Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8100 Full HD 1080p Home Theatre Projector Review

The Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8100 is a very price competitive offering from Epson which deilvers all the lifelike detail of 1080p Full HD. This 3LCD home theater projector which has three 0.74-inch Epson D7 microdisplay panel. The 1,800 lumens of brightness means that it can cope with some ambient light and doesn’t require a darkened home theater to produce a suitably bright image. An onboard Dynamic Auto Iris system helps deliver an excellent dynamic contrast ratio of 36,000:1. It’s fast enough to control light (based on the gamma and black/white levels of content) on a frame-by-frame basis at up to 60 times per second and deliver good black levels for detail in darker scenes.

Optoma 8100 3LCD Home Theater Projector

For 24fps source (movie) video the Epson 8100 doubles the playback frame rate to 48 fps just as in the cinema. There is an excellent range of precalibrated modes for the best picture for a variety of video content and projection situations. Working in the background is Epson’s AccuCinema color management for an optimal color range and accurate grayscale tracking

Projector Set-up

Epson’s 8100 provides the advantage of flexibility in setup. It has a wide 2.1x zoom lens (not mortorized) range which provides excellent flexibility in distance from the screen the projector needs to be placed for a certain size projected image. Epson have been included the superior lens shift (+/- 96% vertical, +/- 47% horizontal) for squaring up any image keystoning in the horizontal or vertical planes. Lens shift is not susceptible to adding video artifacts as is digital keystone correction. While the flexibility is fantastic for a temporary setup it should be a priority with a permanent setup to use as little of these adjustment options as possible as they all have a detrimental affect on the brightness of the projected image.

The estimated life for the Epson 8100 200W UHE E-TORL lamp is 4000 hours (normal or ECO mode) which compares well with other home cinema projectors. To achieve the maximum lamp life it’s important to clean the air filter needs regularly – as detailed in our lamp care technical guide. When the lamp does require replacement it can be removed without dismounting the projector.
A selling point for the Epson 8100 is the impressively low noise level which is only 22dB in ECO mode (28dB in bright mode) and promises not to disturb the quietest of dialogues.

The remote is simple to use, well featured and backlit for use in a darkened home theater.
If you are a sports fan you will get some motion blurring during sports broadcasts. To get frame interpolation you would require moving to a much higher price range of projectors or a large screen HDTV.

The overall warranty is two 2 years which is double the more common one year while the lamp warranty is the common 90 days.

Epson 8100 Connections

2x HDMI (1.3a)
1x composite,
1x S-video
1x component
1x PC input – VGA-type RGB input (D-sub 15)
1x 12VDC Trigger
1x RS-232C

Overall, the Epson Home Cinema 8100 is a stand out projector in its price range delivering all the richness of Full HD. Brightness, contrast ratio and black levels are all impressive as is the extensive setup flexibility. It’s an excellent value choice for home theater projector if you are on a budget.
The Optoma HD20 at a cheaper alternative and also much more portable than the 8100′s 16.1lb.