Epson 1080 Image Quality
BV -- Thu, 12/20/2007 - 13:06
In my research, it's been suggested that the Epson PowerLite 1080 not be used on a screen larger than 92". I was able to find a display model in a local A/V store. However, the screen that was being used in the store was a 123" screen. In my short time watching this projector in action (watching HD-DVD version of Seabiscuit) I was not very impressed with the picture. I felt the image was soft. I also felt the colors were not that great as I remember them looking. Could this be due to the fact that it was such a large screen that the image was being too stretched? Would the picture look better (better colors and sharper image) on a 84" screen? Or is that all I can expect out of this projector?
I'm confident that the problems you saw were due to the fact that it was being shown on a screen that was too large for it. I reviewed it on a 72-inch-wide screen, and it looked great. Granted, even on a screen that small, the peak white level was pretty low, so I'd be concerned about putting it on a bigger screen, even 84 inches, unless you can make your room totally dark.
I wonder what other factors might have contributed to the poor performance at the A/V store. Some ambient light perhaps?
Scott Wilkinson
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scottwilkinson wrote:I'm confident that the problems you saw were due to the fact that it was being shown on a screen that was too large for it. I reviewed it on a 72-inch-wide screen, and it looked great. Granted, even on a screen that small, the peak white level was pretty low, so I'd be concerned about putting it on a bigger screen, even 84 inches, unless you can make your room totally dark.
I wonder what other factors might have contributed to the poor performance at the A/V store. Some ambient light perhaps?
Scott Wilkinson
Video Editor
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The room I watched it in was completely pitch dark. However, like my previous post stated I felt the picture (for Seabiscuit on HD-DVD) wasn't very sharp and the colors were not how I remembered them (I remember red's being vibrant red and green's being "golf course" green). What I saw was a soft picture. However, when I say soft, I mean lack of detail. And for being 1080, I'm expecting more. Most plasmas and some LCD's at BestBuy look better. For a projector that not only your mag but many respected websites are raving about, I expected to be blown away. I wasn't. When I saw that mamoth 123" screen, I thought to myself, "that must be the culprit". I still think it is. However, now I'm just wondering if I'm expecting too much out of an inexpensive projector. I hope it was just a bad experience.
I suspect the size of the screen had a lot to do with it, at least the softness. The larger the screen, the softer any image is going to be; that's why plasmas and LCDs tend to look so sharp...they are a lot smaller than projection screens. Also, the light level from such a large screen would be very low, leading to an unimpressive picture.
As for color, my measurements on a Stewart Grayhawk RS G3 revealed that all three primaries were oversaturated, especially green. What was the screen material you were watching?
I think if you saw the Epson on a smaller screen (and one with accurate reflective characteristics), you would be more impressed with it.
Of course, you can get better performance for more money, but maybe not all that much better. For example the Marantz VP-15S1 ($10,000) has almost twice the light output, and only the green primary was significantly oversaturated. However, both the Marantz and the Epson resolved 37MHz just fine.
The Vidikron Model 70 had more accurate primaries all around, it also resolves 37MHz, and it has plenty of light output for larger screens; it lists for $12,000. Also at that price is the Sharp XV-Z20000, which is another superb projector.
Scott Wilkinson
Video Editor
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