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Epson HC5040UB, PC6040UB Projector – Calibration & Settings

Posted on August 16, 2016 By Art Feierman

EPSON PRO CINEMA 6040UB PROJECTOR: CALIBRATION SETTINGS and POST CALIBRATION MEASUREMENTS FOR 1080 AND 4K CONTENT

This page contents measurements and pre-post calibration settings and results. In addition there are several paragraphs of notes from Eric, our new ISF Certified calibrator.  This has been his first projector calibration for us, so naturally we thought we’d give him a challenge:  A projector with HDR and BT2020, P3, support, etc.  Challenging in that calibrating and working with HDR is new to basically – everyone!   As Eric explains, the manufacturers – both projector companies, and device makers like Blu-ray UHD player maker Samsung, are all scrambling to get it right.

This calibration was done using an early engineering sample of the 6040UB.  We believe that full production projectors – which are shipping as of early Sept 2016, will have improved color tables.  As a result we plan to revisit these projectors, bringing in a full production version, so we can update our review and provide revised settings due to changes made.  We will update any and all recommendations here, as needed.

Editor’s note:  Update 8/16/17:  (Previous updates removed)  OK, the production Home Cinema 5040UB loaner from Epson that I currently have mounted to my ceiling, as been freshly re-calibrated by Eric.  All the measurements and settings from this page from original pre-production 6040UB calibration we started with a year ago, remain in place.  The new settings are at the very end.

You may find interesting info in all those old measurements and charts.  The new calibration settings we have, and the measurements should be similar to the originals, but we’ve learned a whole lot about HDR, and BT.2020/P3 implementation in the last year (as has everyone).  At the time, we simply stated, that we were unable to really achieve what would call comparable quality results with HDR, to that of good old 1080p SDR, etc.  

I now have for you settings that we believe make the Epson HC5040UB or PC6040UB look great on standard and also 4K HDR, BT.2020 content.  To be fair, the tendency (vs SDR) is still that lower brightness areas can look a little dim relative to the brightest areas, when comparing with SDR, but far less so, and it now looks pretty great – certainly for a $2500ish projector.

So, the last section is just one happy media player (for you to scroll through with about 30 images.  These are a full set screen shots of settings our three calibrations – a “brightest mode” for non 4K content, a “best” mode for non 4K content, and a mode  for 4K with HDR, and all the trimmings.

Perfect? No, today’s projectors simply aren’t bright enough to fully implement HDR the way intended (nor are most 4K LCD TVs).  But HDR implementations are impressive, and superior to SDR, when the lack of brightness is effectively compensated for.  

Caveat:  I’m still not 100% happy with the “gamma” of the image / settings – some movies still come out too dim, including a lot of scenes on the Enterprise in Star Trek (4K version of course).  We had the Gamma setting on 0, so I’ve tried instead using 1, which lightens, but lightens upper ranges a bit too, so I didn’t care for that.  The very last slide provides an alternate custom gamma you can plug in, which I am still fiddling with, but that I’ve used on any movies where I get that too dim feeling.  Feedback is appreciated on that.  Update: I am now using a custom gamma with the 4K settings, instead of the default 0 setting.  It’s similar to the one in slide 31 in the media player belowRe, but I have reduced the second and third from the left points on the graph, each by 2.  Put that into your Saved memory for 4K, and you have what I’m using.  I will eventually replace that slide 31 with an updated one.  

Epson Pro Cinema 6040UB Calibration Presets notes

Eric’s notes:

Although the 6040UB has faux K (pixel shifting), this is nothing new in HT projectors, JVC has been doing this for a few years now and Epson has had it in their LS1000 laser projector, which started shipping early 2015.

A note about HDR (high dynamic range): HDR is a fast evolving technology that is rushing into the market with everyone playing a bit of catch-up. As a calibrator for example there is very little in the way of test patterns to truly evaluate how well HDR is working. Each projector manufacturer has implemented their own HDR10 tone mapping and gamut mapping algorithms so the standard is a bit of a moving target. I predict a lot of firmware updates from manufactures as they themselves learn and refine their approach to HDR.  The HT projector market has always had a bit of brightness wars between manufactures but now with HDR, (as with 3D) light output is even more important. 

