Epson Home Cinema 3020 Projector – Image Quality

Posted on July 16, 2013 By Art Feierman

Before we discuss the picture quality of Epson’s Home Cinema 3020, our usual comments on the color accuracy of the images:

A lot of processing goes on from the start of a photo shoot until you are viewing the Epson Home Cinema 3020 images on your computer screen. As a result, these images are reasonable indications, but not accurate enough for comparing precise color, saturation and other aspects. Note: Selected images relating to shadow detail, and especially black level performance can be very effective at demonstrating how the Home Cinema 3020 positions itself compared to other home projectors. Different computers, browsers, displays, graphics cards, and software, all affect how the image looks on your screen.

I’ve always said, that all home theater projectors, including this Epson Home Cinema 3020, definitely looks better live at your place, than any of our images would indicate.

Epson Home Cinema 3020 Out of the Box Picture Quality

Cinema looks pretty good out of the box. At full power the picture is a just a touch warm, and definitely very watchable. Living Room mode delivers a few hundred extra lumen, and also looks good, although a bit cool. Both can be improved slightly with a single setting change. In the case of Cinema, adjust the color temp setting from 6500 to 7000, and for Living Room, lower it from 7500 to 7000. Bingo, really good just got better, without any calibration.

Dynamic mode is the brightest, and it is heavy on greens. It’s the only color mode that doesn’t look great. Still, not near as bad as many other Dynamic modes out there, including the BenQ W7000. Mike’s “quick-cal” improves Dynamic mode rather nicely without sacrificing too many lumens.

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Epson Home Cinema 3020 Projector - Flesh Tones

The Cinema mode and Natural are almost identical. Skin tones look very good in both, while in Living room mode, theys till look good if a touch thin on red (unless you follow our suggestion above, or check out the Calibration page)

Post calibration Cinema mode looks really great. It should the projector measures very close to ideal. Visit the performance page where you can see comparative photos comparing the different modes, on a model with plenty of skin showing for the comparison. The uncalibrated Cinema mode looks very good, but it gets even better after Mike’s grayscale calibration. Skin tones are a touch softer and better still, after Mike calibrated the individual colors with the Color Management System. All these images are post calibration, but only the grayscale, not the CMS.