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

I bought this because of the advertised color brightness and... WOW! They werent kidding. Leaves DLP in the dust. Dust that is very muted in tone with no color richness to speak of. DLP is fine for your Powerpoint presentation, but if you want to watch a movie in your home theater, you want something more like this. Because there are three different image elements in this projector creating three different images, you only get perfect convergence at one distance from the lens. I had this projecting onto a wall in my garage (dont know exactly how big the image was, but it was over 10 feet wide) and the color separation was about 1/4 at worst. I didnt notice this issue unless I was being picky and looking for it.

This is my first projector. I love electronics, but would not consider myself to be hardcore about the quality, so I am sure there are better projectors than this, but I cant imagine a better one from a cost to value measure. I did a ton of research on projectors (including reviews here at Amazon, thanks to everyone else) and chose this model because it was going into a room that wouldnt be completely dark (so the 2200 lumens was a positive) and video games were going to be played (this model has an incredibly low lag time). My original goal was to put up a fixed screen either 110 or 120 inches away, so I mounted it at a distance that would work for both and played with the zoom to compare sizes before ordering the screen. I was just projecting on to the wall that was not painted with special paint and the projector had not been fine tuned, just pulled it out of the box and plugged it in. As I was comparing the sizes I kept marveling at how great the picture was just on the wall and decided to save a few bucks and skip the screen. I have had friends and family over to watch sports and movies and constantly ask their opinion on if they think a screen is needed and no one has said yes. The best compliment I have received is one buddy said he just assumed I had used a special paint. We have only been in the house 30 days, so we have a few repairs to to do in the basement. Once completed I will post some photos to show the quality.

I bought this after doing a moderate amount of research. It seemed like the right projector for me at this reasonable price point (I picked mine up for $650, but it seems to fluctuate on Amazon), and after a week of regular use Im pretty satisfied. There is one area this projector is severely lacking in though, and that is black levels. Ignoring the insane numerical contrast ratios that Epson likes to throw around, I can tell you that this is clearly the biggest weakness. Before purchasing, I read a few reviews and comments praising the black performance, but Im here to tell you this is incorrect, and probably sourced from people who are easily pleased. For most families and first time projector owners, it will be fine. But as a designer and photographer who scrutinizes and edits digital images all day, Im a little let down. I did a little more research and it would appear that this is a LCD projector technology limitation. You can find a few projector models in the sub $800 price range that have slightly improved blacks, but those are DLP. Im sticking with my 2040 because of the brightness, colors, and because Ill never have to deal with the rainbow effect on DLP projectors. Its also great for gaming, with the lowest lag time Ive found in this price range. I have taken a few steps to improve the ambient light in my room, hoping it will deepen the blacks. Draped black fabric above and to the sides of the screen seems to help a little because it cuts down on reflected light back on the screen, but dark scenes still struggle a little and tend to look gray and washed out. Do not be fooled by reviewers who dont know what to look for in an image. For the average Joe or anyone who wants a beautifully sharp and vibrant image, as well as the ability to blow up movies to insane screen sizes... This is a great purchase. Id recommend the 2040 if you arent willing to shell out $200-$300 more for deeper blacks.

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.

Probably 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.

I 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!

I have 3,000 hours on the bulb that came with this, its used heavily. The picture is fantastic on my 9 screen, its a stationary screen with a black felt border. I can see every hair and every pore on faces with a Blu-Ray, Netflix, or any 1080P source. Works great with the PS4, great for games. Easy to use menus, nice remote. Very bright for a theatre projector, brighter than the $4,000 Sony projector I replaced with this one. DO NOT buy a universal mount, dont be cheap, fork over the money for the Epson mount. I bought a cheap $20 universal mount and upon installation immediately purchased the Epson mount (which was $120 I believe?) The Epson mount is solid, quality built, and much easier to use and setup.

I have put ~ 50 hours on this projector in the last 3 weeks. I use it with my Elite Screens grey 135 inch homemade screen. I really like it but there are a few things that could be better. My Pros: Bright - I have total light control in my theater so most of the time I run it in economy mode. Quite - Not too loud in eco mode, see cons for normal mode. 3d - Works great. Price - I picked this up when it was on sale for about $600 shipped from Amazon. Bulb costs- Ive found them for as low $65. I never feel guilty watching it. Cons: Loud - I use normal mode when watching sports and it is very loud. Creative frame interpolation - I wanted to like this feature. Not enough horsepower as it lags/stutters a lot. No lens shift means that my projector hangs down 6 inches from the ceiling. Automatic Iris - I shut it off. It was too noticeable while on. One note about the contrast. I recommend a grey screen for this projector as it needs all the help it can get for contrasts. Once I settled for eco mode and set the processing from fine to fast, I do enjoy using it. I will never go back to a flat panel TV.

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.

With this purchase, one thing I have learnt is to always purchase products from trusted brands. My new Epson Home Cinema LCD projector is an amazing device, perfect for my basement home theater. The picture quality is impeccable, 35000:1 contrast ratio provides a very good rendition of black levels. 2200 lumens is just enough for my needs. Could not have found a better projector at this price. I am extremely happy with this purchase. The Good: Image quality, color rendition, brightness levels are perfect. 35000:1 contrast ratio Decent inbuilt speakers. Quieter than many other projectors I have seen 2 HDMI ports Light and Small Simple IR Remote The Bad: (which is not so bad) No optical audio port slight vibration (which is probably a normal characteristic of projectors, but I have seen Epsons that just do not vibrate - of course they are in a higher price band) All in all I would recommend this product to anyone who is looking to buy an inexpensive projector for their home theater. Good buy! Tip: Wait for a Thanksgiving deal to buy this item, I bought mine for $499