 one of the best 720p projectors! |
| Review Date: December 28, 2007 |
| Reviewer: James M. Case, |
I bought this PJ elsewhere (not at Amazon) for $1149. This is my third digital PJ and the best unit so far. I started out about 12 years ago with the old heavy CRT beast. CRT is a rapidly dying breed and the pix quality has improved with digital PJ's they are no longer worth the hassle (IMO).
The new Epson is much brighter then my old Panny PTL 500u (800 lums)which I'm replacing. Sharper cleaner pix with more detail in black areas as well as brighter areas. Blacks are very good with HD and good quality SD sources but not with so so quality SD (most cable channels). HD and full bandwidth off air SD look great! Blacks are as good as some low end DLP (under $2000)units with the dark chip 3. You won't get the inky like blacks but will not be a distraction from movie either.
If you need to offset from center this is the unit for you. You can set the lens shift one full pix up or down and about the same side to side. You will need to sit about 1.2x screen size back to avoid seeing the pixel structure better know as SDE. I have a 100" screen and pixels began to disappear about 10 to 11 feet back (102" to 132")thus the 1.2x.
Epson has great reputation for quality products and gives you a 2 year warranty if needed. I loved my Panny but with Panasonics ax100U issues I just can't go with the Panny this time. I hope the 200u has been fixed but I'm not going to gamble with $1300 plus.
If you are like me and can see DLP rainbows then I highly recommend this unit. The only somewhat negative about this unit is the fan can be heard when not in low power cinema mode but does not disturb viewing experience. In low power (cinema modes) unless unit is right by your ear you probably never know it's on. The high power mode is a little less noisy then a computer fan to give you some idea. If you have forced air heat (I do) then the air rushing from the ducts will make more noise then this PJ in high power mode. Could use a second HDMI input.
The picture quality and brightness is superb and you'll be very happy with the quality of this unit. You may also want to look at the Sanyo Plv z5 for it has good reviews but is much dimmer then this unit. In a light controlled room that should not be an issue. Reviews by the so called experts put this unit near the top of the LCD pack and Epson customer service is by far better then Panasonic. Sanyo I have never had to deal with so can't say .
This is one of the better 720p PJ's on the market at present and you'll be happy with the PQ of this unit. |
An outstanding experience
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| Review Date: April 12, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Fabio Dantas Silveira, |
Manufacturer of the LCD panels used by most companies in their Home Theater projectors, until recently Epsons own offerings had remained lackluster. Their focus was mainly on high lumen, low contrast projectors for business and education, however, that has changed. With the introduction of their current line-up, Epson has unleashed an excellently valued 720p projector, capable of delivering a high quality big screen experience that will wow friends and family.
There is nothing like being able to watch your favorite movie on a 100" screen. I enjoy watching Blu-Rays on my PS3, but DVDs look great too. Playing Call of Duty 4 occasionally is also a thrilling experience, with rich colors, depth and great shadow detail. If you haven't experienced a modern high def projector and value video entertainment, you owe it to yourself to check it out. Its just light years from the washed out colors of 5 years ago. Its very watchable in all but the brightest lighting conditions and, in my view, produces a more satisfying picture than Plasma or LCD sets.
Before I purchased this model, I performed extensive research on the offerings available, reading every single review I could find and you just cant go wrong with either this or the Panasonic AX200. I opted for this one because of the slighter better colors and fewer complaints about problems from existing owners. The Panasonic offers a little more lumen output, but the Epson is more than bright enough.
If you have a little more cash, I would recommend the EPSON Powerlite Home Cinema 1080UB, as it is a superior projector not only in resolution, but in colors and black level, although it does cost over twice as much. For its price and the experience it offers, this projector is a steal and is guaranteed to offer hundreds of hours of great entertainment.
Final thoughts: my room is mostly reflexive white, and light does bounce back to the screen compromising black levels a bit. if you can, opt for matte colors. |
Never Go to the Movies Again!
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| Review Date: January 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: M. Martin, Columbus, OH |
I have owned this projector for almost a year. If you look around, then you can likely purchase it for about $1100 BEFORE a combination $100 AND free spare lamp mail-in rebate (I cannot overstate the peace of mind that having a spare lamp creates).
I put about 90 hours on the lamp that came with the unit and have subsequently put about 500 hours on the rebate lamp (I put that in immediately to make sure it worked. My original lamp is now my back up). I have yet to buy a screen (that day is hopefully coming quickly). Therefore, I have my picture thrown on an off-white wall painted with flat paint. I currently have my picture size set at 120". I used to have it set at 135" but I found 120" to be the sweet spot for me in terms of having a big enough picture that was still sharp and crisp.
