Anyone got the Epson 9400W projector?

[3t3P]

Got a lockdown itch to change my projector (HW 40es) but am still impressed by the filmic quality this projector produces, contrast levels, low noise, colour accuracy and excellent motion handling.

I'll get a PS5 at some point so UHD/4K streaming, gaming and UHD Blu-ray disc content will be used in time.

I'd love to stay with Sony and get the 270ES, gutted it wasn't updated like the more expensive 570ES/590ES model this year.

The Epson gets lauded as an excellent projector at it's price. I've generally read black levels are less than that of LCOS/SXRD projectors ala SONY/JVC, but did read one magazine reviewer say black levels bested his 270ES.

I'm not especially concerned about native 4K vs shifted, even at 113'' diagonal sat 11ft away, I think colour, contrast, motion handling will be more noticeable than resolution if say you compared a 270ES vs the 9400W.

My concern is shifting noise with the 9400W, some can hear it come can't.

Other concern is when it comes to using a PS5, is a native 4k PJ going to look a lot better than a shifted one? People have seemingly said yes when it comes to gaming, native 4k is more noticeable than film content.

Then there's the train of thought to get an Epson at £2500 and in a few years when PJ's have moved on I could buy again at that price point if I wanted to, rather than dropping ~£5k on the Sony now and having to keep it far longer but gradually see it go out of date (e.g HDMI 2.1).

I could buy twice and gain from generational improvements across the board rather than be stuck with one machine.

My heart wants the Sony but logic and wallet! say to give the Epson a chance.

Any thoughts/feelings appreciated.

 

[aoaaron]

Got a lockdown itch to change my projector (HW 40es) but am still impressed by the filmic quality this projector produces, contrast levels, low noise, colour accuracy and excellent motion handling.

I'll get a PS5 at some point so UHD/4K streaming, gaming and UHD Blu-ray disc content will be used in time.

I'd love to stay with Sony and get the 270ES, gutted it wasn't updated like the more expensive 570ES/590ES model this year.

The Epson gets lauded as an excellent projector at it's price. I've generally read black levels are less than that of LCOS/SXRD projectors ala SONY/JVC, but did read one magazine reviewer say black levels bested his 270ES.

I'm not especially concerned about native 4K vs shifted, even at 113'' diagonal sat 11ft away, I think colour, contrast, motion handling will be more noticeable than resolution if say you compared a 270ES vs the 9400W.

My concern is shifting noise with the 9400W, some can hear it come can't.

Other concern is when it comes to using a PS5, is a native 4k PJ going to look a lot better than a shifted one? People have seemingly said yes when it comes to gaming, native 4k is more noticeable than film content.

Then there's the train of thought to get an Epson at £2500 and in a few years when PJ's have moved on I could buy again at that price point if I wanted to, rather than dropping ~£5k on the Sony now and having to keep it far longer but gradually see it go out of date (e.g HDMI 2.1).

I could buy twice and gain from generational improvements across the board rather than be stuck with one machine.

My heart wants the Sony but logic and wallet! say to give the Epson a chance.

Any thoughts/feelings appreciated.

Hey, if you go for Sony, go for their laser projectors.
If you’re going for a bulb based high end projector, go for JVC.

I’ve owned the Epson 9400 (and a HW40ES) and it is fantastic. Its black levels are about the same as the HW40Es but its perceived contrast and black levels alongside colour volume and brightness are higher than the Sony HW40 by far, as in they are in a different class. Maybe 2-3 tiers above and not really a fair fight.

Sony in the PJ world are behind the times. The truth is their projectors are too dim, don’t match JVC’s black levels, don’t match Epson’s fantastic value and only have their motion processing as the trump card for their bulb based machines.


You probably won’t believe me but the HW40 in a dark room was like a really nice filmic projector. The Epson was felt like a gigantic plasma/flat panel TV.. its that good. The colour filter is also great for HDR stuff. It cuts brightness by about half but it allows for a wider colour gamut and you can see the effect. 3D wise its great too, HW40 was always way too dim for 3D.

Cons of the Epson are... well nothing at its price point. I’d only go for a Sony Lazer or a JVC NX5/7/9 over an Epson 9400.

It has premium features such as electronic lens cover, vertical and horizontal lens shift, 3D, placement flexibility, great OS. Its Achilles heel is that a) its contrast is simply not as good as JVC 2) its black level simply aren’t as good as JVC... which isn’t a problem as JVC cheapest projector is 3x the price of Epson... but the 4) which is an issue is no dynamic tone mapping for HDR content. This is an issue IMO.

For some it isn’t but I think HDR content should be dynamically tone mapped on PJs.

 

[aoaaron]

Got a lockdown itch to change my projector (HW 40es) but am still impressed by the filmic quality this projector produces, contrast levels, low noise, colour accuracy and excellent motion handling.

I'll get a PS5 at some point so UHD/4K streaming, gaming and UHD Blu-ray disc content will be used in time.

