Epson’s latest premium projector models are labeled the Q-Series, and they promise to set a new standard for daytime viewing, with the top of the range model blasting out 10,000 lumens of brightness.
The company described the Epson Q-Series range as a new lineup of “ultra-premium, high-lumen” devices that deliver on the promise of “super entertainment”.
According to Epson America’s Melvin Diaz, we can expect the Q-Series to set new standards in terms of performance, efficiency and size. “The Q-Series offers immersive big-screen entertainment within and beyond traditional dark room theater spaces, creating limitless integration possibilities for home entertainment design,” he said.
Those are some interesting promises, and the Epson Q-Series projectors are said to be the first models of their kind to offer high color and white brightness at a price point that starts at around $7,999. That’s the price of the entry-level QB1000 model, which delivers 3,300 lumens of color and white brightness in equal measure, the company said.
The Epson Q-Series QB1000 is powered by a 3LCD projector engine that uses three individual LCD chips to throw 100% of the RGB color signal at every frame, the company added. This is matched to a multi-array laser diode-based light source that the company promises won’t suffer from any rainbow effects or color brightness issues that plague other laser projectors. It all adds up to an “exceptional picture in virtually any environment”, including rooms splashed with ambient light.
Epson continued, saying the QB1000 delivers 4K UHD visuals at up to 300 inches, with a throw ratio of 1.35:1 to 2.84:1, and comes with features such as vertical and horizontal lens shift and keystone correction for easy set up, a powered focus and zoom, a 15-element glass lens and a refresh rate of 120Hz, making it a good option for console gaming.
There’s also a 32-bit QZX Picture Processor on board that enables 5,000,000:1 dynamic contrast, dynamic tone mapping, frame interpolation, resolution super-sampling and other capabilities, and all that is delivered in real time. In addition, there’s 10-bit HDR color processing to provide support for HDR10+ and HLG high dynamic range content
One thing that may disappoint buyers is the lack of any platform smarts, meaning no TV operating system. As such, you’ll need to plug in a media device through its HDMI 2.1 port that also supports enhanced Audio Return. The interface panel at the rear also comes with USB Type-A and Ethernet LAN connections. Notably, there’s no built-in speaker, and the power is delivered only by the mains, which seriously complicates those hoping for portability.
As for the Epson QL3000 and QL7000, these come with more or less the same specifications, with the main difference being that they’re significantly brighter, at 6,000 and 10,000 lumens, respectively. They also support the ability to add an ultra-short throw lens. This will allow for the projector to be installed close up to a screen in a cabinet or ceiling rather than requiring a long throw distance to project large-scale images.
These additional features come with a hefty price bump though, with the QL3000 starting at $14,999, and the QL7000 set to cost a cool $29,999. That said, the latter model is still significantly more affordable than other projectors that can hit that illustrious illuminatory heights of 10,000 lumens, such as the Sony VPL-GTZ380, which costs a wallet-busting $80,000 to buy.
The Epson QB1000 will go on sale in September, with the QL3000 and QL7000 set to arrive one month later. All three models will be offered in a choice of black and white colors.
