Epson Home Cinema 710HD Projector - Image Quality
Below we discuss the image quality of Epson's low cost Home Cinema 710HD home projector. Below you'll find a great many photos of sports, movies and other content, projected with the HC 710HD.
Our ability to serve up to you accurate portrayal of the color accuracy of the Home Cinema 710HD, is limited: The projected image loses much before it reaches your eyes. Minor color shift due to the camera, (a Canon 60D professional dSLR), a Mac laptop for cropping and resizing, etc. We use Adobe Bridge and Photoshop, then saved "for web" (super compressed). From there, the image is displayed with your graphics card, monitor, and browser all, further coloring the HC 710HD photos. In other words, they are useful only to a point, as colors are not going to be all that accurate. Rest assured, the Epson Home Cinema 710HD should look far better in your room, than these images look on your computer monitor.
7/25/2012 - Art Feierman
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Epson Home Cinema 710HD Out of the Box Picture Quality
Pretty darn good! Put this projector in Theatre mode and you'll start out with as good a picture color as you could expect from a typical LCDTV, in their best mode. Dynamic mode is strong on greens and yellows, but is no worse than the usual default (brighter) modes that you see on LCDTV's when wandering Best Buy.
The image above from the start of the 2012 Olympics, was taken using Living Room mode, with a good amount of ambient light coming in from the windows. Images showing room conditions can be found lower down on this page, in the HDTV / Sports section of this Epson Home Cinema 710 review.
Livingroom mode is a tad brighter than Theater, and definitely a good bit "cool" (thin on reds) but works really well if you have a lot of ambient light. Living Room mode looks brighter than Theatre, not as bright as Dynamic, but lacks Dynamic's visible extra strong yellows and greens.
Epson Home Cinema 710HD Projector - Flesh Tones
Even with a perfect projector, skin tones will vary. Directors want different results, the environment of the scene has much to do with things. That said, the more accurate the projector the less likely it will look really great on some things and not so hot on others. This Epson does a really nice job on just about all skin tones.
Above, from Red, (Theatre mode, as are all the images from movies on this page)
Below: Arwen, also from Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King:
Below are three James Bond images from Casino Royale. Each has a different lighting scenario. The first - full sunlight, the second image; indoor fluorescent, and finally, a nighttime photo. As one would expect, that causes each image of James Bond - Daniel Craig - to have different looking skin tones.
More images we like for considering skin tones:
And that concludes our skin tones area.
Epson Home Cinema 710HD Black Levels & Shadow Detail
HC 710HD Projector Black Level Peformance
The HC 710HD projector has a dynamic iris to improve blacks. That said, this Epson starts out with the black level performance of a business/education 3LCD projector, which is to say, pretty weak. The dynamic helps lower the blacks slightly, but the bottom line is you aren't choosing this projector for its blacks. While blacker blacks would be better in any room, They are less critical in rooms with lighter surfaces, and with ambient light present. This Epson 710HD being an exceptionally bright home entertainment projector, it is the choice for people with less than great - less than good rooms for movie viewing. For sports, and content that in general is bright - or at least never dark, the blacks are perfectly fine for one of the lowest cost projectors on the market.
Epson Home Cinema 710HD: (This image taken was rather normally exposed, and looks pretty good!) For this black level look however, we intensionally overexpose the images significantly to see the black level differences.
In this second 710HD photo, the starship is significantly overexposed, for comparing with other projectors:
Below: Acer H6500 (entry level 1080p DLP projector under $900): The blacks are definitely blacker (thanks to DLP) and that would make real difference in a really, really dark room. Not so much in livingroom with some ambient light. Remember the first of these starship images, where we went with a regular exposure (two photos above).
Epson Home Cinema 3010: ($1599)
Optoma HD20: Another entry level projector, the HD20 is a couple years old, but still hanging around. There's also a new brighter version out, but performance is still inherently over 2 years old. Being a DLP it does do better blacks, and is also a 1080p projector for a couple
Panasonic PT-AR100U: This Panasonic also has a dynamic iris. As another low cost home entertainment projector (but at about twice the price), it's no surprise that it does noticeably better blacks.