Despite my lack of a screen, the picture I get is insane for the price I paid. The colors pop (especially in Living Room mode) and HD material is amazing. DVD's look good. Blu Ray is a must. There is a caveat. Because the picture is bigger, flaws in source material will be magnified. I notice a distict difference in the sports broadcast by ESPN, ABC, and Fox versus NBC and CBS. NBC and CBS are markedly better. This, however, is due to the source material and not the projector. But I digress.
The projector can handle some ambient light. However, the fact that I am projecting on to an off-white wall and the absence of a screen hampers my projector's performance in this area. Despite this, I often still watch stuff with a low-light lamp on so my kids can play in the room at the same time. The menu system allows the picture to be customized to your viewing preferences. If you have different preferences for different lighting scenarios or even different preferences for the type of content being watched, then multiple settings can be stored and easily accessed.
I wish I could give it 4.5 stars because it lacks 2 HDMI inputs and the fan is audible in high power modes (but not distracting). The warranty is great and Epson offers overnight replacement.
The bottom line is this; 1080p is best, 720p is sufficient for most (I sometimes wonder how much better 1080 could look). This projector has gotten excellent expert reviews. If you have a room that is suitable for a projector, DO NOT spend $1300-2500 on a "small" 46-58" LCD/plasma. If you do some research and shop around, this projector, a decent screen, cables, a good receiver and speakers can be had for the same $2500. Reserve the LCD flat panel for the bedroom. Purchase this projector and never go to the movies again. |
Amazing
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| Review Date: October 22, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Steven A. West, Atlanta, GA |
| I set up a home theather last year, and had budbeted about $3,000 for the TV component. As I shopped, the largest Plazmas were about 60-65 inches and would use at entire budget plus. Same basic price for a 1080p projectors at the time. Then I had a crazy idea. We purchased a panasonic 50" 1080p plasma for around $950 AND purchased this projector and an inexpensive pull down screen for about $1,200 total. We thought we would combat the concerns over ambient light by watching the plasma for daytime and normal TV, and the projector for movies and special events. I had an expert hook it all up, mounte the scrreen on the ceiling so that we just pull it down in front of the plasma when watching the projector. The Home theater expert told me when he was installing it all that once we bagan watching the projector, we would be hooked on it. He was exactly right. Unless I'm alone and just channel surfing, the Projector is the TV of choice. I am not a tech expert, and was coming from a non-hi-def 27" tv on regular cable. Now with this set up and Direct TV, the experience is incredible. I can tell no real difference in the picutre quality between the projector and the plasma, except the size of the screen on the projector is 106" and absolutly takes your breath away. The 7:1 sound and Onkyo receiver also can shake my entire house. Looking back, I would do nothing different, this is an incredible picture, especially when you consider the price. |
Super Product
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| Review Date: August 19, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Steve Dallas, |
| We could hardly be more pleased with this projector. My wife thought it was going to be junk, and I bought it specifically from Amazon so I wouldn't have any trouble if we decided to return it. That's not going to happen. It came in before the screen, so we tried it just on the wall and were blown away even in those conditions. Wife loves it. Kids love it. (Our previous TV is a 50" Sony rear projection model.) We have a light-controlled environment and are using an Elite 106" screen with a 1.0 gain. Though I haven't "calibrated" it yet, I did borrow some recommended settings I found in a review, and the picture is noticeably improved. It has several picture presets built in, which is nice, and also the ability to store multiple custom settings for each input. BTW, there's quite a few picture adjustment options to fiddle around with in case, like me, you're the type who can never leave well enough alone. Oh sure, there are things to nitpick. The power switch is located in an odd spot that's a little bit difficult to get to. Aspect ration isn't quite as flexible as it was with the Sony. Skin tones are a tad on the green side, and with the higher output settings, the fan is noticeable. I wouldn't call it distracting, but it is noticeable, as is the iris shutter. And, finally, there are some noticeable motion artifacts with fast moving images. I almost hate to list all that because it makes it sound, contrary to my opening statement, like we should easily find ourselves more pleased. However, the good far outweighs the bad (minor nuisances, really), and the price is right. I do try very hard to get the best value for my dollar, and the Epsom gets high marks there. Would I like to have a 1080p model? Sure. When I win the lottery, no doubt I'll get one. In the mean time, however, my family is going to have a ball on "movie night." |
Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 720
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| Review Date: July 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Brandon Hibler, Stockton, Ca USA |
| This projector is amazing. The picture quality is wonderful, the color is vivid and has just a super sharp image. I have it mounted on the ceiling in a light controled room on a 105" 16/9 screen w/1.0 grain. It is beautiful. This epson is a great bang for the buck. |
Great projector!
