Our calibrations, including the Epson Home Cinema 3020, are normally limited to a grayscale calibration, along with brightness, contrast, color saturation, tint (where applicable), etc. In this case, we did also adjust the CMS. The affect was subtle, as you saw on the HC3020's performance page mode comparisons. I'm referring to the many mode photos of the blonde woman from the Victoria Secret fashion show.
Below you will find our standard settings changes, along with Mike's (our calibrator) comments about the calibration process and results.
11/8/2012 - Art Feierman
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Let's take a look at the numbers:
Before we provide our settings, let's see what we started out with: Pre calibration, these are the color temperatures over the grayscale range:
Color Temp over IRE Range (Pre calibration, best modes):
| Cinema | Cinema (Eco lamp) | Natural | |||
| 30 IRE – | 6194 | 6972 | 6279 | ||
| 50 IRE – | 6378 | 7112 | 6403 | ||
| 80 IRE – | 6632 | 7356 | 6654 | ||
| 100 IRE – | 6692 | 7353 | 6741 | ||
As noted on the performance page, Eco Cinema is a touch "cool". If you are not calibrating, I simply recommend lowering the color Temp control from the default 6500K to 6000K. Easy!
Lumen Output and Color Temp at 100 IRE:
Dynamic= 1925 @ 6852
Living Room= 1602 @ 7633
Natural= 1402 @ 6155, 923 @ 6912 in Eco lamp mode (default)
Cinema= 1402 @ 6166, 923 @ 6849 in Eco lamp mode (default)
Auto= 923 @ 6704
I pretty much ignored the Auto mode. I like to know where I am, mode wise. Some folks will be perfectly happy using it.Most movies cause it to drop into Cinema mode, etc. Besides, I like the Living Room mode, the way I have it set up, a lot better than Dynamic, and it's not that much less bright. That means I still have plenty of brightness when desired or needed. Folks that just want to enjoy, not play with settings probably will be perfectly happy with Auto. Your call.
In addition to calibrating Red Green and Blue for a correct grayscale balance (6500K), there are a number of other settings that come into play. Typically Contrast and Brightness (white balance and black balance), need to be done first. Color saturation and gamma also need adjustment. In the case of this Epson most of these default settings were fairly close to ideal.
Settings for measurements (default values are in parenthesis):
Cinema Dynamic Living Room Natural
Contrast = (0) 0 0 -1 0
Brightness= (0) 0 0 1 0
Color Saturation= (0 for all)
Tint= (0 for all)
Color Temp (default)= 6500 6500 7500 6500
Auto Iris is on Normal by default.
All other settings at default (untouched)
Auto picture mode has none of the above adjustable settings as it uses its light sensor to switch to whatever picture mode works with the ambient light conditions.
Zoom at mid range and Lamp mode on Normal unless noted otherwise.
Calibrated color temps, 20 – 100 IRE:
Color Temp over IRE Range (Post calibration) User 1:
20 IRE = 6767
30 IRE = 6539
40 IRE = 6410
50 IRE = 6453
60 IRE = 6467
70 IRE = 6516
80 IRE = 6576
90 IRE = 6625
100 IRE = 6772
Average gamma = 2.17
Gamma proved to be rather good, and very close to the targeted 2.2.
To try these, open the menus, and from the Image menu, select Cinema mode. Then go down to Advanced. Open it, then select RGB. Place these number in, replacing the defaults. The improvements should be pretty obvious. We recommend you then save your settings under User 1.
Home Cinema 3020 Post Calibration settings:
Cinema (on User 1) Quick Cal of Dynamic (on User 2)
Offset R = -7 R= 0
G = 1 G= 0
B = 9 B= 0
Gain R = 3 R= 0
G = -2 G= -10
B = -1 B= 0
Color Saturation: -5 0
Tint: 0 0
Gamma: 2.4 2.4
Mike provided these additional notes, regarding the ability to calibrate different settings, limitations, etc.:
NOTE: Dynamic is high in green, low in red at 100 IRE, despite the good color temp shown on the previous page. Knocking green down helps, but the lumen output drops quickly. For most users, Living Room will have enough lumens and looks better.
We have not posted the CMS settings here, although Mike does mention them below. We understand that very few people spending under $2000 on a projector will fork out hundreds of more dollars for a calibration. The CMS improves only very slightly compared to just the grayscale calibration. The rest of Mike's comments:
NOTES: Overall, the 3020 is pretty much the same as the 3010. Almost identical lumen output (the 3010 was slightly greater in Living Room mode). Grayscale is decent right out of the box in Cinema mode, with the usual lack of red in the higher IREs. It calibrated very well (see graph), with only the big bump in Delta E at 100 IRE as the red taps out. In real world use, whites look good, without any blue or green cast. The gamma settings are more accurate than they were with the 3010, with the average gamma coming in at only 0.03 less than the preset value (2.17 vs. 2.2). Like the Panasonic AE8000, there are extensive gamma settings available, but the simple gamma setting is so good, most people won’t bother with it.
As mentioned above, doing a Quick Cal of Dynamic causes a rapid drop in lumen output. The calibrated Cinema mode’s output of almost 1400 lumens is probably more than enough for most users.
The color gamut is very good by default in Cinema mode, with only Red being off the mark. Green, in particular, is probably the most accurate we’ve seen in an Epson projector. Cyan, in particular, couldn’t be more accurate. Yellow and magenta are slightly off, but are easily improved with the CMS. The deficiency in red is something that’s limited by the projector and so the CMS can’t fix it completely. Trying to move red to its data point causes luminance to suffer, so you’re stuck with slightly orangy reds. Even so, with normal viewing, the colors looked good. There does seem to be a little too much red in skin tones, but if this bothers you, you can always turn the main Color control down.
Ultimately, the Home Cinema 3020 produces reasonably good color, even better if calibrated. It should prove more than satisfactory for the Home Cinema 3020's target market, and likely will satisfy many enthusiasts spending in this budget range.
NEXT: Recommended projector screens for the Epson Home Cinema 3020 Projector