Product: InFocus Screenplay 4805 Price: $11,500 Pros: High-contrast, stable performer Cons: Pixels will be lost if watching a 4:3 format film on this or any native 16:9 projector
The low-end of the projector spectrum just got better. The best DLP (digital light processor) projector you can buy now is the InFocus 4805, which really pushes the envelope a little further for under-$12,000 projectors.
Budget-minded home entertainment enthusiasts have been anticipating the arrival of the 4805 for months because its specifications - native 16:9, resolution of 854x480 and the use of new Texas Instruments chipset DarkChip2 - have had geeks on the edge of their seats.
Typically, you will have to fork out at least $25,000 for a cinema-class projector. But InFocus, Optoma and BenQ have launched cheap projectors with very good resolution and performance.
The 4805 does not disappoint. It is the first budget projector to feature a DVI (digital video interface) connection allowing for much clearer, noise-free transmission. The 4805 is very bright. For this review, I used a 100-inch Kikuchi High Power screen and Marantz 8400 DVD player using DVI.
The factory defaults worked well and the settings did not have to be tweaked.