This is just a quickie notification, that our annual Classroom Education projector report is going live this week.  I know that’s off topic for this blog, but I figure some of you might be interested. As with all reports, it will go up, piece by piece.

BTW one of the most interesting projectors in the report may not be ideal for the home, but if 3D sports ever really get going, this might be a hot projector for doing 3D in sports bars, etc, considering it uses passive glasses and has over 5000 usable lumens, for the brightest 3D I’ve seen yet without spending $5000+ ($1899).  One projector handles 3D for one eye, the other handles the other eye’s 3D image.   So, if you have a sports bar, check out the Epson W16SK review.

And for those of you who think Pocket and Pico projectors are cool, and want one, we’re writing up the review of a cool Pocket projector from HB Opto.  What makes it cool?  Well, lots of features, including 3D, and SXGA resolution (1280×800).  It will handle 1080p sources, such as my PS3.  But what tends to really set it apart, is having a few hundred lumens, and being able to deliver them from a similarly sized battery pack!

As long as I’ve got your attention, coming up in the next few weeks:  Epson Home Cinema 750HD, BenQ W1080ST (basically it seems to be a short throw version of the W1070, and Acer H6510.   That’s a nice collection of around and under $1000 home theater/entertainment projectors.   Stay tuned.

Click for this year’s Best Home Theater Projectors report winners, now published.

There are many more pages to the report, along with our new Guide to Choosing the Best Home Theater Projector for You, all of which will go live over the next 72 hours.

I promised a blog to tell you a bit about our “Smart Home” plans.  Here goes:

We’re creating a Dream Home!  It will be a Smart Home, a Connected Home, and lucky me, it’s my home (and Lori’s and Lisa’s).

As a former dealer, my old company Presenting Solutions! did some fairly high local automation, although I personally stayed focused on the online “box” side of our projector business.  Note, we mostly did automation for the Navy, and large corporations, rather than home automation.  Back then we were Crestron authorized.  It’s always been easy to automate a home if you  don’t mind throwing six figures of money at the project.  Not all of us, however, (certainly not me) have $100,000 or $250,000 to accomplish that.

Our goal, therefore is to create a Dream Home but do it with limited “old school” systems such as Crestron, AMX, Control4, and instead focus more on the new.  I’m talking  wired/wireless products supporting the Zigbee and Z-Wave alliances, and possibly Insteon too.  We’ll use “old school” were necessary, of course.

The goal is to do this affordably. Wireless for most things will drastically reduce installation costs.  Less centralized control, (but all iOS), will reduce hardware costs in a big way.  As a bonus, we expect our heating bills will drop, and our electric will plummet. Cool!  (Confession, electric will drop, but probably not “plummet” as virtually all the lighting in the house is already mostly LED and some CFL.  but I’m still looking for an average 30% further reduction in our electric bill which has already been reduced by almost 50%.  BTW, for you Android folks, I figure most things we will do using iOS you can do with your Android phones and tablets as well.

Our Dream Home is about to get Smart

Here’s a taste:

Smart Home Automation:   This will be fun.  We will automate my theater, from powering up projectors, satellite boxes, and blu-ray players, to raising and lowering my motorized Studiotek 130 screen. (If I had motorized shades – those too.)  Here’s a night image of RGB LED down facing strip lighting in our patio wall.  Right now, we can control from an RF remote, but soon, from our iOS devices such as iPhones and iPads.

We will use smart lighting.  I am currently in talks with Philips, for example, to provide their new Hue smart bulbs (RGB LED) through most of the home.  I’m talking with NEST (smart thermostat) and others about smart control for HVAC (heating/air), and working with Zigbee and Z-wave alliances for many individual products needed.

For example, while it’s cool to be able to “turn on the house lights from the driveway” or fire up the Jacuzzi, as you leave work by using an iPhone, sometimes you just want to walk in and throw a switch.  For that reason, we’ll be replacing dumb switches with smart ones that will work in conjunction with iOS, wireless, etc.

Same is true for many of the outlets around the house.  I’m having a conversation now with HAI/Leviton about supplying all those switches and outlets. Also talking with other players.

Outdoor lighting – all RGB LED, will also be smart, including energy efficient wall washers to light up the front of the house, and our garden.  Security?  of course.

The Kitchen?  Sorry, we can’t afford a $5000+ LG refrigerator that can tell me when I’m almost out of milk, but overall, we’re tackling  just about everything else in the house.

