Epson Home Cinema 2040 1080p 3D 3LCD Home Theater Projector
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GP
Greater than one weekItem arrived earlier this evening and I instantly set it up and tested a couple of blu ray DVDs in my collection from Avatar to MI:Ghost Protocol to Game of Thrones to Man of Steel and lastly, settling with Inside Out (my daughter and son requested for them to see it again) and instantly, my family enjoyed it out of the box! The picture was so clear although I was playing a bit in its initial setup with keystoning but I didnt need to as the throw was just about right. We couldnt be any happier with our purchase and as 1st time home theater owners, wed be looking forward to spending time in the theater room more often, probably re-watching some favorite blu ray titles we have in our decent collection. Id recommend this for 1st time or even experienced owners.
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Southpaw
> 3 dayThis projector has a lot going for it, and some drawbacks as well. Lets jump right in: Brightness: Very bright. The color brightness is just as bright as the whites since its a 3 chip projector. DLPs cant make that same claim, though some come close (RGBRGB models). Contrast: Sub-par, even for the under $1,000 category. DLP projectors will beat this one every time with black levels and contrast. Positioning: This projector gives you both vertical and horizontal keystone for ease of setup, though using this will make the image less sharp since its not using all of the pixels when the keystone is used. Most people wont notice, however. Pixel fill: The lines between the pixels are the thickest and most noticeable on 3LCD projectors. In other words, on DLP and LCoS projectors, you sit slightly closer to the screen without seeing pixel structure. Colors: Colors are fantastic, and have a lot of pop to them. 3LCD projectors excel with bright colors. Animated films look great! Noise: In eco-mode, its not very noticeable. In normal mode, youll notice it on quiet movie scenes for sure. Extra features: This projector has some features not typically found on entry level models. These include frame interpolation (smooth motion for sports, etc) and detail enhancement, which makes images appear sharper using special video processing. While it may seem a lot of my review was negative, this is a really good choice for an entry level projector. For those who havent seen better blacks on a projected image, they probably wont even notice the not-so-great blacks, but will be amazed at the huge, colorful, full HD image on their wall or screen. Another plus is that, unlike other lower end (and lower resolution) Epson models, this has an audio out port for those who take advantage of the portability of this projector and take it outside or to a friends house for movie night. I believe if Epson produced a projector like this one, but had blacks as good as the 8350 (not the best, but very respectable), they would overcome the only serious weakness of this model and sales would higher than Im sure they are now. Regardless, this a solid choice for those looking to get in on the big screen action at home.
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Tired & Dirty
> 3 dayProbably the best value in 3D 1080p projectors when I bought it earlier this year. Might still be. I came from an older DLP projector, and this Epson is at least as good in terms of color and overall image quality as that. 3D works very well with Panasonic TY-ER3D4MU glasses. Shutdown takes only a few seconds, unlike the DLP which needed to cool off first. The fan is noisy, but I use surround headphones so its fine for me. May be a problem for you if you use speakers exclusively and you are close to the projector. There is not a major difference in actual brightness between the economy and bright modes for some reason, but the fan is noticeably louder in bright mode. I just keep it in economy mode for simplicity and to save the bulb. Some other things: - Optical zoom adjustments are narrow, making placement a bit awkward in my case. - Fewer holes on bottom than normal for ceiling mount. Had to be extra creative with my existing mount. - AV Mute is a just stupid manual lens cover. I forget about this sometimes. - Remote is not backlit, hard to see buttons in the dark. - No component input. What cancels out all the negatives is that the official bulbs are C-H-E-A-P. Cheap enough that I use this as my primary TV now. Hopefully the rest of the unit lasts a long time.
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Stephen C.
> 3 dayAfter much thought and consideration into either jumping into 4k vs purchasing a projector I took the plunge and went with the 2040. While a few DLP units in this price range offered better contrast ratio I ultimately went with the Epson fearing I may notice the rainbow effect that DLP units tend to produce. Projecting onto a tan wall for the first month of ownership the contrast was absolutely terrible and color looked unappealingly and washed out. My room is light controlled, so after some extensive research into projector screens I went with a 92 Grey screen with a 1.0 gain by Silver Ticket. Wow, colors now seem to pop and contrast is on par with my Samsung LED TV. This Epson unit is fantastic when paired with a worthy screen. Input lag is minimal and playing games like Battlefield 1 and Street Fighter 5 show zero input lag. I still get a bit giddy every time I put a Blu-Ray on. Movies come to life in both 2d and 3d modes, and I have nothing but good things to say about this Epson. Color me impressed.
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BlockDuck
Greater than one weekAbsolutely wonderful projector! I bought this for my basement cinema. Pros: - Super clear picture for Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and the TV receiver box for antenna stations. - Fan is relatively quiet. I sit right below it and dont notice it when watching a show - Vivid and true colors - Easy to mount to ceiling when you buy a universal mount - Very easy to set up - Looks great even when projecting directly onto a wall. I havent put our screen up yet, and just have it aimed at a muted green wall. - Great picture even with lights on. Our basement has two lighting areas. I usually watch it with the back area lit and the picture is still very bright and clear. Cons: - I bought a Harmony 350 universal remote. It can turn the projector on, but it cant shut it off for some reason.
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Michael W.
