Epson’s flagship home theater projector is this new, 4K capable, Pro Cinema 6050UB. Epson's UB series (Ultra Black) projectors, uses special high contrast 3LCD panels that aren’t used in any of Epson’s other home, or commercial projectors, except the near-identical Home Cinema 5050UB. The UB series itself is now 12 years old, and thanks to the often improved ultra high contrast panels, black level performance and overall picture quality continues to improve.

The Pro Cinema 6050UB (and the less expensive Home Cinema 5050UB are pixel shifting projectors, for greater detail. The Pro Cinema 6050UB offers an improvement over the previous models – the HC 5040UB and PC 6040UB – in terms of improved in pixel shifting but more significantly improved HDR handling. Of course, there are a number of other areas where the new models outperform the previous UB's. Epson calls their latest iteration on handling 4K with pixel shifting and image processing as Pro-UHD. Epson advertises that the Pro Cinema 6050UB (as well as the HC5050UB and two similar Epson’s using the lower contrast 3LCD panels – the HC4010 and PC4050) – as having a wider color gamut and reaching the full 100% of the P3/BT.2020 color range.

That' a claim that’s been echoed by several other manufacturers since CEDIA 2018, but as yet has not been delivered upon. Well, if this PC6050UB and HC5050UB don’t fully get to P3 color, they sure get very close. Our calibrator found all the primary and secondary colors achieved at least 95% of P3, with no other lamp-based projectors that we’ve reviewed to date, even coming close.

Epson’s new Pro Cinema 6050UB is a bright, 4K Capable – 2,600 lumen –fully featured projector that started shipping early summer. I apologize for the delay, but I’ve had to wait months for this review unit, because, as Epson puts it, the Pro Cinema 6050UB has vastly outsold its expectations, with the projectors heavily backordered. The Pro Cinema 6050UB – aka PC6050UB, comes only in a black case (with a nice gold trim ring). (The Home Cinema version is in white.) I’ll get into the other differences throughout this review.

The Pro Cinema 6050’s list price is $3,999 but includes a bundle of gear and a longer warranty, The PC050UB’s warranty is Epson’s three-year warranty with three years of Rapid Replacement, which they provide for their Pro Cinema projectors (Home Cinema series gets two years of both. The Pro Cinema series is sold only by local integrator dealers, and some big box houses, such as Best Buy’s Magnolia stores. Along with Epson’s $3999 price you get not just the projector and the best warranty around, but also a spare lamp, a ceiling mount, and a cable cover (to keep things neat).

Epson’s new Pro Cinema 6050UB is a bright, 4K Capable – 2,600 lumen –fully featured projector that started shipping early summer. I apologize for the delay, but I’ve had to wait months for this review unit, because, as Epson puts it, the Pro Cinema 6050UB has vastly outsold its expectations, with the projectors heavily backordered. The Pro Cinema 6050UB – aka PC6050UB, comes only in a black case (with a nice gold trim ring). (The Home Cinema version is in white.) I’ll get into the other differences throughout this review.

The Pro Cinema 6050’s list price is $3,999 but includes a bundle of gear and a longer warranty, The PC050UB’s warranty is Epson’s three-year warranty with three years of Rapid Replacement, which they provide for their Pro Cinema projectors (Home Cinema series gets two years of both. The Pro Cinema series is sold only by local integrator dealers, and some big box houses, such as Best Buy’s Magnolia stores. Along with Epson’s $3999 price you get not just the projector and the best warranty around, but also a spare lamp, a ceiling mount, and a cable cover (to keep things neat).

I should mention now, that while the change from the PC6040UB to the PC6050UB is definitely evolutionary, not revolutionary, there are some areas of improvement which will be very important to a lot of folks.

