Posted on September 6, 2022 By Phil Jones
Improved 4K pixel shifting, HDR compatibility combined with high brightness provided by its laser light source makes the Home Cinema LS11000, which retails for $3999, an amazing value. The Home Cinema LS11000 provides a good balance of performance and value. It proves that a good projected image doesn’t have to be overly expensive. Just add a projection screen, and for under $5000 total, you can bring a compelling home theater experience to any room.
The projector’s ability to deliver a rated 2500 lumens ensures that HDR and SDR content looks good even in rooms with higher ambient light. While the blue laser phosphor light source delivers high brightness, the 3LCD panels used in the LS11000 produce better black levels than most DLP projectors and excellent shadow detail.
Epson’s proven pixel shifting technology has been improved to deliver more visible resolution than a standard 1080P 3LCD projector. A new Precision Shift Glass Plate is quicker, so the LS11000 can reproduce 8.3 million pixels on-screen, which is double that of older Epson pixel shifting Pro Cinema projectors like the award-winning 6050UB and LS10500. The pixel shifting is so fast it is difficult from a normal viewing distance to differentiate between a native 4K projector and the LS11000.
LS11000 has dual HDMI 2.1 (48Gbps), so it can accept 4K/120fps HDR content. It can also playback not only HDR10 and HLG but also HDR10+ so that you can enjoy both prerecorded and live HDR content.
The Home Cinema LS11000 motorized lens assembly offers focus, shift, and zoom, and its high-quality multi-element structure ensures a crisp, sharp on-screen image. It also includes lens memories, so picture position (zoom, shift, focus) can be adjusted based on the content aspect ratio at the touch of a button. Motorized lens memories are great if you view both letterboxed and 16:9 content on a widescreen.
This year Epson also introduced the Pro Cinema LS12000, which can deliver deeper blacks and higher dynamic contrast. While better black levels and higher contrast are beneficial in a darkened theater or room with lighting control in a family or game room, the difference in performance would be less noticeable. The LS12000 is also bundled with a ceiling installation kit that includes a ceiling mount and a cable cover. The LS12000 includes additional aspect ratio mode adjustments for compatibility with 3rd party anamorphic lenses. While the performance of the Pro Cinema LS12000 is outstanding, depending on your environment, it may not be worth the $1000 price premium over the LS11000.
The Epson Home Cinema LS11000 delivers great picture quality and includes most of the features that customers are looking for in a premium home theater but that desire a lower price than the competitive Sony and JVC native 4K models.
For example, you would have to spend nearly double the price of the laser light sourced equipped Epson LS11000 ($3999 SRP) for the bulb-based JVC DLA-RS1100 / NP5 ($6999 SRP). The NP5 is a native 4K projector that includes dynamic HDR tone mapping and has better native contrast, but the Epson LS11000 is 600 ANSI lumen brighter. If you want a JVC 4K DILA projector with a laser light source like the DLA-NZ7 /RS2100, you would have to pay $7000 more than the LS11000.
The Sony XW5000ES ($5999 SRP) is a laser-based native 4K SXRD projector, but it retails for $2000 more than the LS11000. The XW5000ES delivers better black levels and offers more precise HDR tone mapping but doesn’t have a motorized lens assembly.
Epson’s ultimate goal is to deliver the best bang for the buck, and I believe they succeeded, We were incredibly impressed with the LS12000, and I would be happy to have this projector as part of my personal media. Due to its performance and feature set, we highly recommend Epson Home Cinema LS11000 for anyone looking for a high-quality laser-based home theater projector for under $4000.
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