The InFocus X10 also includes BrilliantColor - a proprietary technology from Texas Instruments that enables you to boost the projector's brightness and colour saturation by checking the radio button on the X10's Windows-like menu system. Indeed all your option tweaks are available using the same menu system, with navigation controls enabled via the supplied blue-backlit remote.

If you want evidence of cost-cutting though you'll find it: the X10's table-top-stand is fiddly to use and doesn't feel particularly robust while the noise from the X10's fans is pretty loud at 33dB.

Team it with the PlayStation 3 and you could be forgiven that you're standing on the apron at Heathrow - at least until you're used to it, or the sound from your home cinema receiver and speakers kick in.

Long throw for bigger rooms

You'll have probably gathered from the X10's size, and noise that it's not really been designed for discreet table-top use - something that's confirmed by its throw ratio of1.85-2.22:1 - that's positively long for a home cinema projector, making it ideally suited to larger rooms than your average two-up / two-down postage stamp. Here's an example:

To get a 210cm wide display (equivalent to a 72-inch plasma), you'll need to place the projector between 3.5 metres and 4.06 metres away from the projector screen. That could result in you either having to install the projector behind you, or above you (on the ceiling) to enjoy its pictures at their best. This obviously puts it out of contention for casual viewing where the projector is plonked on a table at the front of a room.

For smaller rooms then, a short-throw projector like Toshiba ET20, which is available at Amazon for £599.99, might work better. You can find out how well the X10 would fit into your living space by using the InFocus Projector Calculator.

Picture quality

That's the feature set and setup taken care off, now here's the important bit - surely InFocus can't flog a 1080p projector for a grand and still deliver decent quality pictures, can they?

Yes, they can.

Fire it up and the InFocus X10 is capable of producing a deliciously rich and bright picture that packs in plenty of detail, especially with 1080p high definition sources.

Watch a movie like Casino Royale on Blu-ray and you'll be able to pick out every crease in Daniel Craig's craggy face, while marvelling at both Eva Green's deliciously pale, freckly skin and her curious make-up choices at the same time.

Uncheck the BrilliantColor options, and theX10's presentation will soon make your forget that you're watching a projector at all - you'll simply be enjoying the experience and the action.

There's scarcely even a jot of picture noise to distract you. Crank up the black levels by closing up the iris and you'll also be able to pick out plenty of detail in darker pictures of the area too.

Over the rainbow effect

In fact the only really jarring note in another otherwise bold and pleasing presentation is a slight tendency to judder with some camera pans and fast-moving action scenes but, to be fair, your average LCD TV is likely to fair far, far worse.

You'll also see evidence of the 'rainbow effect' - one of the less desirable side-effects of the way DLP projectors work, which momentarily throws up red, green, blue artefacts when you quickly move your head from side-to-side and / or in bright areas of the picture.

To be honest, the InFocus X10 suffered a great deal less from this than some of the other projectors we've seen - however rainbow effect affects viewers to different degrees, so that may or may not be a problem for you.

Overall, InFocus has achieved an astonishing feat with the X10. At around £1,000 it's not only a great value 1080p Full HD projector - it's also boasts the kind of the brilliant picture quality that should make its more expensive rivals weep.