Epson PowerLite Pro Z8000WUNL Projector – Physical Tour – 1

Posted on October 4, 2013 By Art Feierman

Epson PowerLite Pro Z8000WUNL Remote Control

The Z8000’s remote is basically the same one we reviewed with the G5350. Power and input buttons are on top, right above a thumbpad, which offers 360 degree response, making it very usable as a wireless mouse (with an optional mouse adapter). The “trackball-like” action of the thumbpad also comes in handy when using the Z8000’s built-in pointer. The pointer display button, as well as buttons to control the electronic zoom and presentation pages, is right below the thumbpad. The “7”, “8”, and “9” buttons are also used to access the power lens shift, zoom and focus. On the bottom of the remote is that standard Epson “Help” button. In general, I found the buttons to be well laid out and spaced sufficiently to avoid hitting the wrong one, even in the dark.

Another feature allows you to control more than one Z8000 at a time independently from a single remote. By turning on the “ID” slide switch on the side of the remote, you can switch the remote between different projector IDs (a total of nine selectable in the projector menu) and have completely independent, full control of each projector.

Like the G5350, the Z8000 may be mounted some distance from the screen, so the remote needs to have some powerful IR emitters. I was able to control the G5350 from a distance of 50’ (as far as could get from it), so I would expect the same performance from the Z8000’s remote. For those installations where it’s not feasible to control the Z8000 via IR from the remote, there is a jack on the bottom of the remote that allows it to be wired to the projector.

Epson PowerLite Pro Z8000WUNL Menus

The menus on this Epson look a great deal like every other Epson we’ve reviewed in the last few years. I won’t go into all the individual features – you can read most of them off of this stack of menu photos.

Menus on Epson

Image
Settings
Color Adjustment
Color Mode
Menu Network
Network Wired LAN
Menu Info

Of particular note, Epson seems to treat the Pro Z8000 as if it’s both business and home theater projector when it comes to the menu features, such as a full range of Color Modes, and a Dynamic Iris to produce blacker blacks.