Epson Pro Cinema 810 HQV Menu System

The Epson Pro Cinema 810 menu system is, for the most part, as ergonomic and functional as its IR system. You simply click to enter an area and then either cursor to "Return" to back out, or click the left arrow. It is very intuitive that "even a caveman could do it." The breakdown of the various menu sections was also easy to follow, with few exceptions. The HQV TX3 menu system was a bit more simplistic, offering enough configurability to be helpful, but never robust enough to make you feel like it wasn't just some "magic box" that made everything look better (which it did).

The Pro Cinema Picture menu was home base for all basic calibrations. Somewhat perplexingly, Brightness and Contrast controls were located under "Input Adjustment" one level down. Epson also separates their controls into Brightness/Contrast and White Level/Black Level - apparently wanting to use the former for preferential adjustments and the latter for more refined calibration settings. I just thought it was completely redundant, especially with Memory settings for various Day and Night uses. Other controls equal Auto Iris (which I kept 'Off' for optimal black level during Cinema modes), Sharpness, Color Mode (which is more like other projectors' "Picture" modes, and the Color Adjustment which ultimately allowed for Color Temp, Skin Tone (avoid), Gamma and RGB Gain and Cut controls.

Epson Image Menu
The Image menu seemed to be very limited until you entered the Advanced section where it opened up the user to adjustment of the Setup Level (black level - 0%), Epson Super White mode (set to 'On'), and DVI Video Level. You can, as with all Epson menus, rest this section to its defaults without affecting all other menu systems. This is a nice feature and serves as a great way to get back to factory settings in one area of the menu which may have gotten a bit off-kilter.

Epson Settings Menu
The Settings menu is a good place to start if you're ceiling mounting the unit. This is where you will select the method of projection so the image can be inverted if needed for use with a ceiling mounting position. As always, we recommend never using Keystone in home theater projectors. You can also display your own "logo" by doing a screen capture of an image (or portion thereof and saving it to the projector. Other niceties are located in this menu as well and most features are related to general menu and projector settings.

Epson Memory Menu
The Memory menu is interesting to note because of the array of settings available to the user. This is a marked improvement over the generic bank of settings in Epson's older models. You now have the option of storing Color and Contrast data (among other things) to the following locations: DayR, NightR, DayDVD, NightDVD, DayVCR, NightVCR, DayX, NightX, and Custom. The concept is that each setting can be configured for use with various components in various situations. Recalling these settings can be the difference between a great picture and one that completely changes once your input signal/source switches.

HQV TX3 Input Menu
Moving on to the TX3 processor, we find the first menu rather sparse - allowing control over video source and digital audio settings (including delay).

HQV TX3 Picture Menu
Ah, this would be the robust menu of the bunch, getting users into the functions which control Contrast, Brightness, Detail Enhancement, Gamma (in and out), Color Temperature, Saturation and Hue. Aspect Ratio settings are also here -0 very important If you are using an Anamorphic lens to stretch the picture to completely fill a 2.35:1 screen. You can also select Flexview which is a nonlinear adjustment for stretching 4:3 images to fit a 16:9 screen. Some computer-centric settings and even an ISF Day/Night mode are present here as well.

HQV TX3 Setup Menu & Info Screen
The Setup menu is a functional menu which controls test patterns, menu position, 12V DC triggers and the global factory reset. The Information menu shows the various modes and scanning frequencies along with firmware versions and IP information.

HQV TX3 Advanced Menu
As indicated by the HQV logo on this menu, the Advanced menu is where you can access the HQV system and turn it on and off. You can also choose the Film Mode (though Auto should do just fine with most material) and engage the Picture modes labeled under the BCE moniker (see above). The two main Noise Reduction circuits seemed to work very well together and I would recommend leaving them on but at low settings.

You can also do "pincushion-style" keystoning where each corner of the screen can be adjusted for horizontal and vertical positioning. While I don't recommend using keystoning (in home theater use) this is one of the more robust and easy-to-use systems for it I have ever seen.

HQV ISF Day/Night Dealer Calibration Software

By connecting to the TX3 via serial (RS-232), USB or Ethernet, you can install software that comes with the system and access picture controls directly - making adjustments to the main parameters very easy and, more importantly, completely storable