Projector Reviews

Black: 0.0012
White: 9.6

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: Off: 2,491:1; Auto (On): 8,332:1

All postcalibration measurements were taken in the THX mode, with the projector calibrated and adjusted for the most accurate image in a darkened environment. The lamp mode (called Power Consumption by Epson) was set to Normal, which is its highest setting. The Gamma was 2.2, and UltraBlack (the Epson’s dynamic iris system) was turned on and set to Normal.

Set up as noted above, and with our optimal picture settings, the Epson’s full-on/full-off contrast ratio measured a very respectable 8,332:1 (9.6 foot-lamberts peak white and 0.0012 ft-L black on a 105-inch-wide Stewart Filmscreen StudioTek 130 1.3-gain, white screen). Its black level is among the best we’ve yet measured, but we would note that the top-end light output is on the low side. Based on the light output we saw here, we don’t recommend using a screen any larger than 96 inches wide with this projector, and screens a bit smaller than that will likely provide a punchier image over time as the lamp ages. With UltraBlack off, the contrast ratio drops to around 2,500:1, showing that this dynamic iris system operates at a comfortable 4x multiplier (generally speaking, the lower the multiplier required, the less visible the dynamic iris’ operation will be).

The Color Tracking charts below show how well the Epon’s gray scale adheres to the D65 standard. The tighter the overlap of the three primary colors, the better the result. The calibrated result, shown in the After Calibration chart, was also performed in the THX mode and is excellent. There’s barely any visible deviation across the entire range. The Epson’s color gamut in the THX mode is very good right out of the box, but once calibrated using the RGBCMY color management system (CMS), the results were dead on to the Rec. 709 HDTV color standard, in all three metrics: saturation, hue, and brightness. There was essentially no visible variance from the standard in all three dimensions after the CMS level calibration was performed. This is about as good as it gets as far as color accuracy is concerned. Measurements taken by Kris Deering, Text by Shane Buettner