Customer Reviews

InFocus X1A DLP Multimedia Video Projector

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

 

 

it fell apart under use. I researched buying a projector for a long time and the x1 looked like the ticket. It had the right price and all of the right options and after unpacking it and setting up the projector it was WOW. Then the problems. A huge grinding noise started and I sent it back to Infocus to be repaired under warranty. Infocus promises a detailed repair report and they replaced a screw. The same thing happened and I sent it back to Infocus and spoke with a nice guy. I said this was a lemon and should be replaced. Not happening. I even offered to upgrade and pay the difference. Not happening. When I got it back at least this time the repair report didn't just say replaced a screw. The unit is doing the same thing out of warranty and I put in for a repair request and thought ..... hmmmmm..... if Infocus couldn't fix it under warranty then why could they fix it out of warranty and I would be out at least 300.00 with no guarantee it wouldn't do it again. So I have a useless unit hanging like a bat on my ceiling.

Did this unit perform? Yes it did. Was extremely happy with it. But then if you can't get it fixed and fixed right then the unit is useless and the lowest rating. I continue to read all of these wonderful reviews and no one has ever mentioned my experience. This leads me to believe that my unit was a lemon and Infocus should have done the right thing. I did write Infocus and told them I would be writing reviews and gave them a week with no response.

P.S. 06/23/2006

The marketing manager of Infocus read my reviews and my experience and have since replaced the unit with a NEW Infocus x-2 at no charge. Works like a charm yet it sometimes still has that metallic grinding noise.

K.Pitman

I purchased this unit, and it ran well for 500 hours. After that the ballast began to fail, just a few months out of 90-day warranty. Now it's at $600 doorstop. Many other people have had trouble with this projector dying on them; just google around a bit. Avoid this model, and cheap Infocus projectors for that matter!

In December 2002 I purchased an x1 (see my review under infocus x1) and this projector is still going strong and I love it. If you can find a used one, I would still definitely rcommend it. Note that if you are using it in a dusty area, you must clean the bulb filter about every six months (I blew the first bulb at a year by not doing this). However, I had a very different experience with the X1A. The composite video was never as good as the X1 which would seem to be because it has a different, inferior decoder. After a little more than a year it started making a loud buzzing noise and then it quit. Since I only had a 1 year warranty, I decided to just forget about it. I have since replaced it with a refurbished infocus 4805 which so far is working great and is reasonably quiet.

Stay away from the X1A. I gave it 2 stars because for the year it did work it was excellent for playing DVD's from the computer.

I got mine on sale last year. What a bargain. Great pix, versitile, & super bright! We can watch it in the daytime it's so bright. I use it on the road for my show so it gets used & abused a lot. It's still running perfect on it's original bulb. When it's not on the road it's used as my primary widescreen TV at home.

This unit will not show full the resolution of true quality HDTV, but does an excellent job. Many HDTV signals have been downscaled, upscaled, dowscaled again, recompressed, & reprocessed so many times by the time it reaches your home, most of the channels aren't true HDTV quality anymore anyhow... esp. signals through cable & satellite. I guess the FCC hasn't passed any laws for HDTV quality yet.

The unit has more than enough resolution for ordinary DTV & DVDs.

For some reason, I don't get eye fatigue like I do watching other projectors a few hours. The factory presets aren't that good & seem to be for watching ordinary analog TV & VHS tapes. Fortunatly it comes with 3 user settable presets with a very wide array of settings & tweaks that make it a top quality performer.

I bought the component input adapter for it from Infocus. The quality of the adapter cable was poor & picked up plenty of RFI. Also after carefully unplugging it only a few times, one of the connectors fell right off the adapter. Poorly, cheaply designed adapter concidering most infocus products are specifically designed to be used on the road, set up & torn down easily & quickly all the time. The connecters for my other road equipment doesn't break after years of heavy use.

Fortunately for the road & at home the s-video connectors do an excellent job.

Do not EVER use the ordinary RCA-jack style composite signal jacks on a hi-end TV or projector. The signal won't be good enough. Any good TV will just make the poor signal quality more obvious.

The above reviewer must've got a bad unit or one that was banged around during shipping, or was dropped. These are durable units, but with too much banging around, you'll have problems the reviewer described. The grinding sound comes from the color wheel or blower fans being knocked out of alignment.