I'd love to stay with Sony and get the 270ES, gutted it wasn't updated like the more expensive 570ES/590ES model this year.

The Epson gets lauded as an excellent projector at it's price. I've generally read black levels are less than that of LCOS/SXRD projectors ala SONY/JVC, but did read one magazine reviewer say black levels bested his 270ES.

I'm not especially concerned about native 4K vs shifted, even at 113'' diagonal sat 11ft away, I think colour, contrast, motion handling will be more noticeable than resolution if say you compared a 270ES vs the 9400W.

My concern is shifting noise with the 9400W, some can hear it come can't.

Other concern is when it comes to using a PS5, is a native 4k PJ going to look a lot better than a shifted one? People have seemingly said yes when it comes to gaming, native 4k is more noticeable than film content.

Then there's the train of thought to get an Epson at £2500 and in a few years when PJ's have moved on I could buy again at that price point if I wanted to, rather than dropping ~£5k on the Sony now and having to keep it far longer but gradually see it go out of date (e.g HDMI 2.1).

I could buy twice and gain from generational improvements across the board rather than be stuck with one machine.

My heart wants the Sony but logic and wallet! say to give the Epson a chance.

Any thoughts/feelings appreciated.

4K vs E shift there is a difference but I don’t think you will notice it unless you have a native 4K side by side.

In my opinion your question should be JVC NX5/NX7 vs Epson 9400. That is a tough question. Epson 9400 vs Sony is an easy one unless ur going lazer.

 

[3t3P]

4K vs E shift there is a difference but I don’t think you will notice it unless you have a native 4K side by side.

In my opinion your question should be JVC NX5/NX7 vs Epson 9400. That is a tough question. Epson 9400 vs Sony is an easy one unless ur going lazer.

Thanks some great insights there. I have read something similar regarding black floor being the same but perceived contrast better.

There are times id take a bit more brightness but I can light control my lounge.

We rarely watch 3D but have a few times and it's ok even with the grey screen.

I am sensitive to motion, hence why I can't go DLP for all the rainbows. If Sony arbitrarily was 100% for motion where would you say the Epson falls?

Can you hear the Epson when it is shifting?

There was a chap on a forum, he took his 9400 to his mate for a shootout against his Sony 4k. They both preferred the Epson.

Epson still seem a few years away from consumer native 4k, so don't think it's worth holding out for that.

Could I overcome DTM by seeing if PS5 has it or a Panasonic Blu ray player?

What are fan noise levels like from the Epson in all modes?

Ta

 

[aoaaron]

Thanks some great insights there. I have read something similar regarding black floor being the same but perceived contrast better.

There are times id take a bit more brightness but I can light control my lounge.

We rarely watch 3D but have a few times and it's ok even with the grey screen.

I am sensitive to motion, hence why I can't go DLP for all the rainbows. If Sony arbitrarily was 100% for motion where would you say the Epson falls?

Can you hear the Epson when it is shifting?

There was a chap on a forum, he took his 9400 to his mate for a shootout against his Sony 4k. They both preferred the Epson.

Epson still seem a few years away from consumer native 4k, so don't think it's worth holding out for that.

Could I overcome DTM by seeing if PS5 has it or a Panasonic Blu ray player?

What are fan noise levels like from the Epson in all modes?

Ta

I would not be thinking about the Sony. The Epson is better than the Sony in any environment which isn’t a bat cave.
Motion on Sony is better. Difficult to quantify. The number I give you will be arbitrary.
Fan noise, the Sony is quieter but the Epson is quiet enough on medium and low lamp modes, which will blow the Sony of out of the water brightness wise. Loud lamp mode IMO is un-usable on Epson and just there for show. Shifting noise is not a gigantic issue at all. I would say Epson on quiet mode is a little more quiet or the same as Sony on medium or high lamp.. and the Sony in those modes does not touch the Epson's light output.

I have no doubt that the Epson would blow the Sony out of the water for 95% of users. If you're not in a batcave, I would not suggest Sony. Drawing your curtains simply isn't enough; the image is still going to be too dim and a lot of reflected light lost unless batcaving.

You will realise when you buy the Epson what I mean by all of this.

No. DTM is dynamic tone mapping; a scene by scene processing of HDR material. Epson is still okay with HDR. It has a HDR slider and you adjust it to taste/shadow detail. Generally, I stayed on HDR 4 setting. BUT the JVCs are a tier above in that they dynamically tone map every single frame so that it takes full advantage of the gigantic contrast ratio of the JVC.

If you don't go Epson, JVC is the natural superior technology to it. I like Sony for the small form factor (compared to JVC) and good motion but its black levels, contrast, colours, brightness which subsequently massively effect 3D and HDR material makes me unable to reccomend them nowadays. Its sad as they were kings back in the day when they released HW40 but JVC have just gone a few levels above them now.


Except if you got to Lazer range because Lazer has its advantages.

