In 1989, Epson launched the world's first LCD projector, the VJP-2000, which ushered in a new era of LCD technology. Due to the poor image quality of LCD projectors, Epson then developed 3LCD technology, until now 3LCD projectors still occupy half of the projection field with excellent color expression. As of 2016, Epson projectors have been ranked first in the global market share for 15 years.
Epson was once the world's largest supplier of high-temperature polycrystalline silicon LCD panels, which are a branch of the liquid crystal display family, usually used for LCD projectors, rear projection TVs and other large-scale display products, which are also the key components of 3LCD projectors. For a long time, Epson has been invincible in the field of home projectors with the advantage of upstream and downstream integration, and has a more flexible product pricing strategy.
After entering the 4K era, 3LCD could not meet the requirements of ultra-high resolution due to technical bottlenecks, so Epson developed "4K enhancement" technology. The principle of "4K Enhancement" technology is to move the pixels diagonally by 0.5 pixels at a very fast speed, thus doubling the 2.1 million pixels of 1080P to 4.15 million pixels. Although 4.15 million pixels is 50% of 4K (8.3 million pixels), in terms of appearance, at least for video, it can achieve "90%" native 4K display effect.
At present, Epson has launched a total of four highly competitive "4K enhanced" projectors: TW8300, TW8300W, TW9300 and LS10500. In addition to the LS10500 with a laser light source, the other three projectors all use 250W lamps with a brightness of 2500 lumens, and the typical lamp life is 3500 hours. In addition, all three products boast a dynamic contrast ratio of up to 1 million to 1, and their rich colors and excellent contrast ratio deliver impressive image quality.
In terms of price, the price of Epson's "4K enhancement" machine is between 4-80,000 yuan. Since 4K enhancement technology is cheaper than 4K DLP chips, Epson has added a variety of expensive accessories, including lenses, to all of its 4K enhancement projectors, making them not only on par with projectors with 4K DLP chips in terms of price, but also not inferior to 4K DLP chip projectors in terms of detail resolution.
ProjectorCentral, an authoritative projector evaluation agency, has made a relevant evaluation: TW8300, which uses "4K enhancement" technology and is priced at 39,800 yuan, is not as good as Optoma UHD660 with 4K DLP chip in terms of resolution, but TW8300 is equipped with high-quality lenses, and its ability to parse details is better than UHD660. It's worth noting that resolution specifications and the ability to parse details are not the same, and there are some differences between the two. TW8300 is not easy to compete with UHD660, and it is better than UHD660, which can be regarded as a reflection of strength. In The wirecutter's review, the TW8300's North American model, the Home Cinema 5040UB, also beat out many DLP projectors and was voted the "Best Value for Money Choice".
In the field of 1080P, Epson's projector products are quite different, divided by price, which can be divided into two grades: 1-30,000 yuan and less than 10,000 yuan. Projectors of 1-30,000 yuan are equipped with higher-quality lenses, and the quality of the lens can not only affect the brightness of the projector, but also affect the resolution ability at the edge of the picture. However, under the encirclement and suppression of BenQ 10,000 yuan 4K machines, 1080P projectors with high-quality lenses are not very competitive. In the Epson 1080P projection gear below 10,000 yuan, because 3LCD has better color and detail performance than DLP, it can better meet the needs of family viewing, and it is worth buying.
