Home Theater Projector Review – General Performance Posted on October 9, 2013 By Art Feierman 1. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB Home Theater Projector Review - Projector Highlights2. Projector Highlights 23. Epson HC1080UB Home Theater Projector: Physical Tour4. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB Projector Review – Image Quality - Home Theater Projector: Skin Tones5. Epson HC1080UB Projectors: Black Levels and Shadow Detail - Black Levels6. Epson HC1080UB Projectors: Black Levels and Shadow Detail 27. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB – Shadow Details - Epson HC1080UB (left)8. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB – Shadow Details 29. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB – Shadow Details 310. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB – Shadow Details 411. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB – Shadow Details 512. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB – Shadow Details 613. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB – Shadow Details 714. Epson HC1080UB Home Theater Projector: Sharpness15. Epson HC1080UB Home Theater Projector: Sharpness16. Projector Overall Picture Quality - Viewing - HDTV - Picture Quality - Bottom Line:17. Home Theater Projector Review – General Performance - HC1080UB Menus - HC1080UB User Memory Settings - HC1080UB Projector - Remote Control - HC1080UB Lens Throw and Lens Shift - HC1080UB SDE and Rainbow Effect, Pixel Visibility - HC1080UB Projector Brightness18. HC1080UB Projector – Light Leakage - HC1080UB Audible Noise Levels - HC1080UBProjector Screen Recommendations19. HC1080UB Projector Measurements and Calibration - HC1080UB Living Room mode20. HC1080UB Projector Measurements and Calibration 2 - Dynamic Mode - The end result for Dynamic21. Home Cinema 1080UB Measurements and Adjustments – Bottom Line - HC1080UB Image Noise 22. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB Projector Warranty23. Home Theater Projector Review: Epson Home Cinema 1080UB LCD Projector: Summary, Pros, Cons24. HC1080UB projector vs. Panasonic PT-AE2000U - HC1080UB vs. Sanyo PLV-Z2000 - HC1080UB vs. Optoma HD80, HD8000, HD81, HD81-LV25. Home Cinema 1080UB vs. Mitsubishi HC4900 and HC6000. - HC1080UB vs. Sony VW50 and VW60 - Epson Home Cinema 1080UB vs. JVC RS1 and RS226. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB projector, Pros, Cons, and Typical Capabilities - Epson Home Cinema 1080UB Projector: Pros - Epson Home Cinema 1080UB Projector: Cons - Epson Home Cinema 1080UB Projector: Typical Capabilities - Epson Home Cinema 1080UB Summary: The Bottom Line27. Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 1080UB Projector Specifications HC1080UB MenusComing soon! HC1080UB User Memory SettingsHC1080UB Projector - Remote ControlAlso, coming soon! HC1080UB Lens Throw and Lens ShiftEpson’s Home Cinema 1080UB has exceptional placement flexibility! The zoom lens is an industry best 2.1:1, meaning that the closest you can place the projector to the screen is slightly less than half the distance of the further back you can place it. With this range, the projector is ideal for shelf mounting in most rooms, and of course it can be ceiling mounted almost anywhere you need to place it, as well. Using the numbers below, you can figure out the distances for your sized screen, easily, with a calculator. For a 100 inch,16:9 diagonal screen the front of the projector can be as close as 10.4 feet, or as far back as 22.2 feet. The Epson HC1080UB not only has a flexible zoom lens, but also offers more vertical lens shift (and it has plenty of horizontal lens shift as well), than all but a couple of other projectors. For that same 100″ screen, the lens of the projector can be placed as high as 22 inches above the top of the screen surface, or as low as 22 inches below the bottom. And, of course, it can sit anywhere, in between. HC1080UB SDE and Rainbow Effect, Pixel VisibilityThis is a three panel LCD projector – 3LCD – and as such, has no spinning color filter wheel like all the single chip DLP projectors have. As such, there is no possibility of the Rainbow Effect. Screen Door Effect, is also not an issue, unless you want to sit much closer than most people would consider remotely reasonable. Each new generation of LCD panels has a less visible pixel structure than the last, and the new D7 C2Fine panels have significantly improved designe to reduce pixel visibility. I simply never noticed pixel structure, even sitting at my usual 11.5 – 12.5 feet from a large, 128 inch diagonal screen, except on occasional “signage” such as the graphics with scores on a football game. Even then, I never noticed, unless I was looking for it. (Same is true for white movie credits on a dark background.) I must mention (again), I have very good corrected vision, with my glasses – I can read the 20/15 line at the eye doctor’s with either eye. That tends to make me more critical of pixel