Customer Reviews

InFocus X1 Video Projector

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I purchased the X1 just before Christmas (delivery in 36 hours!) to be the video source for my Home Entertainment system. I use a computer to supply DVD input and for computer games. The Xbox and game Cube are connected through the s-video input. I am projecting on a 84 inch diagonal white screen. Viewing distance is about 11 feet.

DVD movies look perfect. There is no visible pixilation and blacks are close to true black (in film mode). Part of this is no doubt do to using a computer for the DVD input. I believe a direct s-video input may not be as good (I have not tried this though).

The video game systems also look great. Four player Halo on a big screen has to be seen to be believed.

I also have a TV tuner (Hauppage)in the computer and astonishingly, the TV image (at about 65 inch diagonal)is excellent.

The only reservation would be that the light output is not great (especially in film or video mode) so you need to use it in a room that can be fully blacked out.

The picture is much better than any rear projection HDTV's I have seen (of any size). For the money I doubt you could by a better picture for TV or DVD viewing.

The native resolution is SVGA so Text is slightly ragged, especially when displayed in XGA mode. Again due to the SVGA native resolution computer games do not look as good as on high resolution monitor. I would therefore not recommend the projector as your only computer monitor or for large amounts of web surfing.

Definitely recommended.

I have logged about 350 hours on my X1 and am still impressed by what I see. I thought that DVDs looked amazing with s-video in, but Hi-Def is even more incredible, almost 3 dimensional.

Slight rainbows from the 2x color wheel may or may not bother you. I am a broadcast professional and highly critical of image quality, and although I notice them, they are not a deal breaker, and seem to diminish the more I watch.

If I were buying today, I'd give serious consideration to the newly announced Screenplay 4805. Although it looks like the X1, it is "enhanced" in many ways. For another $600 you get DVI in with HDCP (trust me, your gonna want this when HD-DVD hits the market), a 25% brigher bulb (the X1 when set-up for video without the white wheel segment, is less than 500 lumens), a default calibrated set-up for video out of the box, and a 16x9 image panel instead of 4:3. Instead of 800x600, it's 854x480. This means no vertical scaling on DVD material down to 800x450 (should be much sharper and should be markedly sharper using DVI for input from the new DVD players. Basically we're talking about digital pixel for pixel imaging right from the DVD) and no gray bars on the top and bottom when viewing 16x9 material. As a further home theatre bonus, they've added a 12v screen trigger for electronic pull-down screens.

Of course, it's got the proven Faroudja DCDi processor as well.

The X1 rocks and is cheap, but if you primarily want to view movies, check out the 4805 which should ship sometime this spring.

This is simply an amazing product for the price. Don't let the SVGA resolution fool you, the images are crystal clear and since it's DLP there is virtually no visible pixel structure, as is common on LCD projectors. I couldn't be more pleased with my purchase. Just go to a local home theater store and view another DLP projector with a 2x colorwheel speed and make sure you don't see rainbows before you buy it, because if you see them you'll just end up returning it. If you don't see rainbows, it will be the best thing you ever buy, unless you just bought a porsche or something.

After having replaced a fine 55" Mitsubishi HDTV with this projector, everyone who has viewed movies in my home theater can't believe the X1 sells for under $1000. Sure, it has no NTSC tuner nor any sound system worth mentioning, but that's precisely the point. All that stuff is outboard for even the most modest home theater enthusiast, and thus is redundant and unnecessary (as well all more costly) when purchasing any other type of monitor. The 7200 and 7205 are truly fine machines, but they are not worth the thousands of $$$s more than the X1, unless you are a fanatic. I still don't believe this unit performs as well as it does. DVDs explode into life and even Directv looks pretty sensational. Finally, remember the X1a and X2 do not include Farjouda processing. Big difference from my perspective. With the X1 you can't go wrong.

I have been enjoying the Infocus X1 for about a year now. Everyone enjoys it. I use ALL of the input modes. Here is a list of uses so far. :-}

- NTSC Composite from VCR
- NTSC S-Video for standard Comcast Cable service
- HDTV 1080i from Comcast Cable service. Needed special cable that converts Y/Pr/Pb to RGB. Even though it needs to use image compression to change res. from 1920x1080 to 800x600 the projector displays a supurb image.
- SVGA 1024x768 compressed for most computer stuff but is still sharp and clear
- My favorate! Counter-Strike! VGA 800x600! Players are lifesize!
- LotR Two Towers Special Addition is amazing!

