Epson Home Cinema 8100 - Review Summary

Epson Home Cinema 8100 Projector: Pros, Cons, and Typical Capabilities

Epson Home Cinema 8100 Projector: Pros

• Likely to have good "out of the box" picture quality with finished units
• Really good color accuracy post calibration in "best" mode, despite being an pre-production! Well saturated colors, dynamic look and feel
• Very good black levels for a projector in its price range
• Bright: Expect over 1400 lumens in "brightest" mode
• Very good skin tones
• Average brightness in "best" mode
• Realy good for movie watching, and downright great for sports and HDTV
• Projector lamp can be changed without unmounting the projector (door is on the top, though well hidden)
• Very low cost of operation thanks to long life lamp 4000/4000 hours (low/high lamp mode), and longer warranty than most
• Excellent backlit remote with very good range
• Interpolates 24 fps content to 48 fps
• Great placement flexibility - almost unmatched
• Excellent warranty and support
• 12 volt screen trigger
• Impressive price performance

Epson Home Cinema 8100 Projector: Cons

• Black levels, while very respectable, are not a match for many much more expensive projectors some of which are far better in this regard (the "ultra-high contrast) projectors
• Average in audible noise, but that could be a "con" for some, who are very noise adverse
• It is more expensive than several other "entry level" projectors
• Although 24 fps is converted to 48 fps, other projectors offer up to 120 fps

Epson Home Cinema 8100 Projector: Typical Capabilities

• About average brightness in "best" mode
• Styling - it's white and a box, with minor attempts at styling
• Audible noise
• Documentation (unknown, Epson's is typically good, but not stellar)