Projector Calibration and Settings
We calibrate each home theater that is reviewed. The Epson Home Cinema 8100 is no exception, except that we're working from a pre-production unit. I expect changes to the color tables, by the time the full production Home Cinema 8100 projectors arrive and for that reason, we will publish new settings based on a production Home Cinema 8100, when we receive it.
It is a pretty standard calibration, there's always more that can be done by some of the "hi-end" calibrators. Our calibrations, including the Epson Home Cinema 8100, are normally limited to a grayscale calibration, along with brightness, contrast, color saturation, etc.
10/04/2009 - Art Feierman
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Epson Home Cinema 8100 Color Temperature
Pre calibration, these are the color temperatures over the grayscale range:
Color Temp over IRE Range, Cinema Gamma, Medium color temp, BC on:
30 IRE – 6513
50 IRE – 6652
80 IRE – 6649
100 IRE – 6556
Mike notes: For not being calibrated, RGB balance is quite good throughout IRE range
Because the Home Cinema 8100 doesn't have presets that work the same as most other projectors - with different gammas and color temps, as separate controls, here are two more charts that should provide some clarity (or confusion). You can see how the Gamma affects different color temp settings, and vice versa:
Lumen Output for various Gamma modes at 100 IRE, color temp on Medium:
Auto= 948 @ 6611
Cinema= 968 @ 6590, 726 @ 6238 w/BC off
Video= 953 @ 6617
Sports= 1142 @ 6352, 880 @ 6154 w/BC off
Lumen Output at various Color Temps at 100 IRE, Gamma on Auto:
Medium= 948 @ 6611
High Brightness= 1091 @ 6143, 1142 @ 6148 on Sports gamma
Cool= 655 @ 8942
Warm= 843 @ 5342
Below you'll find final color temp measurements, post calibration.
Epson Home Cinema 8100 Basic Settings
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.
Contrast= (0), 0 for all except Sports, which is -4
Brightness= (0) 13 for all
Gamma= Auto
Color Temp= Medium (default for Auto gamma)
Lamp Mode= Standard (unless noted otherwise)
Brilliant Color (BC) = On (unless noted otherwise)
All other settings at default
Settings for measurements (default values are in parenthesis):
All other settings at default (untouched).
Epson Home Cinema 8100 Post Calibration Grayscale: Cinema Gamma, Color Temp based on Medium, and Brilliant Color on
Calibrated color temps, 20 – 100 IRE:
20 IRE = 6547K
30 IRE = 6456K (dark gray)
40 IRE = 6573K
50 IRE = 6553K (medium gray)
60 IRE = 6566K
70 IRE = 6508K
80 IRE = 6537K (light gray)
90 IRE = 6734K
100 IRE = 6565K (white)
Overall that's a fairly good set of numbers. Note, btw, the spike in color temp at 90 ire, which matches with the spike in gamma (see below). While minor, that's just the type of thing, one would hope that would get improved going from a sample unit to a production projector.
Gamma: Mike didn't try all the gamma settings, but of those he did (the most logical ones), he reports that the closest he could get to the ideal 2.2 was a measured 2.37 average. That particular gamma mode has a large spike to 2.9 at 90 IRE. If you average that spike out, the gamma worked out to 2.3, still a bit too high. Individual controls are avialble for gamma (but none that would remove a spike). Most likely, the gamma settings will be revised and refined by the time full production Home Cinema 8100 projectors are shipping. Despite the gamma not being ideal, my overall opinions of the image quality are very high.
RGB Settings
Mike actually calibrated Theater Black 1, twice, the first time with the lamp on low (eco-mode), which is the factory default. He placed that one in User Memory 1, for my use, and also saved his calibration at full power, in User Memory 3.
To get the color temp settings above, the following adjustments were made to gain and bias:
| Low Power | Full Power | Full power | |
| TheaterBlk1 | Dynamic | TheaterBlk1 | |
| Offset | R = -12 | R= -12 | R= -18 |
| G = 0 | G= 0 | G= 0 | |
| B = -18 | B= 0 | B= -18 | |
| Gain | R = -17 | R= 12 | R= -30 |
| G = 0 | G=0 | G= 0 | |
| B = -13 | B= 0 | B= -22 |
NEXT: Recommended projector screens for the Epson Home Cinema 8100 Projector