Save your money! If you plan on paying more than $1000 for a TV or Plasma. Buy an X1 instead!

-Egbet the Destroyer

Hi everyone,
Each year around this time, your old friend Sam gets into high tech gear and explores the latest gadgets out there. This year I wanted to add big screen video to our bedroom to take advantage of watching more of the many, many DVD's I have amassed in the past few years. Why watch lousy TV programs when you can see a good feature and see it movie size?
Well, I had NO IDEA what a REVOLUTION has occurred in video processing technology at a price ANYONE can afford right now. Those of you who have seen my eight foot projected picture at home will appreciate what I am about to tell you....you can have close to that great quality for DVD's, Cable TV or High Definition, or other sources for only $999.99 and all you need do is go to Circuit City and buy the INFOCUS X1 projector. Infocus is one of the leading manufacturers of projectors for industrial use and their sets are now being tailored for home use. Their products use the DLP technology (Digital Light Producing) and the latest Texas Instruments chip. This baby is smaller than a typewriter (about 5 by 10 by 12) and weighs only six pounds. The bulb will last for up to FOUR THOUSAND hours and is relatively cheap to replace. The brightness and contrast specs are actually better than my two year old six thousand dollar Sharp XV-9000 projector. It has lower resolution than some higher priced machines, but still enough punch to make any DVD look great for picture sizes up to nine feet. It even has a small speaker and amp built in so you don't need to hook up a sound system, which is especially handy if you want to carry it out anywhere. It has a zoom lens that allows you to adjust picture size and a handy remote control that provides all the choices for any adjustments you need.
Right out of the box, and without making any adjustments, the picture on "Annie Get Your Gun" (an exceptional DVD!) looked beautiful. I hyped the brightness, color, and contrast a bit and was even more pleased. Truly, this projector is just unbelievable and it is a thrill to share this review of its great performance with you.
You don't even need a screen to enjoy the picture, as it will work on a white wall or even a sheet. A cheap screen will be better, however. Anyone with at least a five foot throw distance can enjoy this baby in a darkened room. I had mine about fifteen feet from the screen for an eight foot picture. Even with light on in the room, the picture can be enjoyed.
This projector was introduced at $1,600.00 and was recently lowered in price because a newer model is coming out next year...BUT the new model will not include the fine Faroudja processor that is built into the unit. This processor is great at cleaning up imperfections in video. Jagged edges, video noise, and more will be smoothed out.
As usual, I did much research into this and compared other models and read countless reviews to find the best bang for the buck right now. There are a few other models that average a couple hundred more and will probably give similar performance, but I don't think any other machine will come close for this price.
So, if a big beautiful video experience is what you have been waiting for....go get one and enjoy! Just hook up your cable box or an inexpensive DVD player and you are in business. BOTTOM LINE: People who are going out and buying those huge rear projection TV's that are heavy and take up a lot of room paid from two to three thousand dollars and sometimes much more. You can have a picture double their size, that will have no "burn in" problems, take up no space, and almost certainly will have a superior picture....for a third of the price. The projector also has a THREE year warranty.
I think Santa Claus came early this year...because it feels like Xmas here today!
best to all,
Sam

After reading the reviews here and elsewhere, I took the plunge and got this around Christmas. Here's my observations based on my initial temporary setup.
I set this up in a converted lower level room showing against white painted sheetrock. I have four windows in the room. Set the projector up temporarily on my entertainment center approximately 12 feet from the wall. (Audio through a home theatre audio system)

The unit does not come with the component adapter which I recomend
as almost essential for viewing DVDs. So you need to add that cost ($25) and the component cable costs if you dont have one (radio shack...$50) to the cost of the unit.

First of all, you need very dark area for the Film presentation setting. This is not really a problem in my setup because I have light tight window shades. I have not bought a screen yet so part of my problem may be the lack of brightness due to the white sheetrock. In any case,
normal TV viewing with the lights on is not particularly satisfying.

Before I got the adapter, I viewed DVDs through S-Video and found them okay, but definitely saw some screen door effects. (Especially noticeable in the "Finding Nemo" DVD.

S-Video connector is okay, but the difference between that and component video is night and day. I put the Nemo DVD in after I hooked up the component cables and it just blew me away. No screen door problem. Only small problem I saw was some slight blooming of blues in the high saturation range (such as Dory's body). Not that noticeable and I was looking at it with a hyper critical eye.

