The PowerLite® series Epson 8100UB and Epson 8500UB were announced in early September 2009 at CEDIA. The arrival of the 8500UB is been eagerly anticipated and, especially, enthusiasts want to know how it stacks up to the Panasonic AE4000U. Epson is firmly in the LCD technology camp and have launched products that are market leaders.

Both these projectors are based on 3LCD™ and provides a viewer an excellent image quality for an outstanding home theater experience.  The 3LCD projectors use an advanced, three-chip optical engine for brilliant color and image quality. Notable features common to both are very low fan noise, preset color modes, higher lamp efficiency and up to 4000 hours of lamp life, depending on usage modes. Additionally, they have numerous inputs; 2 HDMI 1.3a inputs with Deep Color support, high definition component video input, S-video input, composite video input, and VGA-type RGB input

The Home Cinema 8100UB reaches a 36,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and has a brightness of 1800 Lumens. It is shipping now and has a street price under $1500. This price compares favorably to the Mitsubishi HC3800. The Home Cinema 8500UB has a contract ration of 200,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and brightness of 1600 Lumens. It is slated to ship towards the end of November 2009 and has an estimated initial street price about $2300. The Panasonic AE4000U which it goes head to head with is $300 cheaper. So, which one is better? The jury is out since they are very close and it depends on your personal preferences. Research them both and buy the one that fits your requirements. If it is a decision based on price, buy the Panasonic AE4000U. It is cheaper and comparable.

To summarize, both the Epson 8100UB and 8500UB are great projectors at their individual price points and are on par or better than their competitors.

 Mail this post

Technorati Tags: , ,

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!