Epson MovieMate 55 Home Theatre Projector Review

Epson’s MovieMate 55 home theatre projector is as popular as it’s siblings, the MovieMate 50 and MovieMate 72, because of its complete entertainment solution capabilities. It truly embraces the “combo” label by combining a projector, DVD/CD player, twin Dolby 5.1 Digital 8W speakers and USB and other inputs to allow the playing of DVD movies, music CDs, MP3, WMA, photo CDs, JPEG, Video CD and DivX movies to name a few compatible formats. It’s a simple matter to hook up an Apple IPod, Nintendo Wii, Sony PS3 or Microsoft Xbox 360 for further music, video or gaming entertainment options.

Epson MovieMate 55

The Epson MovieMate has a native 480p (854 x 480 pixels) resolution to match the built-in progressive scan standard definition (480p) DVD/CD player (slot loading at front of projector). Through scaling the MovieMate 55 will handle a wide range of video resolutions up to 1080i. While it is not high definition the Epson MovieMate makes up for it with the combination of a large projected image and entertainment flexibility. If twin 8W (equivalent to what you would get with a HDTV) speakers is not enough you can connect to a stereo surround sound system using a digital coaxial (S/PDIF) cable.

The Epson MovieMate 55 is based on the popular 3LCD technology which in this case has three 0.55 inches (14mm) wide optical engine chips. Maximum brightness is 1,200 lumens which is reasonably bright for a home theatre projector and able to cope with some higher ambient light levels. Lamp life is estimated at a reasonable 3000 hours in bright (1200) mode and a lower 2000 hours in the less bright economy mode. The contrast ratio is a reasonable 300:1. The sound level for bright mode is at the higher end of what’s available on the market at 35dB. It’s considerably lower at 29dB for the economy mode which one should try and use to maximize the life of the expensive-to-replace, excellent performance, UHE (Ultra High Efficiency) E-TORL lamp.

Both keystone correction (vertical +/- 15 degrees) and the zoom ratio of 1.35 are achieved digitally providing flexibility in setting up the projector at the expense of some image quality degradation.

When you insert a disk or USB with multimedia files on you will see a list of files and/or folder on the screen. Photo CDs or USB devices which have JPEG photo files will result in the display of photo thumbnails. Epson MovieMate supports MP3, WMA, JPEG and DivX files on USB devices.

The Epson has four user selectable Color Modes; Dynamic, Livingroom, Theater and Game recommended for use in the following situations;

Dynamic – use in rooms bright ambient lighting
Living Room – use in rooms with lower ambient lighting where drapes or blinds are closed.
Theatre – is for use in completely darkened rooms
Game – is for use for playing fast-motion games in a bright room (option only available when connected to external equipment). Epson do not elaborate on any other advantage for gaming apart from high brightness. The most important factor in avoiding gaming lag and getting good performance is to match the native resolution of the projector (480p in this case) to the output video resolution of the gaming console. The extra processing power in scaling is a significant performance drain.

It’s important to note that the Dynamic, Living Room and Game modes are all bright modes and the lamp life will be only an estimated 2000 hours if left on these settings.

A final word on gaming is that parents may appreciate the headphone jack provided by Epson.

The following can be adjusted for differing viewing conditions, video sources and personal taste; brightness, contrast, color saturation, tint, sharpness, color temp and progressive.

The Epson MovieMate 55 comes with a two year limited warranty on the projector and 90 days on the lamp which is fairly standard.

Compatible Video Formats: NTSC, PAL, SECAM, 480i, 576i, 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080i

Compatible PC Formats: VGA, SVGA, XGA, MAC13, MAC16, MAC19

Compatible Media and Format : DVD Video, DVD-R/RW, DVD+ R/RW, DVD-ROM, DVD Audio, CD-R/RW, CD-ROM, DVD-VR (without CPRM) Video CD, Super Video CD, Audio CD, MP3 (CD/DVD), WMA (CD/DVD), JPEG, DivXÂ® (CD/DVD), DivX Ultra (CD/DVD), Dual Disk

In the Box