If you’re looking to upgrade your home theater setup with a brand new 4K laser projector, don’t do what I did and forget to read the spec sheet first, or you could be in for a nasty surprise.
I adore projectors and think people should at least consider it Farewell to her television for one. Sure the The best 4K projectors tend to be more expensive than that The best 4K TVs, and you need to make sure your home theater is set up in the right room – somewhere with a large white surface and no windows (or blackout curtains installed) – for the best look. But the atmosphere created by a projector-powered setup and the frame-filling images it can produce are worth the effort in my eyes.
In my crusade to convince others that projectors are the way of the future, I took this Epson EH-LS11000W for testing TechRadar on my parents to show them what it’s capable of. In my test, I was really impressed by the laser projector’s crisp 4K image (which can be enlarged to 300 inches) and the gorgeous colors of its image – although the contrast in dark scenes isn’t as good as I’d like it to be popular (especially for its price), plus its limited ports and lack of a TV OS is a bad combination since you’re wasting a port on a streaming stick.
Also, as I found out at my parents’ house after spending a few hours cheering it up and setting it up, it lacks built-in speakers. That realization immediately brought movie night to a halt as my family wasn’t interested in letting me borrow their soundbar and ruin their existing TV setup. So, dejectedly, I put the EH-LS11000W back in its box. TV one, projector zero.
Right projector, wrong home cinema
This is actually not that unusual for projectors; Even fairly expensive options like the Epson EH-LS11000W (which will set you back $3,999 / £4,199 / around AU$5,750) focus their efforts on producing outstanding graphics, leaving the audio to the best soundbars and best speakers.
But in my hubris I forgot about that. Instead, I assumed the vents on the side of the machine were such that the speakers could emit clear audio, and neglected to think that they might actually be vents for the 2,5000 lumen laser setup to dissipate heat.
Luckily I hadn’t spent any money on this projector as Epson lends it to me for review so the mistake didn’t cost me. If I had just lost $3,999 / £4,199 it would have drained my entire home theater budget on an incomplete setup.
But this moment is a good reminder that even we techies can make mistakes and assume things about a cool looking product that aren’t correct. For this reason, we always recommend reading through a gadget’s capabilities and reviews before you buy it (rather than just looking at the score and moving on).
Speakerless projectors like the Epson EH-LS11000W aren’t bad, but they’re not suitable for every home theater setup. This is the case with many technologies; It’s not about how great the device is, it’s about whether it’s right for you and your needs.
