Epson Home Cinema 3200 4K PRO-UHD 3-Chip Projector with HDR
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mostau
> 3 dayI purchased an Epson 3700 in 2016 and I have been very happy with it. I have a 150 wall screen in my great room with plenty of ambient light have had no issues. I use it for sports, news, movies, and 3d (the surprise impressive feature, I now own 100+ 3d movies). Ive been reluctant to make the jump to 4K because lets face it... 1. Its a lot of work to update all of your components to 4K. 2. True 4K projectors are really expensive. 3. Most true 4K projectors are not yet bright enough for my ambient light filled great room. 4. Most material is 720P or 1080i, and that would need to be upscaled to 4K, so depending on how good a job the upscaler does I may or may not get good results for the majority of my material. 5. I have a lot of 3d now and that is all 1080P, so same issue as #4 (and I need to make sure I have 3d support in any new projector). When I saw Epsons new entry in the market I was intrigued. It is basically identical to my 3700 (same size, lens, bulb, etc.) and supports all the previous features (3d, etc.) and they added the 4K/HDR support using pixel shifting (i.e. converting each 4K pixel into two 2K frames played rapidly and shifted) rather than using a native 4K panel. In my mind this is an excellent compromise that solves a lot of the above issues for me. The price is about the same as the previous model, it is still a native 1080p projector (so no upscaling issues for most material or for 3d), and it is just as bright as before. The real question is how good is 4K using pixel shifting? Most side by side reviews conclude human beings really cant tell the difference. During these covid times Ive been working from home so I decided that this and other home upgrades were in order. Last month I upgraded the AV Receiver and Blu-Ray Player. This week I ran a new 8K HDMI cable through the ceiling, installed a new mount, and replaced the 3700 with the 3800. So if you own a 3700 can 4K alone justify the upgrade? Well in my case I have a 150 screen and I only sit 10-15 away so 4K should make a noticeable difference in my viewing experience. To test I used both Amazon Prime 4K material and UHD Blu-Ray material. On Amazon Prime search for 4K demo for a list of excellent material. I used the IMAX movie The Living Sea, which Amazon has in 4K UHD/HDR. I used the Blu-Ray players 4K Amazon Prime app to freeze test frames and then switched sources to my 1080P FireTV stick freezing the same frames. The best test frame was one of a sunrise just coming over the horizon lighting the ocean below, clouds above, and silhouetting a mountain range. The comparison of the 2 was night and day. the 4K had fine detail in the mountain range, ocean and clouds not present in the 1080p version, and the HDR bought out highlights in the clouds and water that were completely washed out in the non HDR 1080p version. I got similar excellent results with The Last Reef using both Blu-Ray an UHD HDR material. So the answer for me is YES! It looks like 4K to me and on a large screen you really can tell the difference. The pictures I included show how much light I have in the room during the day, and then 2 pictures of a really zoomed in section of a freeze frame the movie I referenced above The Living Sea. It is the sun rising above the ocean. One of the pictures is 1080P and the other is 4K. Its pretty easy to tell which is which. If you look closely you can see the pixel structure in the 1080P picture, but it is barely noticeable in the 4K picture. Update: As some have commented on inability to focus across the entire screen. I had to work on the projector position a bit as I had a similar experience, but after I pointed the projector slightly up (still no keystoning), and used lens shift to bring the image down I was able to get a completely uniform focus at all sections of the screen. I added a picture of the Panel Alignment pattern to show it is sharp on all locations of the screen (the missing lines are due to my black velvet screen masking). Maybe I got lucky with mine but Ive had no issues with focus or blurring after adjusting. Very happy with my purchase of the 3800!
