Epson 5030UB — the High-Contrast Cinematic Full HD Projector with 3D and Flexible Installation

If you’re a movie buff and enjoy the image accuracy and high detail, this Epson 5030UB review shouldn’t be missed out. It produces the high contrast supported by solid even brightness and reproduces the most natural yet vivid colors in both 2D and 3D format. The display size varies from small to large and doesn’t suffer in detail, color saturation, and other parameters.

The device has different adjustment options but has poor portability. It also lacks the speakers and wireless while the physical connections enable different gear hookups.

Design

The Epson 5030UB projectors attract at once with their looks. These boxes are massive (weigh over 18lbs), are 6.2-inch tall, 18.34-inch wide, and 15.5-inch depth. They’re equipped with four regulated feet and a stability foot in the center.

On the front, there’s a large white-rimmed lens funnel with a colorful lens inside. The funnel and the middle part of the panel including the ventilation grills are painted black. So are the back panel, the tuning dials, and the bottom parts of the feet. The rest of the projector is white.

On top of the Epson 5030UB, there are the two big dials for zoom and focus and separate small dials for horizontal and vertical adjustment of the lens. The dials also have horizontal and vertical orientation. The control panel is located on the side while the connections (HDMI, RCA, PC, etc.) and the on/off switch are grouped on the back panel.

Features

Opening the Epson 5030UB manual, we can see that the device implements the 3LCD technology and the 2,400-lumen lamp (brightness is valid for color and white output). It has the native 1080p resolution, displays over 2 million pixels, and features the Super Resolution technology. The color gamut contains 2 billion colors that are displayed at 10-bit format. The projector has the color adjustment tech, the Deep Black feature frame interpolation, and the Epson Home Cinema filter. The 3D frequency makes 480Hz. Contrast ratio makes 600,000:1. The unit has the THX certification and the relevant operation mode.

The device can project the screen up to 300 inches, provides the vertical and horizontal lens and vertical keystone adjustment. The zoom capacity is 2.1x. Throw distance varies from 3.2 to 49.2ft. Operation noise ranges from 22 to 32 dB. Connections of the Epson Home Cinema 5030UB comprise of two HDMI ports (1.4 version), AV RCA inputs and the audio output, VGA and RS232 inputs.

Performance

The picture is accurate out-of-the-box, but the small adjustments and the automatic iris control bring the enhanced detail and deep colors throughout the whole range. The color mapping is precise and natural, with distinct highlights. The active scenes are smooth and informative, with minimum to zero judder. The whites are consistent and warm creating a solid background for other colors.

The 3D image is also vivid and accurate, with bright colors and three independently adjustable picture modes. Colors are saturated, and the motion scenes are sharp. The Epson projector 5030UB preserves the bright colors and precise contours with consistent blacks and grays in different types of environment. The flexible configurations let control multiple parameters and get a sharp high-quality image in various light setups.

While the projector doesn’t support internal speakers, it provides component audio ports and HDMI for an external acoustic set. The own noise of the projector varies from a whisper-like sound to a slight buzzing.