Digital Trends

InFocus X1 Projector October 19th, 2003 | by Chris Swanberg

Introduction

It might come as a surprise that the INFOCUS X-1 doesn't show up in the INFOCUS line of Home Theater projectors, but it was introduced in late 2002 for the business market primarily as a display projector for conference or group presentations. It was part of a market of small business oriented DLP projectors that were, overall, poorly suited for home theater display. However, with the introduction of the X-1 boasting capabilities its business brethren were lacking, all that changed. Once videophiles discovered the image quality this “pinstripe suit” DLP projector could deliver, it became very popular at the then MSRP of $1500. When that price dropped to $999 in early 2003, the X-1 became an overnight sensation as an affordable entry level front projector for the home theater.

Design and Features

The product itself is what is known as a DLP (Digital Light Processing) projector. It utilizes a single Texas Instruments 0.55 inch Digital Mirror (DM) SVGA display chip (black and white 800x600 pixels), and using a rotating RGBW color wheel it is able to produce crisp projected images with excellent color saturation and decent blacks - superior blacks to LCD projectors many times the price. The light engine, or lamp, initially rated at 3,000 hours has (based on field experience) been upgraded to a projected lifespan of 4,000 hours.

The projector video signal inputs are composite video (standard RCA plug input), "Computer" (VGA 15 pin HDDSUB female), S Video (utilizing a 7 pin input but will accept a 5 pin male plug), and USB. Component video input is received either through the S video connector (for interlaced signals) or through the "computer" (VGA) input for progressive signals. Progressive input through the VGA connector bypasses the de-interlacing of the projector. An adapter cable for component to either S video or VGA is available as an option from Infocus, or you can buy component to VGA cables from a variety of aftermarket sources.

Component inputs produce the best picture quality on this projector. Practically speaking this means a consumer will want a DVD player to feed the component input for optimal picture quality if watching movies is the main pursuit. Interestingly, the de-interlacer in the projector is significantly better than most DVD players - meaning progressive DVD players are not a "must" with this projector (try it both ways if your DVD player will output the component 480i format and see which works best).

Videotape and Standard Broadcast Television benefit from the excellent de-interlacing and scaling this projector has to offer, but even at their best they don't compare to the DVD picture quality. Although there was not a high definition signal to input in the testing, the general HT user group's consensus is that the X-1 picture quality with a HD signal (which requires scaling DOWN, not up) is better than DVD, but not significantly better. The fact that a scaled down HD picture looks better at all on an 800x600 display is in itself somewhat surprising, as is the picture quality from a 480 line DVD. As one X-1 owner put it, "there's pixie dust in this machine."

The next revolution in display device signals is coming in the form of DVI (Digital Video Interface) inputs. These feed a digital signal directly to the digital display device - no digital-analog (D/A) and back conversion occurs. The signal never leaves the "digital domain". The artifacts and degradation in picture quality caused by D/A and A/D conversions is larger than believed — the resultant picture quality from the use of DVI is visually quite apparent, if not amazing. Unfortunately the X-1 does not have a DVI input, which is probably its single significant omission. It can be argued, though, that at 800x600 definition the difference would be slight — still, never having a signal leave the digital domain should eliminate some conversion artifacts, resulting in an improved picture overall. The lack of DVI on this machine is a forgivable sin — if the X-1 boasted a higher resolution, it would be more of a problem.