Epson 5030UB: Deeper blacks, bright whites and still a great value
Epson 5030UB: Deeper blacks, bright whites and still a great value
2014-02-14
hi I'm David Katz Meyer from CNET and
this is the Epson 50 30 UB this is an
update of our favorite projector from
last year the 50 20 you be combining
excellent picture quality as well as a
really affordable price for projector
that looks this good
this version is even better it actually
has better black levels for even better
home theater picture quality I'll get to
all that in a little bit but first let
me run down the features of this
projector you can see it's relatively
large this isn't a pipsqueak unit of
course for 2,600 bucks you expect a
little bit more power out of this it
does have plenty of power it's got
extremely bright picture capabilities so
that's one of the nicest things about
this projector you can get it in a room
that has some ambient light even and get
a good picture out of the screen that's
something most projectors can't do they
just can't get bright enough to overcome
that ambient light of course it'll look
better if you turn off the lights or
close the windows or do both one of the
chief features on the 5030 is the
horizontal and vertical lens shift
operated by these dials on the top here
that really allows it to be adjusted
relative to the screen with plenty of
versatility there's also a zoom and a
focus both of which are manual we do
prefer a power zoom but at this price
range we don't really expect it picture
settings on the projector are extensive
you do get a thx mode which is kind of a
set it and forget it mode a pretty good
picture preset that's very accurate out
of the box there's also the ability to
adjust color greyscale and numerous
other settings including a panel shifts
you can tweak the three LCD panels to
get it just right if you're gonna be
setting it up that way the unit of
course can be ceiling ceiling mounted or
floor mounted and it's again it's bright
enough to fill extremely large screens
another nice extra on the fifty thirty
is a pair of 3d glasses included in the
box they use RF and not infrared
capability so that means you have to
worry about losing the sync if you move
around the room around back the inputs
are ample there's two HDMI one component
video and a PC input of course on a
projector the main thing to worry about
is picture quality and is really nothing
to worry about with this guy it's three
LCD panels are in the best-performing
we've seen from that technology it's not
quite as good as dila projectors from
Sony and JVC but those are a lot more
expensive this unit can get extremely
dark it has really good black levels
again for an LCD projector that's helped
by an auto iris that actually does a
really good job of minimizing that
visable up and down iris affect the
projector also has extremely accurate
color and again it's a little bit better
than last year in terms of those black
levels so the end result is a nice
contrast II punchy picture of course the
icing on the cake is this projectors
light output it can get a lot brighter
than again those JVC and Sony projectors
that are more expensive so those are
more if you have a little bit more money
and you want to really dedicated home
theater this guy's a lot more versatile
and again you can keep the lights on or
even take it outside and get an
extremely nice looking picture it's also
worth noting the 5030 includes a variant
that has wireless hdmi built-in that's
another 300 bucks so that's a quick look
at Epsons 5030 projector I'm David
Katzman from Cena
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.