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InFocus IN146 Short Throw Projector Needs Only a Few Feet for a Big Picture

Shane McGlaun — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 21:23:41 +0000

I am in the middle of putting together an epic home theater in my game room that I have finally wrestled from the control of the wife and kids. I am putting in a projector and a freakin’ 10-foot wide screen of glorious gaming goodness. Thankfully, the room is huge and I can get a giant image. If you want a projector, but have a smaller space the new InFocus IN146 might be perfect for you.

The little projector isn’t specifically made for home theater, but it is 3D capable, has 720p resolution, and HDMI input so it will do the deed. The best part about the IN146 is that it can throw a 60-inch image from only 2.5 feet from the wall.

I would think that would mean a massive 120-inch image would be possible from about twice that distance. The projectors native resolution is 1280 x 800 and it has a single HDMI input with dual VGA inputs. Brightness is 2700 lumens, so a room with windows should be no problem. Another nice feature is the price. The IN146 sells for just $825 (USD).

Infocus Play Big Projector: Big Picture, Big Pixels

Technabob — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 01:59:28 +0000

Wanna play your video games on a massive screen, but don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on a huge flat screen? This new projector from InFocus lets you play games and movies at sizes between 40-inches and 210-inches diagonal for under $500.

The InFocus Play Big IN1 gaming projector is powered by a TI DLP chipset, and easily connects to your gaming console or DVD player to crank out huge, reasonably bright images. So what’s the catch? In this era of high-definition video, the native resolution of the projector is only 640×480 (VGA). Sure, it’ll accept a 720p or 1080i/p signal, but it’s all down-rezzed to 480p. It’s got connectors for S-Video, component and composite video, but there’s no HDMI or DVI inputs at all.

While the projector isn’t ideal for HD sources like the Xbox 360 or PS3, it is a perfect match for the Nintendo Wii, which doesn’t output high-def. Heck, InFocus even includes a Wii component cable to make it super simple to get up and going with the popular Nintendo console. The funky-looking trapezoidal projector even has a built-in stereo sound system, so other than a projection surface, it’s entirely self-contained.

Even though the IN1 can project images up to 210-inches diagonal. However, at that size I’m betting the 500-lumen output won’t be sufficient for anything but a really dim picture in a really dark room. On the other hand, it should be plenty bright at anything under 100-inches. As is always the case with front projection, I’d recommend a light-controlled environment.

So if you’re looking for a huge picture on a not-so-huge budget, the Play Big IN1 is worth a look. It’s available for $499 exclusively from Woot.

[via CrunchGear]

Infocus Play Big 1080p Dlp Projector Announced

Technabob — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 13:18:02 +0000

Projector maker InFocus today revealed their new home theater projector that offers full 1080p native resolution.

The new Play Big IN82 projector features a TI DarkChip3 DLP light engine, and a maximum contrast ratio of 12,000 to 1, thanks to an iris system. Light output is rated at 1500 lumens, dropping down to 1200 in “quiet” mode. The IN82 also embeds Pixelworks DNX image processing which should help keep images clean and artifact free. As is the norm with higher-end projectors these days, it’s got an HDMI 1.3 input and Deep Color support. There’s only one HDMI input, so you’ll need to do any switching remotely. One really nice feature is the projector’s ISF day and night settings, allowing the projector to store two sets of calibrations, depending on ambient light levels.

Retailing at $5499, the IN82 isn’t the least expensive 1080p projector out there, but only time will tell if the image quality will live up to the price.