Epson MovieMate 25 Projector Review – Image Quality

I’ll start by saying that the MovieMate 25 has great strenghs in terms of image quality, but also one significant weakness.

Out of the box, the Epson MovieMate 25, offers excellent color. Flesh tones appear very natural, without any adjustments. This is a good thing as the MovieMate has very limited color control – offering no adjustment of color balance, other than a tint control that is only available on standard NTSC composite signals – not S-video. The MovieMate does have a color saturation control. I should note that it also has 4 presets, for different room lighting conditions that will be discussed later.

Unlike most other entry level projectors – including other “all-in-one” units, Epson definitely focused on providing great color balance so you don’ t have to adjust the projector. By comparison, Optoma’s competing MovieTime DV10, does require a basic calibration to get good color. Not that theirs is really bad, but you definitely would recognize that the out of the box, unadjusted flesh tones on the Epson are more accurate.

Just from looking at the images above, captured from the MovieMate 25, with unadjusted color, you have to be impressed considering this is a device with video, screen, DVD player and sound that sells for only about $1000, less than the most basic big screen TV, yet it can project images up to 100″ diagonal or a little more (yes the provided screen is a mere 80″ diagonal).