Product Review of the Infocus IN76 Home Theatre Projector

The InFocus IN76 Home Theatre Projector is a great projector for your home. It's great for watching movies, television and playing games. The image has great colors and the brightness is sufficient for just about any environment save for direct sunlight. There are plenty of inputs on the connection panel so you can connect all of your multimedia devices. This projector has had smashing reviews and sells for a great price to boot.

Image Quality:

The image quality of this projector is fascinating. The colors are very accurate and true. The contrast ratio is 3000:1 which is less then some of the competition but when viewing a side by side shootout; the IN76 is the obvious winner. The black levels are excellent, showing detail in areas that some projectors display too dark. The IN76 projector has a native 1280x768 resolution so it matches up perfectly with a 16:9 HDTV formatted screen. The image from an HD source is simply amazing with this projector. You see no pixels or distortion anywhere in the image. You will get your best results in a room with controlled lighting. If you have windows in the room with the projector make sure you can draw blinds or something to keep direct sunlight off of the picture. You can still see the screen fine with some sunlight in the room but you will get the best results at night or in a perfectly dark room. You will be stunned by the colors. The Projectors brightness is measured at 1000 lumens. This is less then the competitors claim their projectors can achieve but it still looks great unless you have direct sunlight on the picture. To sum up the image quality of this unit, it is out of this world and you will not be disappointed.

Performance:

Generally the projector works great without any issues. We've had this unit for over a year now and have run into a few minor problems. One day we came to start another TV viewing session on the projector and found that it would not turn on. We tested the power in different locations and the projector still wouldn't power on. Infocus' technical support decided that it was a bad power supply and exchanged it for us. Infocus has great customer support, but we were without our TV for several days and this hurt the IN76's durability in our eyes. Since then the projector works great other then the remote sensors responsiveness. The unit has ceased to react to anything we do with the remote. We have two remotes, so it is not just a problem with the remote, but I believe it's a problem with the unit's sensors. We have not got the problem fixed since we don't want to be without our unit, we simply push the button manually to turn the unit on and off. Otherwise the performance has been stellar with no unexpected shutoffs or any other abnormal behavior.

Specs:

Contrast Ratio: 3000:1

Resolution: 1280x720 (16:9)

Brightness: 1000 max ANSI lumens

Display Chip: DarkChip2 720p 12° LVDS, DLP by Texas Instruments

Lamp Life: Whisper: 3000 Hours and High Bright: 3000 Hours

Inputs and Outputs:

DVI: Number of Inputs: 1
Requires M1 to DVI cable

M1: Number of Inputs: 1
Accepts VGA and DVI through M1 cable

HDMI: Number of Inputs: 1
HDCP Supported

BNC: Not Available

Component (RCA): Number of Inputs: 1

VESA (HD15): Number of Inputs: 1
Requires M1 to VGA cable

S-Video: Number of Inputs: 1
4-pin DIN, no progressive support

Composite (RCA): Number of Inputs: 1

Standard Definition TV: Inputs: Composite RCA, S-Video, Component RCA

Enhanced Definition TV: Inputs: Component RCA, HDMI, M1-DA

High Definition TV: Inputs: Component RCA, M1-DA, HDMI

Computer: Inputs: M1-DA

HDCP Support: Yes

Stereo RCA Jacks Inputs: No

Stereo 3.5 mm Inputs: No

12v trigger for motorized screens (3.5 mm mini-jack): Yes

Projector Control: RS-232, Remote, Projector Keypad

Speakers: Not Available Monitor Output: No Audio Output: Not Available

Warranty:

The Infocus IN76 projector comes with a 2 year parts and labor warranty. We recommend that you extend that by at least 1 or 2 years in case something breaks down. You can extend it up to 2 years, for a total of 4 years of warranty, but I wouldn't recommend that unless you get a good deal on the extension. You can also buy a lamp warranty that covers the lamp for one year.

The Conclusion:

This projector is a great unit for a decent price. It runs around $2500 at the moment but will drop again as new models come out. You may have issues from time to time with the projector but the customer support is great and it's well worth it in the end. There are plenty of cool accessories you can buy for your unit that make it that much more enjoyable. You can't go wrong with the quality of this unit and I guarantee you will enjoy it, just make sure to get the extended warranty. Enjoy!