Epson Home Cinema 6500UB - Review Summary-2

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Art Feierman

Epson Home Cinema 6500UB Projector: Pros

Very good color accuracy post calibration in best mode
LivingRoom mode provides very good color accuracy for a brighter mode, great for HDTV, Sports, and for movies with modest ambient light
Dynamic mode is brighter than all but a very few projectors can produce
Good shadow detail performance
Black level performance the best of the under $3000 projectors, and better than most more expensive ones, including all DLP projectors we have reviewed
An overall very impressive image – lots of “pop” and “wow” factor
Two HDMI 1.3b inputs, full support for 24 fps, Deep Color, etc.
Very sharp image
More user savable settings modes than anyone will ever need

Very good remote control
Excellent placement flexibility due to 2.1:1 zoom and lens shift
Long life, 4000 hour lamp (in full or low power lamp modes) – longest lamp life of any home theater projector with lamp at full power – reduces cost of ownership
Very good menus
Best overall picture of any under $3000 projector (thanks to black level advantage)
Excellent price/performance

Apparent problems with Epson's frame interpolation scheme, with frequent jerkiness to the image, and "live digital video" look to movies when engaged
Darkest shadow details lost, compared to the projectors best at shadow detail - but ultimately very respectable shadow detail
A third HDMI input would be nice
Slight (but acceptable) pixel mis-alignment
Some uneveness of background color, however, this is not unusual when working with late pre-production units
Documentation is weak in terms of explaining the many settings features and modes (typical of most manuals)

Selection of inputs
Documentation ( as noted, though, it's thin on explanations of many features)
Physical appearance - basically a box, but with a little bit of styling, no award for good physical looks
Average audible noise levels, very quiet in low power, a little noisier than average at full power