EpsonHome Cinema 5050UB 4K PRO-UHD 3-Chip Projector with HDR,White

I purchased the LG HU80KA a year ago to test the practicality of having a projector set up within my living room.I also own the LG OLED65C7, which I use for viewing 4k UHD content in "beautiful" mode.The HU80KA has helped me realize that I have a reasonable amount of space for projector use; also, I quite enjoy 110" screen size versus a now-measly 65 inch display. It's hard to go back from that.With that said, I decided to get the 5050UB instead of the JVC NX7 due to zero JVC dealers within my area. I would have to hand-carry a unit onto a plane and bring it with me in order to acquire one. Furthermore, the price range is significantly higher than the Epson. The idea of carrying a 50-pound package (in the box, 44lbs for the projector itself) through customs and flights, getting jostled and possibly destroyed in transit meant that I wasn't sure the risk was worth the benefit.So here I am, watching Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 with the Epson 5050UB, mouth agape, and an unwillingness to stop watching anything and everything possible, all at once, out of sheer joy from my visual experience.If you want to know more about the HU80KA, I have an extensive review. Long story short, I like its portability with 4k HDR options, but the visual output/quality really frustrated me.The Epson 5050UB far exceeds my expectations. It is, in point of fact, good enough for me to consider abandoning my OLED 65-inch TV since video quality is good enough to more than satisfy me, but with sheer size of screen... it makes my LG feel a little irrelevant.Current playback gear: I am using the Oppo UDP-203 with 'video settings' tone mapping for a 250-nit display. I also have the Marantz SR-7011 receiver.I have a 110" .95 gain high contrast grey screen.Alright, onto the review!The Good Stuff:Pretty much everything. Especially coming off of my previous year's projector purchase, the Epson manages to smash and destroy any qualms I had about what projectors are capable of.Tone mapping: Ridiculous. I have had no sense of bloom, or macroblocking. I can even punch up the "HDR" iris settings to 3 or 4, get more brightness, yet retain black levels and color reproduction without bleeding brights, or milky blacks.Black levels: Deep, dark blacks. I don't catch a hint of crush, either. Out of the box, this projector is already real close to outstanding. I think most wouldn't have to adjust video settings at all.Color reproduction: Excellent balance across the spectrum. Flesh tones are quite natural. Colors for more showy movies - such as GotG V2 - have a lot of natural saturation, yet still retain a good natural "pop" without getting too muddled.Specular highlights: Very good. The OLED still holds the crown for bright speckles and reflections. A good example is on the 4k UHD of "ALIEN" when Brett walks into the water-ridden back room looking for the cat, Jonesy. As he walks in, just before he allows water droplets to fall on his face, the water gleaming off of the metal doorframe, mixed with the rust and texture are less prominent with the Epson. However, it's not so significantly lower-class that it upsets me all that much. "Black Hawk Down" also has countless moments of specular spectacularity, and the Epson does a very good job at trying to match my OLED, but doesn't quite reach the same levels of excellentness.Detail/clarity: I don't think that just because a projector is "faux-k" (pixel shifting), that it is a deal-breaker. Epson is known for having some of the best pixel-shifting technology for projectors, and they've pushed technology a step further with the 5050UB. I will say that the HU80KA always looked too soft, and even HDR content still looked like a "good" blu-ray. That sense of softness is wiped away with the Epson. It is not quite as sharp and pristine as my OLED, but gosh if there isn't a heck of a lot of detail.When I watched the sandstorm sequence in "Mad Max: Fury Road", I couldn't believe how much easier it was to notice all the singular specs of sand that kept flying across Max's face, and how the wear and tear on vehicles - or stitching in the clothing - presented itself in ways I couldn't as easily notice on a screen half this size (let alone on the previous projector). I give detail and sharpness an 8.5/10.Movies and shows that have film grain is nicely textured and well resolved. It adds to the film-like resonance that can already be associated with having a "movie projector" in the home.Brightness: This is listed as 2600 lumens. It's important to consider that every company measures their lumen output differently. Furthermore, different viewing menu options (Natural, Cinema, Dynamic, etc...) have different levels of brightness/output. Thus, the brightest mode for most projectors will look very green in presentation, and other lamp/video settings will be as much as half the amount of brightness.Using this projector in Digital Cinema is a little darker than Bright Cinema, and Natural is the brightest to my eyes. I will say that "Natural" mode still blows me away in color and black levels. It's very bright. I stick mostly to Digital Cinema mode for 4k HDR content. Colors are slightly better, but I think for most - and for those who love brightness - Natural is still a more than viable option!Lens shift/Positioning Options: Stellar. My HU80KA had no lens shift at all, and placing it directly parallel to the bottom of my screen (31.5 inches) meant that I was losing a seat for friends when they came to visit. With the 5050UB, I now have it placed LITERALLY straight in the middle to the position of my projector screen at 62" high.What's also great is that when there is no device outputting to the projector, when you adjust lens settings (focus; shift; zoom), there is a grid displayed. This is a massive help, and I was able to perfectly center the projector, adjust pitch and yaw, while moving slightly left/right to fix keystone all within 5 minutes. What a blessing!Zoom also allows for a lot of leeway. My projector is positioned 12' 4" from my screen, and it is using roughly 15% of the zoom. I could choose to place it a little closer, or much farther behind me should I decide to do so. This, combined with the lenient lens shift options means that there is a LOT of space for positioning.Excellent latency (for gaming): I have no issues about casual gaming on this projector. The latency is tested as 23-27ms, and that's darned good for a projector. I wouldn't use it for hardcore fps gaming, but it's awesome for single-player gaming and using the Switch with friends (as an example).It is quiet: I have read about some people complaining of buzzing in high lamp mode. I do not experience this at all. Take that for what it is. I watch movies with lower volume settings most of the time, and there is ZERO "buzzing".I sit about 1-3 feet to the side of the projector (it's just above my head), and the loudest it gets is like a very quiet fan blowing at low speed.It's July/August right now, and quite hot at home. I leave a fan on "low" while I watch movies, and I don't hear the projector's fan noise at all. I just hear the fan in front of me.The Bad:HDMI connection/handshake: It takes about 11 seconds for a 4k UHD to actually display on the projector after the movie starts. This means that I miss the first 11 seconds of the opening logo of a movie (oh dear!). One could always wait for the movie to start, then press PAUSE for 10 seconds and start the movie again, if it's that important for someone.For me personally, it's a minor qualm. However, others may be frustrated by it.Size: Yes, it's a large projector. However, I don't plan on moving it around, and it sits right behind me, positioned above my head and right in the middle of the screen (again, those awesome lens shift/positioning options can be beneficial). I wouldn't even consider this a "con" for the most part. Not only do I have the HU80KA for on-the-go use now, but ALSO, I don't consider a home theater projector as needing to be compact or portable. Usually, you intend to plant it somewhere, and let it sit.It's not "real" 4k: Again, many people seem hung up on faux-k being a deal-breaker for projectors. Hand on my heart, I think this projector has amazing clarity and precision. A true 4k projector costs a lot more, and in the end it will probably be 1) less bright, 2) have comparable and/or slightly less efficient contrast levels, 3) comparable or slower latency timing, 4) and cost a heck of a lot more.I would wager a 120" screen or larger, sitting 10 feet away might make a difference in native 4k. Maybe.CONCLUSION: I am quite impressed by this projector. Video quality is not quite as good as my 65" OLED, but it is a glorious projector that shoots out a bright, crisp, beautiful color and contrast presentation with deep and gorgeous black levels.Add to that the low latency, lower price point from native 4k projectors, excellent placement options, and ease of use, I really can't elaborate on how enthused I am by the Epson 5050UB.