I have put well over 100 hours total on the Pro Cinema 6050UB by the time I started writing, and before measuring. Epson has agreed to lend this PC6050UB to me for an extended period to use as a reference projector (replacing the old HC5040UB). That lets me compare all other models I review to it, which in turn let’s be more precisely describe the differences between other projectors and this Epson, but also between other projectors. For example, if the dark scene handling is much better on the Epson than the XYZ projector, but only slightly better than on the ABC projector, we can conclude that the ABC projector does better dark scenes than the XYZ model. (Yep learned that stuff in a good old college level Logic course, several decades ago! After having compared the PC5050UB with the HC5040UB (or PC6040UB) predecessors, I was already appreciating a number of improvements.

This Epson has several really good looking Picture modes, which may not be “calibration” accurate, but most will be quite thrilled with the “out of the box” settings. Not many sub-$5000 projector brands do as well, Along with Epson, Sony (especially good) and BenQ, are the brands that come first to mind for consistently having at the very least, some really good out of the box color and skin tones. Not that there aren’t some others that look great to start, as well.

I normally adjust the Brightness and Contrast by eyeball, when I first start viewing (that’s really easy to do, no gear of software needed). Typically those controls need almost no, or no adjustment. Interestingly with the launch of these new UB's, Epson solves the briefly, slightly embarrassing situation  of having better performance in some ways, in its step down models over the 40UBs until the 50UB series started shipping. The less expensive HC4010 and PC4050 came out a year ago, with some improvements not found on the earlier UB's. Now they are all updated, so the new UB’s are the best at everything in their lineup. (Epson’s LS10500 laser projector seems to have been phased out quietly, making the PC6050UB their flagship for the time being.

Let’s take a quick look at this new Epson's major highlights, features, and benefits. From there, we will tackle; Special Features, Hardware, Picture Quality and Performance, before wrapping it up with a Summary page, where we will also discuss this Epson’s competitors. Time to explore the Pro Cinema 6050UB, with some help from our HC5050UB review.

The new Epson 4K capable Home Cinema 5050UB projector is their latest and best projector in Epson’s now 12 year old UB series – aka “Ultra-Black” shifting projectors, offering an improvement over the previous HC 5040UB/PC 6040UB home theater projectors in pixel shifting and HDR, as well as in a number of other areas. 

Epson calls their latest implementations and improvements Pro-UHD (a registered mark), and advertises the Home Cinema 5050UB (as well as the HC4010 and PC4050), as having a wider color gamut and reaching the full 100% of the P3/BT.2020 color range; a claim that’s been echoed by several others since CEDIA 2018, but as yet has not been delivered upon – we’ll see if the HC5050UB/PC4050 can actually pull it off! (The HC4010 and PC4050).  See Eric's comments on the calibration pages.

Epson’s new Home Cinema 5050UB is a bright, 4K Capable – 2,600 lumen –fully featured projector.  The Home Cinema 5050UB – aka HC5050UB, comes only in a white case (with a nice gold trim ring).

The Home Cinema 5050’s list price is $2,999, The HC5050UB’s warranty is Epson’s standard two year warranty with two years of Rapid Replacement.  While the change from the HC5040UB to the HC5050UB is definitely evolutionary, not revolutionary, there are some areas of improvement which will be very important to a lot of folks.

Wireless HDMI transmitter comes with the HC5050UBe version

As usual, there is a second new projector in the UB line-up, the Home Cinema 5050UBe, which launched at the same time in April and sells for $300 more. That Epson physically looks identical but has built-in Wireless HDMI and comes with an HDMI transmitter, that handles three HDMI inputs on the back, plus one on the side.  It also outputs wired HDMI and Digital Optical audio!  BTW $300 for that ability is typically a good bit less than third-party wireless HDMI choices.

Also of note, since I started writing up this review, Epson just launched the Home Cinema 5050UB's almost identical twin - the Pro Cinema 6050UB.  Other than the black case, it looks just like the 5050UB but touts slightly better performance - which will be discussed in its review.  Just know that the Pro Cinema 6050UB is $1000 more, for which you get a slight bump in performance (including contrast for better blacks), along with hardware goodies:  Free spare lamp, cable cover and ceiling mount.  Don't forget the 3rd year of warranty and replacement program (vs the HC5050UB's two years of each).

