Epson Home Cinema 700 - Image Quality
4/19/2009 - Art Feierman
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Home Cinema 700 Picture Quality - Out of the Box
The Epson Home Cinema 700 does very nicely out of the box. Skin tones are actually very good, for a low priced projector. Those skin tones are just a touch on the warm side (redish), but it is slight, and easily corrected. Shadow detail is very good, and black levels - well, as already mentioned, that's the achilles heel of this Epson, but then Epson built this projector primarily for those who can't fully darken their rooms. All in all, the 700 does nicely out of the box, and only improves slightly with calibration.
Flesh Tones
Once calibrated, skin tones no longer has a slightly redish cast and are nicely neutral. In fact they are impressively good for a projector designed not for the enthusiast/hobbyist, but rather for the less critical viewer.
From Lord of the Rings - images of Gandalf, and Arwen (SD-DVD). Almost all screen images in this review can be clicked on for a much larger version.
The Arwen photo above was a scene deep in a forest with lots of green, which softens the skin tones. The Home Cinema 700 picks up on that shift to green nicely, especially where it is more evident toward the top of her face.
Moving to Blu-ray source material:
First, Daniel Craig as Bond, in Casino Royale, under three different lighting situations. The first image is full sunlight on his face, the second is in an airport, with flourescent lighting, and the last of the three, is filtered sunlight (shade).
A few additional images for your consideration:
From The Dark Knight on Blu-ray disc:
Here are two, from The Fifth Element:
This next two images are from the DVE-HD calibration disc, from their demonstration materials section:
Bottom Line: Skin tone performance is pretty impressive for a true, low cost, entry level projector. I've seen less accurate skin tone results from a number of projectors costing a whole lot more. But, then, I did say skin tones were very good.
Home Cinema 700 Black Levels & Shadow Detail
The 2000:1 contrast claim for this Epson (and yes, it does have a dynamic iris), is a low number by today's standards. While a high contrast number is no longer a really accurate indicator of black level performance, in this case, it is.
Some say, that if you have a moderate amount of ambient light, it negates the advantages of a projector with great black level abilities. That isn't quite correct. Place two projectors of equal brightness, side by side. If one has much better black levels, even as you turn the lights up, it will still do blacker blacks. The more ambient light, the less noticeable the difference, but the difference is still definitely significant.
And that's why I refer to the Home Cinema 700 as a home entertainment projector - not a home theater projector. It is expected to work in a world which isn't pitch black. Still, further improvement of black levels would have made for a better projector. On the other hand, that's why Epson sells that Home Cinema 720, which only costs between $200 and $250 more.
I've cut down the number of images relating to black levels and shadow detail, as compared with other reviews, because you'll get the point rather quickly, and doing a whole lot more dark images won't tell you any more, than these few.
We'll start with the The Fifth Element image of the Starship. As you can see, the exposure is fairly normal (not noticeably overexposed), yet you can see that the blacks of the background are not as black as some other images below.
Here's the same image, dramatically overexposed, which gives you a good perspective as to the black level performance. Note how bright (lightness of the background space, and of the letterboxing at top and bottom) is, relative to the overexposed starship. Projectors with much better black levels would produce similar brightness in the starship, but with much darker space background and, also brighter letterboxing:
For comparison, here's the same image from the Optoma HD71:
And here's the Mitsubishi HC1600 another low cost 720p DLP projector:
Here is the same image from The Dark Knight, first on the Epson, the second is the more expensive InFocus X9. this gives you are really good idea of the differences in black levels.
This next image is from the DVE-HD disc. Look at the blacks in the sky and the buildings in the upper left. Blacks are pretty good, but not exceptional:
Here's an image from Space Cowboys:
Again, the exposure is typical of what you will find in other reviews, but "space" isn't quite as black.
Immediately below is a shot from the DTS test disc. The first one is the Epson Home Cinema 700, and below it, the Panasonic PT-AX200U (sorry, slightly oversaturated). Look to the blacks in the slice of sky and around the picture:
Shadow Detail Performance
While black level performance may be a weakness, there's not a thing wrong with the Home Cinema 700's ability to resolve dark shadow detail. I've commented in other reviews and articles, that projectors with weaker black levels are often stronger performers at shadow details, in part because the "near blacks" are noticeably brighter.
