Posted on November 12, 2013 By Art Feierman
EPSON PRO CINEMA 4030 PROJECTOR: Just a small step down in performance from the 5030UB and 6030UB, the 4030 is an excellent value, comes with spare lamp, ceiling mount and two pair of 3D glasses
The Pro Cinema 4030 Projector plugs into Epson’s home theater projector lineup extremely nicely. Officially the Pro Cinema 4030 replaces the older 9350, which was a 2D only projector, and not as bright, for starters.
From a pricing standpoint, I consider the Epson Pro Cinema 4030 to be selling for about a net of $2000. That is to say, you’ll pay $2499 from your local, trained Epson dealer, but you will receive a spare lamp, ceiling mount, two pair of 3D glasses, and a year more warranty than Epson provides on their projectors that sell online. What is unusual is there is no direct equivalent projector in the Home Cinema lineup, with Epson keeping the Home Cinema 8350 for at least a while longer.
There are a number of small feature differences between the 4030 and 6030 UB, and the noticeably better blacks that favor the “UB”. That and about $1000 price difference. Folks I’ll tell you right now, if the budget is tight, the PC4030 saves a lot of money, while still offering performance closer to the PC6030 UB than the older 9350.
All Epson projectors to date are LCD projectors (they manufacture almost all of the world’s poly-si LCD panels which “power” all LCD projectors), which go by the 3LCD moniker (Much as DMD projectors are called DLP). Epson has doubled the contrast as one big improvement. Based on viewing this projector, rather than drawing our conclusions on the contrast numbers (which are often misleading), this Epson, unlike the projector it replaces, qualifies as an ultra high contrast projector. That is to say, it offers up some pretty impressive black levels, for rich dark scenes.
The 4030 offers tremendous placement flexibility something we’ll discuss later.
This really wasn’t difficult, you get a lot of projector for the money if you go with Epson’s Pro Cinema 4030. For a projector in its price, it’s one of the brightest projectors, has very good 3D, lots of assorted features and a fine image quality that really is not far behind the $1000 more expensive 6030 UB. And you get a best in industry warranty and support package.
There’s some good competition out there, that might even suit some of you better, but the the Pro Cinema 4030 would seem to be an excellent value. A “local dealer only” projector that can slug it out, value wise with the best of those sold online.
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