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Epson EH-TW3200 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £996
inc VAT

With lens shift, a Full HD image and excellent picture quality, this projector our Best Buy.

Specifications

1,920×1,080 resolution, 1,800 ANSI lumens, 136x450x360mm, 7.3kg

http://www.projectorpoint.co.uk

The Epson EH-TW3200 may cost under a £1,000 but this LCD Full HD 1080p model is packed full of features.

One of the most important is lens shift. Two wheels sit on the projector to let you align the image on your screen vertically and horizontally without having to turn to digital correction. With two HDMI, composite, component, S-Video and VGA inputs, you can hook up pretty much any kind of AV kit you may have.

Epson EH-TW3200 ports

The remote control is a work of class, with backlit keys. It’s comfortable to hold and use. The menu system is standard for Epson, too. All the picture mode and colour configuration options are in the Image menu, which lets you tweak everything from colour temperature to skin tones and, in the advanced sub-menu, the individual balance of each colour on the RGB or RGBCMY scale. The Settings menu contains useful features like sleep mode settings and a pin code child lock.

There are five different default picture modes. Living Room, Natural and Cinema all look great, with natural, well balanced colours and convincing flesh tones. Living Room is the best option if you’ll only have partial darkness, as it’s the brightest of the three, while Natural has the most subtle and realistic colouring. This is particularly visible on delicately shaded areas such as the petals of flowers. Cinema mode is your best bet if you want to make the most of black and white movies: although dark areas lacked the subtle shading we’ve seen from some projectors, our monochrome video files were very watchable, especially compared to similarly priced DLP projectors, which are plagued by the rainbow effect.

Although its 1,800 lumens brightness suggests that this is a model that can be used under living room lighting, in truth it can get a bit overwhelmed and dark scenes can lose their detail. Turning lights down or shutting the curtains makes a massive difference, and darker scenes retain their detail,

Epson EH-TW3200

This projector has a little more motion blur than most LCD models, but although this was a visible in our most challenging moving image test, which bounces a still image around the screen, it had minimal impact on the our test footage of a football match and other fast-paced scenes.

A bit of blur and a picture that does best in at least partial darkness aren’t enough to detract from the fact that this is an excellent LCD projector that costs less than £1,000. Although it’s not a good choice if you want to a projector that you can use in a well lit room, it’s a great choice for a cinema enthusiast on a tighter budget. Epson’s EH-TW3200 is our Best Buy, only really bettered by the fantastic and more expensive Panasonic’s PT-AE4000E.

Details

Price £996
Details www.epson-europe.com
Rating *****
Award Best Buy

Specifications

Projector technology LCD
Lamp brightness 1,800 ANSI lumens
Lamp life 4,000
Lamp life in economy mode 4,000
Contrast ratio 25,000:1 dynamic

Picture

Native resolution 1,920×1,080
Max compressed resolution 1,920×1,080
Aspect ratio 16:9
Other aspect ratios 4:3
Max diagonal at 7ft 71in
Throw ratio 1.34:1 to 2.87:1
Optical zoom 2.1x
Projection distance 2.98m – 6.36m
Mirror image yes
Invert image yes
Lens shift horizontal 47%
Lens shift vertical 96%
HD Ready yes
Special view modes dynamic, living room, natural, cinema, x.v.color

Inputs/Outputs

VGA input yes
DVI input No
Sound inputs none
Composite input yes
S-video input yes
HDMI input yes
PAL support yes
SECAM support yes
NTSC support yes
Audio output none
Video output none
Others inputs/outputs second HDMI input, RS 232, trigger in

Other

Noise (in normal use) 28dB(A)
Size 136x450x360mm
Weight 7.3kg
Internal speakers none
Extras remote, cables (power)
Remote special features none
Power consumption standby 1W
Power consumption on 200W

Lamp

Lamp cost (inc VAT) £233
Lamp supplier www.projectorlampsworld.co.uk
Lamp cost per hour of use £0.06
Lamp cost per hour of use (economy) £0.06

Buying Information

Price £996
Supplier http://www.projectorpoint.co.uk
Details www.epson-europe.com

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