It would have been nice if Epson had included an HDMI out for audio. I love the picture. I recently bought a 50' 8K HDMI cable for it but the unit fails to see the image. I connected the same cable to laptop with led screen on other end and works fine. I then feed the output from a RX685 Yamaha receiver to the LED monitor over the same 50' HDMI cable and that fails to work so the Yamaha seems deficient in signal strength for long HDMI cables. I had to put my video source directly to the Epson with an HDMI splitter to send the audio back to the receiver input.My big surprise is the cost of this unit. I bought mine in 2020 and it is a little more expensive now!

I was surprised how much larger this was than my Mitsubishi HC – 4900, which had been a trusty steed for over 15 years in my theater. My ceiling mount was not large enough and probably was not strong enough so I ordered the PCMD Mount designed for this unit. It is currently sitting on a bookcase in my theater directly under where it will be ceiling mounted.I unpacked it, connected the power and HDMI cable coming from my Roku box via a receiver, turned it on. All I had to do was adjust the focus and zoom and I was watching breathtaking new detail and brightness in my theater. I guess this has incredible capabilities to fine-tune every little detail but I'm more of a turn on and enjoy guy.It's only been about two weeks but what used to be a place that we occasionally went to watch a movie is now about the only place we go to watch TV. Amazingly it looks as good as our one-year-old 65 inch Samsung in the living room.If it holds up half as long as the Mitsubishi I will be happy. For the first time I am searching for 4K content and if you get this definitely check out some of the planet earth stuff at 4K, absolutely incredible. And this was a pretty big splurge for me!