Epson Pro Cinema 4050 Announced at CEDIA 2018 Posted on September 6, 2018 By Nikki Zelinger Day One of CEDIA 2018 has seen exciting new announcements from the most revered manufacturers, with projector fans hungry for the latest information on new models being offered. At the Epson Booth (#5734), they have unveiled the Epson Pro Cinema 4050, a 4K PRO-UHD projector using Epson’s new, proprietary 3LCD chip. I am personally a huge fan of Epson’s 3LCD chip in the Home Cinema 5040UB, a 4K capable 1080p pixel shifter, but that chip is now “old news.” The PRO-UHD 3LCD chip promises improved pixel shifting, enhancing the resolution even further than what the 5040UB is capable of. Before you ask – no, the Pro Cinema 4050 is not replacing the HC5040UB, but rather, is expanding on Epson’s already-impressive lineup of 4K capable projectors. The New PRO-UHD 3LCD Chip In many a review, Art and I have written about the advantages of 3LCD projectors over those with DLP technology. 3LCD projectors use three LCD panels – one for red, green, and blue – to reproduce the full color spectrum, rather than a color wheel, which is what is found in DLP projectors. Why does that matter? Two reasons. The first is that, with color wheels, one may see “The Rainbow Effect” if the color wheel isn’t fast enough. The Rainbow Effect produces rainbow colors across the screen, particularly when there’s a lot of movement in a scene, or when tilting your head from left to right. Only a small percentage of people are RBE sensitive, however, so there’s a good chance that, if you’re not, you may know someone who is. For example, Art is rainbow sensitive, my brother is too, and I am occasionally – usually only when the color wheel is super slow, like a x2. The second reason someone may want to opt for a projector with 3LCD technology over DLP has to do with lumens – brightness. A projector like the new Epson Pro Cinema 4050, which has 2,400 lumens, will have 2,400 white lumens and 2,400 color lumens. That means that the colors will be bright, vibrant, and will outshine a DLP projector with the same lumen count. The new Epson 4K PRO-UHD technology “features an advanced, high-performance optical engine that generates high color brightness and white brightness, color accuracy, and dramatic contrast with HDR10,” according to Epson’s press release. It offers state of the art pixel shifting, which will translate to an overall sharper image, and I think we can all get behind that, can’t we? The Epson Pro Cinema 4050 Aside from the new chip, the Epson Pro Cinema 4050 offers other special features to get excited about. As mentioned, it boasts 2,400 lumens, which is enough brightness for living rooms with decent control over ambient light, and, of course, dedicated home theaters. Epson claims it can reproduce 100% of the P3/BT.2020 color space – a feat that, thus far, has been only nearly-attainable for 4K capable projectors. We’ll see if the PC4050 does, in fact, reproduce the entire expanded color space, when we get it in for calibration. I believe Art will want to review this guy! Speaking of those 4K features, it supports HDR10, with compatible Blu-ray UHD players and 4K game consoles, when paired with 4K content. HDR gives that extra “pop and wow” factor to 4K content that supports it, and if the projector truly does reach 100% of P3/BT.2020, these elements, combined with the new 3LCD chip, should yield a picture with some exceedingly gorgeous color and quality. The Epson Pro Cinema 4050 has a high contrast ratio of 200,000:1, and boasts a low Delta E for accurate color reproduction – something that will make our calibrator, Eric, quite happy. For those of you who don’t know, Delta E is a metric for understanding how the human eye perceives color difference. The term delta comes from mathematics, meaning “change in a variable or function.” The suffix E references the German word Empfindung, which broadly means “sensation.” Simply put, look at Delta E as a measure of grayscale/color accuracy. The PC4050 has CFI – Creative Frame Interpolation – a major plus for sports fans! It also features Epson’s Advanced Projection Lens – a 15-element glass projection lens that displays a bright image across the entire screen, with no hot spots. The projector comes with the Pro Cinema Kit, which includes a three-year limited warranty with 90-days on the lamp and free two-business-day exchange with Extra Care Home Service, a ceiling mount, cable cover, and an extra lamp. It is available for $2,399 through CEDIA dealers and Magnolia – if you’re at CEDIA 2018, pop by the Epson Booth (#5734) for a demo! Related Reading 2018 Best Home Theater Projector Report JVC DLA-N5 DLA-N7 and DLA-NX9 Launch at CEDIA 2018 Epson Home Cinema 5040UB, Pro Cinema 6040UB Home Theater Projector Review
