1080p - Viva La Difference!

The difference between the D5 720p panels and the D6 1080p panels is quite impressive. Seating distances can be decreased and relative screen size can be increased. Take a look at some of these comparison shots of the pixel size and fill factor:

   
Epson Pro Cinema 810 HQV (left partitions); Epson Pro Cinema 1080 (right partitions)

There is no screen door effect with the Pro Cinema 1080 - unless you plan on watching a 100-inch screen from 3 feet away. The left image shows a practical difference of watching a standard DVD and observing it from 6 feet away.

Viewing Evaluation – HDTV and Movies

We watched a bunch of demo clips on the Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 1080, including 1080i HDTV and standard DVD source material. Unfortunately, our HD DVD player didn't arrive in time for us to include those images in this review.

DVD: Contact: Special Edition
Contact is a good looking DVD with plenty of detail (not to mention a killer soundtrack!) and almost no grain to be seen. We focused on edge detail and scenes that would show off the finer aspects of what watching a scene on a 1080p projector might look like with a legacy DVD. Edges were crisp and even shadow detail was outstanding - though not a standout feature of this movie.

DVD: The Incredibles
Pixar is known for their incredible (pardon the pun) storytelling ability and excellent animation style. In this case, The Incredibles is no exception - in fact it is one of the best Pixar movies to date. My guess is they are simply getting better and better with each movie, but the bottom line is that color saturation and accuracy was excellent. Since this was a purely digital master, there was absolutely no grain or film damage which often degrades other DVD transfers (the ones that aren't pristinely done) and interferes with the quality of darker scenes. If you're going to show off a high-resolution display, this would be a good movie to pop into your player.

DVD: Monsters, Inc.

I couldn't help it - I was in an animation mood and wanted to get more of that high resolution, 3D picture that had looked so good on this display. The Epson Pro Cinema 1080 ca do no wrong with Pixar or similar picture and Monsters, Inc showed off detail to an incredible level. Fine hair on Sulley and The Abominable Snowman as well as the ability to handle both bright scenes (North Pole) and dark scenes (Randall Bogg's lab) made this one of my favorite projectors of the past year. And the COLOR - wow.

DVD: I, Robot

This movie is simply stunning, and has black levels that will tell you right away if you have your system set up correctly. The transfer is clean and free from "schmutz" that gets into some poorly transferred titles. Basically, if you want a reference DVD for black levels and checking moiré or detail - I, Robot should be in your collection.

HDTV: 24

Even though this is a darker "grainier" show than most (and broadcast in 720p) I wanted to see how the Epson would react to it. Let's face it - you're going to watch shows that aren't pristine and aren't tailored perfectly for your projector's native resolution. Plus, the film look of 24 makes it a good match for most Blu-ray Disc titles I've seen demoed on the show floor of various trade shows this year (that is, dirty and grainy). There were no aliasing artifacts and the picture looked pretty good - for what we expect from the HD broadcast of this show.

Conclusion

Epson makes very capable projectors. They pay attention to the optical system and indeed make the 3LCD panels that are utilized in most other LCD projectors on the market. They know how to do projectors. These new "D6" 1080p panels are no different and are a serious incremental step forward in technology. I have not seen a better LCD projector to-date and believe that Epson may have just set itself up to capture a serious chunk of the market given a retail price under $5000. I can't recommend this projector enough - it has no screen door effect, comes with some default settings that measure well and has excellent detail and black levels when used in the proper modes in a light-controlled room. This is going to be a hot projector for 2007.

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