Epson EB-U04 review - Part 1

PROS

• Good price
• Ships with a carry case
• Sharp and bright

CONS

• Unimpressive black-level response
• Patchy colour temperature
• Various running noise issues

KEY FEATURES

• LCD projector with 1920x1200 resolution
• Presentations and Cinema picture presets
• Two HDMIs
• 3,000 lumens maximum brightness
• Dynamic Iris system
• Manufacturer: Epson
• Review Price: £549.00

WHAT IS THE EPSON EB-U04?

The EB-U04 is an LCD projector with a Full HD resolution that’s on sale for the budget price of £548.99. Epson pitches it as a projector that can be used for either home entertainment or office presentations.

EPSON EB-U04 – DESIGN AND FEATURES

While it isn't outright ugly, chiefly thanks to its glossy white top cover, the EB-U04 looks a bit utilitarian versus the more living room-friendly Epson EH-TW5300 that I tested recently. It’s smaller and squat, with a noticeably more compact lens – none of which raises great hopes about its picture quality versus the EH-TW5300. 

Its relatively petite size does make it handily portable, though – and this useful trait is enhanced by the inclusion of a padded carry bag with the projector.

Connectivity is pretty good. Two HDMIs back up its home-entertainment claims, while its potential as a workhorse is enhanced by a USB port capable of playing multimedia files, a VGA PC input, and the ability of one of the HDMIs to handle MHL mobile phone playback.

You can even add an optional wireless adapter (the ELPAP10), which opens up the potential for using Epson’s iProjection app to stream a range of content – including photos, videos and documents – directly from your mobile phone or tablet through the projector.

The projector’s key picture specifications include a native Full HD resolution, a claimed dynamic contrast ratio of 15,000:1, and a very high maximum brightness of 3,000 lumens. On paper, this combination of brightness and contrast seems weighted towards the business market rather than home-cinema, but it’s entirely possible that the EB-U04 will have the controls necessary to adapt its optics to suit both movie and PC content.

For those looking for a projector for home use, there's one other point of concern. For while I described the projector as "Full HD", its resolution is in fact 1,920 x 1,200 rather than 1,920 x 1,080. This means it has a PC-friendly 16:10 native widescreen aspect ratio rather than a video-friendly 16:9 one.

As you’d expect, the projector carries the option to show 16:9 widescreen sources in their native ratio; you don’t have to see them stretched vertically to fill the EB-U04’s full resolution. But there’s no getting round the fact that 16:10 image clips are designed for PC rather than video use.

With the EB-U04 potentially getting used at work and home, it’s good to find Epson claiming a huge lamp and filter life of 10,000 hours – roughly enough to deliver one movie a day for 15 years!

Note, though, that to achieve this life span you’ll need to keep the projector running in its reduced brightness Eco mode. This may not necessarily be possible if your office or home environment has much ambient light.

On a positive, I should remind that this LCD projector won’t suffer with the rainbow striping problem common with rival DLP technology. In addition, it should also deliver more bright images more consistently because, unlike DLP technology, LCD projectors don't use a colour wheel to produce.

On the flip side, the EB-U04’s LCD technology will lead to a reduction in image quality over the projector’s life than you're likely to see with a DLP model.

EPSON EB-U04 – SETUP

The EB-U04 has a reasonable number of setup options. Physically, here’s a small amount of optical zoom, a drop-down leg under the front edge of the unit and screw-down legs at each rear corner. There's also a rather nifty sliding keystone-correction knob above the lens, which helps to get the sides of the image straight if you’re having to position it off to the side.

The lack of optical vertical image shift shouldn't be a surprise at this price point.

The EB-U04’s potential work and play nature is reflected in its picture presets, which include both a Cinema mode and a Presentations mode. Other adjustments include a noise-reduction system (best left off when watching HD); offset and gain adjustments for the RGB colour elements; Normal and Eco modes for the lamp; and the option to set an auto iris system to off, Normal, or High Speed.

