HDTV: 24 and Heroes
We watched quite a few TV shows in HD with the Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 810 HQV, and 24 is one of our favorite shows. Though quite grainy in it's film-style shooting, 24 has a good amount of detail and spends much of its time "in the shadows" where deep areas of black are waiting to be revealed (or not) by your projector. Heroes does similar, but with an even higher quantity of darkly-lit scenes and an abundance of drab, darker clothing. With the Epson, we found that color and black detail was superb - especially for an LCD. Epson must pride itself on breaking the stereotypes of LCD projectors, because with the PowerLite 810HQV, black levels are very good. I would attribute this, to some major extent, to the manageable light output of the lamp and the ease of calibration when setting black ad white levels.

DVD: Spiderman 2
Spiderman 2 can be a very colorful film, and it can also present a tremendous challenge to front projection systems. I almost advocate the use of a dynamic iris for films like this, but have had such good luck with the iris cranked down that I still preferred leaving it in the closed position. Keep in mind, though, that Iris settings are stored per Input Source AND Color mode, so there's no reason you can't turn this feature on and off based on your source material and preference. I found the colors in this movie to be presented in a very lifelike fashion by the Epson projector. Spidey's suit was a true red and blue with realistic skin tones and lots and lots of detail. Explosions came through quite well with no noticeable banding or lack of color depth.

DVD: Shrek 2
Shrek 2 looked amazing on the Pro Cinema 810 HQV. Blacks were deep and had plenty of depth. Skin and clothing detail was exceptional, being 3D rendered with an absence of any noise or film deterioration. With such a perfect transfer as this it was easy to see how a great projector with top notch video processing can really make a difference in your overall viewing experience. This is a reference standard definition disc for a host of reasons.

DVD: Misc
We popped in some additional demo material and watched a myriad of films and clips from The Polar Express to Star Trek: First Contact. All showed incredible color and detail. I looked especially to find some anomaly with respect to noise or deinterlacing, especially in detailed scenes but could not - the HQV processing was simply too good to get tripped up by anything I put to the test.

Conclusion

The Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 810 HQV is about as good as its name is long… and it's quite long. This is a projector with ample features for both consumers and the custom installer. Add to that the excellent quality and you have a product that is a cut above the slew of sub-$2000 models currently dominating the scene. With Epson, you're also getting a projector from one of the few companies that actually manufacture the LCD chips and lamps that make up the optical system. Sure, you can get a less expensive but sporty consumer model, but if you want the flexibility of multiple user settings, extensive calibration features and unmatched video processing - you may want to go with an Epson.

Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 810 HQV LCD Projector

MSRP: $5999

Epson America, Inc.
One Epson Way
Secaucus, NJ 07094
www.epson.com

About Epson
Epson offers an extensive array of award-winning image capture and image output products for the consumer, business, photography, and graphic arts markets. The company is also a leading supplier of value-added point-of-sale (POS) printers and transaction terminals for the retail market. Founded in 1975, Epson America, Inc. is the U.S. affiliate of Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, a global manufacturer and supplier of high-quality technology products that meet customer demands for increased functionality, compactness, systems integration and energy efficiency. Epson America, Inc. is headquartered in Long Beach, Calif.