Epson Home Cinema 5010 Projector – Performance

Posted on October 8, 2013 By Art Feierman

Below, we discuss the Epson Home Cinema 5010 projector’s brightness in its best and brightest modes, with images showing relative brightness of the modes. We also look at sharpness, image and audible noise levels

Epson Home Cinema 5010 Brightness

Mike measured the Home Cinema 5010, “right out of the box”, with default settings. This is a pre-production projector – as a matter of course, we are used to pre-production projectors sometimes measuring a good bit less than full production, but the difference is rarely more than 10%. Note that we set the zoom lens at the middle point, so we do not get as many lumens as a manufactuer would, as they all measure at wide angle, which is almost always brighter than mid-point or zooming all the way out.

Our goal is more focused on good looking lumens, thus our “quick-cal” which is just tweaking the brightest mode for better color, without giving up too many lumens.

Home Cinema 5010 Lumen Output and Color Temp at 100 IRE:

Lumen Output and Color Temp
Dynamic	1819 @ 7111
Living Room	1375 @ 7983
Natural	635 @ 6969, 455 in Eco lamp mode (default)
Cinema	635 @ 6924, 455 in Eco lamp mode (default)

Post Calibration: Best Mode = Cinema - or Natural

Mike Calibrated Cinema mode. Post calibration: 630 lumens

Epson later suggested that for a better color gamut we should try Natural preset mode. More on that below. Both modes measure the same out of the box, so I think we can presume that Natural will measure about the same calibrated as Cinema does.

Post Calibration: Brightest Mode = Dynamic 1660 lumens

This isn’t a D65 (6500K) calibration, rather an attempt to make the Home Cinema 5010 projector’s Dynamic mode a little more balanced in color, than it starts with. Most dynamic type modes, greens and blues tend to be over the top. Our goal is to just make a dynamic mode more natural, but with the paramater of not giving up too much brightness.

Effect of zoom on lumen output (Dynamic mode):

In all the talk above about lumens, remember that how you place your projector has a lot of impact on brightness. This Epson with its wide range zoom, loses brightness the further back you place it from your screen

Effect of zoom on lumen output (Dynamic mode):

zoom on lumen output (Dynamic Mode)
Zoom out	2051
Mid-zoom	1819
Zoom in	1347

Put that projector as close to the screen as you can, and you’ve got over 2000 lumens to work with, but lose just over 10% by moving back to the mid-range of the zoom, and for those of you putting the projector on a shelf at the far end of the range, you get about 30 percent less.

This is why we do all our measurements except this one, with the projector at mid-zoom. I normally have most projectors set up near their mid-points when I’m watching them. If you are at the short end of the range, you’ve got a few more lumens – a little extra juice. If you are way back, my declarations of bright enough, are a touch optimistic. Have fun with all that.