At the end of the day, the end of the Dream Home project, our Smart Home will be virtually fully controllable from an iPhone or iPad.  Now that’s “smart automation!”  If the technology progresses, by the end of the project (early 2015, we hope we will be able to voice control most of the house via our iPhones and iPads!   You know something like:  ”Siri, please lower the living room lights 30%.” Or:
“Turn on the outside patio lights, set to ‘sunset mode’.”  Or, if it’s a little cool in the theater:  ”Run the heat, theater only, for 5 minutes.”  You get the idea.

Speaking of the theater:  Finally the current 6-9 working remotes for my theater will become an iPad, or iPhone (both).  I can’t wait.  Even our waterfall and it’s lights will be controlled “smartly.”   (Darn didn’t mean to “leak” info about the waterfall.)

OK, that’s a good idea of what we will be making Smart.

The project to complete all aspects of the home is planned to take 18 to 24 months, will be rich in videos, regular blogs, photos,  This will primarily be my effort, but with help from a number of outsiders.  Much of our Dream Home project will be on the main site in the Smart Home area, but some additional information will, naturally be in the subscriber area as well as a “value add” for our “most loyal” readers.

OK…  If you have suggestions, now’s the time.  If your comments are about the Smart Home project, post them on this blog, post comments about the subscriber area on that blog, and the website changes on the first blog.

It is my hope that at the end of the day – make that by the end of the summer, the new site will be up, the Smart Home will be in progress, and overall, there will be videos and other content for all of our new subscribers.  I’m looking forward to most of you becoming subscribers, and I really intend to do what I can to make sure your subscription is a valuable and enjoyable (modest) investment.  -art

Let’s consider that thought in terms of some of today’s great directors, and consider who’s directing 3D movies.  Although I’m skipping most of the directors of “mostly for kids” animated films, I will start with Lee Unkrich of Toy Story 3.  If you didn’t see it in 3D, you really didn’t see it at its best.  Want big names?  Check these film directors:

The Hobbit - An Incredible 3D Movie Adventure

James Cameron, (Avatar, Titanic remake, etc.)
Peter Jackson (The Hobbit)
Martin Scorsese (Hugo)
Robert  Zemekis (Beowulf, A Christmas Carol, The Polar Express)
Barry Sonnenfeld (Men In Black 3)
Spielberg (The Adventures of Tintin, he’s also produced a significant number of 3D movies)

and some up and comers:
Sam Raimi (upcoming: Oz: The Great and Powerful – he wrote Back To the Future)
Baz Luhrmann (wrote Moulin Rouge, directing The Great Gatsby).

BTW I’ve seen a 3D trailer of The Great Gatsby, what a feast for the eyes, even if you disagree with my wife who thinks DiCaprio is gorgeous.

The only thing I can’t figure out is what’s holding Tarantino back from directing his first 3D movie.  It seems so natural that he would.  He’s a known huge fan of 3D, and per iMDB (two years ago): Tarantino has been a fan of 3D movies for several years and wishes he had acquired the technology prior to the release of Kill Bill: Vol. 1.   IMDB also said at the time, of Tarantino; “he’s hinted he may use the technology for Kill Bill: Vol. 3, which is due for release in 2014.

OK, have I convinced you that much of the real talent in Hollywood is into 3D (Hey, it’s also rumored that we’ll see some 3D that’s Star Wars related from George Lucas.)

OK, enough name dropping of 3D directors (the full list, is huge).

When home theater projectors started appearing (Runco not withstanding), back at the beginning of the 21st Century (wow, that sure “sounds” long ago and far away), the highest resolution source material we had to view was the standard DVD.  Compared to Blu-ray or HDTV, a standard DVD is a relatively pathetic 853×480 resolution.   That’s barely 1/6 the number of pixels we’re used to with 1080p.  If you have a 100″ wide screen you could think of the resolution of DVD this way:  8.53 dots per inch.  No wonder no one wanted to sit closer than 15+ feet away back then.

That said, Blu-ray and 1080p still have come up seriously short (for us projector folks) NOT watching on some tiny little 42″, 55″, or 65″ LCDTV. 1080p on that same 100″ wide screen is still only 19.2 DPI.   (Think ink jet printers at 600 and 1200 dpi.)  At least at 4K, one square inch (on a 100″ wide screen) will have almost 1600 pixels in that square inch.  Compared to slightly less than 400, at 1080p, and only about 70 at DVD resolution.  All you metric folks out there, you can divide all these DPI numbers by approximately 6.45 to get the number of pixels per square centimeter.

