Infocus is slowly trying to make a name for itself in the India market. The American company is selling a number of budget and mid-range Android smartphones, which competes with domestic as well as Chinese smartphone makers such as Lenovo, Xiaomi, Huawei, etc. While, the sales figures of Infocus might not be as high as the Chinese and other competitors, the company has managed to give some good phones such as the recent M812 and M808i that comes with a metallic design.
To further strengthen its roots in the Indian market, the company has now launched its affordable range of LED TVs, which includes television sets with screen sizes ranging from 32-inches to 60-inches. What is so special about the Infocus TVs is the price-point at which they are currently being offered. While a 32-inch LED full HD TV from brands such as Samsung, Sony may set you back by Rs 35,000 to Rs 50,000 (depending upon features), the same from Infocus will cost you just half of it (Rs 15,999). The pricing is definitely aggressive but when it comes to making an investment in a television set, which usually stays in your living room for at least two, three years, it alone cannot be a deciding factor.
That said, we have got the 50-inch model with us which we are going to talk about in detail to find out whether it’s actually a steal at Rs 35k or is just a good price – bad product deal.
Specifications:
Display: 50-inch full HD (1920 X 1080 pixels)
Contrast ratio: 5000:1
Viewing angles: 178 degrees
Audio: 2x 8W speakers
Dimensions (with stand): 1132.8 x 711.9 x 230 mm
Weight (with stand): 11.7Kg
Ports: 2 HDMI, 2 USB, 1 component Video-in, 1 headphone-out, 1 VGA, 1 RF In antenna/cable
Power usage: 105W
Design
The manufacturing work for Infocus is handled by Foxconn and the units are produced in India. Talking about the design, it is a generic looking TV with black bezels all around, which are quite broad and is made up of glossy plastic. The design is not something to brag about but you also need to consider the price that the company is asking for it. However, the quality of the material used is good and feels durable.
The 50-inch panel sits on a pair of legs, which are two detachable stands and needs to be screwed to the connectors to rest the TV on a flat surface. InFocus is not offering any wall mount bracket and you have to buy it separately (this might be a bummer for most Indians who are used to getting this as an add on).
The connecting ports are provided at the rear side and the bottom edge of the TV houses the controls, if remote is not handy.
Ports and connectivity
Talking about the ports and connectivity options, Infocus has added a basic set of interfaces to the TV. It comes with two HDMI ports, two USB ports (facing sideways), a Composite AV in/out, a component in, one RF antenna and a VGA port to connect PC or a laptop. We watched movies on the TV by connecting a 16GB USB drive, which worked smoothly with no issues. The downside here is that the TV does not offer wired or wireless internet connectivity. Worse is that you don’t even have a DLNA option.
Another point worth mentioning is that Infocus is offering a free home demonstration of the TV before you actually purchase it. This is for the first time a company has come with such kind of scheme that slows buyers to experience product before the final purchase. It’s a good marketing strategy and can work in the favour of the product sales. You can book the free demo of the TV by entering your details on the Infocus website.
Display
The TV flaunts a Full HD 1080p (1920×1080 pixel) DLED backlit panel with a refresh rate of 60Hz. It is a non-reflective panel with a brightness of 250cd/m2 and a contrast ratio of 5000:1. It is not the brightest panel around and the refresh rate is also not the best, but it produces vibrant and rich colours (8 bits colour palette) and does justice at the price-point it comes at. However, you will miss the sharpness in the content that is offered by the LEDs from brands such as Samsung and Sony.
We watched a number of full HD videos and the results were fairly good. The colours look vivid, lively and the blacks are deep. The viewing angles (178 degrees) are also decent and you can enjoy the content from almost every corner of the room without facing any reflection problem from the non-glossy 50-inch panel.
Audio, bundled remote and the user interface
Coming on to the audio, the TV comes equipped with two 8W bottom facing speakers, which will not please you if you love to watch sci-fi and action flicks. The audio delivered by the speakers is acceptably loud but lacks the bass and richness. It works for those boring daily soaps and videos with vocals but comes as a disappointment for bass heavy video content.
There is a standard IR remote with a set of two AA batteries to control the TV, which has a rather dull and boring user interface. The remote has all the standard controls and the ‘Display’ button hides the functions to pause, forward and backward the content you play. We couldn’t find any option to add subtitles or change the audio. An option to change the aspect ratio is there but it did not work on any of the videos we played. The TV can play most of the formats including MP4, MKV, AVI and WMV in 1080p or lower resolution.
Overall, the UI is clumsy and is not feature rich.
Likes
The company is offering a compelling deal in the form of its large screen LED panels. At Rs 34,999, InFocus II-50EA800 offers vibrant and accurate colours and is perfect for those who want to make a shift from LCD or a small sized LED TV without spending a fortune.
Dislikes
The TV is not good on audio and does not offer any kind of wireless or wired internet connectivity. Besides, the UI is not feature rich and has very limited controls to play with.
Verdict
The 50-inch LED TV from Infocus is for consumers who want to make a shift from regular CRTs or small sized LCD TVs to bigger screen, which can play full HD videos and does not burn a hole in pocket. While, you have to compromise on audio and a bit on look and feel, the TV is still a value for money package. It offers a good viewing experience and stands good on connectivity front at a decent asking price of Rs 34,990.
[source :-in.techradar]