Epson Home Cinema 3020 – Review Summary 2

The Very Bottom Line on the Home Cinema 3020 projector

The Home Cinema 3020 and 3020e are the only 3D capable LCD home projectors on the market under $2500!  That means they get to take on a whole bunch of DLP projectors as the competition.  With one or two exceptions, the Epson has  those DLP’s beat.  Not at everything, but at so many things, that it’s really no contest. So far, the best of the DLP competition under $2000 are the Acer and the BenQ W7000.  The BenQ is about $400 more while the H9500BD is basically the same price as the standard HC3020.

The Epson easily beats both at brightness, and that’s especially true for 3D.  The Epson is also the projector that least needs any calibration – the best choice, right out of the box.  No muss, no fuss!  (I have no idea where that phrase originated).

We were already filming a “Video summary” of this review, before I wrote this summary page.  In the video I concluded that the HC3020 is easy, so I dubbed it Epson Easy.  (catchy, yes?) It just seemed to fit

The point is that the Epson 3020 tends look good. Some projectors are “rough around the edges” they tend to look good on some things, not quite right on others.  This Epson is well balanced, it almost always looks good, that means you are focused on the content, not some aspects of the projector, and that’s the way it should be.  It’s just easy to watch, be it movies, sports or general TV, and it’s downright wonderful for 3D compared to the competition, far brighter, comfortable glasses, and more.

If you choose an Epson, then it’s straight forward choosing which one, the HC3020 or the HC3020e.  The only real difference between the Home Cinema 3020 and 3020e is the “e” offers wireless HDMI.  (Note: WirelessHD is the official name of that standard.)  Consider the HC3020e, if you can save money on wiring.  Those who would have to open walls, close, and repaint them, to wire that HDMI to the projector (if you don’t need to run any other sources cabling), will save some bucks. The WirelessHD transmitter that you put by your sources offers 5 HDMI input and a Digital Audio input as well.

Watching the HC3020 was always an enjoyable experience, as long as I wasn’t mentally comparing it with a lot more expensive projectors.  Afterall, for exactly $1000 more, Epson’s own Home Cinema 5020UB, is similar in brightness, better, and more feature laden.

If the Home Cinema 3020 right about what you want to spend, you will be really hard pressed to find worthy competitor for your family room, media room, or bonus room world. If you are trying to put this projector in a dedicated home theater type environment for the same price, then it’s got a couple of competitors to also consider.

Last year the 3010 received (tied) for our Best In Class award, which our highest award for under $2000 projectors. Note:  There will be at least two more reviews of under $2K projectors coming up before year end.  This year’s HC3020 is even better than last year, especially at 3D.  Unless I am amazing with something new in the under $2K range, (between now and when I start our annual comparison in February), it sure looks like at least a repeat performance for Epson with the HC3020.