In other words, when it comes to fully immersing yourself in a movie, or sports at 1080p (or 1080i) resolution, in order to not have too soft an image due to the “low resolution” of 1080p, you still have to sit pretty far back – let’s say the equivalent of the back of a typical movie theater, perhaps a little closer than that, or further back still.

And that brings us to where we want to be sitting.  The reason hundreds of millions of people who own nice sized LCDTVs and Plasmas head to the the local Cineplex (movie theater) many times a year, is due to two reasons:

1:  Some just can’t wait 3 months until most titles come out on Blu-Ray, or can be downloaded.

2:  The key one as far as I’m concerned:
Watching a movie on a 60″ screen just isn’t going to immerse you like going to the theater – you definitely do not have that “theater” experience.  No cigar, three strikes, no joy.  Sadness!   For 100′s of millions, movie or not, the only experience is still just “watching TV” not the excitement of a  ”movie premier”.

What is the answer?  Well for sure, 8K resolution would be great, but that will take probably 6 years. (For conversation purposes consider 2K and 1080p to be interchangeable terms, and also 4K and Ultra HD, to be interchangeable.)  Ultra-HD is twice the pixels vertically and horizontally of 1080p:  3840×2160 (8.3 megapixels).

Since I just mentioned 8K, note that they are definitely experimenting with 8K over in Japan.  Over here, though, the next great thing is Ultra-HD – 4K resolution.  It’s not perfect, but it’s a much bigger jump in resolution than going from 720p to 1080p!

And it sure will work for me.  Especially in 3D.   Why?   Because I do have a home theater – in most ways its better than any movie theater in good old California.  (I could argue the advantages of Imax.)  Oh, I recently visited  the theaters for Django and Zero Dark Thirty, but also for the incredible The Hobbit, Life of Pi, and more.

Mostly I stick to Imax, because I really haven’t been satisfied in any thing less.  This is California – which probably fire safety laws demand so much ambient light, that, as I mentioned recently, the movies have no blacks.  When viewing Les Miz, the black levels on the screen were inferior to watching any $999 home theater projector in a half way decent room with lights off.  I think I put it about the equal of the black levels of the recently reviewed Epson Home Cinema 750HD (an entry level 3LCD 720p projector).

Oh, true, we have yet to be allowed to bring DCI color gamut to the home (soon we hope), so the theaters do have slightly more color range, but with all that ambient light forget appreciating that difference!

OK, where am I going with this?  You home theater experience should blow away the local movie theaters. But, then most of the digital theaters these days are using 4K projectors. So the size of the screen to your eyes, can be a lot larger in the theater, thanks to twice the resolution (horizontally and vertically).  That is, you have to sit relatively “further back” at home (smaller perceived screen size), to maintain a sharp image.

With 4K, our home theaters will have parity with the movie theaters, and that can’t happen too soon.

I like sitting about 1/3 to 1/2 back in a good movie theater.  To get that much immersion in my home with a projector, on my 124″ diagonal 2.35:1 (wide) screen, as sitting 1/3 back, I need roughly to sit about 6-8 feet back.  As it stands, with 2K (1080p), at 10 feet back, in my theater, the screen still appears smaller than I would like it to appear, but I’m already just shy of the point where pixels are becoming visible on normal content.

Give me 4K – Ultra-HD, and 6 feet back becomes viable. at 8 feet, the term should be razor sharp, on a screen my size at 4K.  Note, time perhaps to convince Stewart, SI, Da-Lite, Elite, Draper, etc. to commit to offering us affordable curved screens!

And that brings us back to 3D.   I am a 3D fanatic.  (root word:  fan)  3D is not a gimmick.

If you remember nothing else from this article:  Please, try to remember that about the only things humans do on this planet that isn’t in 3D is read, write, and watch movies and TV.  The rest of our lives are in 3D.  Off topic:  Anyone out there dream in 3D?  (Sadly, I don’t remember my dreams.)

You will get to know 3D, it will not go away.  Every year, more and more blockbusters are in 3D, and for the movie snobs among us (no offense) not just blockbusters, more and more great movies too.  The kind that do win Best Picture, Best Actor…  Perhaps some one should wonder if some great blockbusters would have been great without 3D (Avatar comes to mind, Hugo, I think made an excellent 2D movie, but pales compared to the 3D version.)

