Infocus X9

The InFocus X9 is an entry level home theatre projector aimed at the average consumer. It is affordable and easy to use, with a good default colour setting and a highly detailed image. It is not designed to be a high-end home theatre projector, but its compromise between portability, image quality and price makes it a good choice for anyone looking to use a projector for big screen viewing.

The projector is small for a home theatre model — far smaller than we expected it to be. A lot of power is packed into the diminutive chassis though, with a 2500:1 contrast ratio and 1800 lumens of brightness. A whole range of connectors are available too, with HDMI, VGA, component, S-Video and composite ports available. We used the HDMI and VGA ports for our testing and found no loss of quality through the analog connector — so the InFocus X9 is an ideal choice if you intend to connect a laptop or home theatre PC.

The InFocus X9 is easy to set up, and its standard throw lens means it is capable of displaying a properly focused image in almost all room situations. We set it up on a tabletop, but it also has settings for ceiling as well as rear-projection setups. Controlling the projector takes place predominantly through the thin credit-card style remote — because there is only the power button on-board — which may prove easy to lose if you're absent-minded. We checked out Pearl Harbour on a Blu-ray drive using the Samsung HT-BD2E home theatre system.

Sharpness from the InFocus X9 was good — we would rate it slightly higher than its competitor the Panasonic PT-AX200E in terms of visible fine image detail. This is one of the sharpest 720p models we have seen, but it still doesn't hold a candle to the level of crispness and detail seen in even moderate level 1080p home theatre projector models.

The InFocus X9's brightness levels are very impressive. There is a large difference in brightness levels when the image-enhancing Brilliant Colour mode is activated — it seemed to massively increase the light output. We preferred the picture with Brilliant Colour on. Even though the picture was very bright, there was still plenty of contrast and detail visible in dark and light areas.

With the Brilliant Colour mode activated, colour accuracy is almost spot-on — without any tweaking necessary. There is no bias towards any particular colour group, making this projector a great choice for first-time projector users or those that don't want to fiddle with complicated settings.

It is not a massively quiet projector — InFocus quotes 28dB in economy power mode and 30dB at full brightness levels — but it’s not loud enough that it will intrude on your movie viewing. We only noticed the soft smooth hum of the fan while our test room was otherwise entirely quiet.

It’s small, sharp and bright — what more could you want in a budget home theatre projector? A two year warranty means you’ll be covered for any unexpected breakages as well, making the InFocus X9 a tempting prospect for those looking to dip their feet into home theatre projection.