The InFocus X 10 is a Full HD, DLP projector that’s been on the market since summer 2008. The device uses the slightly outdated Dark Chip 1 technology, but it’s enormously bright and sells for a reasonable price of 1,400 GBP online.

Florian Friedrich, tested on December 11, 2009

A beautiful, bright DLP projection.
Low-judder 24p reproduction.
Top resolution.
Excellent video-processing for standard signals.

Lack of versatility in the optics.
Occasional line-flicker in movies.
Uneven illumination.
Coloration in grayscales.

Introducing the X 10 — a cheap projector with a bright, cinema-like image that’s ideal for larger rooms. But disadvantages include a lack of versatile positioning and occasional line-flicker in HDTV movies.

Introduction

It’s no longer rare to see LCD projectors hovering around the 1,500 GBP mark; now, the DLP competition must aim to do similar. And, with the X 10, InFocus has done it — this projector offers a refined, contrast-rich image at a price that can give LCD competitors a run for their money.

Features

Using the supplied adapter, the M1-DA input can display a second HDMI source.

The X 10’s exterior is highly reminiscent of the model’s older — and pricier — brother, the InFocus IN81. But the two devices differ more on the inside: the IN81 uses the more-modern Dark Chip 2 technology, whereas the tested model still works with the older Dark Chip 1. Still, the X 10 offers plenty of up-to-date features — an adjustable iris and 24p playback, for example.

Positioning the projector in smaller rooms can be a tricky, since the X 10 isn’t particularly versatile in this respect. You have to bear in mind the narrow focal length of the 1.2x zoom and the relatively pronounced image-offset of 136 percent. The InFocus is therefore better suited to larger rooms, in which it will project a three-meter-wide image from a distance of around seven meters. The 945-lumen light output makes this easy to achieve. There’s no mechanical lens shift, but you can at least shift 21:9 movies electronically to the edge of a 16:9 projection screen. As with the previous model, the X 10 has an M1-DA input that transforms into a second HDMI input with the supplied adapter, but that also accepts analog RGB and YUV signals.

Operation

The remote control is compact but effective — and it glows in the dark!

We loved the remote control: It sits comfortably in the hand, has a clear design, and glows in the dark — which is pretty handy in the home-theater. Users will quickly get to grips with the sensibly structured menus, and expert functions such as iris adjustment or switchable color spaces are kept out of the way in the second picture menu. Here, the user can choose between different types of color-decoding for SDTV and HDTV. This is particularly important for SDTV pictures that have been up-scaled and transmitted via HDMI, since the InFocus cannot automatically allocate the appropriate decoding (BT 601) and then displays the wrong colors, especially for shades of green.

Color and Light

In “BrilliantColor” mode, the tested model displayed an approximately 10-percent-brighter picture with correct color levels; with this mode deactivated, reds lack saturation, and greens and turquoise look too intense. There’s also a disadvantage to BrilliantColor: Dark grayscales take on a subtle green tint, but the user can reduce this effect using the separate brightness controls for R, G, and B. Otherwise, there’s no cause for complaint: At 6,300 Kelvin, the color temperature setting named “6500 K” is pleasingly near to the ideal value, and there’s also nothing to grumble about with the “Film” gamma setting, which produce a value of 2.2. The “CRT” setting produces a significantly darker gamma characteristic with a value of 2.35.

With correctly configured colors, the tested model’s normal lamp level produced a brightness of 945 lumens — quite an achievement. In Eco Mode, the X 10 still produces 745 lumens. But the brighter setting brings two advantages: a more-uniform color spectrum and bolder, more-natural-looking reds. Slight coloration in light grayscales, common on the IN81 with the iris activated, do not appear on the X 10. But — and it has to be said — the X 10’s brightness drop significantly when the iris is active (see box below).

The X 10’s massive light output brings one disadvantage: Typical DLP artifacts, such as the rainbow effect, can become more visible. On the other hand, the single-chip projection guarantees perfect convergence and high detail-resolution — here, the X 10 is clearly superior to LCD InFocus projectors. The latter display coarser pixels and, because of convergence problems, frequently produce colored fringing in fine patterns. The cinema-like projections from DLP projectors are primarily suited to large screens in large rooms.

Picture Quality of Standard Signals

De-interlacing works excellently with the X 10’s “10-bit DNX” video-processing technology — even highly critical scenes show no flickering edges. Only slight line-flicker is visible in TV material and sports broadcasts, but the finest of details disappear when the camera pans across the grass of a football field. In terms of motion clarity, some LCD projectors perform better, although older LCDs tended even more toward blurring. The Infocus earns additional praise for delivering strong results in daylight. The high light output means you’ll be able to enjoy Formula 1 racing on a Sunday afternoon with the room only slightly darkened.

Picture Quality of HDTV Signals

For high-definition signals, too, the X 10 shows the benefits of its high contrast and bright light output. With the X 10’s copious ANSI contrast (380:1), the summery scenes on the Blu-ray “Casino Royale”, as Bond emerges from the turquoise sea, for example, look bright and sun-drenched. Even dusky scenes show excellent differentiation — in the nighttime train journey in Montenegro, for example, the dark tree tops appear in a great deal of detail. In the black-and-white images of the movie’s intro, we saw a slight green tint in dark grayscales, but overall we were thrilled with the colors, sharpness, and cinematic look. The same applies to 24p playback, which works perfectly, as confirmed by the uniform motion of the intro’s roulette wheel.

But it’s not all rosy: The crisp projection exhibits a kind of aliasing-artifact in contrast-rich images, an effect that we also observed on the InFocus IN81. In Chapter 4 of “Casino Royale”, we see slight line-flicker even if we input the signal progressively. With static test patterns and HDTV documentaries in 1080/60i format, however, neither artifacts nor line-flicker disrupt the resulting 1080/60p images.

Ideal Settings

Contrast: 48

Brightness: 52

Color: 50

BrilliantColor: On

Gamma: Film

Overscan: Off

Sharpness: Standard

Color Temperature: 6,500 K

Lamp Power: Normal

Color Space: Auto

* These settings apply to realistic playback of HDTV/Blu-ray material through the HDMI interface in a darkened environment. Manufacturing and HDMI playback device deviations might necessitate slight adjustment.