Why, because it’s not a gimmick, it more closely resembles reality.

People 3D is not what you see the first 5 minutes you have the glasses on.  In most cases, that’s when you are going, “wow, 3D is cool” or “look at that” or “this is weird” (for those not fans).

Folks it’s about the next 2 or 3 hours of 3D, when unless it’s a kids 3D movie where the director is intentionally throwing 3D effects at you, that you forget that you are watching 3D.  Instead you are watching the movie, you are viewing and listening to the story, as it should be.  With real depth.  Things just are more natural.  More REAL, more believable.

And that’s true as long as 3D isn’t being treated as a gimmick by the director.

I can’t imagine watching a great or even good movie in 2D after seeing it on Imax, or in my home theater, in 3D.   It would be like stripping away the color, or maybe more like reducing the color saturation so that bright colors are instead pale.

Giving up great 3D is like taking the life out of a picture.  No, it’s not going to change the story, but great 3D will make “suspending disbelief a whole lot easier.  You will be more immersed in the world you are watching, and your brain (once used to 3D) will make everything more intense, believable.

Again, we’re talking serious 3D, not gimmicky Captain EO, or Journey to the Center of the Earth, putting objects 6 inches from you nose (so your eyes go cross-eyed).

So, projector fans, our time is fast approaching.  In another year or two, many of us will have taken advantage –  viewing true 4K (not gimmicks there either), on 3D content.  (or so we can only hope).

It really pleases me to think of viewing the beauty of Life of Pi in 4K 3D from 6-7 feet back from my 124″ screen in a pitch black home theater, or viewing the in-your-face action, and world building, and story of The Hobbit in 4K 3D.  That experience should have us wondering, in just a few years, how we survived in a world where 1080p and 2D was king.  It’s like looking back from 1080p to that old DVD with WVGA resolution, and pixels bigger than BBs,  1080p will be that same type of dinosaur, an important footnote in history, but not anything we’d want to actually have to suffer through.  (OK, I am getting carried away.)

And of course, 8K will follow 4K.   If only we could speed up the clock of change.

I am speaking from experience.  As noted, I did get to view a few things 3D and 4K in my theater, – including the trailer for Spiderman, on the true 4K Sony VPL-VW1000ES projector.  Thank you Sony, for sending me a server with such content, with the projector.

I’m done “waxing eloquent” (a phrase I don’t think I’ve ever used before, but always admired), about the future.  But for those of you who so far have considered 3D a toy, or just “have no interest”.  I ask only that you keep an open mind.  I’d hate to see you left behind.  Donot miss the 3D worlds you will be able to view in the future in your home  They should be far better,  for the naturalness of 3D, and for the improved resolution that will allow us to have a large enough field of view to be as fully immersed as possible.

Geez, after writing all of this, I think I better catch The Hobbit one more time in an IMAX 3D theater if I can still find one still showing it…  (I just looked, nearest 3D IMAX that still has it, is 50 miles away.  Darn, will have to ask Sony to send the VW1000ES back when they release the Hobbit in 3D.

My only complaint – all of this won’t be available, and affordable soon enough.

That said, I’d be really surprised if you can’t buy a really good true 4K, 3D home theater projector for $5K two years from now. Maybe even a good bit less?  Afterall, it’s more about getting those 4K LCD, LCoS and DLP chips on the street, than it is about 3D, since most of  all new home projectors over $1500 seem to be 3D.

PS  This particular blog was inspired by another blog I read the other day by Andrew Robinson, a hardware reviewer (audio and video…), and independent film director.    I had to comment on a point or two, as I think Andrew was writing with more of an LCDTV slant than from our home theater projector vantage.    I think he fears people will be watching their 4K LCDTVs from 2 feet away.  Check his blog out by clicking here.

PPS.  This turned out way to long for a blog.  I will be re-editing this piece into a main article (or perhaps two) on the projectorreviews.com website, and likely shorten this blog to something reasonable, more to the point, and point readers to the larger article for those willing to put up with my ramblings.

Thanks! -art

PPPS.  Don’t forget – our next two home theater reviews:  JVC DLA-X95R (aka DLA-RS66U from the other JVC division), and the Mitsubishi HC8000D.

I had intended to do three or four blogs from the CES show.  So much for good intentions.  Part of the problem was that I didn’t see a new home theater projector that I haven’t seen before, until I visited Optoma, Wednesday afternoon – that is, half way through Day 2 of CES.