My time with the early engineering sample 6040UB was limited but I did find a number of issues with it that I hope are ironed out before Epson ships them to market. I sent most of my time in Cinema & Bright Cinema modes.

We provided our findings to the Epson product team, regarding many of these items, which require just minor corrections (i.e. changing the default HDR mode to HDR1, not the HDR2 used in this sample). Short version:  There doesn’t seem to be anything on Eric’s list here “that needs fix’n”, that Epson can’t have updated before first shipments.  -art

First up 1080p content:

  • In Cinema mode with BT.709 content, the pre-production 6040UB only displays the larger P3 (digital cinema) color gamut whether you select Auto, BT.709 or BT.2020. By reducing the saturation levels (too near 0) I was able to calibrate the 100% saturation gamut down to BT.709 but if you look at the after gamut chart you can see the 20, 40 & 80% saturation levels are way off (under saturated). (note: no projector can display BT.2020 so they scale down to P3 which is still bit bigger than BT.709)
  • In Bright Cinema mode, BT.709 content was displayed correctly, and was improved by calibration.
  • Grayscale bias controls were a bit course making precise adjustments difficult
  • In Cinema Bright mode gamma was extremely bright. I set my target to 2.10 which I thought was reasonable for a bright mode. What you see in the gamma log charts is the gamma set to -1, going to -2 just lowered gamma a little but kept the extreme peak and only attaining a 1.83 average gamma. I tried the custom gamma controls but found them very frustrating. I own the 5030UB and the custom gamma is just as frustrating, maybe I just need some tips from Epson on how to use it. I was hoping to use Cinema Bright for a “Day” mode but now I would only use it for sports or news, any movie watching I think I might use Cinema with lamp on high instead.

4K (UHD) / HDR content:

  • When you feed the 6040UB 2160p/HDR and under Signal tab in the menu you have it set to Auto, the projector switches to HDR Mode 2. Problem is there are 4 HDR modes and mode 1 seems to be the closest to the EOTF (Electro-optical Transfer Function) aka gamma target, as you can see in the ETOF charts.
  • The 6040UB allows you to choose SDR even though it’s being fed HDR. I would think you should not be allowed to do this and should stay locked into a HDR mode while being fed an HDR signal similar to what it does when fed 3D.
Lumen Output and Color Temp at 100 IRE (mid zoom and Medium lamp):
Dynamic 1479@6468
Bright Cinema 998@6983
Natural 1003@6497
Cinema 448@6575 (High Bulb 568@6407K)
B&W Cinema 919@5324
Digital Cinema 500@7203
 Pre-Calibration (Various Modes)
Cinema Mode Med. Lamp, Mid Zoom
Color Temp = D65		 Bright Cinema Mode Bright Lamp & Mid Zoom
Color Temp = 5 pre-set		 HDR Mode 1 Bright Cinema Mode Bright Lamp & Mid Zoom: Color Temp =5
30 IRE 6200K  6351K  6090K
50 IRE 6231K 6613K  6175K
80 IRE 6288K  6781K  6282K
100 IRE 6570K  6761K  6265K
Average Gamma = 2.21 Average Gamma = 1.65
 

Epson PC6040UB Pre- and Post-Calibration Settings and Image Enhancement, By Mode

Epson PC6040UB Pre- and Post-Calibration for Cinema Mode (Medium Lamp & Mid Zoom)
Pre-Calibration Post-Calibration
Color Temp 3 (1-10)  3 (1-10)
Skin Tone 3 (1-10)  3 (1-10)
Gamma 0  0
Contrast 50 50
Brightness 50 50
Color 50 50
Tint 50 50
Sharpness (standard) 5 5
Thin Line / Thick Line 5  /  5 5  / 5
Epson PC6040UB Pre- and Post-Cal Image Enhancement for Cinema Mode
Pre-cal Image Enhancement Post-cal Image Enhancement
4K Enhancement On  On
Image Preset Mode Off (1-5) 1 (1-5)
Noise Reduction 2 (1-20) 0 (1-20)
Mpeg Noise Reduction 1 (1-3) o (1-3)
Super Resolution – Fine Line 1 (1-20) 1 (1-20)
Super Resolution – Soft Focus Detail 1 (1-20) 1 (1-20)
Detail Enhancement – Strength 9 (1-100) 9 (1-100)
Detail Enhancement – Range 12 (1-100)  12 (1-100)

