Pro Cinema 4030 Projector Performance Posted on November 19, 2013 By Art Feierman 1. Epson Pro Cinema 4030 Projector – Review - Overview: Pro Cinema 4030 - The Pro Cinema 4030 Earns Hot Product Award - Pro Cinema 4030 Highlights2. Pro Cinema 4030 Special Features - Super-Resolution - Dynamic Iris and Contrast - Picture In Picture - HDMI-Link3. Epson Pro Cinema 4030 Projector – Special Features 2 - Black and White Cinema Mode - Full Color Management System - 3D and 3D Glasses - Epson Panel Alignment - Lamp Life4. Pro Cinema 4030 Projector – Hardware Tour - Appearance - Control Panel - Lens Controls - Lens Throw - Lens Shift - Pro Cinema 4030 - Overall Placement Flexibility5. Pro Cinema 4030 Hardware Tour 2 - Inputs and Outputs - Pro Cinema 4030 Menus - Lamp Door - Remote Control6. Pro Cinema 4030 Projector – Image Quality - Pro Cinema 4030 - Out of the Box Picture Quality - Pro Cinema 4030 Skin Tones - 4030 Black Level and Shadow Detail - Black Level Performance - Projectors Side by Side7. Pro Cinema 4030 – Image Quality 2 - Black Level Performance - Black Levels: Pro Cinema 4030 vs. Competition - Shadow Detail - Overall Picture Quality - HDTV and Sports8. Pro Cinema 4030 Projector Performance - Pro Cinema 4030 Brightness in Different Image Preset modes - Full Power vs. Eco Mode - Affect of Zoom Lens position on Brightness - Epson Pro Cinema 4030 Projector - Calibrated - Brightest Mode - Quick-Cal For better Viewing Experience - Quick-Cal of Dynamic Mode: Measurements9. Pro Cinema 4030 Projector Performance 2 - Pre Calibration Color Temp: Natural Mode - Pro Cinema 4030 Color Temperature Post Calibration - Pro Cinema 4030 - 3D Brightness10. Pro Cinema 4030 Performance 3 - Epson PC4030 Projector - Sharpness - Bottom Line Sharpness11. Pro Cinema 4030 Performance 4 - Light Leakage - Image Noise - Audible Noise12. Pro Cinema 4030 – Warranty and Support - Epson Provides Three Years of Warranty and Replacement Program13. Pro Cinema 4030 Calibration - General Calibration Settings - Before After Color Temperature Comparison - Comments about the Calibration - Additional Calibration Information for our members14. Epson Pro Cinema 4030 – Advanced Calibration Information - Color Management Settings (CMS) - Notes - Calibration Charts (Before and After)15. Epson Pro Cinema 4030 Projector: Competitors - Epson Pro Cinema 4030 vs. Panasonic PT-AE8000U - Pro Cinema 4030 vs. Home Cinema 5020UB - Pro Cinema 4030 vs Pro Cinema 603016. Pro Cinema 4030 Projector – Summary - Let's Talk Picture Quality - Fitting in Your Room17. Epson Pro Cinema 4030 Projector: Summary 2 - 3D Performance - Pro Cinema 4030 - Great Warranty and Support - Taking On The Competition 18. Epson Pro Cinema 4030 Projector: The Bottom Line - A Few Final Thoughts19. Epson Pro Cinema 4030 Projector Full Specifications PRO CINEMA 4030 PERFORMANCE Pro Cinema 4030 Brightness in Different Image Preset modesBelow find the brightness of each of the Epson’s Preset Image modes. Dynamic is the brightest. Living Room is next, but is very cool (try lowering the Color Temp one or two numbers. The color temps shown are measured for white (100 IRE). The measurements below are all with the 2.1:1 zoom at midpoint. There’s a significant boost in brightness changing the zoom to wide-angle (which is where most people measure brightness, but not where most people set their zoom lenses.) Please note that we did not attempt to find the maximum measurable brightness of this Epson projector, or others for that matter. One can do things like turn up contrast, adjust color temp, etc. to find more lumens. For that reason, in our reviews, virtually all projectors measured come in well below manufacturer’s claim. But, the picture looks better than when you hunt for lumens, thereby messing up the picture. Pro Cinema 4030 By Mode: Brightness Color Temp Dynamic 1379 7149 Living Room 1070 9335 Natural 585/425 eco 7575 Cinema 522/405 eco 8384 B&W Cinema 543/397 eco 5881 In the table above, note that we provide measured brightness for the three “best modes” for both full power and eco mode here, because those three default to eco mode. From a competitive standpoint to the more expensive Epson 5030 UB and 6030 UB, the Pro Cinema 4030 is about 15% less bright based on our measurements. That’s a little better than the almost 17% drop expected (the difference between 2400 lumens claimed for the UB’s and 2000 for the 4030!) Full Power vs. Eco Mode Dynamic Full Power Dynamic Eco % Drop 1379 Lumens 1003 Lumens 28% Expect the same drop of about 28-30% (limits of accuracy) for all modes. In fact a quick measure of the other modes in the first chart, where we show both full and eco brightness measure almost identically. Remember, the inherent brightness numbers are at mid-point on zoom. Affect of Zoom Lens position on Brightness Effect of Placement (Zoom Lens settings) on Brightness Wide Angle (largest image from that distance) 1495 lumens Mid-Point (average image size from that distance) 1379 lumens Telephoto (smallest image size from that distance) 1154 lumens Most folks who will mount this projector, will do so between the closest position (wide-angle) and mid-point on the zoom. Those placing on a rear shelf in most rooms, are likely to have the zoom near the full telephoto range with the least lumens. If your room isn’t very deep, or your screen is very large for that room, then shelf mounting may be close to mid-point, or even closer. The point here