InFocus ScreenPlay 5700

Projectors generally aren't recommended to replace your home television set. They cannot be used in sun-drenched rooms and operating costs would run sky high if you chose to use it as your primary display, due to the limited lifespan of projector lamps. However, where they do excel is for occasional use: the closing ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games; football grand finals; outdoor movie nights; or -- dare we say -- the family digital photo slide show.

Design
The ScreenPlay 5700 comes in a predominantly silver case and is quite a beast, in regards to both size and features. It measures a considerable 110 x 351 x 325mm, but weighs a reasonable 4.3kg. InFocus has built in a useful wide handle at the front near the lens to aid portability.

The 5700 has an elevation foot that pops down at the front to assist in projecting images from below the screen. There is also a screw out leg that comes out of one of the back corners to help level the image.

Two rings surrounding the lens of the 5700 cater for easy adjustment of zoom and focus. Most of the other settings can be controlled from a distance through the bundled home theatre remote control. Backlit and evenly spaced out, the remote control is well designed to be used in dark rooms and the 5700 has infra-red sensors on its front and rear to assist control no matter where you are in a room. The 5700's remote control also includes an easy to use laser pointer.

Keys for menu navigation, keystone correction (to correct trapezoidal pictures), brightness and input source selection can be found on the top of the projector.

Features
Infocus' ScreenPlay 5700 uses Matterhorn DLP technology from Texas Instruments, giving the projector a native resolution of 1024x576 (16:9 aspect ratio). The projector has brightness level of 1000 ANSI lumens and a contrast ratio of 1400:1. It comes with a six-segment colour wheel (9000rpm, 300Hz, 6500K colour temperature) set for D65 colour mastering which allows up to 16.7 million colours to be displayed simultaneously.

Connectivity on the ScreenPlay 5700 is generous, supporting up to eight input sources. The projector includes two S-Video and component RCA inputs, and one of each composite RCA, VESA (HD, HD component, computer), and component D5 connections. For digital lovers, InFocus has also added in a M1-DA (HD, DVI, and computer) connection. With all of these it is possible to display standard TV broadcasts, cable, satellite, HDTV, DVD, VCR, video cameras and video games. The versatile ScreenPlay 5700 can be set up to operate from front, rear and ceiling modes to accommodate any room configuration.

Performance
Start up time is about 30 seconds for the projector to display an image. After this initial delay, it takes about another minute or so before seeing the image in all its glory.

The bane of DLP projectors is what is known as the rainbow effect, the splitting of colours due to the colour wheels associated with DLP technology. We noticed a slight rainbow effect during our tests of the 5700 but not enough to distract us from its usual good performance.

The ScreenPlay 5700 has a longer throw range than some of the projectors we've looked at, meaning it has to be set up farther away from the screen than a projector with a short throw range, to get a similar-sized image. For a room with 3m from projector to screen, you should be able to achieve a diagonal image size between 1.3 and 1.8 metres.

The 5700's lamp can be set to shine at a boosted brightness level through the menu, but this reduces the replacable bulb's life from 3000 to 2000 hours.

If you're looking at setting up a widescreen DLP projector at home, be sure to check out InFocus' ScreenPlay 5700. For those wanting to experience home theatre without spending quite as much, you might want to take a look at Epson's Dreamio EMP-TW10H or one of Infocus' entry-level home entertainment projectors such as the ScreenPlay 4800.