Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-2 Posted on August 19, 2008 By Art Feierman 1. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Highlights - Overview - The Dynamics of Owning a Home Theater Projector System2. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review-2 - The Dynamics of Owning a Home Theater Projector System - What's Normally Involved in Putting Together A Home Theater3. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review-3 - What's Involved in Doing a Home Theater, Epson Ensemble HD Style - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 System Overview of Equipment - Ensemble HD 1080: Basic Specifications4. Ensemble HD 1080: Physical Attributes of the Complete System - Ensemble HD 1080: Physical Attributes of the Complete System - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 A/V Controller5. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review-4 - Ensemble HD Screen (and speaker) System - Ensemble HD 1080 5.1 Speakers and Amplification - Ensemble HD 1080 Remote Control - Ensemble HD 1080 Miscellaneous Equipment6. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 System: Image Quality Sections - Home Cinema 1080 Projector: "Out of the Box" Picture Quality - Skin Tone Handling7. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-2 - Home Cinema 1080: Black Level and Shadow Detail - Black Level Performance - Ensemble HD 1080 Shadow Detail Performance8. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-3 - Ensemble HD 1080 Shadow Detail Performance9. Home Cinema 1080: Black Level and Shadow Detail – 2 - Epson Ensemble HD Home Cinema 1080 projector - Shadow Detail Performance - Epson Home Cinema 1080 Projector: Sharpness - The DTS test disc main menu is a good test of sharpness - A close-up of the monitor image in Space Cowboys - Bottom Line Sharpness10. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-411. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-512. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-6 - Epson Ensemble HD Home Cinema 1080 projector13. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-914. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-10 - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Performance: HDTV and Sports - Overall Image Quality - Overall Picture Quality: Bottom Line15. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Home Theater System Review: General Performance - Ensemble HD 1080 Menus - Ensemble HD 1080 User Memory Settings - Ensemble HD 1080 Projector: Universal Remote Control16. Ensemble HD 1080 Lens Throw and Lens Shift - Ensemble HD 1080 Lens Throw and Lens Shift - Ensemble HD 1080 SDE and Rainbow Effect, Pixel Visibility - Ensemble HD 1080 Projector Brightness17. Ensemble HD 1080 Projector: Measurements and Calibration - Ensemble HD 1080 Projector Light Leakage - Ensemble HD 1080 Audible Noise Levels - Ensemble HD 1080 Projector: Measurements and Calibration - Epson Home Cinema 1080 Post Calibration Measurements: - Theater Black 1 mode: - Living Room Mode - Dynamic (Art's settings - a very quick calibration)18. Ensemble HD 1080 Image Noise - Ensemble HD 1080 Image Noise - Ensemble HD 1080 Sound Quality19. Other Cool Features of the Epson Ensemble HD 1080 - Midnight Mode - Multiple formats accepted by the DVD player - The USB port on the front - Headphone Jack! - AM/FM tuner - Preset screen drop - Additional Radio Frequency capabilities20. Installation of the Epson Ensemble HD Home Theater System - Installing the Epson Ensemble HD in my Office/Testing Room/Theater 2 - Home Theater Installation: Day One - Bingo, at that point, they discovered Problem #1. - Problem #221. Home Theater Installation: Smooth installation from there on out - Smooth installation from there on out - That didn't take long: Day 1 - Day 2: Smooth as Silk!22. Home Theater Installation: Hooking everything up - Hooking everything up - One, Two, Three, Go - If Only You Could See What I Saw23. Home Theater Installation: And, finally: Calibration, then – All Done - And, finally: Calibration, then - All Done - And what have we learned today? - The Bottom Line: Installation of the Epson Ensemble HD - The Low Cost of this Complete Home Theater Installation24. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 A Complete Home Theater System Review: Summary, Pros and Cons - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Home Theater System: Pros, Cons, and Typical Capabilities - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Home Theater System: Pros - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Home Theater System: Cons25. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Competitive Aspects - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Competitive Aspects - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater Projector System: Summary - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater Projector Based System - Bottom Line:26. Epson Ensemble HD1080 Projector Specifications Home Cinema 1080: Black Level and Shadow DetailBlack Level PerformanceAll 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. Overall, the black level performance is still much better than most projectors of just a few years ago, and while there are “blacker blacks” out there, like with many of todays competing home theater projectors, the Epson has achieved an acceptable level of black level performance that will please the typical buyer. Nothing like space scenes for black levels. Here are a couple of images to give you a good idea. Remember that the monitor you are viewing this on, is probably an LCD monitor, and even if the Epson had perfect blacks, your monitor can’t even approach the black levels of the most average projector! Ensemble HD 1080 Shadow Detail PerformanceEpson has been very consistent when it comes to shadow detail performance. They do a very good job, but a number of competing projectors can do a little bit better. What they lose in dark area shadow detail is still very slight, compared to the best of the competition. This can be helped a little with some tweaking of the system’s gamma settings (great controls), but for the typical consumer of a product like this – they will never know, nor appreciate the subtle differences. Even the newer UB version shares the shadow detail performance of the Home Cinema 1080, and falls a tad short of the best. Below is a sequence of images from Space Cowboys. This is an extremely dark scene, and so that you can overcome the limitations of my dSLR, and see into the darkest areas, these images are overexposed. Look to the details in the blinds in the back of the scene. 1. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Highlights - Overview - The Dynamics of Owning a Home Theater Projector System2. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review-2 - The Dynamics of Owning a Home Theater Projector System - What's Normally Involved in Putting Together A Home Theater3. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review-3 - What's Involved in Doing a Home Theater, Epson Ensemble HD Style - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 System Overview of Equipment - Ensemble HD 1080: Basic Specifications4. Ensemble HD 1080: Physical Attributes of the Complete System - Ensemble HD 1080: Physical Attributes of the Complete System - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 A/V Controller5. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete, Projector Based Home Theater System Review-4 - Ensemble HD Screen (and speaker) System - Ensemble HD 1080 5.1 Speakers and Amplification - Ensemble HD 1080 Remote Control - Ensemble HD 1080 Miscellaneous Equipment6. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 System: Image Quality Sections - Home Cinema 1080 Projector: "Out of the Box" Picture Quality - Skin Tone Handling7. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-2 - Home Cinema 1080: Black Level and Shadow Detail - Black Level Performance - Ensemble HD 1080 Shadow Detail Performance8. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-3 - Ensemble HD 1080 Shadow Detail Performance9. Home Cinema 1080: Black Level and Shadow Detail – 2 - Epson Ensemble HD Home Cinema 1080 projector - Shadow Detail Performance - Epson Home Cinema 1080 Projector: Sharpness - The DTS test disc main menu is a good test of sharpness - A close-up of the monitor image in Space Cowboys - Bottom Line Sharpness10. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-411. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-512. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-6 - Epson Ensemble HD Home Cinema 1080 projector13. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-914. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-10 - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Performance: HDTV and Sports - Overall Image Quality - Overall Picture Quality: Bottom Line15. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Home Theater System Review: General Performance - Ensemble HD 1080 Menus - Ensemble HD 1080 User Memory Settings - Ensemble HD 1080 Projector: Universal Remote Control16. Ensemble HD 1080 Lens Throw and Lens Shift - Ensemble HD 1080 Lens Throw and Lens Shift - Ensemble HD 1080 SDE and Rainbow Effect, Pixel Visibility - Ensemble HD 1080 Projector Brightness17. Ensemble HD 1080 Projector: Measurements and Calibration - Ensemble HD 1080 Projector Light Leakage - Ensemble HD 1080 Audible Noise Levels - Ensemble HD 1080 Projector: Measurements and Calibration - Epson Home Cinema 1080 Post Calibration Measurements: - Theater Black 1 mode: - Living Room Mode - Dynamic (Art's settings - a very quick calibration)18. Ensemble HD 1080 Image Noise - Ensemble HD 1080 Image Noise - Ensemble HD 1080 Sound Quality19. Other Cool Features of the Epson Ensemble HD 1080 - Midnight Mode - Multiple formats accepted by the DVD player - The USB port on the front - Headphone Jack! - AM/FM tuner - Preset screen drop - Additional Radio Frequency capabilities20. Installation of the Epson Ensemble HD Home Theater System - Installing the Epson Ensemble HD in my Office/Testing Room/Theater 2 - Home Theater Installation: Day One - Bingo, at that point, they discovered Problem #1. - Problem #221. Home Theater Installation: Smooth installation from there on out - Smooth installation from there on out - That didn't take long: Day 1 - Day 2: Smooth as Silk!22. Home Theater Installation: Hooking everything up - Hooking everything up - One, Two, Three, Go - If Only You Could See What I Saw23. Home Theater Installation: And, finally: Calibration, then – All Done - And, finally: Calibration, then - All Done - And what have we learned today? - The Bottom Line: Installation of the Epson Ensemble HD - The Low Cost of this Complete Home Theater Installation24. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 A Complete Home Theater System Review: Summary, Pros and Cons - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Home Theater System: Pros, Cons, and Typical Capabilities - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Home Theater System: Pros - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Home Theater System: Cons25. Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Competitive Aspects - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Competitive Aspects - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater Projector System: Summary - Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater Projector Based System - Bottom Line:26. Epson Ensemble HD1080 Projector Specifications Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Complete Home Theater System Review: Image Quality-3