Vivitek H1080FD (entry level):
Epson Home Cinema 8700UB ($2199), our 2011 black level champ ( of all projectors under $3500):
Optoma HD33 (higher price at $1499, a 3D capable projector): Blacks also are better, but again, not dramatically so. The HD33 does have a dynamic iris.
Shadow Detail Performance
Shadow details are OK. Not great. Again, this projector is not built to be its best viewed in a near black room, where these differences are huge. In a setting such as the first photo you'll find on the Screens page of this review, the big differences in black levels and shadow detail you see here, become very small differences. Many of you will gladly have that extra 500 - 1000 lumens instead of improved blacks and shadow detail.
Our first series of images is also a favorite for considering black levels, not just shadow detail. For this reason, note the brightness in the letterbox areas (for blacks). For shadow detail, look to the shrubs on the right, behind the tracks, and for details in the darkest area in the middle of the forest behind those tracks.
Epson Home Cinema 710HD:
Acer H6500:
Epson Home Cinema 3010: Epson's lowest priced 3D projector, $1599, is just a touch better at dark shadow detail, (and also a real advantage in blacks). (Note the woods on the right, despite the Epson image being a bit brighter):
Panasonic PT-AR100U: This might be the equivalent tot he 710HD in a 1080p projector: It's the brightest in its range, and is also not known for its blacks or shadow detail. Still black levels are definitely better than the 710HD.
Optoma HD33: A lot more money, but a good 2D/3D, DLP projector: Slightly better blacks, better detail
Epson Home Cinema 8700UB: The old (now discontinued) black level champ of the projectors in the $2000ish and lower ranges, it obviously crushes the performance of the 710HD at both dark details and blacks. That makes sense, since Epson has 3 additional models priced betwen these two.
Mitsubishi HC4000: A favorite among lower cost DLP projectosr, that sells for over $1000. A touch better shadow detail
Black Level and Shadow Detail Performance: HC 710HD Projector - Bottom Line
If these two categories are very important to you, then the 710HD is probably not the projector for you. Of course, if that's the case, you probably have a room with at least very good lighting control, even if the surfaces aren't dark. And you probably are more interested in movies than HDTV and Sports. For those wanting a bright projector in the daytime, with some ambient light, the brightness will likely be more important to you.
Epson Home Cinema 710HD - Overall Color & Picture Quality
First, we did calibrate this Epson Home Cinema 710HD. The provided controls were not as complete as we would have liked, so we could not get a near "dead on" D65 calibration (6500K color temp). The resulting image was overall a touch cool - especially in the lower IRE ranges (darker areas). Personally, if there's going to be a color shift in those dark areas, I do prefer they shift towards blue, instead of adding red.
If there's a complaint it is that sometimes the image appears oversaturated. Strangely, this Epson lacks a normal Color (saturation) control. I can't remember the last time I saw a home projector that didn't have one, probably the predecessor of this 710HD.
Forgetting the technical side of things I'd have to say that skin tones, overall are very good. Certainly this Epson should be able to hold its own with any of the LCDTVs in your home. I'd have to say, they are really rather good when you consider this is an under $650 projector.
A mix of additional images to show off the Epson Home Cinema 710HD:
Forgetting the technical side of things I'd have to say that skin tones, overall are very good. Certainly this Epson should be able to hold its own with any of the LCDTVs in your home. I'd have to say, they are really rather good when you consider this is an under $650 projector.
While I'm not thrilled with black levels at all, and shadow detail is just OK, remember above we intentionally overexposed those dark images so you could see better. Looking at the space picture immediately above, at normal exposure, you should understand that dark scenes are still dark.
Shadow detail is good! It's about where you want it to be. Yes, all considered the HC 710HD could reveal a touch more in terms of dark shadow details, but we're talking just a touch.
