Epson Home Cinema 3010 Home Theater Projector Review-2

Split Screen viewing

The Home Cinema 3010 lets you select two different sources and put them up side by side, either with both images the same size, or the one you designate, to be larger than the other (about 2:1).

Here’s the catch (a standard one). You can’t feed it two different HDMI sources, because there is, as is typical, only 1 HDMI circuit in the projector (shared by two inputs). That means you will need a second source, and if you want hi-res there, you are looking at either component video or analog computer signals. Just pointing all this out to you. It’s no sweat if you aren’t mounting the projector and have a temporary setup. It’s always easy to run another wire as long as they are outside of walls. If you are wiring, though, and not sure, add a component video, analog computer, or a pair of USB cables (the analog computer also carries component, so the most flexible).

Home Cinema 3010e WirelessHD

This is a feature found only on the Home Cinema 3010e, and is discussed in a separate page about the 3010e. The short version though is that the Epson can receive wireless HD signals from the transmitter that is included. Place the transmitter by your (HDMI) equipment, and you don’t need to run an HDMI cable to your Epson projector. Very cool, and for those who have older theaters without HDMI wiring, a potential huge cost saver.

Home Cinema 3010 Projector 3D

I really like 3D on this Epson projector. This is only the 2nd 3D capable projector I’ve had in, that really has a respectable amount of brightness for doing 3D nicely, on nice sized screens, such as 100″ or 110″ diagonal. The other was the recently reviewed Optoma GT750, which is a low cost, and lower resolution (720p) gaming projector.

Before I say more, the Home Cinema 3010 comes with two pair of lightweight active glasses. They are pretty comfortable over my regular glasses, and no sharpish edges like I sometime notice on some other glasses. Unlike some other newer 3D projectors, whose glasses have rechargeable batteries, the Epson runs on long life lithiums.

This Epson projector is bright enough! 3D looks very good, no complaints. I may be rainbow sensitive, but on 3D I notice less than many others do, in terms of crosstalk, etc. Crosstalk isn’t as clean as a DLP projector. Both DLP Optoma’s we’ve reviewed with 3D were a little cleaner. For me, though, definitely close enough. The extra brightness of the Epson, for me, is a much bigger advantage. I should note that Optoma’s glasses/ and 3D configuration seem to pass a higher percentage of light to your eye, but, it’s still no contest. The Epson in 3D dynamic is simply noticeably brighter than the best the HD33 can do, and that’s a huge advantage.

I hear talk about some folks being fatigued by active glasses 3D systems, but I can watch for hours and hours, so I have no way of judging. I hope that such fatigue is no more common than the rainbow effect, in which case, most folks don’t have to worry about it at all.

I watched a great deal of 3D. Not the least of which was a good amount of today’s live ESPN 3D broadcast of Cal vs. Oregon football. Brilliant. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I did switch back to 2D, because I really can’t be writing this with those glasses on. I most certainly enjoyed the game more in 3D!

No problem with any types of 3D in my collection. Blu-ray 3D, ESPN 3D, N3D, and 3net channels. As to gaming, I’ll leave that to my gaming bloggers. The Epson should work well with the various consoles for 3D, so that means we’ll give Pete a crack at it first.

Sharpness looks great in 3D on Blu-ray 3D, but on most of the DirecTV content, the image is softer. In some cases the source material may be 720p, not 1080, but I believe its a sacrifice being made for bandwidth, as only Blu-ray 3D uses frame packing, to output two frames in the space of one, to keep resolution up.

Color accuracy – looks pretty good. As with most 3D the image seems to have more saturation than 2D. Skies are sometimes a touch too intense. Of course you can always turn down the color saturation.

The dynamic iris is not available in 3D mode.

Bottom line on 3D: This projector is not only a fine 2D projector, but it’s a great little 3D projector. With almost all other 3D capable projectors I’ve looked at so far, I’ve been saying – buy it for 2D, because 3D is good enough to play with, but not bright enough to keep you happy for years. (Unless you have a small screen, or high power screen.)