Top left: Home Cinema 700, Middle: Panasonic PT-AX200U, Right: Optoma HD71
Next is this very dark scene from Space Cowboys. It is a good one for checking out both shadow detail and black level performance. All the images are seriously overexposed, for that purpose. Don't worry about contrast or skin tones as they tend to get exaggerated on long time exposures on dark images like this one. Look at the shades in the back for shadow details. Consider, that some that have very good shadow detail do not seem to do particularly black, blacks.
Epson HC700 projector, followed by the Epson HC720, PT-AX200U, Optoma HD71, Sanyo PLV-Z60 and Optoma HD65:
Note, the HC720 image above was taken about 2 years ago, with a different camera.
Again, from Space Cowboys, this is a cropped image. the right side, is very bright (so dynamic irises will not be effective). The Epson (top left) provides very good detail in the dark areas of the satellite. Next to it on the first row, is the Epson MovieMate 72 - an all-in-one projector system with built in sound and DVD player. You might think of the MovieMate 72 as an all-in-one equivalent to the HC700, but, in fairness, the HC700 does do better on black levels. On the next row: the Mitsubishi HC1600 and the Optoma HD71.
Above is the re-entry scene from space cowboys, the enlarged versions are intentionally overexposed. Left is the Home Cinema 700, center, the PT-AX200U, right is the Optoma HD65.
Next is the casino image at night from Bond's Casino Royale.
When comparing, the Home Cinema 700to the competition, look at the detail in the roof (tiles), and in the assorted trees and plants. The images below are from the same projector and slightly overexposed. Click on the images and the larger versions showing the different projectors will appear. Those are far more overexposed, to allow a closer inspection of shadow details.
Epson Home Cinema 700 projector:
Optoma HD65 projector:
InFocus X9 projector:
Optoma HD71:
Sanyo PLV-Z60
Epson Home Cinema 720:
Below is a heavily overexposed scene from Lord of the Rings. The overexposure lets you see all the details in the shed on the right, the structure on the left, and the plants and ground along the lower right. The blacks might not be very black, but there is plenty of detail. It's not uncommon for projectors with lesser black level performance to do particularly well on dark shadow detail, since the darkest shadow areas appear lighter, and therefore are easier to see. With a projector with exceptional black levels, the nearest non-blacks are still extremely dark, and more easily lost to sight, especially if there are bright areas nearby.
Click on left thumbnail image for the Epson, Sanyo PLV-Z60 in the center, and the right for the Optoma HD71.
Our last comparison uses the night train scene from Casino Royale. Look to the trees and shrubs on the right, especially just above the tracks. The first image is the Epson, second, the InFocus X9, the third is the Sanyo PLV-Z60, and the last one is from the Optoma HD71.
Epson Home Cinema 700 - Overall Color & Picture Quality
If you are not an enthusiast/hobbyist, and you just want a nice little projector that puts a pretty good image up on the screen (or white wall?), the HC700 does fine. In fact it does very well overall, except that one area (blacks).
Another way to consider it is this way. It does just just fine, on everything but dark scenes, and does lack a little punch on scenes with mostly bright areas but with some significant contrasty dark areas. Feed it brighter scenes, and it looks great for a low cost projector. That's especially true of sports viewing. This is a projector that could easily find itself in use in sports bars, as well as your family room.
Here are a variety of images, that don't have critical dark areas, and look great.
The next images are from digital sources on Blu-ray (as opposed to film sources above):
Home Cinema 700 Projector: Performance, HDTV and Sports
Now the Home Cinema comes into its own. Watching sports, and for that matter most general TV programming is not something that most people like to do in a pitch black room. The Home Cinema 700, being perhaps the brightest home theater projector under $3000, is naturally going to do well with this type of content and room lighting. I've watch several hours (at least) of March Madness basketball on the HC700, as well as other sports, and it cut through ambient light like few others can. In fairness, three other 720p projectors can give the HC700 a run for the money in brightness in brightest mode - and those are Epson's own HC720, the Panasonic PT-AX200U, and the Optoma HD71. All cost at least a couple hundred more, and none has even half the brightness in "best mode".
In other words, it's a great, inexpensive projector for sports viewing!
All of the images below, except the concert scene, where shot with modest to moderate ambient light present.
