InFocus Learn Big IN24EP Projector Review

My husband and I bought the InFocus 24 projector for home theater use 2 years ago and we have been very happy with it. Our pull down screen (that came with it from Office Max) is smaller than we wanted so we painted our wall with a gray movie paint (Sherwin Williams) and the projection is 8 1/2 feet diagonal.  Our projector is ceiling mounted about 14 feet from the wall.

Picture Quality
We are happy with the clarity perhaps because we have not yet been spoiled by high definition tv in our house.  We connected the projector to our DirecTV for a while.  Then we cancelled our DirecTV subscription and started watching tv and movies online.  We bought the basic $14/month cable package from our local provider and we use Windows Media Center as a dvr.  Netflix offers tons of online movies so we rarely go to the theatre. Besides, the big screen at the theatre just isn't as impressive anymore. There are a few things we've learned over time about clarity and cable connections. The clearest picture comes from connecting a dvd player, vcr or cable box with an s-video cable. It is also very clear when connecting a VGA cable from the computer to the projector. Clarity problems arise when connecting an S-Video on one end and AV cables on the other end. Or, if you connect VGA and convert to AV or S-Video on the other end you lose clarity.

Overheating Bulb
We had our first overheated bulb incident one week ago and as I said earlier we have had the projector for 2 years.  Our projector is in a hot, poorly ventilated room (in Florida) with strong track lights and we have run the projector all day for several days in a row.  When the bulb overheated last week, the projector shut off and the lightbulb indicator light came on.  We waited two days and unplugged the projector.  When we plugged it back in, the bulb worked.

Brightness
Our projector is in a garage that has been converted to a den.  We used blackout curtains for watching during the day and it is very helpful.  The darker the room the brighter the picture but absolute darkness is not necessary.  We have track lighting that we direct away from the screen and it works great.

Not only do we never go to the theatre anymore, our puny 12" tv in the bedroom has become a paperweight.