“That’s not too bad” you say, but, I am under NDA regarding the Optoma projectors (non-disclosure agreement).  You know the old saying:  ”I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you”  (or me).  I can tell you that Optoma will likely have three new projectors before CEDIA.  The first, probably in the summer.

Plenty of picos and pocket projectors, however.  I will blog about those in the next 24 hours. That said, this year pico’s come in all shapes and small sizes.

This first show blog will be a quick rundown of some of the projectors that I did see there, many of which
were announced at CEDIA and IFA back in September:

On the first day of the show, I met with Panasonic, who was showing

two previously announced projectors, the PT-RZ330 the 1080p model in black, and the PT-RW330 which is WXGA.  Both are 3500 lumens, and claim 20,000 hour life to their solid state Laser/LED light source.  Lest you think that sounds highly energy efficient, at full power these two projectors both draw 460 watts (“Normal” mode).  However, there are two low power consumption modes:  Ecosave 1 and 2, which draw 200 and 178 watts respectively.  Now we’re talking decent energy efficiency.

These two projectors Panasonic showed are LED/Laser projectors, but they are commercial projectors.  These were previously announced.  I believe one had originally been scheduled to ship by now, but running a bit late.

Here’s more skinny on these two Panasonic projectors.  Both sport Digital-Link, which allows them to receive data over a single cable up to 328 feet long.  Both sport 2:1 zoom lenses and full lens shift.

These may not be aimed at the home, but if black levels are respectable, they could be high power home entertainment projectors.   I would, on the other hand, expect to see these projectors in sports bars, and in digital signage.   I did not get to see them in operation, but requested to review one or both of them, over the upcoming months.

Mitsubishi was again showing their HC8000 projector.

Here’s the news on that one.  It’s going to be a race to the finish. Mitsubishi says they will ship me one this coming week.   We’ll see which projector gets here first:

Mitsubishi HC8000D or the JVC DLA-X75R.  JVC said they, too were definitely shipping one of those my way, within days of the show ending.  Folks those will my next two reviews, it’s only a question of which one first!

I did see a new projector for the first time on the first day of the show – Tuesday, but that was the Epson Home Cinema 750HD, their new 720p 3D capable, $899 projector that I blogged about, morning of the 7th.  That, blog, however, was based on a telephone briefing pre-show.  The HC750HD was embargoed until Tuesday morning.  That is, I was briefed, but not allowed to publish.  Well, on Tuesday, I finally got to see the Epson 750HD in action.   They had it set up in their ballroom at the Aria Hotel, in a side by side with Optoma’s venerable (been a round for a while), GT750, a 3D 720p single chip DLP.  In the side by side Epson was touting the advanatages of having the same number of color lumens as white lumens.  (2700).  By comparison, in brightest modes, the Epson easily had richer, brighter colors although the Optoma looked respectable until you looked at the Epson.  In “best mode” the Optoma’s colors were better, but the Epson was noticeably brighter.

That’s it for now.  I’ll be blogging some more about the show, over the next couple of days.  Pico projectors are next, and also the LG “TV”.

LG's new Ultra Short Throw Projector based TV

Wait, gotta mention that one now.  LG in their massive and spectacular booth, was showing a 100″ image coming from a larger black ultra short throw projector (with a digital light source I believe) that sits less than a foot from the screen.  I like that they are marketing the projector as a TV.  Too many folks out there are barely conscious of projectors existing for the home.  LG’s marketing this one could help increase home theater projector awareness.   The room was bright, the picture not quite ready for prime time (nor ready to ship), but you get the idea.  The LG lacks 3D, but my biggest concern, is the high price.  Expected to be under $10,000 but by how much?

In a sense, the LG is trying to accomplish what Epson attempted with their Ensemble HD complete systems, which I thought were awesome.  That is, get projectors into the houses of people who otherwise believed that getting a new LCDTV is easy, and a new projector too complicated.

Of course I visited all the usual suspect booths, including SIM2, BenQ…

That’s it for my first blog post CES.  Hang in their home projector fans.  There will be more.  -art

Epson's Home Cinema 3020 - Great family room projector

OK, pricing is still not set, best we can tell, but the Home Cinema 3020 and 3020e, probably won’t be more than last year’s 3010 and 3010e.  So far, though Epson has not indicated the new prices.  Let me clarify.  Last year’s two versions (3010 and 3010e) were $1599 and $1799.  the “e” version is the one with the wireless HDMI (5 inputs and Digital Audio this year, up from 2/0).  Last year, the base version came with two pair of 3D glasses, while the “e” version came with wireless, but no glasses.   This year all of Epson’s 3D projectors will come standard with 2 pair of 3D active glasses (newer and lighter, and rechargeable).

