Gadgetory

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