Dug up this old thread on search and thought it would be worth adding a comment:
The bottom line...
The X1 is AMAZING. I thought long and hard about what to get and I was skeptical. However, BestBuy had a sale (knew I could return it) and I went for it. When I turned the thing on, I was blown away.
You should see the iTunes visuals on this thing!!!!
It is awesome. Looks just as good if not better than on my Ghz TiBook, and that is no joke. Absolutely NO "rainbows" to worry about in these at all. I'm projecting onto a $85, 70" (that's almost SIX FEET) Dalite screen.
Speaking of rainbows...that is not a very good word for them. They are NOT rainbows but very short flashes of rather narrow RGB bands or fields that sometimes occur on the edges of some objects on some scences of DVDs. As I've mentioned, I've seen these exceedingly rarely (i.e., almost never) on the iTunes visuals and I've yet to see them during normal projection of my PB desktop image etc. (did I mention how spectacular the iTunes visuals are?!?!?). That said, I can see them on some scenes of DVDs. But before the bad, let's talk good...
When I first popped in the Fellowship DVD (using Ghz TiBook to output the video), I was once again absolutely blown away. The picture color, contrast, sharpness, brightness, everything was much, much better than I was expecting, even with default settings. I saw absolutely no evidence of pixelation of any kind! I sit at 1.5x screen width, but even getting closer, the pixels are well concealed and blended. It is a photographic image. The 16:9 projection of the DVD was also perfect. Most TV images I've seen look worse, and please tell me what you'd have to pay to get a 6 FOOT wide 4:3 TV screen?
Rainbows are RARE. They occur, but only during very brief flashes in a few scenes (seems to happen most during light-dark juxtaposition). I have sharp eyes and I was looking for them. I suspect someone just sitting down with no knowledge of the problem wouldn't even say anything or notice particularly. Personally, I was very, very worried about this before having actually seen an X1 at work, but I found the RGB bands not only rarely visible, but even when present, completely tolerable, partly because of how short-lived they are.
The image brightness is decent. I first turned the projector on during the day, with the blinds drawn and the picture was not bad at all. Again, I'm using a DaLite screen (cost $85), which I'm sure offers some significant help here. Watching stuff with ambient light should not be a problem (though of course the darker the better).
Anyway, this was a long review to say that the X1 has lived up to and surpassed all of my expectations. The RGB bands are there for sure, but they are FAR less insidious than the banter on the web would lead you to believe. The quality of the picture more than makes up for any minor distraction that occassional color bands on the edges of objects might cause.
EDIT:: just watched something on sunny day...obviously when the room is bright the picture is not as good.
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