So, pricing may shift a bit, due to the addition of the glasses with the “e” version.

So, “what else is new?”

Let’s start with brightness.  Looks like a small lift there.  I’m looking for 2300 lumens up from 2200 lumens.  That sounds like minor improvements in design, rather than changing anything major like the lamp.  Still, for those of us who love 3D, we’ll take every extra 100 lumens we can find.

And since the Home Cinema 3020 and 3020e projectors are designed first and foremost for a family room type environment, every lumen counts, even in 2D, when there’s a decent amount of ambient light. BTW, we’re talking 2300 lumens of white, and also 2300 lumens of Color light output (see our new video about the new SID color brightness standards).

What else…?

The usual long life lamp (up to 5000 hours), the usual excellent 2 year warranty with 2 years of replacement program.  New 2D to 3D conversion abilities.  There’s more, too.

Ah, let’s not forget a pair of 10 watt speakers (as before).  Great if you want to move the projector from room to room, or the summer night movie festival in your back yard!

As mentioned 2 pair of the new Epson 3D glasses are included with both projectors.

And of course, the Home Cinema 3020e comes with that wireless HDMI – it’s uncompressed, and you get five HDMI inputs as well as a digital audio input.  That’s a big improvement over last year’s 3010e who’s transmitter had only a limited 2 HDMI inputs, and no digital audio.

So, looks like we have a pair of improved projectors for Epson’s “low end” of 3D capable models.  One thing I’m not sure of is dynamic features in 3D.  Rumor has it that the 5020 and 6020 versions now support dynamic iris and other features while in 3D.  I have not been able to confirm or deny that ability for these 3020 projectors.   I really hope they have allowed at least the dynamic iris to stay engaged in 3D.  We shall see.

Good, that gives me stuff to ask Epson at my meeting with them at CEDIA next week!

Bottom line:  I expect some price shifting, but whether they will cost less than the older 3010s, I can only guess at this time.  I say that, since the Home Cinema 3020 and 3020e will be at least incrementally better, with a few more features.  We shall have to wait until Sept 5th for the official pricing!   I meet with Epson on the 6th, so I will be sharing a lot more with you from CEDIA.

Hang in there!  Lots of fun new projectors being announced and shown at CEDIA this year! -art

Epson Pro Cinema 6020 Projector - 3D, Bright, great warranty

This little blog on the new Epson Pro Cinema 6020, is a very similar blog to the one on the 5010 projector.  After all, these two projectors are about 95% the same.

Expect the Epson Pro Cinema 6020 to only be sold by local installing dealers.  Also expect the 6020 to share the same improvements in contrast and black levels as the 5020 offers.

Brightness should be the same 2400 lumens as last year’s version.  This year however, we expect the Pro Cinema 6020 to fix my old complaint of no dynamic iris, or other dynamic features when in 3D mode.  I think you can take that improvement “to the bank” – that is, I’m pretty certain about that, at least as far as the dynamic iris goes. I expect other dynamic features to also work, but, I’ll wait to see, to confirm.  As with the older projector, the 6020 projector has two THX modes!  We liked those last year, so we are glad to see them back (and now, in the 5020 as well).

Black finish of course, for your dedicated home theater, the Epson Pro Cinema 6020 is, of course 3D capable, with new 2D to 3D conversion abilities, lighter 3D active glasses, that are now RF instead of IR, and are rechargeable instead of needing batteries from time to time.

Like its sibling, the HC5020, it seems that there have been a number of small, to significant improvements, especially in 3D.  Can’t wait to meet an Epson 6020 projector close up and run it through its paces!

As in the past, this Pro Cinema projector comes with 3 years warranty, and a replacement program for all three!

Look for our review in the next month or so!   Oh, probably they’ll give us the 5020 first, but we will have the 6020 covered!   It looks like the Epson 6020 is just a 6010, with improvements in a number of areas, nothing wrong with that.  I should note that I’m expecting some improvement in lag times as well?  That will be good news for serious gamers!    Stay tuned!

BTW, The $3000+ price (expected) for the Pro Cinema 6020 will include their usual – a spare lamp, ceiling mount, and longer warranty than the Home Cinema “version.”

