InFocus IN36

InFocus has been making projectors - and only projectors - ever since we in Labs can remember. This specialist approach shows through in the IN36, which boasts superb build quality and luxuriously silky zoom and focus controls.

All that know-how also becomes apparent when you fire up the projector. The IN36 produces by far the brightest, crispest display of this group, which isn't surprising considering its 3,000 lumens rating is a good 10% higher than the closest competition, and general image quality is excellent.

Focus is consistent and easily achieved across the screen, and colours are natural, resulting in superlative performance in our video test. However, we found that yellows on this DLP projector were a little green and muddy compared with the LCD-based projectors on test, and business graphics don't appear quite as colourful as a result.

It's a pretty well-equipped projector, with a DVI input available via the proprietary M1 interface, in addition to the standard VGA input. We also liked the fact there's a comprehensive control panel on the top and that the projector is reasonably portable.

But it isn't the perfect projector and that's down to three factors. First, to get the best image quality you have to pay for it: the IN36 isn't particularly cheap to buy or run. After 10,000 hours, you'll have spent £350 more on replacement bulbs than with the ViewSonic. Second, to keep the internals cool at such a high level of brightness, the fan has to work that bit harder, resulting in high noise levels - but it's by no means the worst here. We also weren't too impressed with the screen size at 2m: it only managed to produce a 54in diagonal, which is tiny compared with the 68.5in achieved by the ViewSonic.

These weaknesses keep the InFocus from the top prize, but there's much to like. The build quality is excellent, the focus is sharp and the brightness of the image is well ahead of the nearest rival.

Author: Jonathan Bray