InFocus ScreenPlay 5000 review

With High Definition (HD) TV around the corner, it's worth thinking about when you're going to buy a projector.

InFocus' ScreenPlay 5000 meansyou don't have to worry because this projector has an HDCP-compliant DVI connector on the back and a native resolution of 1,280x720, so it will support HD input.

The DVI connector on the rear is an M1-DA, which requires a special cable that accepts standard DVI and USB inputs. InFocus provides a cable in the box, but if it breaks or you lose it, a DVI adaptor will cost you £20. We think it's better if manufacturers stick to standard inputs, and InFocus could easily have provided separate DVI and USB inputs. Fortunately, everything else on the projector is standard. There are component, S-video, composite and D-sub inputs to take care of just about any peripheral you'll need to connect.

We tested using a PC on the digital input. The projector uses three 0.7" LCD screens, so it doesn't suffer from the rainbow effect that plagues many DLP projectors. However, it uses older technology than Epson's EMP-600W and offers only a 1,200:1 contrast ratio. It's also not as bright, with a maximum output of 1,100 ANSI lumens.

At first, the picture looked terrible and there was too much green in the images produced. We had to calibrate the colour levels manually to get better colour. Even then, colours were muted and didn't have the same depth or warmth as those of other projectors we have tested. Our greyscale test was good, but we detected slight banding. HD video looked fine at the projector's native resolution, but we would have preferred more vibrant colour.

We played a DVD through the component input and found the ScreenPlay 5000 upscaled it well, so there was no aliasing. However, there was a lot of noise in the picture and areas of high contrast obscured fine detail.

This is around £200 cheaper than Epson's projector, but sadly the quality is not as good.

Author: David Ludlow