Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality Posted on August 19, 2008 By Art Feierman 1. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Highlights - Overview - The Dynamics of Owning a Home Theater Projector System2. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review-2 - The Dynamics of Owning a Home Theater Projector System - What's Normally Involved in Putting Together A Home Theater3. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review-3 - What's Involved in Doing a Home Theater, Epson Ensemble HD Style - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 System Overview of Equipment - Ensemble HD 1080: Basic Specifications4. Ensemble HD 1080: Physical Attributes of the Complete System - Ensemble HD 1080: Physical Attributes of the Complete System - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 A/V Controller5. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review-4 - Ensemble HD Screen (and speaker) System - Ensemble HD 1080 5.1 Speakers and Amplification - Ensemble HD 1080 Remote Control - Ensemble HD 1080 Miscellaneous Equipment6. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 System: Image Quality Sections - Home Cinema 1080 Projector: "Out of the Box" Picture Quality - Skin Tone Handling7. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-2 - Home Cinema 1080: Black Level and Shadow Detail - Black Level Performance - Ensemble HD 1080 Shadow Detail Performance8. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-3 - Ensemble HD 1080 Shadow Detail Performance9. Home Cinema 1080: Black Level and Shadow Detail – 2 - Epson Ensemble HD Home Cinema 1080 projector - Shadow Detail Performance - Epson Home Cinema 1080 Projector: Sharpness - The DTS test disc main menu is a good test of sharpness - A close-up of the monitor image in Space Cowboys - Bottom Line Sharpness10. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-411. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-512. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-6 - Epson Ensemble HD Home Cinema 1080 projector13. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-914. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-10 - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Performance: HDTV and Sports - Overall Image Quality - Overall Picture Quality: Bottom Line15. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Home Theater System Review: General Performance - Ensemble HD 1080 Menus - Ensemble HD 1080 User Memory Settings - Ensemble HD 1080 Projector: Universal Remote Control16. Ensemble HD 1080 Lens Throw and Lens Shift - Ensemble HD 1080 Lens Throw and Lens Shift - Ensemble HD 1080 SDE and Rainbow Effect, Pixel Visibility - Ensemble HD 1080 Projector Brightness17. Ensemble HD 1080 Projector: Measurements and Calibration - Ensemble HD 1080 Projector Light Leakage - Ensemble HD 1080 Audible Noise Levels - Ensemble HD 1080 Projector: Measurements and Calibration - Epson Home Cinema 1080 Post Calibration Measurements: - Theater Black 1 mode: - Living Room Mode - Dynamic (Art's settings - a very quick calibration)18. Ensemble HD 1080 Image Noise - Ensemble HD 1080 Image Noise - Ensemble HD 1080 Sound Quality19. Other Cool Features of the Epson Ensemble HD 1080 - Midnight Mode - Multiple formats accepted by the DVD player - The USB port on the front - Headphone Jack! - AM/FM tuner - Preset screen drop - Additional Radio Frequency capabilities20. Installation of the Epson Ensemble HD Home Theater System - Installing the Epson Ensemble HD in my Office/Testing Room/Theater 2 - Home Theater Installation: Day One - Bingo, at that point, they discovered Problem #1. - Problem #221. Home Theater Installation: Smooth installation from there on out - Smooth installation from there on out - That didn't take long: Day 1 - Day 2: Smooth as Silk!22. Home Theater Installation: Hooking everything up - Hooking everything up - One, Two, Three, Go - If Only You Could See What I Saw23. Home Theater Installation: And, finally: Calibration, then – All Done - And, finally: Calibration, then - All Done - And what have we learned today? - The Bottom Line: Installation of the Epson Ensemble HD - The Low Cost of this Complete Home Theater Installation24. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 A Complete Home Theater System Review: Summary, Pros and Cons - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Home Theater System: Pros, Cons, and Typical Capabilities - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Home Theater System: Pros - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Home Theater System: Cons25. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Competitive Aspects - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Competitive Aspects - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater Projector System: Summary - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater Projector Based System - Bottom Line:26. Epson Ensemble HD1080 Projector Specifications Epson Ensemble HD 1080 System: Image Quality SectionsEpson Ensemble HD Home Cinema 1080 Projector; Out of the Box Picture Quality Skin Tone Handling Home Cinema 1080 Black Level Performance and Shadow Detail Home Cinema 1080 Sharpness Overall Image Quality (post Calibration) Home Cinema 1080 for HDTV and Sports Bottom Line Image Quality (and additional images) Most of the images in this review can be clicked on for a larger, higher resolution version (except for equipment images). In this section, I have gone into the image quality performance of the Epson projector itself – the Home Cinema 1080 – with about the same level of detail of any other projector I’ve reviewed. I must say though, that while you may find the details found here to be interesting, and possibly enlightening, the only real important point is that this projector is one of the better lower cost 1080p projectors available, and works extremely well as part of the complete system. It’s easy to debate the fine points between projectors, but the typical buyer of this system will be more than pleased with the picture quality. Home Cinema 1080 Projector: "Out of the Box" Picture QualityNot bad, not bad at all! Like virtually any other home theater projector, the Epson Home Cinema 1080 projector’s “out of the box” image quality will improve with calibration. Due to timing, I found myself watching the system for about a week, and at least 15 hours of viewing with the default settings. The best movie mode – Theatre Black 1, using the default setting, produces pretty impressive color, if slightly oversaturated. The color is not dead on, but skin tones look pretty good, and the gamma provides very good balance between dark, mid, and bright areas. Few projectors have better “out of the box” color performance in their best movie mode. Moving to the other settings though, you immediately see the need for some real improvement. Living Room mode definitely needs to be recalibrated, and Dynamic, which is just that – the brightest setting, is way strong on green, a common technique to get the highest lumen measurements. Further, overall, green is somewhat oversaturated in all modes. Whites take on a slightly yellowish green hue. As with other projector reviews, when the Dynamic mode (or whatever other manufacturers call it) is off significantly, my goal when calibrating, is to tame it a bit, sacrificing a bit of the brightness as a compromise, in exchange for better color. This is very successful with the Epson Ensemble HD’s Home Cinema 1080 projector. Bottom Line: All-in-all, the Epson’s best mode is very watchable, but the brighter modes need some work. If you don’t want to pay your dealer to calibrate it, at least get one of the calibration discs, either the AVIA dic, or the DVE-HD disc which we recently reviewed. It will be worth the hours or so of your time, and both are designed to be usable by non-technical folks. Plan B, so to speak, would be to get your system installed, and then simply use the data we provide from our calibration (General Performance section), and set up a few User memory modes with our results. There will be variation from projector to projector (mostly due to variation with lamps – and how many hours they have on them), but for the most part, our results should make you extremely pleased with your system! Skin Tone Handling As mentioned, Theater Black 1 – the best mode, does a very respectable job on skin tones. After calibration though, they are gorgeous. Not the best I’ve ever seen, but downright excellent. As to the best – post calibration, that honor goes to the InFocus IN83 recently reviewed, but then, that projector, by itself, costs almost as much as the complete Ensemble HD 1080 system ($5999 vs $6999 for the full Ensemble HD 1080). Remember, when considering what makes for excellent skin tones, that the perceived lighting (and the director’s intent – think The Matrix), have a lot to do with it. The same person’s skin tone will be markedly different in different lighting scenarios. To give you a taste of what I am talking about, here are three images of James Bond from Casino Royale. In the first one, full sunlight, the second – fluorescent lighting in an airport, and lastly filtered sunlight: 1. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Highlights - Overview - The Dynamics of Owning a Home Theater Projector System2. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review-2 - The Dynamics of Owning a Home Theater Projector System - What's Normally Involved in Putting Together A Home Theater3. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review-3 - What's Involved in Doing a Home Theater, Epson Ensemble HD Style - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 System Overview of Equipment - Ensemble HD 1080: Basic Specifications4. Ensemble HD 1080: Physical Attributes of the Complete System - Ensemble HD 1080: Physical Attributes of the Complete System - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 A/V Controller5. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review-4 - Ensemble HD Screen (and speaker) System - Ensemble HD 1080 5.1 Speakers and Amplification - Ensemble HD 1080 Remote Control - Ensemble HD 1080 Miscellaneous Equipment6. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 System: Image Quality Sections - Home Cinema 1080 Projector: "Out of the Box" Picture Quality - Skin Tone Handling7. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-2 - Home Cinema 1080: Black Level and Shadow Detail - Black Level Performance - Ensemble HD 1080 Shadow Detail Performance8. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-3 - Ensemble HD 1080 Shadow Detail Performance9. Home Cinema 1080: Black Level and Shadow Detail – 2 - Epson Ensemble HD Home Cinema 1080 projector - Shadow Detail Performance - Epson Home Cinema 1080 Projector: Sharpness - The DTS test disc main menu is a good test of sharpness - A close-up of the monitor image in Space Cowboys - Bottom Line Sharpness10. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-411. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-512. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-6 - Epson Ensemble HD Home Cinema 1080 projector13. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-914. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-10 - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Performance: HDTV and Sports - Overall Image Quality - Overall Picture Quality: Bottom Line15. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Home Theater System Review: General Performance - Ensemble HD 1080 Menus - Ensemble HD 1080 User Memory Settings - Ensemble HD 1080 Projector: Universal Remote Control16. Ensemble HD 1080 Lens Throw and Lens Shift - Ensemble HD 1080 Lens Throw and Lens Shift - Ensemble HD 1080 SDE and Rainbow Effect, Pixel Visibility - Ensemble HD 1080 Projector Brightness17. Ensemble HD 1080 Projector: Measurements and Calibration - Ensemble HD 1080 Projector Light Leakage - Ensemble HD 1080 Audible Noise Levels - Ensemble HD 1080 Projector: Measurements and Calibration - Epson Home Cinema 1080 Post Calibration Measurements: - Theater Black 1 mode: - Living Room Mode - Dynamic (Art's settings - a very quick calibration)18. Ensemble HD 1080 Image Noise - Ensemble HD 1080 Image Noise - Ensemble HD 1080 Sound Quality19. Other Cool Features of the Epson Ensemble HD 1080 - Midnight Mode - Multiple formats accepted by the DVD player - The USB port on the front - Headphone Jack! - AM/FM tuner - Preset screen drop - Additional Radio Frequency capabilities20. Installation of the Epson Ensemble HD Home Theater System - Installing the Epson Ensemble HD in my Office/Testing Room/Theater 2 - Home Theater Installation: Day One - Bingo, at that point, they discovered Problem #1. - Problem #221. Home Theater Installation: Smooth installation from there on out - Smooth installation from there on out - That didn't take long: Day 1 - Day 2: Smooth as Silk!22. Home Theater Installation: Hooking everything up - Hooking everything up - One, Two, Three, Go - If Only You Could See What I Saw23. Home Theater Installation: And, finally: Calibration, then – All Done - And, finally: Calibration, then - All Done - And what have we learned today? - The Bottom Line: Installation of the Epson Ensemble HD - The Low Cost of this Complete Home Theater Installation24. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 A Complete Home Theater System Review: Summary, Pros and Cons - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Home Theater System: Pros, Cons, and Typical Capabilities - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Home Theater System: Pros - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Home Theater System: Cons25. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Competitive Aspects - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Competitive Aspects - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater Projector System: Summary - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater Projector Based System - Bottom Line:26. Epson Ensemble HD1080 Projector Specifications Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review-4 Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-2