Here are a few assorted, additional images, some of which can be found on other recent reviews:
Skin tones really can look great. No doubt that's a reason why this review has a few more images from the Victoria Secret fashion show.
Epson Home Cinema 710HD Projector: Performance, HDTV and Sports, including 3D
Watching sports was just great. Although I really didn't spend much time in the Bright mode, which is by far the brightest, and measured over 2100 lumens, I can tell you that it's not too bad. I have mentioned that Bright mode has a definite green caste to it. Let me say that heavy green is very common in projectors' brightest modes. That's particularly true of 3LCD projectors but also some DLPs.
For sports and other fast action, the Epson Home Cinema 710HD does not offer any smooth screen technology, to creatively interpolate new frames to make motion smoother (and maybe even make that hockey puck visible).
Let's look at the room I used for viewing the HC 710HD in action, and for doing all the photos:
First two images are from the front, looking back. The windows have heavy shutters which are about 1/3 closed, with plenty of daylight pouring in. I've also got the door leading out to the landing open. There's a huge skylight above that area, and it's drenched in sunlight.
You may, of course, click on the above images for slightly larger versions.
In the image below you get a real good idea about how much ambient light is hitting the screen. The screen is anything but dark. And that becomes, in this room, this setup, the blackest black possible. Only lots of lumens will make that much light seem dark by comparison.
As you can see above, the side window's shutters are mostly open. And you can definitely see the results of that ambient light, which is very evident, and especially so, closest to the window. You can see all that light hitting the screen to the right of the image in the photo below The screen is reflecting plenty of that ambient light back to the viewer - or my camera. There is less on the left side.
In this second image we centered the camera, and cropped in. You can just barely see part of the shutters, but you can still easily see the ambient light hitting the upper right side of the screen.
Below we have the same image, taken using three different preset color modes. First the brightest - Dynamic, then Living Room and Theater. The same exposure was taken for all three, so you see the relative brightness. This is a photo taken with the room's shutters exactly as shown above that is to say, lots of ambient light.
For almost all of the sports images, this is how the images were taken, with a goodly amount of ambient light. For the non-sports HDTV images however, the shutter to the right of the screen is closed about half way, improving the picture. Rear shutters also closed a bit more.
Other than the images above, all the Olympics images were taken in Theatre mode.
I haven't gone back to check the other reviews, but, I'm pretty certain that we haven't reviewed any other under $1000 projector that is brighter at their brightest. A couple of other low cost ones come close, but most are significantly less bright. Only the Panasonic PT-AR100U (now street priced at $1199) is really brighter at its brightest, and also the Epson 3010, but that Epson is almost 2x the price of the Epson Home Cinema 710HD projector. Epson's Home Cinema 8350 is closer in price (about $1100), but is not as bright.
For your viewing pleasure: A few more sports and HDTV images
From the Victoria Secret Fashion Show:
Epson Home Cinema 710HD Home Projector: Bottom Line on viewing HDTV and Sports
Although this Epson projector lacks a "smooth motion" feature, understand that's pretty much the case for all under $1000 home projectors. Beyond that feature, consider the Home Cinema 710HD to be an excellent, bright 720p projector for sports viewing. That would even be in your backyard at night for Monday Night Football - so don't forget, it has sound built in.
As a 720p projector it's just fine on all good things HDTV, except, lets separate out movies. Movies viewed on HDTV are still movies. Movie performance, will essentially be that of movie viewing off of Blu-ray, except of course for the slight loss in picture quality coming from your satellite box or cable box. As such, I'm really not describing movie viewing performance in this section. More of sports, plus The Simpsons, CSI, Fashion Police (if you are willing to watch low def), CNBC's Mad Money, DiscoveryHD, and Paladia, to name a few great channels that span a wide range of content.
This Epson is an excellent, fun, bright projector for the home. Invite the friends over, watch some Pro sports, watch the Olympics (just starting as I write this), or your fav sitcom. Have fun!
NEXT: See how the Epson Home Cinema 710HD projector performs