4. Color

The IN72 contains 10-bit color processing, which is common among most home theater projectors in this price range. Color temperature was very close to the ideal 6500K benchmark, and flesh tones had a very slight hint towards red. Colors were well balanced, with no particular color jumping out at you more than others. Color saturation was excellent, with rich, deep hues creating very pleasing, vibrant images.

Contrast/Black Level

While it is somewhat common knowledge that DLP-driven displays do a good job with contrast, the IN72 does well compared to most other DLP projectors in its class with excellent black levels and shadow detail regardless of source. Difficult scenes that contain a great deal of dark and light portions are well rendered with the IN72, which also have solid mid-tones. All this being said, DLP displays still have their limitations and a high-quality plasma or CRT display will still have better overall contrast.

Video Processing

The IN72 has advanced motion adaptive deinterlacing for standard and high definition sources and a 2D comb filter. Some displays claim a 3D comb filter, which means they are better, right? When it comes to video processing, every television company has its own jargon and my suggestion is to ignore it for the most part. Most newer displays and projectors do a very good job of scaling most any source to its native resolution, and the IN72 is no exception.

Actually, one major advantage of any 480p display is that DVD with most non-HD source material is rendered in either 480p or 480i and therefore need little to no scaling. The result is that non-HD sources such as digital cable or satellite look very smooth with fewer artifacts than many HD displays. Because of the native resolution of the IN72, both 1080i and 720p HDTV sources have to be scaled down to 480p, but HD sources will still look significantly better than any non-HD source. Scaling was very good as I did not notice any major issues with signal noise or motion artifacts ("aka 'jaggies") during fast moving scenes with any HDTV source.

Viewing Position

Viewing position is a major issue when it comes to any 480p or EDTV display, primarily because if you prefer to sit far enough away from your television or projector, then 480p displays become a very attractive option. I tested the IN72 on a 92" diagonal screen and at that size, I found the closest distance I could sit without being distracted by screen door effect (SDE) was about 14 feet, which equates to about 2x the screen width. Most 720p DLP Projectors I've seen can be viewed without distraction from about 10 feet or about 1.5x screen width. While the 720p projector will still look better/sharper at 2x screen width than the 480p projector, the difference may not be that substantial as most 720p projectors of similar quality are priced almost twice as much as the IN72. So if you prefer to sit farther away from your television or projector than most, you will want to give the IN72 a try.

720p Vs. 480p - Is There A Big Difference?

You may hear claims from some viewers that they see no difference between EDTV (480p) and HDTV (720p) television or projectors. Perhaps for some viewers this is true, but I'm guessing that most people that spend the time and effort to set up a projector and screen in their home are going to pay more attention to image quality than the average viewer. I own a 720p DLP projector and during my tests, the difference between the IN72 and my projector were substantial.

I'm used to watching a 720p projector and when I started watching the same HD material with the IN72, the image appeared slightly blurry, especially sitting closer than 2x screen width. However, after a short time, this sensation went away and I was able to enjoy HD material on the IN72 without distraction. My point is that if you sit 2x screen width or closer, have decent eyesight and take more than a passing interest in image quality, then you will most likely notice a substantial difference between 720p and 480p displays.