I will be meeting with Epson at noon Thursday, Sept. 6th at CEDIA.  Expect at least a “spreaker” podcast right after the meeting.  Blogging will probably only happen in the evening (between parties).

Stay tuned for more on Epson’s flagship Pro Cinema 6020 projector.  -art

PS. Those claimed 2400 lumens are both “white” lumens, and Color lumens measurements.  Not sure what CLO (color light output) is all about? It’s a new, very useful standard, so check out our new video on it which should be posted by tomorrow!  You’ll find it in the Projector Reviews TV tab/directory on our main site’s homepage:

Epson's new Home Cinema 5020UB Projector

OK, around here we know all about the Epson models that the Home Cinema 5020UB and Home Cinema 5020UBe will replace.  The older 5010 has been a major favorite of ours.

So, what’s going to make the Home Cinema 5020UB worth the wait?

Here are a few tidbits, best I can confirm:  First, the new 5020 projectors look exactly like the older projectors they replace.  No cosmetics upgrade!  Still mostly off white, with a center mounted 2.1:1 zoom lens, but with much of the front trim dark gray.

Look for the 5020 to be the same 2400 lumens brightness, which should see the new Home Cinema 5020UB and 5020UBE continue to hold the title for brightest home theater projectors under $5000. Note, the “e” version comes with wireless HDMI.

But, also look for an improvement in contrast and black levels!   Nothing like great becoming even better, so I can’t wait to get one in my theater to review.

Epson it seems has “fixed” a couple of things, that weren’t necessarily broken:  Notably the 3D glasses.   It would seem that the new glasses are very light (extremely light for active glasses), and will be rechargeable.

Now this is cool:  If I understand this correctly; let’s say you want to sit down with friends and put on some 3D content.  Great, wait, no, one of the new 5020′s glasses is out of charge!  Do you call it quits and do something else (like watch 2D)?

Gamers:  I can’t confirm this in any way, but rumor has it that the lag times have been improved.  Older Epson’s it seems were a bit slow for playing high speed games like FPS (first person shooters).  No idea how much improvement, but it wouldn’t take too much to get the projector from last year’s “not quick enough” to at least “hardly the fastest, but fast enough to satisfy most gamers”.  We shall see.  At least one of my gaming bloggers will get a shot at the 5020 when it comes in for review sometime post CEDIA show.

Not a chance.  rumor has it that if the glasses need a charge, 3 minutes of charging will give a pair enough to get you through a 3 hour movie.  See, that is pretty cool!  They should last about 40 hours on a full charge!

Wireless – this is easy info from IFA, etc.   Epson has offered the 5010e which came with wireless HDMI.  I used it, I liked it, but I found it wanting for people with room setups like mine – not using a switching AV receiver.

Why?  Because the older projector’s wireless had 2 HDMI inputs and no Digital Audio input.  The new projectors’ transmitter though has 5, yes count them, 5, HDMI inputs, and also a Digital Audio input.

What else?  I’m running out of basic things I can tell you, but there is still split screen.

Ah!  I almost forgot!!!

Here are the last two gems!

THX is back.  In two previous series, Epson UB’s offered a THX mode, but last year, the 5010 was without, even while the 6010 offered it.  This year the 5020UB and 5020UBE will both have THX modes, a feature we really like seeing.

Here’s a big one:  That is, this fixes a complaint of mine when we reviewed the 5010 last year:

The Epson Home Cinema 5020 allows some or all of the dynamic features to operate in 3D mode!

Last year, for example, the dynamic iris didn’t work in 3D modes (still not bad blacks, but why did they do it that way?)

This year’s Home Cinema 5020UB and 5020UBe’s dynamic iris is definitely usable in 3D.   It should make a “dynamic” difference.  The same is also true, for example, with CFI – smooth motion – I believe.

I’m not completely sure about the CFI, but it would be nice.  I’ll confirm when I know for sure.

That folks is about it, except that this year both Epson Home Cinema 5020 projectors come standard with two pair of 3D glasses, instead of the glasses being optional!

This past year’s Epson 5010 won our 2012 Best In Class award for $2000 – $3500 projectors.  It certainly looks like the new 5020 projectors will at least be contenders for the Best In Class when we publish the next annual report in Q1.

Hang in there.  I leave for CEDIA on Sept 5.  I will be “spreaking” (audio podcasts over twitter), and blogging from CEDIA.  Hopefully fairly frequently, with info on a great many new projectors and other important products.

