What Hi Fi Sound and Vision
13 SEP 2007
InFocus IN82
The IN82 might appear to be a difficult ‘sell’ for InFocus dealers, using as it does After casework, lamp and Pixelworks 10-bit video processor seen lower down the company's range, as well as the same seven-segment colour wheel. Even the socket-fit is familiar: as well as HDMI 1.3 video ins, it includes InFocus’ oft-used M1-DA connector, which can accept signals from DVI-equipped sources, PCs or HDMI components via an adaptor.
Because you're worth it
The IN82 uses TI's high-performance DarkChip3 imaging device, giving a claimed 4000:1 contrast ratio and improved brightness. Team this with established InFocus projector strengths and you get a stupendous projector for the money. Colours look rich and vibrant, thanks to the BrilliantColor image processing, designed to increase the number of available colours the single-chip DLP system can reproduce.
Black levels, meanwhile, also impress, with fine insight into the darkest scenes, and there's also plenty of ‘snap’ to white and bright areas. With Blu-ray, the results are superb, making the Blu-ray of Training Day look as good as it does on many far more expensive rivals.
Serious tweakability
You can also tweak this InFocus as much or as little as you like: the out-of-the-box settings are impressive, but delve into the set-up menus, and you’ll even find plenty to play with, including dedicated picture set-up modes only accessible to an Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) video technician, which allow for precisely tailored image quality.
Movie buffs will also be delighted to learn there’s an optional Cinemascope lens available, meaning you can, should you choose, team this projector with an ultra-wide Cinemascope screen and still benefit from every pixel of their 1920 x 1080 resolution.
It’s this thrilling blend of affordability, flexibility and (above all) capability that makes the IN82 so special. Nothing else we’ve tested at this price gets close.
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