My advise would be to ensure you pick the right option – Presentations or Cinema preset – for what you’re about to use it for. Also, when watching a movie in a reasonably dark room, the lamp should be set to Eco to get a little more black-level response out of the optics and drastically reduce the projector’s running noise.

I'd also recommend setting the auto iris option to Normal rather than High Speed, since while this can result in occasional lag in how the brightness responds to changes in the image content, it also causes the iris system to fewer scratching noises. More on this later.

Philips Screeneo 2.0 review part 2

PHILIPS SCREENEO 2.0 – PICTURE QUALITY

The Screeneo 2.0 does an excellent job of retaining image geometry, despite its ultra short-throw optical system.

There’s no bowing along the top or bottom edges of the kind I’ve seen with other ultra short-throw projectors. While you may have to use some keystone correction to keep the sides perpendicular, this does not cause much in the way of artefacts or loss of resolution.

The image is also free of brightness the hotspots and inconsistencies that generally affect ultra short-throw projectors.

A slight loss of sharpness is evident in the corners, and this becomes more apparent as you increase the size of the image. As a result, I would limit the image size to 90 inches at a push. This issue is common among ultra-short throw projectors and the Screeneo 2.0 suffers less than most.

Particularly impressive is the projector’s colour handling. The range of tones it delivers is strikingly well suited to video playback right out of the box. Skin tones look natural and full of tonal subtlety, rich colours looking bold but never over-stressed or unbalanced, and even dark colour tones look both authentic and full of shading detail. 

There’s no sign of posterisation (colour striping) issues either.

The impressive colour performance of the Screeneo 2.0 helps to give its Full HD pictures a good sense of detail and texture, and this isn’t damaged excessively by motion judder. This is a relief given the unusable nature of the Flow Motion processing system, which should be kept off.

Pictures look markedly brighter than those of its predecessor, resulting in images engage even in a bright room. The brightness boost also delivers an uplift in shadow detail in dark scenes.

Thankfully, this boost in brightness has not had a negative impact on the projector’s contrast performance. Dark scenes don’t appear to be any more prone to the classic low-contrast grey mist effect. 

That said, the Screeneo 2.0’s black levels are only maybe a touch above average by the standards of the home entertainment projector market at large.

In other negative news, I occasionally spotted signs "rainbow effect" colour striping noise over stand-out bright objects. My test sample also showed a faint dust "sphere" in the bottom-right corner of the image. No amount of cleaning the image "window’" shifted this, proving that the dust was tucked away somewhere inside the projector’s optics.

There’s a very good chance that a Screeneo 2.0 projector you buy won’t suffer with such a dust issue – but clearly, there’s potential for dust to get into the projector’s optical path.

Given that the Screeneo 2.0 is designed to sit right next to the pictures it produces, it’s great to find that its bucket-shaped body is completely free of light leakage.

The Screeneo 2.0’s practical, multi-functional design makes it a potential favourite for gaming as well as movie watching. With this in mind, an input lag figure of 38ms is solid enough, despite falling a few milliseconds shy of the very speediest projector responders.

Philips Screeneo 2.0 review - Part 1

PROS

• Built-in sound system works well
• Decent all-round picture quality
• Ultra short-throw design is brilliantly convenient

CONS

• Black level response could be better
• You can get better pictures for the 
• same money or less from conventional projectors
• Slight loss of focus in the corners

KEY FEATURES

• Ultra short-throw DLP projector
• Full HD native resolution
• Built-in 26W 2.1 sound system
• Supports multimedia streaming from phones and tablets
• Carry handle and ships with a carry bag
• Manufacturer: Philips
• Review Price: £1,499.00

WHAT IS THE PHILIPS SCREENEO 2.0?

Now for something completely different: a DLP projector that wants to be both a big-screen TV and a sound bar, and resembles a bucket. Confused? Welcome to the weird but wonderful world of the Philips Screeneo 2.0.