Hang in there -art

PS.  Next:  Epson Home Cinema 3020, 3020e

It’s touch and go time here.  the big IFA tradeshow has begun in Germany, and as is the case most years, it’s shortly before the US CEDIA tradeshow.

Epson's new Home Cinema 5020UB looks like the older 5010

These two shows are where most new home theater and home entertainment projectors are announced.

My understanding is that here in the US, Epson like many other home theater projector manufacturers, is distributing information on their new projectors in advance of CEDIA to we members of the press, but with the restriction, that “it’s a secret” until Sept 5th, which is Press day at CEDIA.

What that means to you, is that even if Epson told me everything about any new home projectors, I couldn’t legitimately share that info with you until they lift the “embargo”.

Fortunately, that doesn’t really apply to information that I learn about from other sources, such as, for example info announced in Europe at IFA.

The bottom line is this:  It seems Epson has upgraded three of their projectors for this season.  Mind you, model numbers in Europe are different, but it’s not hard to figure out the feature sets.

I’m going to create three more short blogs:  One for each of the new projectors:

Epson Home Cinema 3020
replaces the 3010
Epson Home Cinema 5020
replaces the 5010
Epson Pro Cinema 6020
replacing the 6010.

As to pricing, sorry, can’t help you there, as all I know is that as of a couple of days ago, Epson has said they have not yet set US pricing.

In these blogs I’m able to share some key improvements and changes that are part of these new home projectors.

First let me position the three models, and then you can read about each in the separate projector blogs:

The Epson Home Cinema 3020 will replace the 3010, as Epson’s lowest cost 3D capable projector, with two versions, both should be selling for under $2000 (The older versions were $1599 and $1799.)

The Epson Home Cinema 5020 projector, replacing the 5010 – This is Epson’s high performance projector, that is available online.  The older 5010 is legendary for its exceptional black level performance for the price, and for being exceptionally bright.  Again, two versions, the 5020UB, and the 5020UBe (the e for wireless HDMI).

Epson's wireless HDMI transmitter comes with "e" series home projectors

Speaking of Epson’s wireless HDMI, here’s a photo I found of the new transmitter.  Sure looking at the back you can see 5 HDMI inputs, and a Digital Audio Input (and power receptacle).  Besides this being far better thought out than the old 2 HDMI transmitter with last year’s “e” versions, one of the more interesting things about the photo, is what else is in it.  Back left – a PS3 (makes sense), front left (a tiny slice of what must be an iPad (or a Samsung knock-off).  Straight back is the front of the Epson transmitter.   The item that I want to point out, though is back right corner.  I recognize that from ones I have at my house.  That’s an Apple TV adapter.  Hmm…  Not sure why that’s in the picture, but I have to at least trust that all of this is Apple TV compatible.  Definitely something I will follow up on, at CEDIA.

Epson’s Pro Cinema 6020, replaces the 6010 projector, and is in most ways very similar to the Epson Home Cinema 5020, but is sold through a different dealer channel (local authorized dealers), and has a couple of extra features, and comes bundled with lots of goodies.

OK, that’s the basics, read the next blogs for more “dirt” on each projector:

There’s one for the Pro Cinema 6020 UB, one for the 5020 UB and 5020 UBe, and one for the 3010 and 3010e.  Hopefully that will keep you busy for a few days.  -art

For those of you not familiar, Infocomm is the big US show for displays.  There are plenty of projectors, but the show is dominated by LCDs Plasmas, LEDs, lots of digital signage.

Infocomm is not a home theater projector show.  While most home theater projectors tend to get announced at CEDIA in September (the show for home theater projectors), the good news for you home theater fans, is that there are always a few new projectors for the home, launched here.  It is particularly common for some of the Taiwanese manufacturers to show a new model or two.  At this show, I have roughly 20 meetings, including about 15 projector manufacturers and a few others.  I’m hoping to at least see some new home projectors from Optoma, BenQ, perhaps others.  Certainly there will be new pico projectors shown, for those of you who like those.

My plan will be to do 2 or 3 tweets a day, actually my twitter based pod-casts – called Spreaker.  Basically I record a minute or two and those following us on twitter get notified as with other tweets.  (Personally I’m really not a twitter user.  Lisa has set up the twitter account.  Me, I just do the occasional broadcast.

That’s it folks, look for those tweets.  I’ll do a summary blog of the show, over the weekend, or at least that is the plan.