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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.

Epson Home Cinema 5050UB Specs
Price $2999
Technology 3LCD
Native Resolution 1920x1080
Brightness (Manufacturer Claim) 2600
Contrast 1000000:1
Zoom Lens Ratio 2.10:1
Lens Shift Yes
Lamp Life 3500
Weight 24.3
Warranty 2 years overnight replacement

Overview

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!

Jennifer Lawrence close-up

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.

From Passengers - 4K HDR P3 content.  Very good black levels...
From Passengers - 4K HDR P3 content. Very good black levels...

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:

Highlights

  • 2600 lumens at full power enough to deal with some ambient light
  • Color filter for improved color in "best modes"
  • Almost 2000 lumens calibrated in Bright Cinema mode (the best "brightest" mode)
  • Handles 4K content, including support for HDR, REC2020, P3, DCI standards
  • Uses pixel shifting to enhance both 4K and 2K - 1080i and 1080p content
  • 3D
  • "Ultra Black" - Excellent black level performance on dark scenes
  • Lens Memory - Motorized zoom, focus, and lens shift
  • Extensive amounts of lens shift, vertical and horizontal for placement flexibility
  • Excellent Warranty and Support - 2 years with 2 year replacement program
  • MHL on one of the HDMI for working with streaming sticks, mobile devices
  • More money than predecessor, but performance and feature improvements easily worth the difference
  • Improved gaming performance (less input lag)

The Basics

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.

HC5050ub on shelf
The 2.1:1 motorized zoom lens with massive amounts of lens shift, gives the HC5050UB excellent placement flexibility" Ceiling, Rear shelf, or Table top placement. Very few projectors will work on a rear shelf.

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.

This is a slightly shorter than usual review of Optoma’s UHD60 home entertainment / home theater projector. A factory fresh UHD60 arrived here just two weeks ago, but only a day before a week's vacation.

Unlike our traditional reviews, this Optoma UHD60 review will be a bit different. That, of course, is because we already reviewed the near identical UHD65. I'll also be dropping in commentary about how it compares with several projectors both above and below its price point.

We'll help you figure out whether this Optoma, or it's big brother, the UHD65, is best for you.  The UHD65, it should be noted, also won one of our Hot Product Awards and also earned a Best In Class – Value award (projectors priced from $2000 - $3500) in our 2017 Best Home Theater Projectors Comparison Report.   One key difference in our analysis is that we did not calibrate the UHD60. (So, for those of you looking for them, there aren't any calibration pages.

*Comparisons of, Optoma UHD60 Specs
Price $3799
Technology DLP
Native Resolution 1/4 HD (960x540)
Brightness (Manufacturer Claim) 3000
Contrast 1000000:1
Zoom Lens Ratio 1.60:1
Lens Shift Yes
Lamp Life 4000 Hours
Weight 16.0
Warranty 2 Years

Optoma UHD60 Overview

Hot Product Award graphic

This is our top regular award for projectors. We do offer additional awards in our special reports.

The UHD60 is a $1995 4K UHD projector using a single chip DLP based light engine. It claims 3000 lumens, has a manual zoom lens and perhaps most important to mention, it accepts 4K content, including HDR (high dynamic range) and like all lamp based projectors, attempts P3 color (part of BT.2020 color space), with its richer colors, wider color space, and greater intensity.  P3 is superior to the traditional REC709 standard from HDTV, and Blu-ray disc. From a practical standpoint, the ability to fully implement HDR and BT.2020 puts home theater projectors on par in capabilities with your local Cineplex movie theater, but like even cinema projectors I don't believe anything yet can achieve full BT.2020.

There are only three key differences between the UHD60 and its big brother. One is cosmetic – the UHD60 is in a white case (not black), as that would be considered the better match for a projector heading into a living room, media room, or family room environment. In theory, projectors designed for dedicated home theaters are typically black, which is the “color” of choice for the ceiling of a dedicated theater. (There are marketing reasons too!)

Second, and more important, is the choice of color wheels. The one for the UHD60 seems to be designed to maximize brightness with its color wheel which has red green, blue, cyan, and yellow filters, while the color wheel in its big brother is designed to maximize color accuracy and richness of those colors by using a color wheel which sticks to primary colors RGBRGB (also no clear slice).

A direct result in the difference in color wheels is the extra brightness. The UHD60’s claimed 3000 lumens is 800 lumens more than the UHD65’s 2200. The UHD60 (due to its wheel) makes spotting rainbows more common than the UHD65 for the small percentage of folks like me, who are "rainbow sensitive."

