Wondering if anyone has experienced the InFocus X1

Hi all

My first post here, great forum

I'm at the end of the repaint of my front room - and now am looking for a PJ.

The main focus of the machine will be DVDs, Sky and PS2 (with a little Everquest through my laptop). I have been looking at the InFocus X1 and it seems rather good. I mainly looked into this one as I have read that it has DLP, is the DLP bit essential or is it personal preference?

My budget is about £1200 - £1500 for the PJ and I have a throw distance of about 3.0m - 3.4m

My question is whether the X1 is the best buy for me? If anyone has any suggestions or advice it would be muchly appreciated.

Cheers

Realising the error of my ways (oops ) and finding the search facility, I have pretty much answered these questions myself

will try harder next time

[Gary Lightfoot]

What did you decide with regards to the X1 then? I thoight it was pretty good for the money - around £1000 now, though I haven't seen the Z1 which is the LCD equivalent I would say.

BTW - I still have a 709 too, and it plays DVD+R disks. No luck with -R yet. Just in case you're considering getting a burner of some sort.

Oh, and welcome to the forum.

Gary

[Kramer]

Welcome

Only thing (as you've answered your own question ) is make sure to see the X1 before you buy.

It's a nice little PJ, but has unbelieveable rainbows (well, for me anyway). Under no circumstances should a DLP be bought "blind", especially the X1 which has a 2 segment colour wheel (IIRC) running ar slow speed.

PLV-Z1, a nice unit again, better IMO than the AE300, screendoor aside.

Demos recommended - Nexnix always worth a visit.

Firstly, thanks for the warm welcome

I have decided to look into trying a number of PJs. My shortlist so far: PLV-Z1, AE300 and a couple of DLPs.

From what I have read on the forum, the main worry is that after purchasing a DLP PJ, either me (or more improtantly) she who must be obeyed would feel ill from rainbows. So great advice thanks

Only trouble is that I think I will have to do some travelling as I have yet to find somewhere in Devon to demo PJs

Gary - Cheers for the +R 709 tip

Hi Sierix

I'm from Devon also and am in exactly the same position as you.

A mate of mine has the X1 and I have to say I suffer from the rainbows badly. It can be demoed in Exeter along side the AE100.

Somebody in the forum (sorry can't remember who) posted that they were using a polarising filter with the X1, and had pretty much eliminated the rainbow effect. I'm not so sure this will work for me, but I plan to try it out on my mate’s projector in the next few weeks, so I'll let you know how I get on.

I think I'll take Kramer’s advice and pop up & Nexnix to demo several types of DLP & LCD soon.

Good luck with your decision

Regards

Jason

Cheers for that Jason,

Could you tell me where in Exeter I may demo a couple of PJs please?

thanks

Sent you a PM with info on demos in Exeter

Cheers

Jason

Cheers Jason

Sent you one back

Will be getting on my driving gloves real soon

[Paul Williams]

Hi Sierix,

I’ve had an X1 for a couple of weeks now. It was purchased over the internet from Dartmoor Digital Design on www.iiid.co.uk this was for the Educator variant with the second bulb and cost £1133 including delivery. I had previously had a demo of the unit in Exeter (I live in Plymouth) some time back and was very impressed, this was alongside the Panasonic ATE100 which was awful. During the demo only once did I have a hint of the dreaded ‘rainbow effect’ at the very end as I was walking around the room, not when I was actually watching. This was out of the corner of my eye and I couldn’t be sure even if it was the much talk about problem. Having used the PJ for a few weeks now I do get instances of the problem, but I still have yet to make up my mind whether or not it this will be an annoyance. It is film dependent and I am unsure why it didn’t show up during the demo. One area of concern when purchasing the X1 at present, must be the fact that Infocus are repositioning the unit in the market. In the US this is now primarily a presentation unit (lower price) and the same PJ is being marketed by Infocus as the Screenplay 4800 for home cinema (old X1price). My X1 didn’t come with the Component to S-video converter (just a note to say that although it is listed in the supplied accessories it is no longer included) and this is proving a bit difficult to get hold of. The screenplay unit is supposed to include this adaptor and be factory set for Home Cinema use. For more info go to www.projectorcentral.com (US Web site) where this is discussed in more detail. This unit is also now being sold under the Toshiba brand as the TDP-MT100. Another issue not raised very often is that during Film/Video mode the white segment of the colour wheel is switched off and the light output is reduce, to improve contrast. It can be switched back on via the menu system or automatically when connected to a computer. This is not even really discussed in the user guide – this can be downloaded from www.infocus.com should wish to look at this in advance. There is also a very useful screen size/projector distance calculator as well.

Hope this is of some use.

Paul.