Epson Home Cinema 1080 Projector Reviewand Pro Cinema 1080: Image Quality - 3

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Art Feierman

JVC Comparsion

HomeCinema1080

JVC RS1

Basically, the JVC is a touch sharper, but it's very close.

click to enlarge the thumbnail for the tight closeup from my cable guide directory. This lets you get a really close look, in fact for thinking "sharpness" it's probably best to view at least two feet back from the monitor, closer if you want to look at the pixel structure.

Click Image to Enlarge

Epson Cinema 1080 Projector Black Levels and Shadow Detail:

As mentioned at the beginning of this review, the Epson definitely has good black levels, but nothing particularly special when compared with the other 1080p projectors out there.

HomeCinema1080

JVC RS-1

HomeCinema1080

Now, you can make out some details in the wall, the top back of Clint's head, even the beer bottle. Next, consider this image from the JVC RS1 our reigning champ at black levels and shadow detail.

Ignore the color shif difference between the two. The image immediately above, by comparison, is only slightly overexposed, rather between the two Epson images, and closer to the first. Yet look at that back wall, the top of Clint's head, and the beer bottle. You are picking up about the same amount of shadow detail, yet the blacks are much blacker - you tell me - which looks better? The first image compared to the JVC, the JVC still seems to have slightly blacker looking blacks (remember the exposures are different), yet the Epson has lost most of the detail. If you compare the 2nd image to the JVC. You can pick up most of the detail, but there is nothing resembling black, anywhere, just medium dark grays. In other words, which would you want?