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Maria
> 3 dayWell...its very easy to use it and my husband is completely satisfied with the quality
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NicbachDVM
> 3 dayIve used a number of projectors over the years, getting a new one every 2-3 years as the upgrades come out. This is my first 4k projector, but keep in mind this is not true 4k but uses pixel shifting to create a more detailed image. The true 4k projectors start upwards of $5k and get closer to $10k when you factor in HDR, etc. This bridges the gap between 1080p and 4k projectors, and is a great option for multipurpose rooms (e.g. room with windows, family room, etc). I am using this projector in my finished third floor with windows. I have a 50 HDTV on the wall for the kids, and installed a recessed 120 Elite tab tensioned screen with full tower 5.2.2 Atmos speaker setup for everything else (movies). I bought the Epson ceiling mount, which fits perfectly and is very solid. This PJ is big and heavy, so do NOT cheap out on the mount! Its got lens shift and keystone adjustments, so if you are not dead on center or your screen isnt 100% straight, dont worry. The throw distance can be found on projector central, which has a great calculator when you are trying to figure out what size screen you can get and where to mount the projector. I ran a Ruipro 4k HDMI 2.2 cable to ensure I was getting all features available (not all HDMI cables will transmit 4k, Dolby Atmos, HDR, etc). The picture is very bright, and it has 4 setting profiles to select from. To be honest, all the images looked washed out to me, and the blacks are not remotely close to black - more dark gray. I adjusted the picture quite a bit, added a lot of color and increased contrast. Its much better, but still has terrible blacks and poor contrast. I would honestly recommend the 3800 over this due to the increase in contrast if you are very, very serious about image quality. The PJ is relatively quiet except on high settings, where it gets quite loud. Due to the fact that its mounted directly above my head, there is no way I will ever put it on that setting. Mine is on medium, which is still louder than Id like but tolerable. It comes on quickly and shuts down quickly, which is nice (my BenQ took forever). This is my first LCD PJ, as Ive always had BenQ DLP PJs. BenQ was much better with color and black levels, but this LCD is far brighter and has no rainbow effect. Epson bulbs are much cheaper to replace than BenQ DLP. Pros/cons to each. This PJ is good for the money, and a great option for a bright room. HDR looks good, but keep in mind this will never look as good as a 4k HDR TV. Its simply impossible to get the colors and contrast of a TV set, though you can obviously get a much bigger image with the PJ. My family loves watching movies, and watching them in full Dolby Atmos surround is incredible. This is a good, affordable option in the projector world. Hopefully within the next few years, true 4K projectors become affordable.
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Melissa R. Deneault
> 3 dayFamily loves this projector. We are enjoying the warm evenings with movie nights almost daily. It plays action shows without a hitch and volume/fan is fine. No need to get extra speakers I highly recommend this item.
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Jim Catman
Greater than one weekA nice quality projector for the price. Having 2 HDMI, Video-out, a nice contrast ratio, perfect lumen to view just about anywhere makes viewing sports & movies on a large screen awesome!! Also, the projector is easy to use.
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Sibelius
> 3 dayThe unit weighs just over 15 pounds which isnt too bad and makes it portably convenient to switch back and forth between indoor and outdoor use. After approx 100 hours of use Im continually impressed with the performance and image quality of the unit. Highlights include color accuracy which is good to go right out of the box (hardly found any reason to tweak further with sources ranging from 4K blurays, 4k streaming services, PS4 & Xbox gaming) and the generously wide range of its vertical and horizontal lens shifting that provides ample placement options even in some tricky setup environments. Brightness is top notch as well with good display quality even in normal ambient lit rooms. HDR performance is amazing and at times makes us squint at its sheer brightness. The built in stereo (2x 10 watt speakers) sound really good to the point where we sometimes forego setup to external sounds sources and also appreciate the full sized, backlit remote control. We normally project this at 100 from a throw around 10. If youre still rocking a 1080p and below projector this one is definitely worth an upgrade.
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Marjorie McGowen
> 3 dayReceived this on 3/18/21. This is a replacement for an older Epson projector. The difference in quality, clarity, brightness, and overall viewing pleasure is significant. The picture is so crisp and clear, I can see eye brow hairs on the butler in Downton Abby! So glad we purchased this product. We would highly recommend this. The whites are bright and I may adjust them down but would much rather brightness than dark and dull. My only regret is that we didnt upgrade sooner. I have a theater room and this projector is approximately 12-13 feet away from an 8x5 screen.
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Andrew Doherty
> 3 day4K picture is great
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Matthieu Hausig
> 3 dayThis projector offers 4K HDR and 3D. It is not native 4K but instead uses a 1080p array and some clever technology to achieve 4K. Nonetheless, the result looks very accurate and detailed. For the price, this is a great way to achieve near native 4K resolution. I didnt have any technical issues in use and the remote was straightforward to use. Likewise, I didnt notice any image artifacts in use. With HDR, the picture is bright but a decent screen is needed if there is ambient light. It is rather large and heavy compared to 1080p projectors so that could be an issue for some.
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Mike Ghizzoni
> 3 dayEasy setup, quiet, beautiful picture quality with PS4 Update: 1 month in and it has a pixel in the middle of the display that is stuck on red. Lowering the rating due to this quality issue. I never had this issue with my old BenQ projector.