Epson Home Cinema 2040 1080p 3D 3LCD Home Theater Projector

My 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.

This is a wonderful projector. Pros: --1080p HD . . . the projected picture from my non-retina macbook air was so much better than what Im used to seeing on my laptop . . . it had an air of unreality to it because it was so hi-def --LCD means no rainbows --Easy to set up each time with a very easy-to-adjust front leg & two adjustable back legs --Has a sliding lens cover built in for protection --Plug-ins all in the back and their placement makes sense --Plenty of settings to make any viewing situation work (including in room flooded with daylight--not ideal, but we were able to do it) Cons: --Possibly the cost. If you dont see or arent bothered by rainbows, then this is probably a bit much to pay. The Acer H5380BD (a DLP projector with 720p) is a bargain and I would have kept it had the rainbow effect not been such a problem. --Not quite as portable as Id like and didnt come with a carrying case (like the Acer did) . . . but this is a much better projector.

Overall: I cannot express how truly happy I am with this projector! I received this projector in December and have been using it non-stop since! I previously had an Epson 705HD and that was a good projector but this one makes that seem like it was childs play. The image is definitely 1080p and colors are vibrant and bright. There are several color modes to choose from (Dynamic, Cinema, Bright Cinema) and I prefer to use Cinema. I have not used the 3D capability as of yet because I do not have a 3D player as of yet, but I expect that the 3D is just as amazing as the rest of the projector. I want to talk about the frame interpolation a little bit. This is something that many high-end projectors have and it is very apparent when it is on. I personally love it because it makes the images seem clearer and smoother. At times, however it makes the images look fake because of the effect of the heightened frame rate. There is also a slight problem with the processing of movement with words. When the interpolation is on and there is a sweeping landscape, or when there are words on the side of a vehicle driving through the frame, the words lose their definition. Here it is obvious that the interpolation programming is attempting to pick the relevant information and becomes obvious. Even with these negatives, the overall opinion I have is that the interpolation is worth it; the picture is smoother and, to me, appears crisper. There are many inputs and outputs from the unit which make it quite versatile. I have only one HDMI plugged in currently, but it is a comfort to know that I could use more inputs if need be. The noise from the fan, as some people have noticed, is present, but only when the bulb is set to normal. Keeping the setting on Eco fixes this and makes the fan almost silent. I find that Eco is plenty bright for all the purposes I need. Also, having a good 5.1 system will really help with the noise (i know, duh) because this will diminish what can be heard coming from the fan. Only during silent scenes will there be any noise heard, and this is less than the sound that most fridges make when they are running. There is very little light leakage. Some projectors have lines of light rays that escape from the housing and cause bright spots in the dark room; I have not noticed any of these. I am using the projector with a 100 inch screen and it is very crisp and bright. I have used bigger screens with the projector and, of course, with a bigger screen comes the downside of seeing more pixels. You will definitely want to start using Blu-Ray players if you havent already. With my previous projector and some TVs the difference between the two is negligible, but not so with this projector. DVDs are much less clear and it is very obvious once you begin using blu-rays. The remote reaches from very far and very many angles; there are 2 sensors on the projector for the IR signal and this means that you dont have to be in the right place like some other projectors on the market. Thank you Epson! I was comparing this to some DLP projectors and ultimately went with this one. I have not used a DLP and therefore cannot speak to their image quality, but I can assure you that you will not be disappointed by making this your next home theater investment. I am a very happy customer and have recommended it many times!

Best projector for the price right now. I like it better than the BenQ I recently owned (1075) in 9 out of 10 scenarios (brightness, latency/gaming, frame interpolation, lamp cost, menu options, contrast, no rainbow effect, cost, image enhancement, lamp life). The only thing it doesnt appear to do quite as well is black levels. But I doubt most people would be able to pick out the difference. And theyll definitely notice the speed, brightness, and frame interpolation if they watch sports, or dont have a dark room. And the fact that they were the first to move many high end features from much more expensive projectors down into this price range is commendable. If this had a motorized lens, with lens memory, I could sell dozens of these to folks looking to replace their aging home theater projectors. Epson did a really nice job with this one.

This is my first home theater projector, so take my opinions with a grain of salt, but I am very happy with it. At the time, I was debating between this Epson 2040 and either the BenQ W1070 or slightly new HT1075. The vertical positioning of the Epson wasnt an issue for me, so the ultimate tipping of the scales was that this Epson went on sale for $699 (list of $799) at the time I was looking to buy. Brightness There are 4 varying levels of brightness than you can select depending on how much ambient light is in the room. During the daytime, I usually run it on the max setting to get the best picture. My set up is not ideal and actually have a fairly large bay window right next to the projector screen, but I can still manage a good picture in spite of the high level of background light. The downside is that the fan is working hard to keep the projector cool and is pretty loud on the brightest setting. At night however (which is 90% of the time I normally use it), we run it on the lower settings and the fan is practically silent. Color Shift? Im not sure what the correct term for this is, but as other reviewers have noticed, there is a detectable color separation of green and purples on the edges of still black and whites next to each other on a menu or setup screen. Im not sure what this means, but its definitely there when you get up close to the screen. But once I sit back down at normal viewing distance, I dont notice the difference. And I definitely cant see a difference when watching a movie or anything else. In the end, I may have been happy no matter which projector I opted for, but this one has certainly exceeded my expectations.