I put on well more than 50 hours of watching the projector (ok, I’m not paying close attention all the time), before Eric came by to collect it, and take it for calibration.  He brought it back a week or so ago, calibrated and I helped him unmount the 5040UB and replace it with the Home Cinema 5050UB in my theater.  (Eric is tall, I’m not!)  Even before I gave it to him I was already appreciating a number of improvements.  I even took a pretty large number of my usual photos, pre-calibration because the Epson has several really good looking Picture modes, which may not be “calibration” accurate, but most will be quite thrilled with the “out of the box” settings.  

Not many sub-$3000 projector brands do as well,  Along with Epson, Sony (especially good) and BenQ, are the brands that come first to mind for consistently having at least really good out of the box color and skin tones – there are a couple of others though.  I normally adjust the Brightness and Contrast by eyeball, when I first start viewing (that’s really easy to do, no gear of software needed).

Interestingly with the launch of the 5050UB, Epson solves that slightly embarrassing situation of having better performance in some ways, in a step down model.  Let’s take a quick look at this new Epson’s major highlights, features, and benefits.  From there, we will tackle Special Features, Hardware, Picture Quality and Performance, before wrapping it up with a Summary page, where we will also discuss this Epson’s competitors.  Time to explore the Home Cinema 5050UB!

Hot off the presses – Epson launches the Home Cinema 5050UB, to replace their bestselling 5040UB.  Our first conclusion:  The performance bar for all other under $3000 projectors just got moved up quite a bit.

This is my short, First Look review of the Home Cinema 5050UB.  Yes, it is a modest two long pages.  The full, in-depth review, should go live before the last week of April, so stay tuned.  Between now and then, the 5050UB will be calibrated, and then most of the pictures will be taken (I’ll be sneaking away for a week of well deserved vacation).

I’ve been using this new Epson projector but while under a Non-Disclosure  Agreement – so I couldn’t leak info ahead of the official launch (today – April 9).

In the two plus weeks I’ve had it, I’ve already logged over 40 hours of viewing.  Let’s say I’m really “getting the hang” of the 5050UB and how it compares with the 5040UB.  In fact, I have both here, and have done a couple of split screen images, although its been tough – the older Epson has well over 2000 hours on the lamp, so is dimmer even at full power, than the 5050UB in lower power modes.

On paper, the 5050UB is not a significant improvement over its predecessor.  The reality is quite different.

The older Epson has been in the hands of both “normal folks” and enthusiasts, going back to the fall of 2016.  I add my voice to others who have been waiting for the update:  It’s about time!

I (and many others) certainly expected HC5050UB to replace the older UB, but six months ago at the CEDIA show, not now in the spring of 2019.  We all expected, because Epson launched the similar looking but lower performance Home Cinema 4010 and (and the Pro Cinema 4050).

That said, the new HC5050UB  has arrived, sporting an official list price of $2999!

Aurora - Jennifer Lawrence in Passengers - HC5050UB; 4K UHD HDR P3 content. Digital Cinema mode: Default settings yield impressively good skin tones!

Before I forget, there is a second version of the projector, the HC5050Ube, with a $3299 list price.  As was the case with the older 5040Ube, this model adds wireless HDMI capabilities, a very nice extra capability that will simplify life for many owners. Ube versions aren’t new they’ve been around for years.

Seems that Epson added a few extra performance related items to the new Home Cinema 5050UB that weren’t ready when the HC4010 launched six months ago, or we might have seen it launch at CEDIA last September.

So, I waited, and you waited, and now, the HC5050UB is here. Let’s take a closer look:

3LCD design, 2600 lumens (white and color, of course - it’s 3LCD).  All lens features of the 15 element all glass lens with its 2.1:1 zoom ratio, are motorized.  That provides Lens Memory abilities for working with wide screens (such as my 2.35:1 screen).  Lens Memory is a rarely found feature in under $5K projectors. Additionally, when considering the lens system, you will be hard pressed to find any projector offering more vertical and horizontal lens shift than the HC5050UB, and that translates to describing this projector as having more placement flexibility than any competitor, including many projectors costing several times as much.

