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Product Description
EPSON POWERLITE HOME CINEMA 8500 UB… More >>
Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8500 UB LCD Projector
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This is my first projector. I tend to be extremely picky about my image and sound quality. I was nervous and somewhat skeptacle going from my 62″ DLP TV to a projector. I researched different projectors for weeks. Every time I looked up a review for one projector it would mention a different one for comparison. I would then have to research that one. I ended up creating a spreadsheet listing prices, pro’s, con’s and more finer details. I ended up settling for the 8500UB since many sites rave about it.
I wish I could have given 4.5 stars on this review. I wouldn’t call it a perfect 5 nor would I call it a 4. I am overall very pleased with the projector and it is well worth $2500. Shop around and you’ll save a lot. I ordered mine at [...]
I have about 30 hours on it. I still fiddle with the color calibration settings. [...] has a decent starting point for calibration.
Since it is LCD you have much wider flexability where it can be mounted. The problem with the offsets is image distortion especially side to side. Plan to mount it in the center with VERY little side offsets. See note 2 below. Side offset makes the image twist appear out of level. Over the width of a large screen being off-level slightly is very noticeable.
The two very minor things I would mark it down for:
1. Small dark text on a light background can get slightly washed out. It is still legible, just not crisp.
2. I use the projector as my main TV. Not everything is broadcast in HD widescreen. I have it ceiling mounted with a standard 8′ ceiling with 110″ 16:9 grey screen. Full screen 4:3 images have a very slight trapezoid effect. Since the projector is closer to the top of the screen light has to travel further to get to the bottom. It is slightly wider at the bottom. Again, I am very picky!!! A friend viewing would probably not notice.
Screen Tip: Make sure the screen has a velvet frame because the black velvet absorbs light. Since the trapezoid effect is noticeable with full screen images if you overshoot widescreen images just a hair they will appear square and you don’t notice trapezoid effects at all.
Washout: If you have a lot of ambient light in the room you will definitely have washout. I highly recommend blackout curtains for sunlight.
Noise: The projector is very quiet. I have it mounted on my ceiling about two feet behind my couch. Occasionally, I can hear the Iris shift but I have to be listening for it. Quiet scenes in a movie are no problem.
Color is fantastic. Nice deep dark blacks and shadow effects. HD signals and Blu-Ray discs are awesome. With a little planning setup is a breeze.
Rating: 5 / 5
The projector really earns it’s UB moniker with it’s outstanding ultrablack performance. The 8500UB has extremely low light leak in the blacks while still being able to capture the most subtle details in stark scenes scenes.
I have watched two movies thus far on this projector. First was the colorful Disney flick “UP”, next was a dark horror movie called Shiver. I projected them against a plain semi-gloss white wall at midnight, where there was a slight cast of window frames , due to surrounding businesses lights (I live in a factory conversion). The image casted was 15′ (diagonal, or 180″). The bottom of the image was about 4′ from the floor.
Reflections on viewing UP (HD 1080p on Blu-ray):
- Very bright and consistent from corner to corner.
- The details were were crisp and not over or under-saturated.
- Nice solid colors (viewed from about 10 ‘ away, which is closer than I would like but I was limited to how far back I could sit due to the trajectory of the projected image.
-With frame interpolation set to low, animation was very smooth, but not overdone. There were no noticeable impact on sound sync with it enabled. With it off, animation reverted to the standard film rate at 24 FPS. I prefered having it on.
-No noticeable artifacts that I saw during film.
Reflections on viewing Shiver (XBOX360 1GB download, Standard Definition):
-Overall movie was very dark, and the dark scenes were impacted by ambient light from outside.
-Due to source, the image was not sharp and crisp, but watchable.
Overall thoughts on my test drive:
While putting up my blackout cloths would certainly yield a brighter image, I really didn’t want to bother with the job of putting up and taking down blackout cloth on two 10 foot high windows. Even with the ambient light from outside, the image was plenty bright and not affected at all (at least for UP). It’s hard to describe in text how much ambient light there was in the room, but if I were to describe it from 1 to 10 with 1 being near darkness (use of blackout cloth) and 10 being fully bright it would be a 3. I have very big windows, and ALL of my walls are white, so there was quite a bit of reflection during bright scenes. The point is there was no problems projecting 15′ image in very low light settings. On the other hand, for movies staged in dark settings, as with any projector, the darker the better. There’s simply no getting around it. On the point of fan noise, up close it’s very quiet. From a few feet away, it wasn’t noticeable. BTW, this is a right-out-of-the-box test drive. I only made basics setup adjustments, no tweaking colors, temperature, etc.
Other observations:
- The projector has image shift knobs that have plenty of range. I was able to move the image 4 or 5 feet (didn’t measure) in each direction from center. The aspect ratio was preserved at all times. There are no keystone settings.