I also own their older lp-350 xga model & used a few of their other models. So far I'm very happy with all of them I've used.

Although my very old LP-350 still works like new, I have done some mods on it & the lens to increase the contrast ratio, brightness & bulb life. I'm surprised that if I can do it, that infocus doesn't offer a mod plan for them to do it for a price. They won't even sell specs & technical service data on their old machines. I guess they want you to pay an arm & leg for them to do repairs, or buy a new one.

I've had to fix a few infocus projectors out of warranty after they were banged around or just got well used & old... with no help or sevice data from infocus, even though it was requested.

Fortunately, DLP projectors have been around for a while now, so there are plenty of qualified techs familiar with them in just about every town who know how to fix, mod, & upgrade them at a fraction of the cost infocus will once they're out of warranty.

From what I read in the past, you're better off sending it to a local tech with experience with DLP machines for repairs rather than back to InFocus. They seem to do a better job cheaper, & know what they're doing. Infocus won't even to tell you where to get special tools needed to take them apart. I wonder if they know how to service them at all. It's one thing to build one, but another thing to troubleshoot & fix 'em.

I gave 5 stars for the product, not for the service, because I service all my own equipment so don't need them.

Don't take these things apart yourself people unless you know exactly what you're doing & experienced. You can ruin or destroy them if you're not very careful & knowledgable.

There seems to be an awful lot of hype surrounding this projector. After the initial "WOW!" factor its all down hill. Sure its a bargain, but unreliable and, in my experiance, cant take a beating. After just 1 month the fan started making this awful, high pitched, buzzing sound and the tech support, like all tech support, give you and ansewer that is 100% correct, yet absolutly usless. For the money, your better off with 32inch LCD TV or something.

I bought the X1a after much researching during thanks giving weekend (...)and I also bought the 3 year protection plan for $129.99 . I am satisfied with the quality of video i am watching through the projector. I live in an apartment complex and its bright during the day when i have to make the room dark but evenings and night excellent quality. it doesnt start up right away sometimes and i have to turn it off and on few times but that doesnt bother me much. I know its not great projector but for the cost its awesome. also if i get any of the problems the other reviewers have stated then i will be covered by warranty for 1 year by infocus and the following 3 years by officemax.

I purchased a used unit off ebay for 350.00 with less than 460 hours on the bulb. The unit is very easy to setup up. Movies are best viewed in dark room. These projectors were not intended to replace your regular TV set! Feeding a signal from an HD DVD player using an HD DVD results in an absolute beautiful viewing experience. Remember most HD DVD player will also upvert the quality of tradional DVD's so they will look better than normal as well. The best image will result from using the VGA to Component adaptor.... S Video and the old yellow, white and red imputs will result in an "OK" picture. Go for the best. Watch your HD DVD's or Blu Ray and/ subscribe to HD televion services and you will immediately noted how inferior traditional/standard cable and satellite images really are!

This projector is strong enough to use for in house movie projection. Only at night though. We've used it many hours and the first bulb has not burned out.

For $500, you can get a 7 foot wide high quality image onto a DIY blackout screen.

You must darken the room, use the component connections and rout the audio to a separate receiver or stereo. It does take some savvy to get things right. You should also mount this to the ceiling. That cuts down on noticeability of the fan noise and means you can sit right underneath it, which is the best seat in the house. So, you need a 25 ft cable, and a ceiling mount ($150?). Although you can make that yourself.

Did I say wow, yet? The sharpness is very good, although you will see screen door if you sit too close and/or the image is too big. But I don't see screen door with the image 6 feet wide, with me 10 feet back. And you shouldn't be closer than that anyway.

You might be bothered by the rainbow effect, with B&W movies, sometimes. OTOH, I noticed it as soon as I got it, but it's never bothered me. You shouldn't be flickering your eyes back and forth fast when watching a movie anyway.

The best thing is the colors and blacks. The image has a soft quality that is great for movies, less good for sports. The difference between my home theater and the multiplex is that the Plex has an even bigger screen and the colors on it are a bit more saturated. But these front projectors offer the same type of experience as the real movies.

Don't bother connecting a ground cable signal to the projector via a VCR, the image is not good enough for the projector quality. Component connection is FAR better than composite.

I've had it for a year with no problems so far.