Epson Pro Cinema 1985 W Projector Review – Hardware Tour

Considering its 4800 claimed lumens, the Pro Cinema 1985WU is not overly large, rather a large portable (that weighs in just over 10 lbs.)  It’s smaller than most projectors for the home that cost as much or more. Its footprint is roughly 15 inches by 11.4 by 4.9 (including the feet). If you ceiling mount it, it will seem modest in size (very small compared to the similarly bright Epson G series Pro Cinema projector I use in my living room.) The projector has its manual zoom lens mounted off center, and has a door to cover it for protection when not in use.

The zoom and focus controls are on the top, as is the control panel and the slider for the lens cover which doubles as a switch to engage AV Mute,  when the projector is on.

On the left side (viewed from the front) is the filter door, which hides the filter and also the receptacle for the provided wireless module.

All of the inputs are located in the back of the projector. Infra-red sensors for the provided remote control are located front and rear. Speaking of sensors.  Also located on the front is a sensor (lower right if facing the projector) which is for the Focus Help and Auto Image size features.

On the top of this Epson, (see image), behind the lens controls is the Illumination sensor which allows adjusting the image based on the amount of light in the room. Next to it are Focus Help and Screen Fit.  There is a drop down front adjustable foot in the center front of the bottom, and a pair of screw thread adjustable rear feet, for a nice stable 3 point stance if you are using the projector table top. The relatively powerful (compared to other projectors) 16 watt speaker is side facing – on the right side if looking from the front.  This speaker has some real umph, and should be able to handle a fairly large classroom or fairly large training or conference room without outside help.

Epson’s lens for the 1985WU is a manual zoom lens with a 1.6:1 zoom ratio.  This is significantly more zoom – and therefore placement flexibility, than most smaller portable and fixed install projectors many of which have 1.2:1 or 1.3:1 zooms. This makes it easier to place a 1985 in your facility.

Separate, but worth noting, this Epson has a user friendly feature called Screen Fit which will allow the projector to resize the image to fit the screen you are using.  Press the button and it puts up a yellow border.  Set the projector so that the border is slightly larger than the screen, and outside the screen area.  Press again, and the image gets resized to fit.  Done!  You most likely wouldn’t need that if mounting, but if moving the projector from site to site, it’s quick.   Not that normally adjusting zoom and elevation takes more than a few seconds.

As mentioned, the lens has a lens cover to protect it when not in use, and the lens controls are on top.  The optics are very respectable with both focus and brightness being very good from center to edge.  Yes, the projector isn’t as bright in the corners as the center, but the drop off is slight, less than most. There is no vertical or optical lens shift, but of course there is keystone correction, as well as other features like the Screen Fit just described.

The Control Panel is pretty standard, especially for Epson.  It should be noted first that if looking down on the projector there are indicator lights on the far right center of the top, for power, lamp, temperature, etc. with the manual showing a list of possible error codes should there be a problem. The control panel itself starts with the power button on the left. Moving to the right, you’ll find the Source button, and then the navigation area. Next over and slightly closer to the front is the Menu button, and then comes the four arrow keys in a diamond configuration.  Enter, as is typical for Epson, is in the center of the nag arrows.  Escape, which moves you back up a level when in the menus, is above to the right.   Epson’s interactive Help button is the furthest to the right. When you are not in the menus, the four arrow keys have different functions. Up and down double for setting keystone correction, while left and right are volume down and up. That pretty much does it.  We’ll discuss the menus later.