-Two knobs for the bottom front feet. I didn’t need to adjust them.
-Two HDMI ports. One used for my Blu-ray player.
-One set of Component Video Inputs, used for my XBOX 360.
-The remote is excellent. Smooth flat white, large, backlit, well-designed remote. It’s great that the key features have dedicated buttons.
-Optics are very large!
-Projector feels twice as heavy as my InFocus projector (X1).
-When turning on the lamp takes about half a minute to a minute to come to full brightness. However, the system shuts down very quickly. Fan did not run after shutting down.
-Air blown out of fan is typically hot.
-On/Off rocker switch on the back, and digital switch on the top.
Overall impression:
EXCELLENT! There are cheaper 1080p projectors, but they don’t have the same level of quality and featureset. If this projector is within your budget, you will not be disappointed. You will really appreciate the:
- Extremely high contrast ratio (200,000:1)
- Ultra-black darks (not just marketing)
- Truly usable frame interpolation (Not overdone. Adjustable too!)
- Excellent throw distance (180″ cast from about 17′)
- Superb out-of-box performance
For complete specs, here is a link to Epson’s website:
[...]
Rating: 5 / 5
We received our 8500 projector yesterday and it is fantastic. The best I have ever owned/demo’d. Right out of the box, the colors are beautiful, the blacks are intensly black, and its brightness is excellent and more than enough for both the 137″ and 106″ screens we tried it out on.
I have owned several projectors for quite a few years now (the infocus X1 and most recently the Optoma H79). Each impressed me in its time, but there is really no comparing either of these two to the Epson. I can’t see how anyone could be disappointed in this purchase. It feels like it should be thousands of dollars more for the performance.
Last night, we watched Avatar, and to us, it was better looking than when we saw it in the theater (probably owing to the 3D presentation dimming the colors and blurring the action somewhat).
I’ll rate this thing a solid 10. Could not be more happy with it.
Rating: 5 / 5
I read reviews on projectors for two years before I purchased the 8500. I was all set to buy the previous years model and decided to wait. I sold Audio/Video for 5 years and have been planning my theater room for ever. The projector was a very important piece to me and I was very nervous. You can’t seem to find anywhere that carries more than 2 or 3 projectors in a demo enviroment, and even when you do they are all in different rooms on different size screens playing different material. I basically bought this projector sight unseen based on the reviews from many of the websites. I have to say its actually better than the reviews say. I’m projecting on a 110″ Dalite white screen. (gain 1.0)in a room with full light control. The projector has tons of light output and the clarity is amazing. You actually really start to notice which shows are fillmed very tightly focused (The Apprentice/Surviror) and shows that are filled a little softer (Burn Notice).
I also had the opportunity to try out the custoemr service. I had a small problem and as stated in reviews I called Epson told them the problem, they walked me through a couple of solutions they agreed something was wrong and shipped me a new one 2 day air. Did I mention I spoke to a live person each time I had to call with less than a 2 minue wait.
Regaring the trapazoid effect the other review mentioned. I had the same problem I realized on a ceiling mounted sytem you actually need the projector parallel to the ceiling, instead of aiming the projector at the middle of the screen. Use a level and make it level with the floor and ceiling and then use the lens adjustments to move the image around. It removes almost the entire effect. Final Comment. Buy this project you will not be disappointed.
Rating: 5 / 5
Epson now seems to have fixed the firmware bug that plagued this machine when I first purchased it, so the only real problem with the device has been fixed (a red-fringing that would occasionally show up at random in the picture). This machine is BIG, but its also very quiet which is in part a function of the size of the case. Build quality is on the flimsy side (the lens horizontal and vertical offset for instance) but these issues won’t affect you once it’s set up and in place during your normal viewing.
Loaded with features and indeed with very good black level, the machine is killer bang-for-the-buck, and Epson’s hot-swap exchange policy cannot be valued highly enough. The main inherent shortcoming of the projector for me was “screen door effect”. Don’t be fooled by folks who say you can’t see it on these 1080p LCD machines… you can. The difference is that rather than a clearly defined “grid” of squares, the SDE looks more like a haze or slight graininess to bright areas of the picture. It’s not terribly distracting if you’re used to Plasma and other displays that may already impart a signature of grain/screen door, but if you’re used to silky-smooth LCOS or SXRD images, you won’t be able to tolerate it here. I didn’t see the Panny 4000, but folks who were bothered by the SDE of the Epson said that the Panny solved their problem. Of course, the featureset of the two projectors is quite different, and if black level is your primary goal, the Epson may be your better choice.
In this realm of $2000-$2500 1080p projectors, it’s astonishing how far we’ve come. Don’t sweat your decision too hard, because you’ll probably be buying a new LED and/or 3D projector in just a few years for the same price, and retiring whatever machine you buy today to the kid’s room for gaming.
Rating: 4 / 5