Best Reviewed
Projectors
- Budget home-entertainment projector Epson MegaPlex MG-850HD *Est. $700
- Budget 1080p projector Optoma HD20 *Est. $1000
- Best value 1080p projector Epson Home Cinema 8350 *Est. $1300
- Budget 3D home theater projector Optoma HD33 *Est. $1500
- Best 3D home theater projector Epson Home Cinema 5010 *Est. $2750
Get info about new reports and updates
Best value 1080p projector
- Excellent picture quality
- Good value
- Easy set up
- High-brightness mode
- Long warranty
- Some user tinkering might be needed for best picture quality
- Brightness drops at long end of zoom-lens range
- Black levels not as deep as high-end projectors
The Epson Home Cinema 8350 is earning raves for its performance and value. Picture quality is top shelf. Colors are excellent, and blacks are capable of being great, though some user intervention might be needed to the out-of the-box settings to achieve that. While performance is best in darkened rooms, the Epson 8350 can put out plenty of lumens for viewing in a well-lighted room and can do so without hurting color performance as much as some other projectors.
Usability is excellent. There's plenty of zoom range and lens shift, making the 8350 easy to set up in almost any room. The LCD technology means that the rainbow effect is not an issue, though few people can see the rainbows associated with DLP projectors, the other predominant technology for home-theater projectors. Though the Epson Home Cinema 8350 is a better projector in most significant ways, if you have a tighter budget, the Optoma HD20 (*Est. $1,000) costs less and provides a surprisingly good picture for the money.
The Epson Home Cinema 8350 receives detailed, hands-on reviews from ProjectorCentral.com and ProjectorReviews.com. Look to Amazon.com and AVSForum.com for some user feedback.
| Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8350 | |
(189 reviews) In Stock. Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping |
|
Our Sources
The Epson Home Cinema 8350 earns an Editor's Choice award here. Bill Livolsi says that it delivers "some serious performance" for the price. The Home Cinema 8350 is benchmarked against a projector costing more than $2,000, and it more than holds its own. It also fares well in an eight-projector shootout conducted by the site.
Review: Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8350 1080p Home Theater Projector, Bill Livolsi, Oct. 4, 2010
Site owner Art Feierman digs deep in this lengthy review of the Epson Home Cinema 8350. Improvements over its predecessor are modest, but Feierman says that at this price point, the Home Cinema 8350 is hard to beat. Feierman does say that although black levels are respectable, they are bettered by more expensive projectors.
Review: Epson Home Cinema 8350 Projector Review, Art Feierman, Oct. 2010
3. Amazon.com
The Epson Home Cinema 8350 gets more than 150 reviews here. Negative reviews are overwhelmed by those who are completely satisfied. Short bulb life seems to be the chief complaint of those who don't give the projector 4 stars or 5, and it earns an overall rating of 4.6 stars.
Review: Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8350, Contributors to Amazon.com
4. AVSForum.com
Lots of opinions and feedback can be found in this thread, which stands at more than 6,800 posts and counting. Things get off track at times, but there's still a good selection of informal user reviews, common -- and not-so-common -- questions and answers, and more regarding the Epson Home Cinema 8350.
Review: The Official Epson 8350 Owners Thread, Contributors to AVSForum.com
Projectors Runners Up:
3 picks including: Amazon.com, AVSForum.com…
3 picks by top review sites.
2 picks by top review sites.
