Customer Reviews

Infocus Play Big IN72 480p DLP Home Theater Projector

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Holy cow this was a great purchase. I use a digital projector in my living room as my "tv". When I went to replace my existing Infocus projector, I considered stepping up to the IN76. After all, the IN72 is just the current version of the model I already had, right? Well, ok, technically, that is true. But, wow is there a difference.

This model has really wonderful brightness and color. The difference between it and earlier models is truly striking. Since light pollution from the surrounding environment (windows, etc.) has been my only real complaint with digital projectors, the added brightness of this model has really made me fall in love with them all over again.

Additionally, the fans are so quiet that I did not even build a hush box for it. I couldn't find any fans that were more quiet.

I really enjoyed this project while it lasted. The image quality was phenominal and was viewable even in daylight. We built a home theater around this projector and had many great movie nights that provided an experience rivaling big movie theaters. However, after about 15 months of use and with nearly 1000 hours left on the bulb, the projector died suddenly, smoke pouring out of the unit. Please be warned that in my research, I've discovered this is a common experience. For many, the culprit is an underpowered fuse. For me, it was a capacitor that burned up on the mainboard. I called customer support only to find out like many that Infocus has a fixed fee of $475 to fix the projector. They don't even guarantee it will be fixed for that amount and state the repair costs could be as high as $1,000! They will not work with you. From my experience, they only provide minimal customer service and do not acknowledge these are common problems. For many, it seems to be related to using the projector in a ceiling mounted position. My experiences with InFocus will discourage my purchase of their products in the future.

I chose the IN72 partially because it was the only projector InFocus recommended on its website for gaming. The picture quality was really good and the projector was quite bright. Even though is doesn't project at HD standards, using the HDMI input is supposed to improve the image (I haven't tried it yet). I would recommend it for movie watching and gaming even though it's not HD. I am more than satisfied with this purchase especially because of how cheap it was. If you buy this from amazon, you should go to the tigerdirect website to print out the $200 rebate offer which is available until June. My purchase ended up being 450 plus shipping and handling.

I received this as a gift from my wife for Christmas 2006 and although I didn't have a home theater to run this with, we pulled it out at parties and projected a movie or video games on the wall. Works fine... looks nice. Now, 16 months later and with the unit only accruing about 50 hours of use, I built a full home theater and the unit suddenly died before I could even use it once.

This is apparently a common problem with these units... they just suddenly stop working. Many people fix them by replacing the internal fuse... I read about someone fixing theirs by rolling back the firmware version inside. Unfortunately, neither of those works for me, and sending it back for a $400+ repair is my only option.

I'll never buy another Infocus item again... after 50 hours of careful use, no power surge, no abuse, it shouldn't have died. The 50 hours were nice though, which is why I gave it 2 and not 1 star.

I've had my projector for a few months and was pretty happy with it until I needed to move it. After that it started to display a bunch of white vertical lines. Customer support suggested to send the unit for inspection and they found that I damaged the unit by using too long screws. But I only used those that were supplied along with projector, so I assume they simply did not want to repair it (it was still under warranty). Stay away!

Hello,
I purchased this projector after reading about it and seeing the rebates they offered for it.
Setup is a snap.
The Input options are great for a project this low costed. HDMI, S-Video, Component, and DVI(?)
I do wish it had internal speakers for Game playing as I wanted to use it in other rooms.
DVD look WOW from this projector.
If you are looking to get into home theater, this is a very good option.

I have had this projector for over 3 years now. It has experienced all the common problems that people report in the forums. It broke down within a couple of months, and was fixed with no cost to me as it was still under warranty. Then a couple of months later it was the underpowered fuse, but since it was not under warranty anymore, I replaced it myself. Now the third and the worst failure happened just a couple of days ago when I turned it on and saw smoke coming out of the projector. I opened it up and the power supply capacitor C517 and the fuse were burnt. I replaced them, but something else is wrong since the fuse keeps blowing up every time I turn it on. I have had no luck in getting hold of a replacement for the power supply board.

PROS:
- Very good picture

CONS:
- Repeated component failure

My parents have a Infocus screen play 4805 which I helped them select a couple of years ago for the basement theater room. I loved it so much I knew I wanted an Infocus when I moved out. As far as the IN72 goes it's brighter but, not washed out thanks to its 6 segment 4X speed color wheel, which I nor any of my friends have ever been able to see a rainbow effect on. The colors are crisp and clear. This projector is ideal for movies 480p and downloaded movies. If you want to watch television regularly on it you'd probably burn out the bulb which is almost as much as the projector itself. I would recommend it for a larger room because if you sit to close it's like been in the first row in a movie theater, personally it gives me headaches. The image processor does a great job converting different input signals, but I try to stick to its native 480p resolution, if you want something to play your hidef. DVD's or blu rays I would recommend you look else where but when it comes to regular DVD's you'll never fine a better picture.

We have it in our gaming center hooked to an Xbox 360 & Wii, it works great, everyone compliments it.

We read the reviews and decided we should buy the Infocus IN 72 rather than replace the burned out bulb in our Infocus Screenplay 4805. It was the exactly the right decision. Although we had been very very pleased with the 4805, the IN 72 is quieter and the picture brighter and clearer. Downloading the newer firmware (which we did based upon other reviews)was a little scary for a few moments but the instructions on the Infocus Website worked as described. The new machine seemed to quit each time we connected the M1 HDMI cable..but found later that it wasn't really quitting just turning the bulb off before downloading. Movies we had watched before are clearer and more vivid on the IN 72. Also, the price with rebate was less than half the price we paid for the 4805 and a little more than the cost of a new bulb. The two things that are a little different is the stand the way that one has to tilt the projector to aim at the screen is simpler than the 4805 but a little tricky (similar to tilting a large CRT) and the IN 72 has no audio output if you want to use the machine for video games (we usually asked the kids to turn off the audio anyhow). Also the projector is set to turn itself off after 4 hours if don't change the settings. After six weeks of use we have reaffirmed that we made an excellent selection..