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Epson Home Cinema 3700 Projector Review – Special Features 2

Posted on February 14, 2017 By Art Feierman

Home Cinema 3700 Projector Review – Special Features page 2:  MHL on HDMI, Optional Wireless module, Picture in Picture, Gaming Input Lag and Fast/Fine

MHL on HDMI 2

Break out that streaming stick and start streaming movies, using the MHL capable HDMI 2 port.  Or, you can use it to interface with a wide range of MHL capable devices including many smartphones, tablets, and other gear.

MHL has now been around for about four years, and is pretty much a standard feature on home projectors.  There are some other streaming devices that would be compatible other than that they need power (typically USB)  This Epson has a 1 amp (1000MA) USB type input which can be used to power some of those devices.

Optional Wireless Module

Epson offers the same $99 wireless module as an option for almost all of their projectors, from a few hundred dollars to over $20,000.

Just plug it in to the USB port and configure it.  We’re talking normal Local Area Networking (LAN) type configuration (think your home Wi-Fi).

Epson also offers iProjection – their iOS or Android App, which offers peer to peer, so that you should be able to stream images, video, or other content directly from your laptop, PC, etc.

Picture In Picture

Epson’s Picture In Picture allows two live images at once, both need to be from HDMI sources.  There’s the “In” picture which comes in two sizes – small, and very small.  You can swap the large image for the small image, and you can configure the smaller picture to be in any of the four corners.

HC6040UB_PC6040UB_PIP_subscreen-position
The smaller picture is in the upper right. The P-In-P menu is shown in the lower left

 

Gaming Input Lag - and Fast / Fine Modes

This new series of Epson projectors are as good or better for gaming than any previous models.  Input lag, using my Leo Bodnar input lag measurement device) shows input lag to be approximately 29.3 milliseconds.  That’s rather good, and enough to satisfy all but the most hard core high speed gamers.

Of course ideal is 0, but this number indicates that with 30fps content, the Epson’s projected image is a touch less than 1 frame behind real time, or almost 2 frames behind with 60 fps content.

We consider 50ms to be just acceptable.  Few projectors other than those targeting the gaming market, do better than the 30ms range, and most of those are around 16 (1 frame back on 60 fps content.  If you you are a serious gamer and haven’t sprung for a high performance PC and an expensive gaming monitor, this Epson will probably serve you just fine.

In the past, Epson’s menu choice for Fast / Fine, was critical for lower input lag, but not with this model.  Fast reduces the color palette to 8 bit max (truth is, even Blu-ray content, capable of 10 bit, is almost always 8 bit).  A more practical aspect since it no longer affects input lag, is that Picture in Picture will not work in Fast mode.

Epson Home Cinema 3700 Projector Review – Special Features
Epson Home Cinema 3700 Projector Review – Hardware Tour