UPDATE: Effective 07/01/2010 the price for the Epson Pro Cinema 9500 UB Projector has dropped by $400 from $3699.99 to $3299.99
Let me start by saying that this review was written after seeing some of the best projectors on the market.
Including:
The Digital Projection M-Vision Cine LED Projector
All I can say about the Digital Projection M-Vision Cine LED Projector is: VERY DISAPPOINTING!
With a street price of $15,000 you would expect the image to be among the best you've seen? It's not, the image is very bland, bland colors, bland details, not bright and vibrant? With competitors out there like the Epson Pro Cinema 9500 UB Projector at around $3600 you would have to be CRAZY to spend over 4 times the money for an inferior product.
The JVC DLA-HD950 Projector
What I have to say about the JVC DLA-HD950 Projector is: Very Accurate, with no WOW!
With a street price of $8,000 you would expect the image to be among the best you've seen? Well, if your looking for an accurate image in every aspect, it is? But, it has no room to be tweaked to do more. I myself like an image that is "a little larger than life", a little brighter, a little crisper. Why would I entertain myself with something that looks like what I see everyday? Now I wouldn't watch the news ULTRA bright and crisp, but most movies and animation, Yeah! If I want to watch the news, I can use a toned down preset on the Epson, but, I don't think I'd watch the news in a theater room on a 120" screen NE-WAY! With competitors out there like the Epson Pro Cinema 9500 UB Projector at around $3600 you have ask yourself, do I want to spend over twice the price for a product that doesn't WOW me?
The Sony BRAVIA VPL-VW85 Projector
What to say about the Sony BRAVIA VPL-VW85 Projector: WOW! And, BUYER BEWARE!!
With a street price of $8,000 you would expect the image to be among the best you've seen? So, it is? It looks every bit as good as the Epson Pro Cinema 9500 UB. But, here's the problem Sony has had some major issues with reliability. I personally own 2 very expensive Sony HDTVs and they have both have had major issues multiple times and almost every customer I've spoke with that owns any Sony video products with the exception of their camcorders has too. (but that's a different blog post for another day).With competitors out there like the Epson Pro Cinema 9500 UB Projector at around $3600 you have ask yourself, do I want to spend over twice the price for a product that will most likely let me down?
So, on to The Epson Pro Cinema 9500 UB Projector
I can't say enough about the Epson Pro Cinema 9500 UB: WOW! Awesome! Excellent!
With a street price of $3,600 you would expect the image to be among the best you've seen? So, it is. And, on top of being one of the best looking, best preforming, most versatile projectors on the market! You get not only a 4000 hour lamp life (compared to most others with 2000-3000 hours) you also get an extra 4000 hour replacement lamp for a total of 8000 hours of lamp life! Plus a 3 year warranty, a free ceiling mount (although we recommend one more versatile and esthetically pleasing), ISF and THX certification, an HQV processor, an Anamorphic Widescreen Mode and a nice cable cover. With the Epson Pro Cinema 9500 UB Projector at around $3600 you have ask yourself, do I want anything else?
My Simple Review:
As a professional Home Theater installer / designer and have used hundreds of projectors over the years. I'll keep this short and sweet and not get into tech specs. The day I have been waiting for has Finally arrived. This projector is incredible!! The picture from the Epson Pro Cinema 9500 UB looks as close to a 120hz LCD TV as I have ever seen in a projector. The first media we watched on this unit was Monsters vs. Aliens on blu-ray and it stopped me in my tracks, once we had it calibrated. It is so realistic, you feel like you can reach into the screen and pull things out. The zoom and lens shift are great features, they make this projector fit in just about any application you can imagine. The brightness is great, we used a high quality 120" screen and with controlled lighting was brighter than most other 1080p units I've used. Overall I give this projector a score of 20 on a scale of 1 to 10 for picture quality and score of 10 on every thing else. I'm using this unit in my personal theater. If it fits into the budget for your room, you'll see and appreciate why is cost a little more than some of the other 1080p home theater projectors you'll see and a hole lot less than some you wish you didn't.
Only a few small issues, all of which are easily remedied if you know what to look for or do. And these will be for the installer to deal with not the end user.
First of all, the unit we installed did NOT come out of the box with the "120hz refresh rate" turned on (I'm not sure if this is true for all models) You have to go into the menu and set the "frame interpolation" to "normal" from the factory default of "OFF". This is when the projector comes alive. Without this setting being correct the image looks like any other Mid to High-End 1080p Home Theater projector you have seen with it on it knocks you out of your seat.
Also, Epson has added an additional feature to the power down command. As always with a projector you have to press the power button twice to "shut down" the projector. Now when the Notice screen comes up after the first power off button press you will notice it states the usual "press power again to shut down" and they have added "or press any other key to cancel". tis causes a problem when using an activity based remote like a harmony ect. When the remote sends out the first power toggle command the notice screen comes up, but, when the remote sends out a command to power off another component the projector sees the IR and even thought it is not a code for the projector it interprets it as another button being pressed, so the notice screen goes away before the second command is sent out. This can be fixed by increasing the delay in the remote software for all the other components so it handles the projector first. Remotes that don't give you control over delay speeds will most likely not work.
But, don't just take my word for it:
An actual review written by one of our customer's.
WOW!!!
Apr 25, 2010
| Just had the Epson Pro 9500UB installed by Real Home Theaters - and it was exactly as they promised. Outstanding picture, clarity and brightness. Infinitely better than our 5 year old Runco and substantially better than a much more expensive, $9000 high end projector we just looked at. Just watched Avitar on Bluray and it was breathtaking. And these guys are great to work with. If you are looking to install a new home theater or upgrade your older one, these are the guys for you. |
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For tech spec and more info visit these links:
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=63085347
