All considered, black level performance is good, but hardly exceptional. Here lies my biggest complaint about Epson’s decision to provide the Home Cinema 1080 projector as the heart of the Ensemble HD 1080, instead of the newer Home Cinema 1080 UB. While the older Home Cinema 1080 does a good job in terms of those black levels, the Home Cinema 1080 UB is exceptional, with definitely the best black level performance of any projector under $3000, and only matched or beat by 3-4 projectors selling for up to twice the price.
What does this mean? It’s true that the hard core enthusiast would really prefer the better black levels from the UB. That said, most folks – and I mean the vast majority of potential owners of the Ensemble HD 1080, simply would never notice the difference, unless seen, side by side, and even then, most probably wouldn’t care.