Home Theater Hero

EPSON’S Home Cinema LCD projector lineup ranges from basic, inexpensive beamers designed for portable use to high-end models meant for serious home theater installations. Of these, we typically devote space to the company’s premium UB (Ultra Black) offerings such as the 5050UB 4K PRO-UHD (reviewed in the August/September issue and also on sound and vision. com), along with mid-range models like the 3800 under evaluation here.

- Al Griffin

A big plus of the Epson projector family is that the costs usually top out at $3,000, with mid-range offerings priced about one-third to one-half that amount while providing many of the same features found in the high-end offerings.

To provide one example of the above, the Home Cinema 3800 ($1,699) features the same 4K PRO-UHD technology and HDR10/ Hybrid Log-Gamma display compatibility found in the 5050UB ($2,999). Epson’s 4K PRO-UHD tech diagonally shifts the pixels on the projector’s red, green, and blue 1080p display chips to double resolution to just over four million pixels. While this process doesn’t deliver the four-times onscreen resolution boost (to 8,294,400 pixels) of competing pixel-shifting DLP models, Epson combines it with 12-bit video processing to enhance detail and eliminate banding and blocking noise.

Other notable 3800 features include a “Precision Lens” with up to ±60 percent vertical and ±24 percent horizontal lens shift and 1.6x zoom capability. While lens adjustments were motorized on the 5050UB, those same features are manual on the 3800. Epson’s newest model also provides dual HDMI 2.0 inputs with 18Gbps bandwidth for full compatibility with sources that output 4K/60Hz signals and also supports 3Ddisplay (optional glasses are sold for $99).