connections while the Infocus is a 16:9 projector with the 1024x576 DLP chip.

In my opinion, I would never buy a new display to watch TV & (primarily) DVDs on that is not 16:9. Yes, you can get the Optoma and get a 4:3 screen, then set it to 16:9 mode... which ends up using 1024x576 pixels. But, you will have light overspray and less efficient use of the light engine. Or at least, I expect that you would as this is something that hasn't been overcome in $10,000 projectors yet.

The Screenplay has a pretty good reputation, so of the two I would definitely go that way.

But, I wouldn't be looking at either if it were my money. The new Sharp XV-Z2000 is in the same price range and gives you the HD2+ 1280x720 DLP chip for well under 4 grand. It is designed and built by a company that has been making good home theater projectors for many years now which I think is a big plus. Not perfect, but very good for the money.

If my budget was tight, I would then look at the Sony, Panasonic, or Sanyo DLP projectors that are new this year. The Panasonic in particular has been getting pretty good reviews and offers incredible setup flexibility. No color wheel with LCD means no rainbow. LCD means contrast isn't as high as DLP... but the new LCDs are smokin' with contrast compared to a few years ago. Keep in mind that contrast is all about black level in which a very small change in black level equals a huge drop in contrast ratio... but not very noticable most often.

I'm not sure of all your requirements for buying a new projector or if it is 100% dedicated & installed for home theater use, but I would say definitely go 16:9 if it is HT use, and if possible, consider all you options and do some more research and question asking.

Read every review if you can - especially at www.projectorcentral.com as there is a bunch of reviews there, including a recent article on the Z2000. Unfortunately in the last year they seem to be pandering a little more to manufacturers instead of being 100% honest with their reviews and getting into real world details. Regardless, you can get some good info there.

Don't set your heart on anything though - except a projector. Go "I want the best projector for my cash and I don't care who makes it." - That way you won't be favoring anything going into the buying fun.

As I said - not sure what your specific expectations are though.

 

[Calgary28]

My budget is around $3500 Canadian (that includes the screen) and yes it will be used mostly for DVD's, PS2, XBOX, and HDTV, with some regular TV(which will either be digital cable or satellite dish). In that budget I may have the possibiltiy of getting the hardware at cost. So it will cost quite a bit less.

 

[Takeereasy]

Hi Calgary, I would really suggest you pick up this months Sound & Vision, or at least go to a Chapters and read it for free . The issue has 3 seperate articles on front projectors, 2 of them review budget projectors so I think this could be a big help to you. One of the articles features reviews of receivers under $2000 US. Good luck to you.

 

[Takeereasy]

Audioholics also recently reviewed some screens that seem like real bargins. Don't know if you saw the article, here's a link.Carada screens

 

[brian32672]

I would go with the previous poster and say the Sharp projector. I had a EP739 and found it very terrible. It has 1 chip for all the processing. While the new Optoma I have EzPro 758 (cost me to much at 2700.00U.S.) has 2 seperate chips 1 for deinterlacing and 1 for scaling. Which will give better results. I had a Sharp with all glass Carl Zeiss lens, and it was terrific. But it was only a svga projector and did not do well with computer text. Thats the only reason I went with the 739 in the first place. I prefer a 4:3 format, as I watch a lot of dvd's and some tv. TV I mainly watch sports and all sports that I know of are a 4:3 format. Not 16:9 But this option is totally a personal opinion. However, there are a lot of budget HD2, HD2+, and some DC3 projectors and all that I have looked at are 16:9. One of them was a 4:3 format with a seperate lens for true 16:9 if you decided you wanted to go that route later. But I don't recall which one. The Screenplays seem to offer a lot of bang for the buck. So out of the 2 you have listed I would go with the SP5700 or if you can swing it, I would go with the SP7205. But then you start getting up in a price range where there is a lot of projector options.

Here was my review on the EP739 at projectorcentral.com it states a lot of what I said but it might have more detail. As I am just going to cut & paste.

Personal Experience
This is my second of three projectors. It has the worst vga/s-video hookups. (Do not even use them). Should only be used with the DVI input. You may ask why, well I'll get into that. Come to find out the deinterlacer and scaler chip is a all in one chip. To where the 758 has seperate chips for this, hence a better picture (at least thats what Optoma says) Also there is a lot of light leakage from the 739. Hence will slightly wash out image. A plus side is the unit is like whisper quiet compared to my Sharp. Please check my review on the Sharp XR-1S. It is a projector that has superb picture right out of the box for 600.00 to 800.00 and is well worth the money. Only problem I had with that is I will use it for computer on occaision. And will need the XGA resolution over the svga. But the Sharp is exc. for dvd's. The EP 739 is not well for dvd's and Video Essentials or an Optomizer disc is much needed and only helps a little. I was very disappointed, considering I was happy with the Sharp at 650.00 New. And I had figured I would at least get a fair picture with the EP 739 at a cost of 1600.00 But that was not the case. Also the 739 has a plastic lense (by the way the EP 758 also has plastic) and the Sharp is a Carl Zeiss all glass lense for a fraction of the cost (clear image from corner to corner) With plastic you (or at least me) will see sharpness in the center and it will have a slight blur towards the edges. (Very suprised the EP 758 with a msrp of 5999.00 does not have a glass lense) I can by no means suggest the EP 739, I will give a review of the EP 758 a week after I have played with it. By the way the first person I spoke with at Optoma was VERY RUDE. And said I was expecting to much. Until I finally got a word in, and said that my cheap Sharp is 150 times better at a third of the price. Imagine a expensive Sharp model.