Epson G5450WUNL Projector - Brightness
The G5450WUNL is rated at 4000 lumens. While the output may vary depending on the lens used, I wasn’t able to achieve anything close to that level even at full wide zoom with the standard lens. We experienced similar results with last year’s G5350NL, which was almost a 1000 lumens under its rated output at mid zoom. In Dynamic mode (the brightest), I measured 2870 lumens at mid-zoom range. At full wide zoom, this only increased to 3102 lumens. This is pretty bright, even if it doesn’t come close to its 4000 lumen rating. I also measured the output with different lens shift settings, but there was little effect. Even so, the G5450 shouldn’t have a problem displaying a viewable image in most lighting conditions.
Using Presentation mode, the output dropped to 2394 lumens. This is the mode that will most often be used as it provides good brightness combined with excellent color. If the best possible color balance is desired, Photo mode, at 1944 lumens, or Theater mode, at 1918 lumens, will achieve it with a minimal drop in lumens. Other modes were as follows: Sports (which replaces Photo in the menu when using a video source) is equivalent to Dynamic at 2870 lumens, sRGB and Customized (which allows for individual adjustment of primary and secondary colors) both come in at 1944 lumens. Finally, DICOM SIM (a mode designed to provide increased contrast and gamma for displaying medical imaging information) was also 1944 lumens.
Dropping the lamp into Low brightness mode resulted in a 23% drop in lumen output. With Dynamic mode, this still gives you 2222 lumens which should be sufficient as long as there is some ambient light control.
Epson G5450WUNL Projector - Audible Noise
The Epson G5450WUNL has decent noise ratings for a projector of this type in high brightness mode (35 dB). While that’s not particularly quiet, it’s not likely to be an issue in almost any presenting environment you’d find the G5450, and certainly not when presenting in the larger rooms that the G5450's 3000 lumens allows. If a quieter environment is desired, dropping the G5450 into Eco lamp mode reduces the noise level to 30 dB. If the aforementioned 23% drop in lumen output is acceptable, the G5450 would easily be quiet enough in Eco mode for comfortable video or movie viewing. To put this noise level in perspective, 30 dB is close to the noise level of some home theater projector running in its Normal lamp mode. Basically, for a projector this bright that is intended to be permanently installed away from viewers, the noise level is not an issue.
The G5450WUNL has a built-in 7-watt speaker, which is enough to overcome the fan noise, but is unlikely to be suitable for the larger scale venues where the G5450 is likely to be found.