That pretty much covers the significant differences. Later, we will discuss the differences in the picture quality, including some comparison images between the two projectors.

That third significant difference, I already mentioned: It is that the UHD60 is $500 less at $1995.

I should note that I have both projectors running right now, one stacked on top of the other. You’ll see various pictures of both projectors in action, from the same source material, so that I can demonstrate the qualitative differences to you.

This page focuses on the UHD60 projector with a fresh Overview and Highlights section.  The second page of this review, however, talks about unique aspects of the UHD60 projector, and how it compares with its big brother, the $500 more expensive UHD65 which we have, as mentioned, reviewed in great detail.

In order to better address 4K content without the expense of creating projectors with true 4K resolution, Texas Instruments, the folks that bring us DLP, came up with a suitable compromise in the form of their pixel shifting 2716 x 1528 x2 resolution (the x2 is the pixel shifting). Although the individual pixels are twice the size of true 4K, those pixels overlap, which provides additional benefit.

There are a number of well known, or at least known, projector manufacturers that use TI’s DLP chips, Optoma being the best-selling brand of DLP projectors in the US, but you should recognize other names, which include BenQ, Viewsonic, Vivitek, Panasonic, Acer, and others.

Optoma, with their two models, the UHD60 and UHD65, have created two projectors aimed at slightly different buyers. The UHD60’s $1995 price is less than the UHD65, but more significantly, the 3000 lumen UHD60 is built for less than ideal rooms, while the 2200 lumen UHD65 is at its best in a dedicated theater environment.

Highlights

  • 3000 lumens
  • Single chip DLP design for sharpness
  • Native 2716 x 1528 x2 resolution
    Accepts 4K content with HDR
  • Nicely quiet (-28 db at full power)
  • Pixel shifting allows each pixel to fire twice, for 8.3 million pixels meeting the 4K UHD standard (which doesn’t specify how large each pixel can be)
  • 1.6:1 zoom lens and modest lens shift for good placement flexibility
  • RGBCY Color wheel
  • A pair of 4 watt speakers for more portable use, great for streaming
  • Multiple HDR settings
  • Creative Frame Interpolation (CFI) for smooth motion
  • Uses lamp dimming to improve black level performance
  • MHL on one of the HDMI ports, for working with mobile devices, streaming sticks

These all new, pixel shifting, 4K capable "Ultra Black" projectors from Epson; the Home Cinema 5040UB - aka HC5040UB - and Pro Cinema 6040UB - aka PC6040UB,  are far more advanced than their predecessors, in almost every way.

The improvements over the past four or five years in the UB line have been modest.  Not this time! There are so many new goodies that Epson even substantially raised their price.  Despite that, I consider these new models to easily be the greater value compared with last year's.

The Home Cinema 5040UB - $2999, and Pro Cinema 6040UB - $3999, are virtually identical except for price, the case color, and that the "Pro" version comes with a cable cover, a spare lamp, plus an extra year of warranty and replacement program, for the higher price point.    They are sold through different distribution channels with the HC5040UB available online and locally.  The PC6040UB will be found at Epson authorized local installing dealers, and installing big box houses. (A Magnolia Home Theater store in Best Buy would count as the later.)

Update April 2017:  Epson just lowered the price of the Home Cinema 5040UB to $2699 - a 10% drop, making the most popular projector capable of working with 4K and HDR even more affordable.

Simply stated:  The HC5040UB is the more accessible projector of the two, but the PC6040UB is the one you will more often find at a dealer that can install it for you - and a screen, and a sound system, and even motorized shades and home theater furniture if you need them.  There is one more model in the series, that's the HC5040UBe.  It is $300 more than the standard 5040UB.  For that you get wireless HDMI with 4 wireless inputs and support for MHL.

One more thing - up front - for you gamers.   The HC5040UB and PC6040UB are much better at input lag than their predecessors.  (You'll find more about it on our Special features 2 page.)

The Epson Pro L1505 is a 12,000 lumen, large venue, pixel shifting,  laser projector with WUXGA resolution, that can accept a full range of 4K content! It seems almost bargain priced at $21,999!

It is one of seven laser projectors announced spring 2016.  All are just starting to ship except for the flagship L2500 (yes, with 25,000 lumens) which will be available later in 2016.  This black finished L1505U has an identical twin finished in white:  The L1500U.  (I'm not counting them separately when I say 7 laser projectors.) Consider that everything in this review about the L1505 also applies to the L1500 Epson laser projector.  My understanding is that the L2500 will also be available in both black and white finishes.

Note: Watch our short video review of these projectors here.

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