PHILIPS SCREENEO 2.0 – DESIGN AND FEATURES

The Screeneo 2.0, or officially the Philips HDP2510/EU, really looks like a bucket. From the fold-down silver carry handle to gentle downwards tapering, the Screeneo wouldn’t look out of place on a beach with a spade propped up against it.

It's not ugly, though. The black-and-silver colour scheme is smart and the finish quality is high. The Screeneo is actually a triumph of design for all the functionality it crams into its reasonably compact body.

What you get is ultra short-throw projection technology and a potent integrated audio solution. The point of the Screeneo 2.0 is to recreate the experience of watching a huge television for a fraction of the price.

Let’s first look at the projector. It’s a single-chip DLP system capable of punching out a claimed 2,000 lumens of maximum brightness, with a vast contrast ratio of 200,000:1. That means it's definitely a video product, rather than the sort of thing you'd use for PowerPoint presentations.

The DLP optics also deliver a Full HD resolution plus a claimed 1.07 billion colours from a six-segment (RGBRGB) colour wheel system. The 250W UHP lamp inside the Screeneo 2.0 is supposed to last more than 10,000 hours – a huge figure by projector standards, and one that should greatly reduce running costs over the projector’s lifetime. This is a big deal for a workhorse projector that’s designed to potentially replace a living room TV. 

The single most remarkable thing about the Screeneo 2.0’s projection system is its throw ratio. The reason for its bucket-like shape is that it contains a projector firing upwards from its bottom. It does this via an optical array that ultimately produces a picture through an angled "window" on the upper edge. This makes it possible to achieve a huge picture from a tiny throw distance.

Sit the projector just 10cm from your screen or wall and you can enjoy a picture 50 inches in diameter. Stretch that distance to 42cm and you get a 120-inch picture. There is no zoom feature, so the only way to way to adjust the picture size is to physically move the Screeneo 2.0 closer to or further away from the wall.

There are real advantages to having a projector that can sit so close to a wall. It functions like a television in terms of the impact it has on your living room layout. It doesn't need to be placed in the centre of your room, as you would a normal projector, and there’s no need to worry about long cable runs.

It carries three HDMI video connectors rather than the two found on the vast majority of projectors. It’s also equipped with Bluetooth, so you can effortlessly stream video, photos and music files to the projector from smart devices. There's also a USB port for memory sticks.

Other connections of note include a 12V trigger output for firing up a motorised screen; a headphone port; an optical digital audio output; audio inputs and outputs; a composite video jack (although this should only be used as a last resort given the relatively low picture quality it carries); and a VGA PC port.

It is compatible with 3D, although no glasses are included.

PHILIPS SCREENEO 2.0 – SETUP

The Screeneo 2.0 is a mixed bag when it comes to setup. It’s pretty cool that you can just plug in the projector and enjoy big images straight away, but there are a couple of potential complications.

Firstly, the motorised focus adjustment, accessed via the remote control, is imprecise. You can hear it chuntering along for quite some time without making any significant impact on the image’s sharpness. It gets there in the end, but the adjustments are so gradual that you are never entirely convinced that you’ve got it totally spot on.

Secondly, it lacks any sort of vertical image shifting or zoom. That makes positioning a little trickier if you use a screen instead of a wall.

The settings are comprehensive, with a helpful series of gamma presets and both colour and white balance management.

Key setups: I’d recommend using the Cinema lamp mode for dark room viewing and the Daylight mode for bright room viewing. For me, the default PrimeTime mode falls between the two.

It’s also essential that you turn off the Flow Motion processing, since it causes some pretty nasty artefacts. I’d recommend leaving the Dynamic Contrast feature on, although the difference it makes is marginal.

If you’re using your wall rather than a screen, it’s definitely worth checking out the Wall Colour Correction option. This is a very handy shortcut for neutralising the impact your decor may have on picture quality.