4K EPSON PROJECTOR TV

It comes ready for front projection from a console below the screen or hung upside-down from the ceiling or wall there is no rear projection option, but that would obviously sacrifice use of the bundled screen. The LS500 comes in black or white to fit your decor. I admittedly came in with experience building screens and installing UST projectors, but enjoyed the methodical process and came away with a sense of satisfaction when I got to see the system in action. Epson has also produced their own video showing the screen construction and installation. Printed instructions are provided for the screen construction, and you can see what's involved in our Epson LS500 Screen Build and Alignment video. The process can take a few hours but presents no challenges beyond hanging and leveling the screen in the right spot to accommodate the planned projector location. Putting the screen together, mounting it on the wall, and installing and aligning the projector is a straightforward project for most competent DIYers. Epson does provide a standalone option for some custom installers who would rather mate the projector with a screen brand they already sell.Īs shown in our Epson LS500 Unboxing video, Epson delivers the unconstructed screen elements and the separately boxed projector in one large cardboard crate the carton for the LS500-100 we received was 92 inches long, about 22 inches square and had a shipping weight of 86 pounds. Backing off that amount would put the price of the LS500 alone at around $4,000. The lowest-priced near-equivalent screens will cost around $1,000 for a 100-inch, and perhaps $1,800 for a 120-inch. You might get by with a matte white screen in the dark, but a UST ALR screen is a virtual requirement if you plan to us your projector as a day-to-day bigscreen television.Įven accounting for the screen, Epson's bundle pricing puts their projector squarely in the midrange of the category. Gain below 1.0 means a sacrifice in brightness, but the dark surface combined with the superior rejection of overhead ambient light results in a remarkably contrasty and impactful image in bright rooms that seems to defy physics. Both screens use the same material, which features the familiar sawtooth optical construction described in our article 'Screen Magic: How UST Screens Let You See the Light.' It has the same dark gray surface found in products from dedicated screen makers and the same 0.6 gain commonly found elsewhere (though Epson confirmed that its website specs erroneously list it as 0.8 gain). FeaturesĮpson rates the LS500's 16:9 image size at 130 inches max, and sells the projector as the LS500-100 with a 100-inch, ambient-light-rejecting screen for $4,999 or as the LS500-120 with a 120-inch screen for $5,999. This lifts the cost of entry but also assures that buyers will have the positive experience that Epson, and I think all promoters of this category, would really like for first-time projector buyers. Then, there's the fact that Epson has followed Hisense as the only other manufacturer bundling a specialty UST screen with their projector. Among these is the potential impact Epson's name and marketing could have on the category as a whole-no other projector brand except perhaps Sony has Epson's broad consumer awareness or can boast a high profile, sports-centric spokesperson like Shaquile O'Neal.īut the projector itself is unique to the segment for both its high 4,000-lumen brightness and its unusual industrial design, which features a large, periscope-style lens. Epson's EpiqVision Ultra LS500, first shown at CEDIA in fall 2019, is noteworthy for several reasons.

4K EPSON PROJECTOR TV

The competition among projector makers pushing 4K UST laser projectors as living-room TV replacements heated up in the tail end of 2020, with new models introduced from Optoma and Hisense along with first-time releases from Samsung and, finally, Epson. Epson's 4K entry in the living room laser UST category comes with a few caveats, but its exceptional brightness and picture quality more than make up for its missings.

4k epson projector