Epson EMP-TW600 review

Epson's EMP-TW600 provides one of the biggest pictures we've seen: an impressive 60" from a throw distance of just 1.5m. This means you don't even need a very big room; if you can move the projector 9m away, though, you get a huge 300" display.

The lens can be moved horizontally and vertically without having to move the projector, so it's easy to line up with a screen. It uses the latest 3-LCD technology and a new iris, which gives a massive 5,000:1 contrast ratio. We ran our PC through the HDMI input to get the best signal and achieved an amazing picture. At the maximum brightness of 1,600 ANSI lumens the picture quality at the native resolution of 1,280x720 was amazing. The whites really stood out and colour reproduction was excellent across the board.

With a native widescreen resolution that supports High Definition (HD), this is a projector with entertainment on its mind. We tested it with HD WMV video files, which looked amazing, and standard resolution DVDs using the projector's component inputs. Here, the projector has to upscale the image, but it didn't cope very well to begin with. The first problem was that the projector wasn't handling the anamorphic 16:9 video. We had to put the projector on Squeeze mode, which doesn't make a lot of sense. An auto-sensing input or a simple widescreen option would be better.

Next we had to change the picture quality, scaling options and colour mode. By the time we'd finished the video looked better than on any other projector we've seen. The EMP-TW600 remembers settings for each input, so once you've got it the way you want it, you never have to change it.

Strangely, there's no dedicated ECO mode. Also, different colour modes do the same job, but the manual doesn't make it clear.

With an excellent range of inputs, huge picture size and amazing picture quality, the EMP-600 is worth every penny, but it could be easier to use.

Author: David Ludlow