Epson 4K UHD Short Throw Projector LS650 Review

Theater quality 4K viewing at home. Great for movies, TV shows, and gaming. Amazon Affiliate Product Link: https://geni.us/LvsyXS As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned The projector has a large footprint at 18.5”W x 16”L x 5.5”H and weighs just 16.5 lbs. On the right-hand side of the projector you’ll find a power button and manual focus dial. At the back I/O there is a USB-A port, HDMI 2.0 with eARC/ARC, a second HDMI 2.0 port, a second USB-A input, a 2Amp USB output only port, Optical Out for audio, and miniUSB service port. A Kensington lock slot is present to secure the device with a laptop lock in a business or commercial setting. At the front is the 2.1 channel Yamaha speakers which consist of stereo 5W drivers and 10W subwoofer. The front feet of the projector are adjustable up and down for leveling by about a half inch. This projector uses 3LCD technology to ensure color vibrancy and accuracy, high brightness, and zero rainbow effect. The image is a pixel-shifted 4K (PRO-UHD) at 3840 x 2160 pixels which delivers around half the resolution of true 4K with 4 million pixels vs. 8 million. However, the difference between these resolutions to the eye at typical viewing distances is hardly noticeable. Place 11” from a wall to project a 100-inch diagonal image or up to 16 inches away for a 120” diagonal, which will appear 4-12 inches above the top of the projector accordingly. The light source has a rated lifespan of 20,000 hours and can achieve a max brightness of 3600 ISO lumens, bright enough to view with some ambient light, but somewhat washed out in bright lighting. Note that when the brightness is set to above 75% the cooling fan can be quite loud as the unit generates plenty of heat during use. Setting up the projector is simple and straightforward. Even without a projector screen, you’ll notice that the colors look very natural. If the image is skewed, its shape can be squared using the remote and warping can be corrected automatically via the Epson Setting Assistant mobile app. These adjustments can produce “over splash” where you'll see a black margin around your projected image. The OS is Android TV and can connect to 2.4 or 5 GHz WiFi for streaming and there’s no Ethernet port for a wired connection. The machine has 13 GB of internal storage space that expands via the USB ports on the back. Chromecast is also built in and a voice assistant is available with the remote’s mic button, but can't be activated using a wake word. The built-in speakers can fill a medium-sized room easily and have decent sound quality with balanced and well-rounded bass response. You can also output sound to an external speaker or sound system controlled via CEC. Bluetooth speaker mode lets you use the projector’s speakers as a wireless speaker. If you experience a sync delay, you can compensate the output latency up to 200 ms in 10ms increments. The unit has a motion detector as a safety measure that will shut off the projection to prevent eye damage with an audible alarm. While the image produced looks sharp and smooth across the entire screen, occasionally I’ll notice compression artifacts like blocking or blurry halos during fast-motion. The overall image quality is very good with a high contrast ratio of 2.5 million to 1 and 10-bit color depth for realistic and vivid colors. For gaming, the projector is pretty good with an input lag of only 20ms, but the max screen refresh rate is 60Hz. The one thing I didn’t like is that the remote control is not backlit making it difficult to see the buttons in the dark. I also noticed that the native Android TV interface sometimes feels sluggish versus the external FireTV input. After 30 months, one of the HDMI ports failed, just beyond the 2-year warranty period. Overall, the EpiqVision LS650 projector delivers a very satisfying and enjoyable cinematic viewing experience complete with respectable audio performance as a standalone unit. When paired with a surround sound system, you can achieve an immersive movie theater-like experience at home whether you’re watching films, streaming live TV, or playing video games. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases Amazon Affiliate Product Link: https://geni.us/LvsyXS