Are you are gearing up for the big game, love special effects, or planning some stay-at-home date nights? If so, one of these 4K projectors can light up your home entertainment.
Key Features of a Great 4K Home Theater Projector
Home theater projectors have been niche players in the high definition video entertainment market for years. Flat-Panel LCD/LED HDTVs are constantly getting larger, smarter, and cheaper, putting more pressure on the home theater projector business. But for those of you who haven’t watched the Super Bowl or an action-packed movie on a 100-inch, 4K projection system, you don’t know what you’re missing!
To select the right 4K projector, though, there are a few key things you should consider:
- 4K or “faux” K: Most consumer-grade 4K projectors do not actually project a true, native 4K image. Instead, they employ a technique called pixel shifting. They shift (move) a 1080 p picture very rapidly to simulate a 4K frame. This happens so fast, the human eye can’t perceive it’s not a natively-produced 4K image. The result is a much higher perceived resolution that uses much cheaper hardware. A native 4K projector has a better picture, but it’s very difficult to detect unless you look at the two projected pictures side-by-side.
- DLP or LCD imaging: The projector creates the picture with either a DLP chip or LCD glass panels. Image engine choice is a complex decision as each technology has pros and cons. But the most important concepts are that LCD provides a sharper, more colorful picture, while DLP typically provides better brightness and contrast. DLP projectors also usually last longer—LCD glass panels degrade over time. One downside of DLP, though, is that some people are susceptible to the rainbow effect.
- Brightness and contrast ratio: Light output (measured in lumens) and contrast ratio determine how well you can see color and black level depth when ambient light is present. Most projectors do well when you operate them in a completely dark room. But how does the picture look when outside light is present? Higher lumens and higher contrast ratio improve the projector’s ability to overcome ambient light.
- Throw distance: Not everyone has complete control over where they can put their projector. For example, if you rent, you probably can’t mount a projector to the ceiling and run wires through walls. Also, if a room has a shallow depth, you might not have much distance between the back and projection walls. In these cases, you might want to get a short- or ultra-short-throw projector.
- High Dynamic Range (HDR) support: HDR or HDR10 support indicates the device supports at least a 10-bit dynamic range to encode luminance and color. Basically, whites are whiter, blacks are blacker, and colors pop more on devices that support HDR.
We considered the features above as we chose projectors for this list. Our choices should meet the requirements of most folks who are creating a home theater.
Best Overall: Epson Home Cinema 5050UB
The best 4K projector for most people should have an excellent picture, be bright enough to handle ambient light, and have a throw distance that allows flexible placement options. All of that sums up the Epson Home Cinema 5050UB perfectly!
Epson has been manufacturing LCD-type home theater projectors for over a decade. It basically perfected the technology and led the industry in the production of LCD projector panels. The 5050UB employs the pixel shift technique in a 3LCD configuration (independent red, green, and blue panels combined through a prism) for a 4K picture that is almost indistinguishable from native 4K.
Max brightness comes in at 2,600 lumens, most of which are fully available when in dynamic display mode. A total of six display modes are possible to enhance various viewing conditions. Each display mode prioritizes lumens differently. The dimmest mode is digital cinema, which comes in at just over 1,000 lumens. The contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 is also excellent, particularly for an LCD projector. It also supports HDR.
The 5050UB has a zoom lens that spans a throw ratio of 1.35:1 to 2.84:1. This allows the projector to create a 100-inch diagonal picture in a range of just under 10 feet to just over 20 feet away from the projection wall. It’s also one of the few projectors that provides both horizontal and vertical lens shift capabilities. Lens shift is a physical manipulation of the lens angle that eliminates the keystone effect, so the projector doesn’t have to be in the center of the projection screen. This means you can put the 5050UB projector on a shelf in the back left or right corner of the room and achieve a near-perfect 16:9 rectangle!
If the HDMI cables are a challenge, consider the Epson 5050UBe variant. It’s basically identical to the 5050UB, but it supports WirelessHD (WiHD) and 4K wireless HDMI.