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| Review Date: July 1, 2008 |
| Reviewer: LukasJHU, Clifton, NJ, USA |
| Great projector... have it connected to an Onkyo TX-SR805 receiver and a set of Yamaha surround sound speakers. My cable TV, DVD's, and HTPC play wonderfully on it! Great purchase and a great alternative to the $3000+ 1080p projectors. |
Awesome projector for the price!!!
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| Review Date: October 13, 2009 |
| Reviewer: John B. Mckibbon, USA |
| I bought this projector about three months ago and wow!!! It is amazing. For under $1000 dollars I now have a 120inch HD screen in my living room. I am currently projecting it onto a white wall at the moment and the picture quality is still outstanding. I have HD cable and an X-box 360 hooked up to it and it works flawlessly. The picture is clean and crisp and the throw controls allow you to easily move the screen up down left or right without moving the projector physically. The only thing that this projector lacks is a couple of ports in the back. In particular it does not have an audio-out port. This is particularly troublesome when you connect components through HDMI. Because the projector does not have an internal speaker and HDMI carries video and audio anything you hookup through HDMI will not have sound. And without the audio port-out there is now way to bring the sound from the projector to the surround sound. Other than the audio difficulties I have encountered I love the projector and I am happy this is the one i decided to buy. |
best projector for under $1K
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| Review Date: November 30, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Zaslice, Marietta, GA |
I have been planning a dedicated room for years now. the wife and I finally bought a house with space for a media room. it is 16'x25' with two rows of seats at 13' and 19'. we went with a 118" diagonal 1.0 gain screen from carada and the epson looks amazing on it.
i was really torn between the epson HC 720 and the panasonic ax200u. my sister has the panny and it looks great, but after reading every review i could get my eyes on, i went with the epson. projector central giving it their editors choice and the free bulb promotion made it a no brainer.
13' is pretty close for a 118" screen and had some reservations about it being too big, but i wanted the back row to have a good view as well so it was a compromise between the two. thankfully, i am experiencing NO screen door effect at 13'. it is only BARELY noticible on white scrolling text, but its probably because im looking for it.
color saturation and accuracy are great right out of the box. i have done zero adjustments so far (partly because i dont feel the need to and partly because i havent found the time) i run the epson on theater dark 1 and cant hear the fan at all, and im sitting almost directly underneath it. that light mode is perfect in a completely dark room like mine. the projector is bright enough to overcome most ambient light. (but the fan does get louder with brighter settings)
i have watched about 8 movies so far ranging from Cars to LOTR 1,2,3. the epson handles everything efforlessly. HD programming looks fantastic too
i would have ZERO hesitation recommending this projector to anyone. easy setup, flexible placement, superb picture, and a free bulb ($350 value). i WOULD make sure that you have good control over ambient light or you'll go through bulbs quicker.
thats my .02, now go get one!
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Quieter, Brighter, Cooler, more flexible and bigger than expected.
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| Review Date: November 26, 2009 |
| Reviewer: S. Gresham, Seattle, WA United States |
I had been considering updating my projector from an older 2000 lumen 800x600 PC projector for some time, so when the bulb went south, and it was listed at $400 to replace I decided bye bye, ALSO with HD now a perquisite I was armed with a tape measure ( to get my throw distance and cupboard space ) and started my search.
Firstly I overlooked some really kewl features when considering a new projector that this one has, and in the end I highly recommend.
1) PIcture centering, there are these two dials, one on top and one on the side which allow you to move the picture around without sliding the projector.
2) low wattage bulb technology , means less heat and thus less fan noise
3) Amazing colors, hard to see this in specifications but believe me.
The throw distance range is good
Startup is fast
Remote is comprehensive
Now for the only CON, yes there is one.
The unit is larger than I expected, it has rounded corners so the size is hard to judge, but the main thing that is large is the "darlek" eye front lens. Mine fits in a cupboard behind the lounge so it made a difference.
In the end the best and most unexpected choice in home electronics in some time. |
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