By Nathan Adkins
Epson is one of the top projector manufacturers globally and has three of the top-selling projectors under $1,000 in 2020. They are looking to double down on their home cinema line. They've introduced four new home theater projectors to deliver a big-screen experience in any office or home. Redesigned from the ground up, the Home Cinema 880, 1080, 2200, and 2250 combine 1080P resolution, brightness, and rich color reproduction to deliver an exceptional viewing experience for an affordable price.
Epson has discontinued its Home Cinema 760 HD, 1060, 2100, and 2150 models. In this new roll out the company has introduced the Home Cinema 880 and 1080 to replace the Home Cinema 760 HD and 1060, while the Home Cinema 2200 and 2250 replaces the Home Cinema 2100 and 2150.
Epson wants to enhance your theater experience with their Home Cinema 880, 1080, 2200, or 2250 to deliver a great quality picture for various situations at an affordable price. Whether you're enjoying the big game, binge-watching your favorite TV show, or playing on a gaming console, these projectors provide amazing color brightness with a stunning, larger-than-life viewing experience.
Home Cinema 880 and Home Cinema 1080
The Home Cinema 880 and 1080 uses the same 210-watt UHE bulb with a lamp life of 6,000 – 12,000 hours. Over 3,000 lumens of color and the white brightness should deliver outstanding image quality in various lighting conditions on screens up to 320 inches. Each unit houses Epson's 3LCD technology for best-in-class color brightness and a dynamic contrast ratio up to 16,000:1, which allows for rich detail in dark scenes.
The two projectors are also equipped with a convenient color mode feature with four easily selectable color adjustment modes to optimize projection content and cinema.
Special features included in the Home Cinema 880 and 1080 are a built-in picture skew sensor, a 2-watt speaker, digital zoom, dual HDMI inputs along with a USB plug and play for PC and Mac compatibility for easy setup right out of the box.
When comparing the size and weight of the Home Cinema 880 and 1080, they are pretty similar. The Home Cinema 880 projector's size is 3.20"x11.90"x 9.30" (HxWxD) with a weight of 6.0 lbs. While the 1080 Home Cinema size is 3.60" x 11.90" x 9.90" (HxWxD) and weighs 6.2 lbs.
The main differences between the two are that the Home Cinema 880 offers a lumens output of 3,300 lumens and the Home Cinema 1080 offers an output of 3,400 lumens. The Home Cinema 880 has one HDMI port and a fixed-zoom lens, while the Home Cinema 1080 has two HDMI ports and a 1.2x zoom. The Home Cinema 880 has a retail price of $599.99 while the Home Cinema 1080 sells for $749.99.
Home Cinema 2200 and Home Cinema 2250
The Home Cinema 2200 and 2250 both have a rated brightness of 2,700 lumens. Epson’s 3LCD technology ensures good color accuracy while maintaining excellent color brightness, without any distracting "rainbowing" or "limited color brightness" that plague many DLP projectors. Their 200-watt UHE bulb has a rated lamp life of 4,500 - 7,500 hours.
The HC2200 and HC2250 include Android TV functionality via a dongle which includes several popular streaming apps, including Hulu, Disney+, Netflix, HBO, and YouTube. These two models also include a simple-to-use remote with built-in Google Assistant for voice search capabilities.
The Home Cinema 2200 and 2500 accept 4K signals, support 21:9 aspect ratio screens. A gamma uplift feature enhances the gaming experience by making it easier to see objects in darker areas.
They also have a new 10-watt internal bass-reflex speaker system to improve game audio, and they include Bluetooth connectivity.
Key differences between the two projectors are that the Home Cinema 2250 offers a contrast ratio of up to 70,000:1 vs. 35,000:1 found in the Home Cinema 2200. The Home Cinema 2250 has a 1.6x zoom with a vertical lens shift of 45-60 percent, while the Home Cinema 2200 is a 1.2x zoom projector with no lens shift.
The Home Cinema 2200 and 2250 both measure 4.80"Hx12.20"Wx12.40"D. The Home Cinema 2200 weighs 7.9 lbs. while the Home Cinema 2250 comes in at 8.4 lbs. The Home Cinema 2200 is valued at $899.99, while the Home Cinema 2250 is available for $999.99.
