Epson Home Cinema 2150 review: Lens shift and lots of light

The ideal projectors less than $1,000 often perform really perfectly and commonly you can expect to have to put in a good deal extra to get a obvious bounce in photo top quality. When these models are nonetheless 1080p (no 4K nevertheless), the vivid, colorful pictures they can produce are a good solution for film evenings or even just for binge-looking at Netflix demonstrates. The Epson Home Cinema 2150 will not have the high-line features of modern TVs, like HDR or wide color gamut, but it does permit you produce a enormous photo. On a a hundred-inch display screen it is brighter than lots of TVs from a handful of several years in the past, despite the fact that the color and contrast ratio aren’t pretty as good as the ideal in this price tag vary.

The Epson’s advantage more than other projectors in its class is the ability to suit far better in lots of households. This is due to the fact it has a broader zoom vary, so it can be put farther from the display screen, and a little something really rare among its counterparts: vertical lens shift. You can place the projector on a shelf guiding the couch rather of on the flooring, for occasion. Also, due to the fact it is Liquid crystal display-centered, there are none of the DLP “rainbows” that can bother some people today. 

I as opposed it straight with two similarly priced DLP rivals, the BenQ HT2050A and the ViewSonic PX727HD — I will have whole evaluations of each coming quickly. Amongst the three, the 2150 is ideal for brighter rooms where by gentle command is just not perfect or for situations where by you need its placement flexibility, but the BenQ was my favored so significantly for general graphic top quality.

Fundamental specs

• Native resolution: 1080p
• Discrete pixels on chips: 1,920×1,080
• HDR-suitable: No
• 4K-suitable: No
• 3D-suitable: Of course
• Lumens spec: 2,500
• Zoom: Handbook (1.6x)
• Lens shift: Handbook
• Lamp daily life (Standard method): 4,500 several hours

The 2150 can take indicators up to 1080p/sixty, no HDR or 4K, which is wonderful as this is just not an HDR or 4K projector. 3D TVs are lifeless
but projectors like the 2150 nonetheless display 3D films, despite the fact that eyeglasses aren’t bundled. The $99 eyeglasses are out of inventory on Epson’s website, but there are 3rd-party alternatives on Amazon.

Epson statements a utmost gentle output of 2,500 lumens. With my sample, I calculated an spectacular 1,620 lumens (it is normal for projectors to evaluate much less than their claimed specs). This is significantly much less than the brightness of most TVs right now, but vivid as opposed with projectors and TVs from a handful of several years in the past. On a a hundred-inch+ display screen, it is a good deal. The claimed contrast ratio of sixty five,000:1 is the only spec that is better than the wired variation of this projector, the somewhat more affordable HC2100.

The vertical lens shift lets you adjust the graphic vertically on your wall or display screen devoid of relocating the projector. The Epson also has 1.6x really worth of zoom, which is a little bit extra than other projectors in this price tag vary, meaning you can have it a little bit farther from, or nearer, to your display screen. 

Lamp daily life is a claimed 4,500 several hours, or seven,500 in the substantially quieter, but dimmer, Eco method. This is good for this price tag vary. To put this in standpoint, if you have been to use this projector as your primary “Television set,” looking at it 4 several hours just about every day, the lamp in Eco method would previous you more than 5 several years. For comparison, the BenQ’s lamp daily life, in its Eco method, is 5,000 several hours.

Connectivity and benefit

• HDMI inputs: 2
• Computer input: Analog RGB
• USB port: 1 (1A electric power)
• Audio input and output: Output only
• Digital audio output: No
• LAN port: No
• 12v set off: No
• RS-232 distant port: No
• MHL: Of course (On HDMI 1)
• Distant: Not backlit

On the back again there are two HDMI inputs and an analog Computer RGB-fifteen connector. The USB-A connector supplies 1 amp of electric power, more than enough to electric power a Roku Streaming Adhere. If that is the type of film rig you want to create, there’s 1/8th-inch analog audio output as perfectly to connect to external speakers. Alternatively, there’s a small, rearward-going through speaker built in. It is not terrible, but very substantially any external speaker arrangement is going to audio far better (do on your own a favor and at the very least put a low-cost soundbar less than the display screen). At better volumes with the built-in speaker there was a little bit of a rattle from the scenario.

The distant is not backlit, and has lots of tiny and similarly formed buttons. Most probably, following you’ve established the projector up, you can expect to in all probability just use the distant to turn the projector on and off, so this is just not a massive dilemma.

The 2150 also has wireless connectivity. Making use of Miracast, you can ship content from your laptop computer to the display screen with minimum setup fuss, but it is not great. Miracast can be finicky, and this setup will depend on you getting your laptop computer (Computer only, head you) open up and taking part in the content. If you will not want to run an HDMI cable, streaming sticks are low-cost and will be less difficult to use in the extensive run due to the fact you’re just sticking them into the projector alone. Roku also has Miracast built in so you could nonetheless stream content from your laptop to it.

Photograph top quality comparisons

All round the Epson creates a really watchable, extremely vivid graphic. When its black level and contrast aren’t as good as the ideal in this price tag vary, it gets dim more than enough not to be distracting although looking at a film with letterbox bars. The colours are good, but all over again, not pretty as good as the ideal. Greens, for case in point, will not pretty have the leafy jungle vibrancy they could have. And all over again, due to the fact it is Liquid crystal display-centered, and not DLP-centered like most projectors less than $1,000, it will not have that technology’s primary challenge: rainbows. Most people today aren’t bothered by the rainbow trails on vivid objects with DLP, but if you are, the Epson is a good alternative.