structure than anyone with “merely” perfect 20/20 vision. HC1080UB Projector Brightness Header Content Theatre Black 1 468 lumens (after color adjustments) Theatre Black 2: 358 lumens (said to be the best mode for black and white films) Theatre 482 lumens Natural 530 lumens Ahh, I love bright, and the Epson Home Cinema 1080UB, overall, is a bright projector. In it’s best mode, it’s a little brighter than the average 1080p projector, although not as bright as the two JVC projectors. By the time you kick it into its brightest mode – Dynamic, it is brighter than all but a couple of under $10,000 projectors, most notably the exceptionally bright Optoma HD81-LV. Even the very bright InFocus IN82, which is much brighter in best mode, is about the same in brightest Header Content Living Room 915 lumens Dynamic 1818 lumens (default settings – green is way up) Dynamic 1527 lumens (after some adjustments to “tame” the colors a bit to make everything look more natural) I should note here, that all measurements below are with the fan in High brightness mode. The low power lamp mode (when measured in Theater Black 1, came in almost a perfect 20% darker than lamp on full power. That 20% drop should be pretty much consistant, for all color modes. 1. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB Home Theater Projector Review - Projector Highlights2. Projector Highlights 23. Epson HC1080UB Home Theater Projector: Physical Tour4. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB Projector Review – Image Quality - Home Theater Projector: Skin Tones5. Epson HC1080UB Projectors: Black Levels and Shadow Detail - Black Levels6. Epson HC1080UB Projectors: Black Levels and Shadow Detail 27. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB – Shadow Details - Epson HC1080UB (left)8. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB – Shadow Details 29. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB – Shadow Details 310. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB – Shadow Details 411. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB – Shadow Details 512. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB – Shadow Details 613. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB – Shadow Details 714. Epson HC1080UB Home Theater Projector: Sharpness15. Epson HC1080UB Home Theater Projector: Sharpness16. Projector Overall Picture Quality - Viewing - HDTV - Picture Quality - Bottom Line:17. Home Theater Projector Review – General Performance - HC1080UB Menus - HC1080UB User Memory Settings - HC1080UB Projector - Remote Control - HC1080UB Lens Throw and Lens Shift - HC1080UB SDE and Rainbow Effect, Pixel Visibility - HC1080UB Projector Brightness18. HC1080UB Projector – Light Leakage - HC1080UB Audible Noise Levels - HC1080UBProjector Screen Recommendations19. HC1080UB Projector Measurements and Calibration - HC1080UB Living Room mode20. HC1080UB Projector Measurements and Calibration 2 - Dynamic Mode - The end result for Dynamic21. Home Cinema 1080UB Measurements and Adjustments – Bottom Line - HC1080UB Image Noise 22. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB Projector Warranty23. Home Theater Projector Review: Epson Home Cinema 1080UB LCD Projector: Summary, Pros, Cons24. HC1080UB projector vs. Panasonic PT-AE2000U - HC1080UB vs. Sanyo PLV-Z2000 - HC1080UB vs. Optoma HD80, HD8000, HD81, HD81-LV25. Home Cinema 1080UB vs. Mitsubishi HC4900 and HC6000. - HC1080UB vs. Sony VW50 and VW60 - Epson Home Cinema 1080UB vs. JVC RS1 and RS226. Epson Home Cinema 1080UB projector, Pros, Cons, and Typical Capabilities - Epson Home Cinema 1080UB Projector: Pros - Epson Home Cinema 1080UB Projector: Cons - Epson Home Cinema 1080UB Projector: Typical Capabilities - Epson Home Cinema 1080UB Summary: The Bottom Line27. Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 1080UB Projector Specifications Projector Overall Picture Quality HC1080UB Projector – Light Leakage
Home Theater Projector Review – General Performance Posted on October 5, 2008 By Art Feierman 1. Epson Home Cinema 720 Home Theater Projector Review - Projector Highlights:2. Epson HC720 Home Theater Projector: Physical Tour - Epson HC720 Home Theater Projector: Physical Tour3. Epson Home Cinema 720 Projector Review – Image Quality - Epson HC720 Home Cinema Projector: Skin Tones4. Home Cinema 720 Projector: Black Levels and Shadow Detail5. Epson HC720 Shadow Details6. Epson HC720 Shadow Details 2 - Now that's the type of results where we consider shadow detail so important7. Epson HC720 Home Theater Projector: Sharpness8. Epson HC720 Home Theater Projector: Sharpness 2 - Projector Overall Picture Quality9. Viewing – HDTV - Picture Quality - Bottom Line10. Home Theater Projector Review – General Performance - HC720 Menus - HC720 User Memory Settings11. HC720 Projector – Remote Control - HC720 Lens Throw and Lens Shift12. HC720 SDE and Rainbow Effect, Pixel Visibility13. HC720 Projector Brightness14. HC720 Projector – Light Leakage - HC720 Audible