A lot depends on the DVD compression and such....Lawrence of Arabia Superbit version looks great compared to it;s poorly produced predecessors.

Xbox games were okay on the big screen...I have to fool around with the settings some, but the lack of brightness does make it feel a bit shadowy compared to TV CRT viewing.

In any case I bought it for DVD viewing and for that it's just great. Recommend it highly.

This unit is just amazing.

Although the rating is 800x600, you can display 1024x768 with excellent result. If no one told you, you would not know that 1024x768 is not the native resolution.

It is very light, and comes with a remote that doubles as a mouse for your computer, which enables you to deliver presentations in a very professional manner.

Although the rainbow effect that plagues early generation DLP projectors is present at time with this unit, I am not bothered by it. You can only see it if you look for it, but is non-existant if you are captivated by the movie or show you are watching.

Other points:
- 1 composite video in
- 1 s-video in
- 1 vga in
- 1 audio in
- manual focus (that's a minus)
- electronic lamp hour usage tracking
- 4:3, native, or widescreen (16:9) display modes
- digital keystoning
- It is as loud as a standard computer. So, at night you will notice it when all other sounds are muted. That noise is usually covered up by the movie or tv sound or during the day by daily noises.

Finally, there are two extra bonuses when you get the unit.
- the bulb now lasts 4000hrs instead of 3000hrs as advertised
- It is 1100 luminen instead of 1000 as advertised
- the bulb price is down to 299 bucks, which makes it very economical

I am writing this, because i made my decision mainly over the others opinions and i will be very happy if i can help others with their decision. I am not an expert but i can tell you that i am very hapy with the result. My wife was very pesimistic about the idea of buying a projector but now she is also accept that result is impressive. This is my first projector and i don't think i need an upgrade for a while. I'am using it mainly for dvd. I have a 100" screen. Colours and contrast are very good but there are minor problems with dark scenes. If you want to use X1 during the day you have to have a light control because this is not a projector you can use it in a bright environment. Seting up X1 is easy. Component video is deffinitely giving the best result but s video is also not bad. For component video you have to use a special adaptor and it was difficult to find when ý bought the X1. If you can not find it you can use a VGA to 5BNC cable (like me). It can accept progressive signals but you should decide whether your source or the procector's video processing is better. X1 has a Faroudja video processing and it is very good. I know the rainbow isue is a problem with DLP projectors (Specialy projectors with 2X color wheel like X1). But i am at the lucky side. I have more than 300 hours on the lamp and neither me nor My wife or any of my friends see any rainbows yet. I think, if you don't see the rainbows you can not go wrong with this projector. Result is perfect for the price. I think this was the best 950$ i spend for my home theatre. PS: you can find lots of useful information about X1 at http://members.shaw.ca/technut/x1faq (unofficial X1 FQA page)

The X1 projector is a great addition to my home theater. I ordered the composite adapter and DVD watching is superb. I also watch VHS tapes via the S-Video input and depending on the quality of the VHS tape, the results are unbelievable. I sold my 56" HDTV Monitor and bought the X1 and was skeptical about the claims made here at Amazon as well on the Home Shopping Network. Now that I have been using the X1 projector for the last 60 days and have gotten used to it, I don't ever plan on spending $2300 for a TV that is measured in inches and that weighs 300 pounds. I have my X1 setup in a light controlled environment in my semi finished basement and the presentation is approximately 10'x 11" diagnal, you can't get closer to the movie theater experience than that. I am using a Panasonic DVD player and a JVC amplifier for DTS, Dolby Surround, Surround 5.1 sound and 10 speakers for the audio. Like the one person's comments, I'm not a tech nut either but I know great video when I see it. There is a reason that merchandise stores display 100 TV sets on the main floor as soon as you enter the doors and hide the projectors in the back corner. Because once you have experienced the projector you will never want to spend more than twice the money on a TV that is limited in size as well as warranty care. My X1 was too easy to hook up to my DVD player, VCR (for TV channels), RCA video for the kids' Play Station 2 and amplifier. I am no longer a skeptic and when friends see the quality and size of the video of this light weight powerful unit they can't believe it. Some TV channels such as ESPN, MSNBC, TLC etc, I can watch in moderate light without any problem. I downloaded the latest software update from the http://www.infocus.com website simply by connecting my X1 to my computer and was done in no time at all. You need one of these if you enjoy home theater and for the price you can't go wrong.