The headline quantities of the 2150 are pretty good. In Standard method, it places out an spectacular 182 nits on a 102-inch, 1.-achieve display screen. This converts to about 1,620 lumens, about the same as the BenQ, and substantially better than the ViewSonic.

Distinction ratio is pretty enhanced from older Liquid crystal display projectors. It falls proper in concerning the BenQ and the ViewSonic. I calculated an regular of around 1,220:1 throughout the different lamp modes. The BenQ, for comparison, was 2,094:1. These quantities in all probability appear to be lower as opposed with the claimed specs, but projector contrast ratios have always been wildly exaggerated. Neither of these projectors appears to be like washed out, although as opposed with OLED
or area-dimming Liquid crystal display TVs, they will not have virtually as substantially contrast.

Supporter noise is a little bit loud, especially if the projector is sitting or mounted around your head. The Eco method is about twenty five% dimmer, but the supporter noise drops by about 10dB, which is a good deal.

My comparison associated all three projectors stacked, in their ideal-on the lookout modes, on the same display screen employing a Monoprice 1×4 distribution amplifier. I began with Thor: Ragnarok, largely due to the fact it appears to be like good but also due to the fact I wished to enjoy it all over again. The Epson and the BenQ, at initially look, have been pretty evenly matched and similarly vivid although the ViewSonic was significantly dimmer. All round there’s a good deal of gentle to enjoy with but I nonetheless would endorse dim or blackout curtains if you enjoy a good deal for the duration of the day. No projector can compete with the sunshine.

Splitting the display screen concerning the BenQ and the Epson, a different big difference becomes obvious. As it is a 2.39:1 film, there are black bars on a 16×9 display screen. The BenQ’s bars are a shade darker. It is not a enormous big difference, but side by side it is clear. With these high gentle output, nonetheless, the big difference in all probability would not be that obvious at dwelling. The ViewSonic’s black ranges have been essentially nearer to the BenQ’s than the Epson’s, but with much less gentle general, I would have hoped it would have experienced the least expensive black level. Given that it was so substantially dimmer, and its contrast ratio the least expensive of the bunch, I focused extra on the Epson and BenQ.

A lower black level and high brightness translate to a high contrast ratio, at the very least graded on the curve of projectors in this price tag vary. The graphic on each the Epson and the BenQ punched significantly far better than projectors in this vary from a handful of several years in the past and never seemed flat or washed out. Side by side, all over again, the BenQ is a minor far better, with just a minor extra “depth” in the graphic as opposed with the Epson.  

Early in Thor: Ragnarok, Thor and Loki travel to Norway to find Odin. This was the initially scene that showed a sizeable big difference concerning the Epson and the BenQ. With the BenQ, the grass in this scene seemed significantly greener, like an early summertime lawn following the rain. With the Epson, it was nonetheless green, but extra like the stop of a dry summertime. The h2o guiding Odin was bluer with the BenQ as perfectly.

All round the colours from the BenQ have been just a minor extra precise, although the Epson’s were not that significantly off. Flipping that, the color temperature of the Epson is a little bit extra precise, with the BenQ remaining a little bit warm out of the box. It is near, nonetheless, and the darkest pictures on the Epson have a slight blue tint. So it is a little bit of a wash. Skin tones are good both way.

Switching gears a little bit, I shifted more than to Deadliest Catch, a display with graphic top quality ranging from beautifully cinematic sluggish-mo to hardly passable GoPro. There was not substantially to different the BenQ and Epson. Equally photographs have been particularly specific, exhibiting whiskers, wrinkles, claws and carpus. The BenQ was a minor cleaner, nonetheless, than any method on the Epson, with much less noise in stable colours and around objects, indicating it experienced somewhat far better online video processing. The Epson was not noisy by any stretch, but it was not pretty as effortlessly noise-cost-free as the BenQ. All over again, a insignificant quibble and a little something you would be unlikely to observe unless you experienced them side by side.

When the BenQ’s pixels are nearer with each other, that is just how DLP is the Epson’s aren’t that substantially farther aside. You’ll only see unique pixels if you’re sitting really near, the display screen is extremely massive or each. And then, you would in all probability be viewing pixels on a DLP-centered projector at about the same measurement and length far too.

The Epson has an automatic iris, dimming the graphic for dim scenes, opening up for vivid types. I was not especially bothered by it, although if the display cuts from a dim scene to a vivid a person, when a character’s going from inside to outside, say, you can expect to observe the iris acquire a defeat to catch up. If it bothers you, you can turn it off.

Equally projectors are relatively loud, at the very least in their normal modes. If this projector is anywhere near to your head, you’re going to hear it. Dropping both a person into Eco method, nonetheless, not only prolongs the daily life of its lamp, but helps make the supporter noise significantly extra livable.

All round, although it will not pretty have the photo top quality of the BenQ HT2050A, it is near. The graphic is vivid and colorful, and the contrast ratio is good more than enough that the graphic never appears to be like washed out or flat. All that, additionally the increased overall flexibility of lens shift and a far better-than-regular zoom, make the Home Cinema 2150 a good solution for people today who dislike DLP rainbows, are not able to place or mount a projector devoid of lens shift or just want a good-on the lookout projector for massive-display screen films, Television set and sports activities.