For a great picture, of course, the HC5050UB supports HDR (high dynamic range) – both the HDR10 standard for 4K UHD Blu-ray discs, and now Epson has included  support for the newer HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) – a second HDR, optimized for over the air broadcast and streaming.  That will come in handy as more Netflix and other streaming content start using HDR on their 4K offerings.

Two HDMI inputs – these have been upgraded to a full 18Ghz speed allowing for the full capabilities of HDMI 2.0.    With this improvement, the new Epson is capable of running 4K content at 60fps with HDR and P3, so able to work with the fastest/best/highest res games out there today.

Before I forget, for comparison purposes, the less expensive HC4010 launched last fall, lacks support for HLG, and does not have 18Ghz HDMI, so can’t do the full 60fps HDR gaming content with P3 color (it can run the games without HDR).   That makes support for both HDR standards and the faster HDMIs, the primary new performance improvements to the 5050UB.  The UBs, (Ultra Black) of course, have always had a big advantage over the HC4010 and the HC4000 before it, in terms of black levels.

No this Epson does not have the brand new HDMI 2.1.  I know someone would ask if I didn’t mention it.   

Please click here, to read Phil’s technical discussion about HDMI  2.1, and whether it should important to you.  (Hint, probably not, unless you are a hard core gamer, and even then, not for a while.) For the rest of us, it can probably wait for 8K projectors.

Here’s what is really important:  As those of you who own a 40 series UB know, Getting HDR right has been a major challenge for projector manufacturers.  It relates to brightness and other things, but the challenges for all manufacturers have been significant, with many producing dim looking content.  On the older 5040UB/6040UB, Epson did two separate user firmware upgrades to improve the look of HDR content.  Both made real improvements, before the first one, almost all HDR content was at least a bit dim looking.   On the most recent version, though, HDR looked pretty darn good.  I was still messing with “gamma” – EOTF, to further lighten the lower mid-ranges, but the HDR content overall was very satisfactory, and rarely dim.

Welcome to a brave new world where HDR looks killer!  The Home Cinema 5050UB uses tone mapping and doing more expansively, it seems, than on the HC4010.  (Tone mapping is being used by others now, including BenQ, but especially Sony, who seems to have pioneered tone mapping for HDR in projectors, and, I assume,  also in their OLED TVs.

A quick story about dealing with HDR.  I recall, two years and change ago, heading down to Sony corporate, where Phil Jones, their lead engineer there for Sony projectors (training and support), was kind enough to spend hours bringing Eric – our calibrator,  and I, up to speed, best he could at the time, regarding dealing with HDR, trying to get it right.

I mention that now, because some of you may recognize Phil’s name, as he is our newest reviewer!  Phil will be primarily focused on higher end commercial and education projectors but will also do some home theater reviews as well, and blog on technical issues.  (His first review for us just published – Epson’s 15,000 lumen L1755UNL laser projector, and he’s working on two more reviews right now.)

But I digress. This is about Epson’s Home Cinema 5050UB, so let’s get into more of the details.

Tone mapping HDR – You can now adjust the tone mapping on this Epson, with a series of 16 settings, which tend to either lighten or dim the mid and lower mid ranges. With the default setting of 8, most HDR content looks great, I would say as well balanced as most of those higher end Sonys, which I have been extremely impressed with for their HDR handling.  The most recent, their $40,000 VW995ES.   I commented back then that the older 5040UB looked more than a little like the Sony, just that the Sony was clearer, brighter, better balanced (HDR), etc.   Similar but a major magnitude difference.

Much to my surprise, I even found some content where the default tone map of 8 made the picture a bit too bright overall, but changing the setting to 9 did the trick.  On a few of the darkest looking HDR movies, a setting of 7 did the trick.