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Epson Projectors at InfoComm 2014

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Art Feierman

This page runs through new products from Epson that Art saw at the annual InfoComm trade show.

Epson at InfoComm

Epson is completely refreshing their top-of-the-line commercial projectors. I believe they indicated that there are nine new Z series projectors in the expanded Z series. Each Z projector announced has a dual lamp design for 24/7 capability. Epson has improved lamp management noticeably. All the new Z series projectors now allow for use of only one lamp at a time, by user choice. With preview Z series, both lamps were always on together, unless one failed, in which case the projector would run one one.

With the new improvements, users can run a single lamp when needed, and an alternate between the two lamps to keep the hours similar.

The Epson Z Series and the PowerLite Pro Z10005UNL

The Epson Z series is about to have a new flagship projector, sporting WUXGA resolution and 10,000 lumens, the PowerLite Pro Z10005UNL. The Z10005UNL isn't the brightest of the Z projectors.

Epson PowerLite Pro Z10005UNL

The Epson PowerLite Pro Z10005UNL

There are a pair of new 11,000 lumen projectors--including a WXGA version, the Z11000WNL, which is lower 1280x800 (WXGA), and an XGA resolution for those needing the 4:3, the Z11005NL. Even the least bright of the nine projectors sports 7500 lumens--it is a less powerful, slightly less capable WUXGA projector than the flagship.

The new Z projectors include more advanced edge blending, including working with curved projection surfaces. There are now additional lenses bringing up the total to seven that allow lens shift, the news being a 0.7:1 short throw lens.

In addition to the usual HDMI and DVI inputs, Epson now offers 3G-SDI and HDBaseT on these projectors. The first allows hi-res live video over long distances, while HDBaseT offers the ability to move HDMI signals, including audio and command & control, over long distances via low-cost, convenient CAT5 or CAT6 cable.

Epson has put a status display on the back of these new projectors, a plus for installers and definitely for rental and staging applications.

Not only will these projectors work 360 degrees, but Epson is sporting a new mounting system for portrait use, and for stacking projectors.

All Z projectors offer advanced networking abilities and are, as one would expect, compatible with Crestron, AMX, and even Extron solutions.

The Epson BrightLink Projectors

OK, enough of the "heavy metal." In the booth, the real action was in two areas:

Epson had live demonstrations of both the BrightLink 595Wi and even the more advanced business "version," the BrightLink Pro 1420Wi and 1430Wi.

Note that we recently reviewed both the BrightLink 585Wi and the BrightLink Pro 1410Wi (each one model down in their respective lineups).

Well, the major difference between the BrightLink 595Wi and the just-reviewed 585Wi is touch control. The 585Wi, as we noted, can work with 2 pens at once for interactive use. But, the 595Wi can not only work with 2 pens, but also 6 separate touches, creating the ability for multiple people to use the board at once.

On the BrightLink Pro side of things, the 1430Wi resembles the 595Wi, in that it offers up to six fingers for interactive control touch capability.

In addition, the Pro's are so smart that they can be controlled interactively across a network when collaborating. Up to 15 users can share the Whiteboarding mode, to collaborate and annotate on a board, from their mobile devices or another BrightLink Pro setup. This takes interactivity across the entire network. A salesperson, for example, could be running a support meeting while at a client site, working with a corporate support person using an interactive BrightLink Pro 1430Wi at Corporate... I'll let you heavy users think on the possibilities! If you are used to, say, WebExing, this gets you to a whole next level.

Epson also showed more projectors in their newer 1900 series. These have Intel WiDi built in (Miracast), a pair of HDMI's and support for MHL. We've reviewed a 1900 series recently, the Epson 1965.

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