Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8700UB HD Projector

July 6, 2011 by

The Epson Powerlite Home Cinema 8700UB is the new introduction by Epson into the home projector market, with improved features and best yet a lower price than its predecessor. So lets see if this new projector is up to scratch as the Epson Home Cinema range of projectors has built a solid reputation for good quality.

Design
The projector is outwardly similar to the Epson Power Lite Home Cinema 8100 ,physical looks aside the Epson 8700 UB is a whole different kettle of fish in terms of performance in comparison to the low end Epson Powerlite range of projectors. Design wise the unit is quite big and heavy, sporting dimensions of 5.4 by 17.7 by 15.5 inches (HWD) and weighing in at more than 7 kg’s. In terms of connectivity, all the connectors are located on the back panel of the unit, there are two HDMI ports, three RCA phono plugs for component video, a VGA port for a computer connection, an RCA-phono plug for composite video, and one S-Video port. There is also a 12v adjuster port which can be used to automatically increase or decrease the screen height. The purpose of the included RS-232 port is to allow control over the projector functions via a desktop or laptop computer. We didn’t mention audio connectors, this is because the projector comes without an audio system. The 8700UB comes in pearl white with black and graphite accents which moves away from the standard black color of most projectors.

Features
There are a number of new improvements and features on the Epson Home Cinema 8700 UB one of the improvements is a really bright "brightest" mode which puts most of the competition to shame The Epson Home Cinema 8700UB also boasts excellent placement flexibility and can be mounted in a variety of manners including back shelf mounting There is also CFI otherwise known as creative frame interpolation which works to smooth fast motion that translates to less pixilation during fast action sequences. The Epson 8700 UB is also one of the few projectors in the sub $2300 price bracket on the market that uses 3 LCD technology. The projector also has both manual and zoom focus for the lens and features a long life lamp with brightness levels of 1600 lumens and a reported lamp life of more than 4000 hours under any setting. The 4000 hours lamp life is more than double that of most competitors.

Also in terms of available settings there is the new Epson Super Resolution which is a dynamic feature with 3 settings for varying degrees of image sharpening although it doesn’t work all that well for some shows. The Epson 8700UB continues to stick with the Fujinon 2.1:1 zoom lens that is proven to have range than any competitor.

Setting up the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8700UB HD Projector
Any user planning to buy the Epson Powerlite Home Cinema 8700 UB has to be forewarned to also order all the necessary cables at the same time unless you already have some lying around somewhere which is an unlikely scenario. This is because Epson has seen fit to only include a power cable and a remote control with this projector, everything else is optional. That said with all the cables ready, setting up the Epson 8700 UB is a typical affair. Simply place the projector main unit, make sure the cables are properly connected, focus the projector lens to the screen, and then finely adjust the lens settings. The four control toggles are set to adjust the settings at a rate well suited to finely tune the unit. The ease of use is due in part to the nice resistance of the controls which make them more responsive to touch.

Video Quality
In reality although the Epson 8700UB, in terms of video quality has not really drastically improved, is still an improvement over its predecessor. This improvement is in no small part due to the subtle changes to Epson’s THX mode. With the previous model 8500UB, the THX mode was mostly fixed but the 8700 UB allows greater freedom to adjust settings. The Epson UB range has always produced excellent black level pictures which have improved with each successive model. The Home Cinema 8700UB has 200,000:1 contrast ratio which is the same as the previous 8500UB but the new dynamic iris puts the contrast levels at a higher quality than the 85000UB regardless of the physical contrast ratio, so there’s no need to fret about the contrast specification. The native resolution of this projector is: 1080p or (1920×1080)p.

Pros and Cons
In terms of pros the Epson Home Cinema has a number of things going for it including a super bright lamp that outlives most regular projector lamps, vibrant colors and blacks on projected images, a vertical and horizontal shift lens, the inclusion of double HDMI connectors and 3LCD technology at low cost price. The projector does have some drawbacks or cons, including large size and heavy weight, the lack of support for 3D, the lack of bundled cables and the lack of any built in audio system.

Conclusion
The Epson Home CINEMA 8700UB delivers great pictures in all lighting situations and is the best value for money if you are shopping for an excellent 2D projector which has a super long lamp life. However if you need 3D support or don’t already have an audio system then it’s better lo look at other projector systems. All in all the Epson Home Cinema 8700UB is another one in a line of excellent Epson Home Cinema projectors.