Infocus X10

The InFocus X10 is a Full HD home theatre projector with an exceptionally competitive price and great image quality. It does not have as many connectors as other high-end home theatre projectors, but we believe it is a great product overall.

The InFocus X10 is an interesting shape for a home theatre projector. Like its predecessor the InFocus Play Big IN78 projector, the X10 has a smooth, curved body and great aesthetics. It's matte black and looks fantastic.

The package also includes a stand for the projector to sit on, which makes it easy to rotate it and make other adjustments. If that’s not enough for you, there is on-board vertical image shifting and keystone correction.

One gripe is that the InFocus X10’s lens is quite a long-throw one. This means you will need to place the projector quite far back from the screen to get a large picture, which may be annoying if you want to use it in a small room.

Despite its low price, the InFocus X10 isn’t a hobbled, entry-level model. It combines Full HD resolution with 1200 ANSI lumens, a dynamic contrast ratio of 7500:1 and a 2500:1 static contrast ratio.

There is a decent range of audiovisual connectors available, from HDMI to a multi-purpose M1-DA port to the usual component, S-Video and composite. This will suit the needs of almost all users, but if you can’t do without extra digital connectors then you might need to look elsewhere.

When it comes to throwing a picture up on a projector screen, the InFocus X10 home theatre projector is up to the task. Other projectors may be more advanced — the InFocus X10 uses DarkChip1 technology for its image processing but the current standard is DarkChip4, so it’s three generations behind — but this doesn’t stop the X10 from creating a fantastic picture.

With the dynamic iris system enabled, blacks are deep and plenty of dark image detail is visible. Fast jumps to ultra-bright screens were executed well with the X10’s dynamic iris adjusting quickly and without confusion.

This projector’s image is extremely sharp, too — there was no softness that we could identify, and minute details are easily visible. Images seem incredibly life-like.

We hate to keep raving, but colour saturation is great as well. Images are well balanced and vibrant without being overblown — skin tones are a great example of the natural image that this projector produces.

There’s a massive amount of adjustment that can be made using the onboard menus — which is an area cheaper projectors usually stumble. Multiple gamma presets, flesh tone adjustment, colour space and temperature alteration — almost everything you need is readily available. It certainly helps, too: after a little tweaking we found the image improved significantly.

Frankly, we’re surprised that the InFocus X10 home theatre projector is only $3500. The image it produces will flatter any high-definition content and the fact that it is so moderately priced further serves to heighten its appeal.