> 3 dayI have had the Edson 2040 for less than a week, but I can say without doubt, this is the perfect traditional TV replacement! I had a 65 Panasonic television for nearly a decade (720p). It was a great television, but it was time for an upgrade and I was on a budget. Im not a huge fan of 4K resolution, its just TOO sharp for my old eyes to enjoy to the fullest, but I planned on going that direction until I found that for my money I was going to have to go with a 55 screen... Then I discovered projectors. I studied up... for a bright room get 3000+ lums, for good dark images go DLP, so on so forth... I shopped long and hard... finally I came to the Epson 2040. 1080p. Great short focus. 3D. Interpolation. It has it all. I was only worried that my bright living room would be the doom of any image. NOT SO. The Epson 2040 is AWESOME. Period. There are 5 windows in my living room area that get the evening sun. Full sun behind sheer curtains (block about half of light), and floor lamps lit, even low light cinema mode provides great light on a 120 Eleite Screens screen. My projector is ceiling mounted and about 12 from the screen, above the heads of the center seats. Screen is a manual pull down mounted on the ceiling about 8 from the wall. With the screen up, it frees the entire living room space. Screen down, and my entire wall is my television! I run the projector on cenima mode (the dimmer energy saving mode) most often. The picture is great, even in fairly bright light. There is a little bit of warm up time when the unit is turned on, but its not bad at all. HDMI control means when I hit the power button on my cable remote, the projector powers up and automatically turns on my surround sound receiver and everything is ready to go. Some reviews have complained of noise... the projector does make some noise, but NOT THAT MUCH. Its literally mounted a few feet over our heads, and we dont even notice it while watching movies or television. Its really not much difference from my old TV or my PlayStation. The bottom line is, the Epson 2040 is a fantastic projector! Easy to use, fabulous picture. Get rid of the old tv and choose your own screen size!
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dad2aaa
> 3 dayThis thing rocks! TV, Movies, Gaming, for the price you cant beat it. Ive had it for almost 9 months and started on the existing 100 inch screen, then expanded to 125 with a screen I built with blackout cloth. I would go bigger, but the wall I am projecting on is inset. The 1080P HD picture is bright and beautiful and will easily handle indirect light, even on eco mode. Brighter rooms and/or direct light will wash out the picture some, especially with darker shows. 3D works well enough for me, even for video games. Online gaming is great now with no noticeable lag. The projector it replaced definitely had lag and would routinely find ourselves on the losing end of a melee. Not any more. Again, this thing rocks! I did a lot of research. Went back and forth between this one, the BenQs, the Optomas, high end, low end, etc. I would love to try out to the BenQ to be able to compare, but I am more than thrilled with this Epson. If you are new to buying a projector, like I was, make sure you know exactly where you are going to mount it and the projectors throw angle, throw distance and zoom capability (throw range). These where variables that I did not originally consider, but ended up being one of the bigger variables I had to reconcile with my mounting limitations before ordering. Performance, price, features, replacement lamp cost . . . . you cannot do better! You will not be disappointed.
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Thunderg
Greater than one weekI have been using projectors for my home cinema for 16 years on a white wall. People have always been impressed by the size of the picture, but didnt comment much about the quality. This projector has a picture quality that is so bright and detailed that nobody believes its coming from a projector. This is an amazing projector for this price. I have a 110in picture at 13ft away hung from a ceiling mount. If your on a budget like I am, you cant go wrong with this projector. The bulb that comes with this projector is impossible to find. Replacements range in price from $25 to just over $100 and could not fine the exact same one it came with, makes it impossible to duplicate after the bulb goes out. So enjoy it out of the box because youll never repeat it as Epson does not sell a original replacement.
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Art Vandelay
> 3 dayMy initial review is below. Ive now had this projector for two years and havent seen any issues with it. Its rock solid and reliable. Also havent had to replace the bulb yet, which is nice. If I was shopping for a new one, Id look for deeper black levels (these are OK, but not great) and perhaps something with a quieter fan. The sound is fine in ECO mode but gets a bit loud otherwise. -------------------------- Ill put it this way: the picture on this thing is good enough that I can watch a movie and not feel, as I used to when I had a TV, that I was missing out on the visual impact Id get from seeing it in the theater. Sitting 15 feet away from this projecting on a 6 foot wide screen, Im immersed, totally. Im projecting it at around 90 diagonally, and the picture is bright and razor sharp. Put on a well-mastered BluRay and youll be blown away witih the quality, brightness and detail, particularly in outdoor, daylight scenes. For darker scenes, black levels are not deep, inky black, and night scenes dont quite have the contrast of a higher-end model. But its definitely watchable. I would recommend using it on eco mode, which is still quite bright and apparently extends the lamp life significantly. Going from eco to standard makes the picture seem maybe 10-15% brighter, but makes the fan easily twice as loud. The good news is eco mode will be bright enough if your room is even moderately dark. Theres a 60fps image smoothing setting, common on a lot of TVs now, but Id leave it off for movies and TV unless you like that weird soap opera effect;. The one exception would be sports or video games. Im very impressed with this projector. My last Epson ran for three years without any issues and without having to even change the bulb, and so far (five months) this one is going great.
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dcos
> 3 dayThis is my first projector so I dont really have anything to compare it to, but Im very happy with it. I have it about 17 feet from the screen, which is about 6 X 11, and it produces a really good high def picture. I had my doubts about the vid quality at that size, but its really as good as what you give it. A blu ray or a good 1080p signal reproduces flawlessly. The fan is a bit noisy in the high mode, but I dont notice it when a show is playing. Some people have said they watch in economy mode, which is quieter, but thats not bright enough for me which brings me to the only complaint I might have. Sometimes I think the picture could be a little brighter. It could just be my screen, its a painted white wall, but I did do some research and painted it with something that is supposed to produce very good results. Its not a big deal and its only in certain scenes. The internal speaker is pretty cheesy sounding, but I Bluetooth the audio to my sound bar and its awesome. I think for the price, this projector is really good.