Absolutely 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.

After 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.

I generally dont write reviews but I wanted to do this one. This is my first projector, I always dreamed to have one and as soon as I had the possibility, I bought one. I am not an expert on projectors, so this is only a personal point of view. I spent a considerable amount of time reading websites, forums, reviews, opinions and whatever else there is available on the argument to decide what projector was my ideal one. Finally, I went ahead and I bought an Optoma HD28DSE. This is a great projector, with a great image quality. However I had some issues with the fan noise (even in eco mode) and with the rainbow artifacts. I watch movies with subtitles (English is clearly not my first language), and between the words constantly changing on the screen and me moving my eyes across it to read them, made the rainbow effects something I could not stand (at least with me). So I decided to try out a LCD projector and the Epson 2040 was my choice. I have to say I am impressed by the image quality. Its very good. The smaller throw ratio (compared to the Optoma) gave me an even bigger screen (currently just above 110 inches) and absolutely no rainbow effect. I keep the projector on a shelf just above my head and in Cinema/ECO mode you cant really hear it unless you really want to. The room is dark but not perfect, and during the day a decent amount of light comes in from the outside, but its not a big deal as the projector is very bright and the image quality doesnt really change much. As everybody else mentioned in every other reviews or forums, the black are not super good and the image tend to look a bit washed. This is true but again, its not a big deal as you may think. It is not perfect as some people would like to, but it not too far. It is simply very very good, and at this price, this is probably the best solution for those (like me) who cant stand rainbows effect. I rather have it a bit washed than fight the rainbows. And anyway, as others proposed, you could install a ND (2 or 4) filter in front of the projector to improve the quality of the image. All together I think this is a great projector. Extremely good image quality. Basically no noise (Cinema/ECO mode). No rainbow effects. Two years warranty from Epson. And super cheap lamp (compared to other models in the same price range)

Im very happy to have this projector. I have it placed a little over 10 feet from the wall and the projection size is 118 inches! The picture quality is excellent and much brighter than my last projector. The resolution is crisp and the text is easy to read. I have it plugged into my computers graphics card (MSI RX 480 8GB). I am very happy with the black levels and video quality. The refresh rate is 60Hz at 1080p which is excellent and I have not noticed any lag time with gaming. If you play first person shooters, the input lag is not noticeable at all! I have the projector running on ECO mode as well and didnt notice a jump in input lag. Make sure the signal image processing is set to fast. So far I have used 187 lamp hours since purchase and havent had any overheating problems or any issues. The fan is much quieter than my last O***a projector. Honestly, my computers liquid cooling fan is much louder than the projector fan noise. Pros: Sharp image Reasonably priced True 1080p native resolution at 60Hz Low input lag Bright image even with sunlight peeking through Rarely have to adjust focus, stays in focus for weeks! I like the auto keystone and zoom adjustment Quick menu navigation and good remote Decent audio volume output Reasonably priced replacement lamps Great design and build quality Cons: Speakers could be better quality but not bad Lamp life could be better No TV coaxial input for watching antennae HDTV Price does not drop very much over time Not AMD Freesync compatible! Conclusion: Overall I would rate this projector a 9/10. The price is nice and much cheaper than purchasing a 70+ television. Sure the bulb will have to be replaced a few times but for about 100 bucks for a new bulb, its a great deal. I almost bought a 65 4K TV but felt like I really wanted to continue a projector experience. This is the second projector I have purchased and one that I have researched thoroughly. This is probably the best bang for your buck. I spent hours researching and clearly I am satisfied with the purchase.

Love it. Pound for pound one of the best tech purchases Ive ever made and I am a picky home theater enthusiast and have worked in movies my whole career so having quality presentation is important to me and this thing performs like a champ for the price. Its easy to use, has all the ports youd want and need and performs great with a fantastic, bright picture. I typically use for outdoor movie night setups and throw about 14 off my deck on to a 144 screen. Image quality is fantastic and we can even get started early dusk (but of course it shines best after sundown, which with a proper Blu-ray set up is as good as it gets). I just recently used the 3D for the first time after having this for a bit and I was blown away by the quality and simplicity of use. A single button press to enable 3D mode, turn on the Epson branded glasses and they saw each other automatically and just worked - no fiddling beyond that and the movie looked as good (perhaps better) as when I saw it in the theatre (3D was great from virtually any angle in a pretty decent arc in front of the screen - I tested). All of this said, plan to invest or have some kind of solid audio solution and dont expect to use the on-board audio. There is a convenient audio out radio jack so you can push the audio to another/better sound system set up (Ive been using a Klipsch 2.1 kit that frankly is also amazing for the money spent - again - I use primarily outside - but you could easily tie into the highest end home audio system). Couple of HDMI ports. Dont really need much more. If you want/use 3D I loved the performance of the Epson ELPGS03 glasses. As I said above use/setup could not have been simpler and the quality is great. There may be cheaper solutions on the glasses but you wont go wrong with these. Maybe my tune will change if/when the lamp needs replacing (I maybe have 100 hours use in at this point) but for the money Im not sure you can do better.