is your positioning has an affect on brightness that’s significant. In this case, measuring closest and furthest placement shows a loss of 23% of brightness. Or the other way of looking at it, is, moving from furthest back to closest positioning buys you an extra 30% more brightness. Epson claims that this year’s Fujinon 2.1:1 zoom lens, is improved over previous versions. If you look back at older Epson UB reviews you’ll find that in the past, the drop of brightness from wide-angle to zoom was greater with the old lens version! Epson Pro Cinema 4030 Projector - Calibrated Pro Cinema 4030 Calibrated Natural Mode 543 Lumens Mike’s calibration did improve the picture quality – although not greatly as it started out well balanced. However, the original image was definitely cool, with color temps in the mid 7000’s about 1000K too high. With this calibration, brightness only dropped about 7%, but the color accuracy improves, and the picture warms up a bit, with reds no longer being a little thin. The many images in this review demonstrate the great skin tones and handling of other aspects of color accuracy. Brightest Mode - Quick-Cal For better Viewing ExperienceWith virtually all Home Theater and Home Entertainment Projectors, I have Mike do what we call a “Quick-Cal” that is a tweaking of the settings to improve the overall color and picture. The goal here is in no way to rival the full calibration of a “Best” mode, but to take a “Brightest” mode, which invariably is not as accurate as the lower brightness modes, and make it more watchable. If we did a full calibration on our brightest mode, in this case Dynamic, in theory we’d end up with the same number of lumens as calibrating Natural. That isn’t our goal. Instead, we look at that default Brightest mode, and figure out how to make it better, without costing very many lumens. In other words, when I watch my NFL football, Mike’s “quick-cal” looks a good deal better than the default, but the image is almost as bright. Quick-Cal of Dynamic Mode: Measurements Dynamic Mode Brightness: Before/After 1379 lumens 1270 lumens In this case Mike’s “quick-cal” resulted in a brightness drop of 8%. His adjustment to accomplish the better picture quality consisted of simply lowering the green gain significantly (see the settings on the Calibration page) All other settings remain the same. As most projectors – and 3LCD projectors in particular, tend to have too much green at their brightest, the improvement in this case, is rather dramatic! Turning on the default dynamic, is immediately way too green/yellow, but after Mike’s adjustment, most folks wouldn’t even notice! 1. Epson Pro Cinema 4030 Projector – Review - Overview: Pro Cinema 4030 - The Pro Cinema 4030 Earns Hot Product Award - Pro Cinema 4030 Highlights2. Pro Cinema 4030 Special Features - Super-Resolution - Dynamic Iris and Contrast - Picture In Picture - HDMI-Link3. Epson Pro Cinema 4030 Projector – Special Features 2 - Black and White Cinema Mode - Full Color Management System - 3D and 3D Glasses - Epson Panel Alignment - Lamp Life4. Pro Cinema 4030 Projector – Hardware Tour - Appearance - Control Panel - Lens Controls - Lens Throw - Lens Shift - Pro Cinema 4030 - Overall Placement Flexibility5. Pro Cinema 4030 Hardware Tour 2 - Inputs and Outputs - Pro Cinema 4030 Menus - Lamp Door - Remote Control6. Pro Cinema 4030 Projector – Image Quality - Pro Cinema 4030 - Out of the Box Picture Quality - Pro Cinema 4030 Skin Tones - 4030 Black Level and Shadow Detail - Black Level Performance - Projectors Side by Side7. Pro Cinema 4030 – Image Quality 2 - Black Level Performance - Black Levels: Pro Cinema 4030 vs. Competition - Shadow Detail - Overall Picture Quality - HDTV and Sports8. Pro Cinema 4030 Projector Performance - Pro Cinema 4030 Brightness in Different Image Preset modes - Full Power vs. Eco Mode - Affect of Zoom Lens position on Brightness - Epson Pro Cinema 4030 Projector - Calibrated - Brightest Mode - Quick-Cal For better Viewing Experience - Quick-Cal of Dynamic Mode: Measurements9. Pro Cinema 4030 Projector Performance 2 - Pre Calibration Color Temp: Natural Mode - Pro Cinema 4030 Color Temperature Post Calibration - Pro Cinema 4030 - 3D Brightness10. Pro Cinema 4030 Performance 3 - Epson PC4030 Projector - Sharpness - Bottom Line Sharpness11. Pro Cinema 4030 Performance 4 - Light Leakage - Image Noise - Audible Noise12. Pro Cinema 4030 – Warranty and Support - Epson Provides Three Years of Warranty and Replacement Program13. Pro Cinema 4030 Calibration - General Calibration Settings - Before After Color Temperature Comparison - Comments about the Calibration - Additional Calibration Information for our members14. Epson Pro Cinema 4030 – Advanced Calibration Information - Color Management Settings (CMS) - Notes - Calibration Charts (Before and After)15. Epson Pro Cinema 4030 Projector: Competitors - Epson Pro Cinema 4030 vs. Panasonic PT-AE8000U - Pro Cinema 4030 vs. Home Cinema 5020UB - Pro Cinema 4030 vs Pro Cinema 603016. Pro Cinema 4030 Projector – Summary - Let's Talk Picture Quality - Fitting in Your Room17. Epson Pro Cinema 4030 Projector: Summary 2 - 3D Performance - Pro Cinema 4030 - Great Warranty and Support - Taking On The Competition 18. Epson Pro Cinema 4030 Projector: The Bottom Line - A Few Final Thoughts19. Epson Pro Cinema 4030 Projector Full Specifications Pro Cinema 4030 – Image Quality 2 Pro Cinema 4030 Projector Performance 2