RUNCO LS-5 DLP Front Projector
By Terry Paullin – August 2010
A non-sequitur?
This may be the first time "Runco" and "very affordable" have seen
each other in the same sentence. "High quality" is a familiar
sentence pal, but so are retail numbers well into 5 digits. But so be
it. The new LS-5 DLP front projector DOES carry the Runco logo
and logs in at a tick under $7,000. With anything close to its
performance in the marketplace sporting at least one extra digit in
the price tag, this offering should be a no-brainer for anyone waiting to see what's around the
corner. Wait no longer. Pristine pixels for minimum dinero are here at last. But now I've gone
and spilled the beans ...
First, a minimum of mundane details.
The LS-5 design is a bit ... uhh, odd. It's round. Opinions will vary as personal tastes are want to
do, but the truth is it will soon be upside down on your ceiling, so if noticed at all, it will likely
elicit a "hummm" which will quickly be replaced with a "wooow" if there is any image at all
coming out of the lens. Like most current generation DLPs, it's small, light weight (22 lbs.) and
relatively quiet. It has a 6-segment color wheel, an optional short throw lens and the replacement
lamp is $500 and should last about 4,000 hours in "green" mode.
When the 240 watt lamp is set to full bright (standard) mode, the exhaust can be a bit warm, so if
table mounted, you may want to avoid sitting screen left.
There ends the similarity with the rest of the under $10K crowd.
SET-UP
It's about as easy as it can get. Vertical and horizontal lens shift must be accomplished
mechanically with an allen wrench, but I actually prefer it that way. Non-motorized controls
equals fewer moving parts equals less cost and greater reliability. And besides, you only have to
set them once. Ditto for the manual focus and zoom. Be sure and take advantage of the built-in,
single pixel test grid for adjusting focus. That's it. Now you are ready to go through the user
menu choices with your favorite calibration disc in the player, or just call your friendly ISF
calibrator ... :-)
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