[Editor's note: this review is excerpted from John's write-up of the 2004 Projector Expo.]

We actually spent the most time with this AFTER the show, when we kicked back and watched RETURN OF THE KING late Sunday night. We were all pretty tired earlier in the evening after packing up all the rest of the equipment, but some of us caught a second wind and just couldn't bear to send back the 777 without watching at least one movie on it.

The 777 is extremely bright, as the 2000 lumen spec would indicate. I would say this is an accurate specification, as it was distinctly brighter than anything else at the show, and even seemed bright on the 123" Greyhawk we displayed it on. People have debated here the value of a $30,000 3 chip DLP projector compared to its one chip counterparts, but what's clear here is that this projector is designed for considerably larger home theaters than the single chip pieces, as well as the customer who just plain wants the best performance regardless of price. I would have no problem recommending the 777 for screens up to 200" diagonal, as it has got brightness to burn.

What it also has is an abundance of is contrast - before starting the movie we played an HD-Net clip of a conversation that was taped inside a dimly lit ship's cabin, with the sun-drenched sea and sky clearly visible outside the cabin windows (via DVI/HTPC). This particular scene seemed murky to some degree on all of the other projectors, with the people inside the cabin somewhat lost against the background compared to the bright day seen through the cabin windows. This is where the 777 was clearly better than any of the single chip HD2 or 2+ units - the scene simply looked much more natural and just plain REAL, as you would perceive such a setting in real life. The only other projector I have seen that produces this quality of realism is the Sony Qualia. As we walked from the Sony booth at CEDIA, I remember asking Brad what he thought of the Qualia, and he replied, "It looked...real." The 777 has that same quality to its presentation - a solidity and a way of dealing with difficult scenes that never calls attention to the fact that you are watching a video display device. The picture is totally natural in terms of color, how it renders shadows and sunlight, and in rendering of intense action sequences.

Unlike the Qualia, we did get to see how it handled DVD when we popped in RETURN OF THE KING. Again, the same qualities were present, the natural colors, lighting, and contrast I mentioned above. Of course, the DVD did not have near the stunning detail that the HD clips did, but it looked about as good as possible without adding any artifacts whatsoever to the picture. Because of the three chip design, rainbows were non-existent (of course). Dithering was also pretty much non-existent, but I thought I noticed very slight temporal dithering on fast pans.

At the show the previous day, Aaron had the 777 running simultaneously with the 7205 and Studio Experience 2HD (the 777 was on the 123" Greyhawk, the 7205 on a 110" Firehawk, and the 2HD on the 110" Carada Brilliant White). Display material was the TI DLP demo tape running on a JVC D-VHS deck, 1080i fed to each projector via component video. The 777 was clearly the brightest of the three, but also had the most depth and dimensionality to its image. This, I feel, was due to the greater contrast of the 777 despite its high brightness. Blacks were on a par with the 7205 we had on the Firehawk, deep and genuinely black, but not as deep as the black of the screen surround (as would be expected from a 2000 lumen projector).

Several people have commented on the fact that the projector shut down on two occasions, and that is true. At first, Keith attributed it to the fact that the projector had been shipped around the globe on two different occasions as well as all over the country, and had probably taken a few knocks. Later, after calling in to the engineering team, we learned it was due to the fact that the projector was still utilizing the original prototype fans and the extra heat of the room and two adjacent projectors was causing it to get too hot. The unit at the show was a prototype, as anyone inspecting it could see (the shell almost looked hand-crafted in certain spots). Keith arranged for it to be shipped back to service Monday morning so that the actual production fans could be installed into the case.

Another point - Mike from Sencore did a quick calibration test on the unit Friday night. Except for a couple of minor tweaks to contrast and brightness, the 777 was just about dead on right out of the case. Some have scoffed at the idea of the Infocus pieces living up to the claim of being 6500k calibrated straight from the factory, but Mike and Chip can verify that this was so with ALL of the Infocus pieces at the show, and we've got the calibration sheets to prove it. In fact, when calibrating the 5700, Chip said that it was closer to 6500k out of the box than many other projectors AFTER calibration.

Last, but not least, this is one sexy looking projector. I would say it was far and away the best looking piece at the show. One of the cool things about being in this business is that I get to try out my demo pieces in my home, and I wouldn't mind having this projector hanging from my ceiling despite its large size.