 

Epson PC6040UB Pre- and Post-Calibration for Bright Cinema Mode
Pre-Calibration Post-Calibration
Color Temp 5 (1-10)  5 (1-10)
Skin Tone 3 (1-10)  (1-10)
Gamma 0  -1
Contrast 50  50
Brightness 50  50
Color 50 50
Tint 50 50
Sharpness (standard) 5 2
Thin Line / Thick Line 5  /  5 2  /  2

 

Epson PC6040UB Pre- and Post-Cal Image Enhancement for Bright Cinema Mode
Pre-cal Image Enhancement Post-cal Image Enhancement
4K Enhancement On  On
Image Preset Mode 3 (1-5) 1 (1-5)
Noise Reduction 2 (1-20) 0 (1-20)
Mpeg Noise Reduction 1 (1-3) 0 (1-3)
Super Resolution – Fine Line 1 (1-20)  1 (1-20)
Super Resolution – Soft Focus Detail 1 (1-20) 1 (1-20)
Detail Enhancement – Strength 9 (1-100) 9 (1-100)
Detail Enhancement – Range 12 (1-100) 12 (1-100)

 

Epson PC6040UB Pre- and Post-Calibration for HDR Mode 1 Bright Cinema (Medium Lamp & Mid Zoom)
Pre-Calibration Post-Calibration
Color Temp 5 (1-10) 5 (1-10)
Skin Tone 3 (1-10) (1-10)
Gamma 0 -1
Contrast 50 50
Brightness 50 50
Color 50 50
Tint 50 50
Sharpness (standard) 5 5
Thin Line / Thick Line 5  /  5 5  / 5
Epson PC6040UB Pre- and Post-Cal Image Enhancement for HDR Mode 1 Bright Cinema
Pre-cal Image Enhancement Post-cal Image Enhancement
4K Enhancement On  On
Image Preset Mode 3 (1-5) 1 (1-5)
Noise Reduction 4 (1-20) 0 (1-20)
Mpeg Noise Reduction 1 (1-3) o (1-3)
Super Resolution – Fine Line 4 (1-20) 0 (1-20)
Super Resolution – Soft Focus Detail 4 (1-20) 0 (1-20)
Detail Enhancement – Strength 25 (1-100) 0 (1-100)
Detail Enhancement – Range 25 (1-100) 0 (1-100)

 

Reference Mode Custom color temp w/ 3 starting point
Gain Red = 43
Green = 55
Blue = 47
Offset Red = 50
Green = 49
Blue = 50

 

Bright Cinema Mode Custom color temp w/ 4 starting point
Gain Red = 47
Green = 52
Blue = 44
Bias Red = 50
Green = 51
Blue = 51

Cinema Mode Pre-Calibration Charts

Bright Cinema Mode Pre-Calibration Charts

Bright Cinema Mode Pre-Calibration Charts

Post-Calibration Color Temperature

Color Temp over IRE Range (Post Calibration)
IRE Cinema Mode Bright Cinema HDR Mode 1 Bright Cinema Mode
10 6798K 7095K 8520K
20 6467K 6476K 7267K
30 6474K 6375K 6503K
40 6304K 6397K 6527K
50 6368K 6409K 6383K
60 6417K 6482K 6422K
70 6415K 6431K 6487K
80 6379K 6482K 6516K
90 6519K 6502K 6502K
100
(White)		 6548K & 460 Lumens 6518K & 1203 Lumens 1298 6487K & 1203 Lumens 1284
Average Gamma = 2.17 (target 2.20) Average Gamma = 2.01 (target 1.83)

New Home Cinema 5040UB, Pro Cinema 6040UB Calibration Settings

This section shows our most recent calibration for 4K HDR/ BT.2020 content.  It produces results far superior to our early attempts (days after the first shipments of the first Blu-ray UHD player.

Epson HC5040UB, PC6040UB Projector Review – Performance
Epson Pro Cinema 6040UB, Home Cinema 5040UB – Advanced Calibration