A $1299 1080p projector: Epson 8350

[Ilya]

I didn't let that stop me. Just dragged a tall bookcase over and put it on that while I was waiting to figure out the ceiling mount.

I decided to follow your suggestion and installed the projector on a tall floor-standing shelf in the back of the room. Decided not to mount it on the ceiling for the time being. And thanks to Epson's generous lens shift I didn't even have to put the shelf behind the seats. It works just fine being installed way off-center. And when I stand up, I am not in the way of the light. Very cool!

I have also moved most of my A/V gear to the back of the room to the shelf. That has several advantages: I can now reach most of the components from my recliner, all those red and green lights are no longer in my field of view and I didn't have to buy long HDMI cables. The downside is that I now have to rewire all of my speakers. No big deal! The new speaker wire should be coming from Monoprice tomorrow.

The big news is that I have finally installed the screen! That's a huge improvement over the dark colored wall! My new Home Theater is still work in progress: speakers are not in place yet and I need to get some heavy drapes (shades are not enough at day time), but I am already enjoying my big screen! It looks so good that I want to re-watch all of my favorite movies!

 

[riffjim4069]

Excellent read...wish that I were in a position to get an Epson 8350 for the HT Room.

 

[Ilya]

Ok, my home theater upgrade is moving along! I have re-wired the speakers: as an experiment I have installed two full-size Signet SL280ex speakers (from my stereo system in another room - I am trying a bi-amp configuration with them) as the main front speakers instead of Energy satellites. We'll see if this works with the Energy surrounds. Since I don't have a matching center speaker, I am going with a phantom center for now. I now need to run full Audyssey calibration...

And I have re-programmed my Harmony remote. No problems with the 8350 at all! Though I had to add some custom buttons for the settings menu navigation, color modes, etc.

Things that are still left: installing dark drapes for light control and better acoustics; and of course video calibration with the DVE Blu-ray, etc. though I probably want to put some more hours on the lamp before I do that.

A question to other Epson projector owners: do you cover the lens every time you turn the projector off? What annoys me a bit is that every time I remove the lens cover I slightly shift the focus and sometimes the image position too. So I have to spend some time re-adjusting the focus and the lens shift. (Love the Pattern button on the remote - it makes the adjustment so easy!)

 

[dfergie]

Congrats on entering the projector world... I love both of mine (actually all 3, but no room for my old one right now)...

 

[tigerfan33]

The only time I removed my lens cover was when I first bought it.

 

[Ilya]

Congrats on entering the projector world... I love both of mine (actually all 3, but no room for my old one right now)...

Thanks! I love it so far! I am really amazed that for the price of a flat-screen I can now have a true theater-like experience at home!

 

[dfergie]

The only time I removed my lens cover was when I first bought it.

Learned pretty quickly not to mess with my focus

 

[dfergie]

Thanks! I love it so far! I am really amazed that for the price of a flat-screen I can now have a true theater-like experience at home!

Loving the 110" 1080p in the Bedroom...

 

[Ilya]

110" in the bedroom... That's a thought!
I now know what to do with this projector when I get a new one down the road.

 

[jayn_j]

A question to other Epson projector owners: do you cover the lens every time you turn the projector off? What annoys me a bit is that every time I remove the lens cover I slightly shift the focus and sometimes the image position too. So I have to spend some time re-adjusting the focus and the lens shift. (Love the Pattern button on the remote - it makes the adjustment so easy!)

Nah. I did it a few times when it was new and then stopped when I ran into the same issues. Now that i have the ceiling mount, it would be too much of a hassle.

 

[Ilya]

I guess I'll keep it open and will just use a photo dust blower every once in awhile.

 

[Ilya]

After spending 200+ hours watching this projector, all I can say: I am blown away by the picture quality! I am enjoying it so much that I started re-ordering my favorite Blu-ray movies from Netflix, so I can re-watch them again on the big screen.

If anyone has been waiting for a good opportunity to go with a front projector - now is the time to do it! For around $1000 or even less this 1080p Epson is a steal!

No, it's not perfect. But at this price point I didn't expect it to be perfect. Some minor issues I can point out: the dark screen is not uniform in color (I see some red coloration in the bottom right and upper left corners) - this appears to be a common issue with this model; the automatic iris is very noisy and the adjustment is rather jerky: it's so distracting that I prefer to turn it off; the convergence is ok, but not perfect. That's about it on the negative side. Nothing I can't live with.

Where this projector really shines for me is the colors! I am amazed how accurate the colors were out of the box! I spent several hours with the DVE Blu-ray and color filters tweaking the picture and in the end my preferred settings were within just a click or two from the factory defaults! WOW!

The 8350 is really bright! I am projecting on a 92" Dragonfly screen (1.2 gain) and I have no problems watching it with some ambient light on. I don't even bother switching to the brightest color modes and just keep it on Cinema most of the time.

And with all lights off, the blacks are gorgeous! Look very realistic. So much detail and color information in dark images! I just didn't realize what I was missing until now!

The big screen is of course much less forgiving to SD material and over-compressed content. Some TV programs look washed-out and fuzzy. This is much more noticeable than on a smaller TV screens. But Blu-ray movies look absolutely spectacular! With the big screen and the excellent colors produced by this projector I am now rediscovering HD! I could not be happier! For the price of a 50" set I got myself a 92" HDTV, the way I see it. A real home theater experience! I think it's now going to be awhile before I go to a movie theater again...

 

[dfergie]

I save my favorite TV Shows to watch on my Mits... Survivor from OTA looks spectacular!

 

[riffjim4069]

Thanks for the update Ilya! Hopefully you've deployed a high-quality HT surround system...

 

[JAG72]

I think it's now going to be awhile before I go to a movie theater again...

We have not been to the movies since I purchased my FP 2 years ago.

I will break my string as the kids want to go and see Harry Potter at the movies this week.

 

[jayn_j]

Yeah, the kids want to go see HP. I'm satisfied with waiting 3 months, but I'll probably go. Watched ST: Generations last night on the Epson. Very easy to get totally immersed in even one of the lesser Star Treks. Just love that picture in 120"

 

[Ilya]

Thanks for the update Ilya! Hopefully you've deployed a high-quality HT surround system...

I took care of the light control (with dark black-out drapes) and that helped with the room acoustics too. But the sound system is still work in progress. I have replaced my Energy satellites with two full-size bi-amped Signets at the front, but I don't have a matching center. So I am using a phantom center for now. And the Energy sub and surrounds are not perfect matches to Signets either. But I can live with that for now, until I have a budget for a brand new set of speakers.

 

[jayn_j]

I took care of the light control (with dark black-out drapes) and that helped with the room acoustics too. But the sound system is still work in progress. I have replaced my Energy satellites with two full-size bi-amped Signets at the front, but I don't have a matching center. So I am using a phantom center for now. And the Energy sub and surrounds are not perfect matches to Signets either. But I can live with that for now, until I have a budget for a brand new set of speakers.

Sigh. Do we ever reach a point where our speakers are 'good enough'? Unfortunately, I am reaching the point where my aging ears are deteriorating enough that I won't get my money worth out of further upgrades.

 

[Ilya]

Unfortunately, I am reaching the point where my aging ears are deteriorating enough that I won't get my money worth out of further upgrades.

When running the frequency sweep audio test I noticed that my high frequency hearing range has shrunk significantly over the years.
The vision is degrading too, but that's where the big screen really helps!

 

[Ilya]

I save my favorite TV Shows to watch on my Mits... Survivor from OTA looks spectacular!

Since I installed the projector (and the drapes) I am watching it almost exclusively! Will probably use up the first lamp in less than a year...