CrunchGear

JESUS FLIPPIN’ CHRIST! These pictures are huge! Resize please? lol Looks like a sweet toy to own either way!

I checked out epson’s website. There is no difference in specs between this and the Powerlite *Pro* Cinema 1080, and the pro costs $4999. Did Epson mess up in their information release? Or do they truly sell two identical machines with a $2000 price gap?

Oops wrong link to my blog :p

wow looks like a great projector! I have a couple of questions though…
1. I want to set up my Playstation 3(hdmi), Xbox 360 Elite( which now has an hdmi slot), Wii(component) , and HD direct tv(hdmi) but i see that the epson only has one hdmi slot, is there any possible way to have this setup with the same cables or does it not really matter?
2. i was looking at universal projector mounts and some run from $40 to $250, does it really matter if i buy the 40 dollar mount versus the 250 dollar one?

1. You would need an hdmi switcher which run for a couple of hundred bucks (depending on how many ports) or a receiver that does hdmi switching like the Denon 2507.
2. Don’t know. I would guess that the more expensive ones would be more stable, but it doesn’t always work that way. Look for reviews of projector mounts on AVS Forums or Home Theater Spot.

thank you so much for your help, i really appreciate it. unfortunately i have one more question: The wall where i would be placing the projector screen is only 88” across but i would like to get the biggest screen size possible, preferably 100” diagonal (which is usually 92 inches across). i can, however, place a standing projector screen in the same spot because of unused space and it would get me 100” across to work with, but it would have to come out from the wall. My question is, should i get a standing projector screen to achieve 100” diagonal or should i get just as much as my wall allows and get a permanent screen? Also around how much should i pay for a screen that would work decently with this epson projector?

I haven’t looked into projector screens yet, so I’m not sure what the best arrangement would be for your room. I know that screens can cost upwards of several thousand dollars themselves. I am looking at a $1-2k screen for my room that will be 100″ or 120″ across (depending on the projector I get and whether it can project enough light from the back of the room)

ok… thanks…. back on the subject of hdmi switching, can’t i just bypass buying a separate box to switch from hdmi sources and just manually switch them? would all i would have is take out say the hdmi plug for direct tv and insert the hdmi cable for my Playstation 3 or is it more complicated than that?

hdmi is nice because it can carry audio too (sometimes) so it could be a case of you just manually switching them. I don’t like to switch stuff manually because I have a pronto remote where I can press one button to switch inputs, and changing cables kind of defeats the purpose of one-button operation ;)

do you think a 250-400 dollar 100 ” HD projector screen (say a Da-lite screen) for this projector is too little. What kind of screen company are u personally looking at? I am not a video phile and want to buy pretty much the cheapest screen i can get without forfitting too much of the projectors capabilities. do you know of any screens i can get cheap that would do the job?

sry, what i mean by “too little” was too cheap. Also thanks for the help! i am finally overcoming my fear of HD with your advice

The image specs certainly are impressive. To meet the $3k price though they’ve really skimped on the inputs. Who in this day and age uses only one HDMI and component plug. I guess you can always get yet another passive switch.

The # of inputs you need is one - HDMI. Who in this day and age would setup a theater room without a reciever capable of all possible inputs? Someone mentioned Denon and that is a good choice. Many new recievers are coming out with multiple HDMI inputs. If you are going to (and able to) spend $3k on a projector then spend that much on a reciever to handle the switching workload (as well as numerous other tasks). I suggest caution though as the HDMI 1.3 recievers will be out this summer (I am not aware of any at this time). If you want to be able to send Deep Color to the projector then you will need a matching reciever/switcher (i.e. one that supports HDMI 1.3) to support it.

I need some advice. Will the nvidia 8800 gts graphics card perform well with the epson powerlite home cinema?

Just a comment on the single HDMI input…. I would suspect that if you are moving up to the projector world of home theater that you have a good sound system to go with it… if not I would build up that aspect of your theater first…. something with a good HDMI switching AV reciever. I just got an Onkyo TX-SR805 for

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… sub $1000, it has 3 HDMI inputs and has THX Ultra 2 Certification and just rocks the house. You don’t need to spend this much money to get the HDMI switching however, as stated above a lot of AV receivers now include that feature.

Just a thought. Put some money in the sound system then you’ll have everything in place to really enjoy a projector. I’m undecided between the Epson 1080 Home Cinema and the Panasonic AE1000U.

Another thought about buying a nice AV receiver is that some of the better ones (like the Onkyo I bought) have faroudja upconverting chips in them… anything riding the HDMI signal will get upconverted and hence look much better on your projector :)

Another thought on the AV receivers is that some have the feature of upconverting the HDMI output signal to 720p etc via for example a faroudja DCD chip.

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I was debating on the Panasonic AE1000 or the Epson 1080. I decided on the Epson because I did not like having to wait for a $1000 rebate from Panny. Epson has a overnight replacment warranty, and depsite having only one HDMI input, it the only machine out there (Besides Optoma) that has HDMI 1.3. I am projecting a 125″ image from 15ft back, this is the most flexible placement projector on the market with one of the best manual lens shifts. I suggest getting an AV receiver with multiple HDMI inputs if you have 2 or more devices with HDMI. Compared to my previous 720p projector, this guy blows it away. 100% satisfied customer!

Regarding the question about the screen… I find that the screens you look at mostly have the same fabric (like matte or glass beaded). What you’r really paying for is the size of the screen and the extras such as controled manual return or morotized return. If your’e looking for something that’s good but cheap, you should be fine to get a cheaper screen. I purchased a DA-LITE glass beaded 120″ manual pulldown (no clontroled return) for about $140 from thefinalclickdotcom. the glass bead gives a great picture, but not good at viewing from extreme angles. I would take a look at what these dudes have, as the prices are really good and the delivery was reasonable.