InFocus ScreenPlay 4805

Few will be taken with its utilitarian lines, but inside the ScreenPlay 4805 you'll find a Texas Instruments DarkChip2T DLP engine. This provides a stunning contrast ratio of 2200:1, with a combination of increased mirror angle and improved light-absorption, providing the tonal range that home theatre enthusiasts are looking for. However, like all Widescreen VGA (WVGA), even standard TV and DVD playback has to be resampled to fit the projector's native resolution. Video processing from the Faroudja DCDi chipset helps maintain image clarity to a degree (and it smoothed out interlaced source material admirably), but the ScreenPlay 4805 inevitably lacks the crispness of a WXGA product.

Colour reproduction was good--though lacking the vibrancy of LCD projectors--and the DLP engine minimises the visibility of lines between pixels. Additionally, the high-speed, six-segment, four-colour wheel makes the rainbow effect of DLP projectors less obvious, but it was still detectable in dark conditions. Yet the real disappointment was the projector's tendency to introduce image artefacts when running from analog inputs. These were most apparent in areas of shallow tonal change, like clouds of steam or blue skies, where the shimmer proved very distracting.

The InFocus is relatively noisy to run. You may not hear it in Eco mode if your movie soundtrack is loud enough, but run it at full power, for the peak 750 lumen output, and you'll definitely hear it. You'll also need to keep the remote with you, as the projector control panel curiously lacks a power-down button.