Epson MovieMate 60 - Review Summary
A bottom line summary of the Epson MovieMate 60 projector's pros and cons and capabilities.
12/22/2009 - Art Feierman
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Epson MovieMate 60: Bottom Line
My 17 year old thinks the MovieMate 60 is cool. Of course she's a little jaded, she tells me she doesn't need a MovieMate, since we have two home theaters, but likes it anyway. With that in mind, I am pleased to give the MovieMate 60 our Special Interest Award. (There really aren't enough all-in-one products to start dishing out our Hot Product Award.
It certainly is both a fun product and one that provides really good value. Before you go out and buy one more 40" LCDTV for another room, perhaps one of these MovieMate 60's is in order. Afterall, it certainly costs no more than the average 40" LCDTV at the time I write this (12/09). For that matter it draws about the same amount of electricity, so just think, you can have a picture on your wall the size of 8 or 10 LCDTVs combined, and be one whole lot greener per square foot of picture size. The extremely long life lamp, combined with its low cost
You can set it up in a minute, so it works great of your situation doesn't allow for anything permanent.
Take it outside in the summer evenings, haul it to a friend's place.
The MovieMate 60 is plug and play! All you need is a disc to put into the internal DVD player. Or a CD if you prefer some music!
Set it up in the kitchen or family room, shine it on a wall and plug in your camera's memory card, through the USB port. You can view the photos in style with a large projected image.
Run a cable from your satellite or cable box, and you can watch all your programming on as large a screen as you have space for, and your room allows.
The MovieMate 60's brightness is impressive. It can hold its own with just about any home theater projector we've reviewed, because it was designed for situations with, shall we say, a wide variety of lighting scenarios. We measured 1696 lumens at its brightest, and that's right up there.
In its best movie mode it's still exceptionally bright, at over 1200 lumens measured.
It's most impressive on a 100 inch diagonal screen for a good football game, even with a fair amount of light in the room.
Ok, you've got the idea. Next: Overall picture quality is pretty good. It's not for serious enthusiasts, but the vast majority of people who have never seen a MovieMate 60, are going to be impressed.
The one basic drawback is the resolution. It's not HD res, although it can show all HD content. In all fairness, resolution is still higher than standard DVD. The MovieMate 60's resolution falls between SD-DVD and 720p HDTV resolution. Actually the only higher resolution all-in-one around is the Epson MovieMate 72. I'm just spoiled, watching 1080p content and projectors all day long. The teenager of the house tells me not to worry about its resolution, that most people will just think it's great.
She is wise! I even set it up one evening in the testing room (there's no sound in there for projectors I'm testing), pulled up a chair and watched a good portion of Iron Man on it, just relying on the MovieMate's internal speakers for sound. Not bad! Not bad at all. Once I remembered not to be a video snob, the viewing experience worked out just fine.
The MovieMate 60 surely is a great stocking stuffer this holiday season - who wouldn't have fun with one of these.
MovieMate 60 Projector: Pros
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Very bright all-in-one projector, in both best, and brightest modes, able to handle a fair amount of ambient light or a very large screen
- A true all-in-one projector - DVD, Audio, and inputs for many other sources including TV/HDTV and photos
- Easy to use, simple to set up.
- Good color, both on movies/TV/HDTV and also when viewing photos
- Truly excellent warranty 2 years with replacement program both years
- Reasonably good quality sound from a pair of internal 10 watt speakers, and plenty of room filling volume
- Audio out for when you can plug into a larger sound system
- Mic input - karaoke? Or just fun for a party
- Very good documentation
- Exceptional lamp life, and very low lamp replacement cost ($149) equals extremely low cost of operation - and Energy Star compliant
MovieMate 60 Projector: Cons
- Mediocre black level performance, not designed for a dedicated home theater
- Noisier than most projectors (although fine for this type of product)
- Resolution could be higher, but then this is as good a resolution as you will get at this price point, and its sure a lot higher res than your old Sony Trinitron
- Optional mini sub-woofer would have been a nice option
- Remote is not backlit
- Documentation, while very good, is on disc (or online), no manual
MovieMate 60 Projector: Typical Capabilities
- Placement flexibility (compared to all-in-one projectors)
- Remote control
Epson MovieMate 60: Definitely a cool toy!
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