The X10 uses the DarkChip 1, Texas Instruments’ entry-level 1080p DLP chip and as such doesn’t offer the deep blacks available on higher-priced models. Thankfully, the X10’s secret weapon, its manual iris adjustment, will clear the mist from your outer-space battles – albeit it the expense of some brightness.
Fans of automatic iris control will miss the increased dynamic contrast that could have been achieved, but the manual option gives you greater control over the adjustment and doesn’t suffer from the conspicuous and often distracting brightening and darkening of the image which dissuades many of us from using dynamic iris options.
With a little bit of adjustment, you can get some really impressive images
With a little bit of adjustment, you can get some really impressive images from the X10. The picture is razor sharp, showing that InFocus hasn't skimped on the quality of the optics in this low-cost projector. If we had to quibble, we'd say that it can be a little tricky achieving a decent black level while maintaining good shadow detail. Thankfully, the X10 supports professional ISF calibration, so if you want to get the very best from your set-up you can have a certified technician pop round and calibrate it for you – although this will of course cost you extra.
The so-called “Rainbow Effect” is one of the most often criticised features of DLP technology, and unfortunately, those of us who are susceptible to it may well find this problem distracting on the X10. While not always visible, it can become noticeable in very high contrast scenes – not so great for Star Wars fans, but pretty much imperceptible if you’re watching material such as the BBC's Planet Earth, which incidentally looks breath-taking on this projector.
Verdict
The X10 may be the lowest priced example of a rather large range of 1080p projectors from Infocus, but it’s exceptionally good. Setting the standard for entry-level 1080p projection, it’s a worthwhile step up from a decent 720p projector if your screen size and viewing distances are appropriate.
More TVs and Projectors...
BenQ W500 |
Philips Aurea II |
Samsung SP-A400 |
Panasonic Kuro |
Infocus X10 projector
COMMENTS
Re: Have you ever heard of the Optoma HD800X?!
Agreed - i'd emailed similar comments to this to the author this morning, no reply or change in article. Seems very strange that even casual research would not bring this up, and makes me wonder if this is based on a recycled press release..
@Peter Kay
Good to see another CRT owner on here. I got a Barco Graphics 808s for $400 last year - utterly black blacks, fantastic shadow detail, and gorgeous colors with some modded color-filtered lenses. And it'll keep on truckin' for another six or seven thousand hours or so, I'd guess - dirt cheap to buy, dirt cheap to run, and will handle pretty much the same resolutions as anything. Love it, love it, love it.
Then again, it's taken me 18+ months to learn how to set it up and I'm still not done. :)
@Luna
It looks like both the X10 and the HD70 have a 4x colour wheel, so the rainbow effect is reduced. I remain a little sceptical though despite the fact it's been some time since I've watched a 1 chip DLP and the colour wheel I saw was undoubtedly much slower. The statement is always that certain people see 'the occasional rainbow' - a few years back I was shown a demo of the batplane sequence in Batman (Tim Burton version) and it wasn't 'occasionally' - it was a rainbow every couple of seconds.
Have you ever heard of the Optoma HD800X?!
"Full HD is what we all want, but until the release of the X10 from InFocus, a projector capable of displaying a full 1080p image would have cost you the proverbial arm and a leg."
The first sentence gives away this badly researched review already, the Optoma HD800X 1080p DLP projector has been available for the best part of a year even in the UK, for just above 900 quid and with a 6 speed colour wheel which all but eliminates rainbow effect and has gotten very good reviews all over the net.
But if you search for Optoma or HD800X on TheReg you get no results...
@Peter Kay
When I decided I wanted to go the PJ route poor color reproduction, DLP rainbow or LCD screen-door effects were among my biggest worries. I couldn't (and still can't) afford a top of the line unit so it was either bottom of the crop or a ~36" LCD. I finally pulled the plug and got a 720p HD70 for a whopping $920 and ya know what, I couldn't be happier. Well I suppose I could actually as I'm sure a $5k PJ would have been even more awesome, with many more features. Would-have could-have should-have - fact is I don't have that big a coin to drop.
Ever since I got it set up my house is fairly often used for movie-nights and none of my friends or family ever complain. Of anything. I don't see any rainbows and no one else ever did, the colors may not be 100% true, but what is true anyway?
I would agree with you to the extent that HQ = money and if you were watching the likes of the X10 and some high priced, high quality unit side by side it would likely be a no-brainer verdict, but in the absence of that, the only question is do you like what you (can) have - I do. I certainly prefer it to a 50" plasma which is not only twice as expensive but in my case less than half picture size. So when my bulb finally gives up the ghost I may well go for the 1080p X10.