Noise Levels - HC720 Projector Screen Recommendations15. HC720 Projector Measurements and Calibration - Theater Black 1 mode: default settings except color temp dropped from default 7000K to 6500K. - Theater Black 1 final adjustments: Color Temperature 6500K, - And here are my final measurements for Theater Black 1 based on those settings: - Theater (I did not adjust) - Natural16. HC720 Projector Measurements and Calibration 2 - Living Room - Color Temp = Offset - And that yielded: - Dynamic Mode - Color Temp: 8000K17. HC720 Image Noise18. Epson Home Cinema 720 Projector Warranty - Home Theater Projector Review: Epson Home Cinema 720 LCD Projector: Summary, Pros, Cons19. Epson HC720 vs Mitsubishi HC1500 and Optoma HD70. - Epson HC720 vs Sony AW15 - Epson Home Cinema 720 projector, Pros, Cons, andTypical Capabilities - Epson Home Cinema 720 Projector: Pros20. Epson Home Cinema 720 Projector: Cons - Epson Home Cinema 720 Projector: Typical Capabilities - Epson Home Cinema 720 Summary: The Bottom Line21. Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 720 Projector Specifications HC720 MenusEpson continues to use the same overall menu look and feel, that they’ve been using for a number of years. The menus change slightly, but Epson has a nice, logical system that is pretty easy to navigate. The first menu is the Picture menu, shown here. The first item is the Color mode which when selected brings up a menu showing the seven color modes, seen in the second image. They are organized from top to bottom, pretty much by brightness. The brightest is Dynamic, then Living Room, and so on. Theater and Theater Black 1 are very close to each other in brightness. I’m not sure about sRGB, I ignored that setting. The Input Adjust lets you control brightness and contrast, as well as white and black levels. Further down on the Picture menu is Color Adjustment. Here’s where you find the controls for gamma, RGB, and RGBCMY, all shown below. HC720 menu HC720 colormode menu HC720 image adjust menu HC720 coloradj gamma menu HC720 coloradj RGB menu HC720 coloradj RGBCMY menu HC720 menu HC720 settings menu HC720 settings operation menu Click to enlarge. So close. The Settings menu, shown here controls keystone correction, various user controls like adding a personalized logo, as well as projection mode (front, rear, ceiling, etc.) Inside the Settings menu, is the Operation sub-menu, shown below. the Operations menu includes a sleep mode (to shut down the projector when there’s no active source), the 12 volt screen trigger control, child lock, and the high altitude fan mode. HC720 User Memory SettingsWow, once again, Epson leads the pack. There are nine savable memory settings! That should keep everyone in the world satisfied. When you modify the settings for, say, Living Room mode, it will put that in one of the memories, and name it Living Room Click Image to Enlarge 1. Epson Home Cinema 720 Home Theater Projector Review - Projector Highlights:2. Epson HC720 Home Theater Projector: Physical Tour - Epson HC720 Home Theater Projector: Physical Tour3. Epson Home Cinema 720 Projector Review – Image Quality - Epson HC720 Home Cinema Projector: Skin Tones4. Home Cinema 720 Projector: Black Levels and Shadow Detail5. Epson HC720 Shadow Details6. Epson HC720 Shadow Details 2 - Now that's the type of results where we consider shadow detail so important7. Epson HC720 Home Theater Projector: Sharpness8. Epson HC720 Home Theater Projector: Sharpness 2 - Projector Overall Picture Quality9. Viewing – HDTV - Picture Quality - Bottom Line10. Home Theater Projector Review – General Performance - HC720 Menus - HC720 User Memory Settings11. HC720 Projector – Remote Control - HC720 Lens Throw and Lens Shift12. HC720 SDE and Rainbow Effect, Pixel Visibility13. HC720 Projector Brightness14. HC720 Projector – Light Leakage - HC720 Audible Noise Levels - HC720 Projector Screen Recommendations15. HC720 Projector Measurements and Calibration - Theater Black 1 mode: default settings except color temp dropped from default 7000K to 6500K. - Theater Black 1 final adjustments: Color Temperature 6500K, - And here are my final measurements for Theater Black 1 based on those settings: - Theater (I did not adjust) - Natural16. HC720 Projector Measurements and Calibration 2 - Living Room - Color Temp = Offset - And that yielded: - Dynamic Mode - Color Temp: 8000K17. HC720 Image Noise18. Epson Home Cinema 720 Projector Warranty - Home Theater Projector Review: Epson Home Cinema 720 LCD Projector: Summary, Pros, Cons19. Epson HC720 vs Mitsubishi HC1500 and Optoma HD70. - Epson HC720 vs Sony AW15 - Epson Home Cinema 720 projector, Pros, Cons, andTypical Capabilities - Epson Home Cinema 720 Projector: Pros20. Epson Home Cinema 720 Projector: Cons - Epson Home Cinema 720 Projector: Typical Capabilities - Epson Home Cinema 720 Summary: The Bottom Line21. Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 720 Projector Specifications Viewing – HDTV HC720 Projector – Remote Control