Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 5020

Bottom Line

Critics say you can't go wrong with the Epson Home Cinema 5020's great picture in both 2D and 3D. Blacks are good and colors are nearly perfect, straight out of the box. The 5020 packs a powerfully bright punch -- maybe too much in a completely dark room -- but can be dialed down if needed.

Image Quality

Lots of brightness for 3D projection. The Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 5020UB is an update of the Epson Home Cinema 5010, which drew widespread praise, and this latest Epson home theater video projector remains very well liked. "The 5020UB retains the high light output, inky black levels, accurate color, and razor-sharp detail of the 5010," writes Bill Livolsi of ProjectorCentral.com. 3D performance is excellent, with reviewers reporting minimal crosstalk and no discernible flicker.

Ty Pendlebury of CNET measures the Epson 5020UB's brightness at a whopping 2,628 lumens in Dynamic (light-prioritizing) mode. That makes the 5020UB the best projector in its price range for use in ambient light, but one that can be too bright for use in a darkened viewing room. However, Livolsi says you can dial the Epson 5020UB back to more appropriate levels -- between 400 and 680 lumens in its least-bright mode, depending on zoom setting.

Pendlebury warns that although the Epson 5020UB's black levels have "ample shadow detail," they're still not quite as deep as you'll get from some competitors -- and the auto iris function, which you need to get the best black levels, can still be heard operating during quiet parts of a movie.

Features

Improvements all around. The Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 5020UB comes in two flavors -- the standard 5020UB and the 5020UBe, which sports WirelessHD capability at a cost of about $300 more. Geoffrey Morrison from Sound + Vision magazine says the WirelessHD works well with an unobstructed line of sight, but in order to have optical digital audio at the same time, you'll need a Blu-ray player with dual HDMI outputs. Pendlebury questions the feature's value: "But while the WirelessHD [of the 5020UBe] is fun, it's not a significant upgrade. Spend the $300 saved on something nice instead."

Both projectors are otherwise identical, including an upgrade to RF instead of IR 3D glasses. Because of their technology, RF glasses are less prone to losing sync, so unlike the Epson 5010's IR glasses, the 3D effect won't fall apart momentarily if you move your head. Better yet, two pairs of rechargeable Epson ELPGSO3 glasses (*Est. $100 each) are included in the box.

Other bells and whistles include a Super-Resolution function for extra detail without significant artifacts, although Morrison warns that the highest settings add noise around the edges. Motion performance is one area where the Epson 5020UB lags slightly behind its competition; a Frame Interpolation mode helps to smooth that motion but also results in the slightly unreal "soap opera effect," so experts recommend using it only for sports and other film content.

Setup and Use

Runs a tight ship. Major lens shift capability and a 2.1x zoom make the Epson Home Cinema 5020UB easy to handle and place in almost any room. Morrison does write that the manual controls "feel a little cheap compared to the Sony [VPL-HW50ES]," but this is a relatively small issue.

Fan noise could be a bigger concern, with Morrison saying that the Epson 5020UB is "easily the loudest component in your room." Switching the projector into eco mode reduces the noise, but also reduces light output -- one of this projector's biggest selling points -- by 25 percent. The manufacturer's specs promise sound levels of 22 to 32 dB, or from about the sound of a hushed whisper to the level of a quiet conversation.

In the good news department, Pendlebury notes that the Epson 5020UB leaks almost no light, an improvement over its predecessor; and a motorized lens cover protects one of the projector's most vulnerable components, a welcome addition in this price range.

In terms of tweaking color the Epson Home Cinema 5020UB comes with a full suite of color controls and 10 memory presets, so you don't have to worry about losing your "just-right" settings while you fiddle with adjustments.

Value

Good bang for the buck among mid-priced projectors. With an estimated price of $2,600, the Epson Home Cinema is a decided step up in cost from lower-end 3D projectors, such as the Optoma HD33 (*Est. $1,400) , though it's also a decided step up in performance. That leads some experts, such as CNET's Pendlebury to say that "bang for buck, the Epson represents the best balance we've reviewed yet between price and image quality." On the other hand, it's out-done itself by some still pricier home theater projectors, notably the Sony VPL-HW50ES (*Est. $3,500) ; if your budget can handle it, experts can't stop raving about the performance of Sony's latest SXRD model.