 

[3t3P]

Spoke to my dealer about 270ES Vs TW9400 yesterday for my needs he let me come to the conclusion of the Epson.

One nail in the coffin for the Sony was High lamp.mode being louder than my generations high lamp mode which he correctly said is liveable. The 270Es is fair amount louder and to get the lumens in high mode would likely be too distracting.

Then money talks of course! So much cheaper. I'll be getting the UB820 player from him too for HDR goodness.

 

[aoaaron]

Spoke to my dealer about 270ES Vs TW9400 yesterday for my needs he let me come to the conclusion of the Epson.

One nail in the coffin for the Sony was High lamp.mode being louder than my generations high lamp mode which he correctly said is liveable. The 270Es is fair amount louder and to get the lumens in high mode would likely be too distracting.

Then money talks of course! So much cheaper. I'll be getting the UB820 player from him too for HDR goodness.

Epson 9400 is a no brainer for £2500. IMO it is superior to Sony, simply because of the Sony lumen output being pathetic. Sony excel at clarity and motion. It will be better in clarity for video games and motion for films but the brightness is a big negative.

I went for 9300 for £1000 just because I would rather buy the Epson 9500 next year with the £1500 saving.

I had an 9400 and it is an amazing machine for films and TV shows but partly returned it due to the limitation with gaming. Howver I found we are calender wise surely getting closer to a refresh in projectors too and found this isn't the best time to be buying a projecto new for full RRP (£2300).

My only warning is I found 9400 sucks for gaming. RDR2 and TLOU2 looked a thousand times better on my OLED and actually looked really bad on the Epson. The 4K Eshift works miracles on films and TV shows but not games. The HDR is also bad for video games because HDR video games we know are mastered to stupid nit values which the slider can't easily compensate for.

If you can get a second hand 9300 with warranty, I would go for that instead. Pocket the £1400 and put it towards JVC NX fund or a Epson 9500 fund for next year. Or put the £1400 towards an OLED Fund as 77'' OLED is going to reach £3k soon.




Sorry if my advice throws spanner in the works I'm sure 9400 is going to be amazing anyway. I just like to be honest with the findings I've had and experience with the PJs.

 

[3t3P]

I was worried about 9500, we haven't had an announcement this autumn this year when it would normally be released

I have enjoyed games with my current Sony, very clear as you say even in spiderman flying through the city.

Are you talking about lack of clarity when feeding the Epson UHD/4K? Would it be any different/better being fed 1080p? The new consoles don't really properly output 4k so i'd likely run them in perf mode anyway for higher FPS.

Don't know what to do. I want to avoid what happened when I bought 40ES, few months later 45ES came out. Though in real terms only bulb life was extended as far as I know.

Question is what do EPSON do from here, my dealer thinks they may try to plug the laser PJ gap but for £6-7k but not be native 4K. He didn't think they'd do BOTH 4k and laser at the same time. And laser is just a light source at the end of the day, I don't care too much where the light comes from. Epson bulbs are also cheap.

 

[pioneer2000]

Is the TW9400 that bad for resolution when gaming? I was considering replacing my UHD300X as it’s started to go wrong but if it’s going to be noticeable less sharp then not sure what to do.

 

[aoaaron]

I was worried about 9500, we haven't had an announcement this autumn this year when it would normally be released

I have enjoyed games with my current Sony, very clear as you say even in spiderman flying through the city.

Are you talking about lack of clarity when feeding the Epson UHD/4K? Would it be any different/better being fed 1080p? The new consoles don't really properly output 4k so i'd likely run them in perf mode anyway for higher FPS.

Don't know what to do. I want to avoid what happened when I bought 40ES, few months later 45ES came out. Though in real terms only bulb life was extended as far as I know.

Question is what do EPSON do from here, my dealer thinks they may try to plug the laser PJ gap but for £6-7k but not be native 4K. He didn't think they'd do BOTH 4k and laser at the same time. And laser is just a light source at the end of the day, I don't care too much where the light comes from. Epson bulbs are also cheap.

I think we will have the 9500 by June next year.

Epson is crystal clear for UHD Bluray and TV shows. Video games I will say it looks more like 1440p with certain videogames. Don't get me wrong, it still looks REALLY good for the average joe, but for enthusiasts who might know absolute blacks or HDR, the tone mapping falls apart in those games because the videogames are mastered in such a weird lazy, stupid, incompetent way for HDR (in the early days, video game developers were mapping highlights to 20,000 nits...) so without DTM, the PJ can only do so much.

Yes, your 40ES -> 45ES issue is real. I think the 9500 will come out but probably around mid-next year. I would personally advise you to find a second hand Epson 9300. Any Epson 9300 in the UK will have 5 years warranty on the PJ and bulb (even if the owner doesn't know it). Its serial number based. If you want to sell a 9300, you'll get what you paid for it whilst 9400, once the new one is announced, you'll take a meaty loss. Also its annoying the PJ has been out for 18+ months and still the same price as it was back then. I actually enquied about a 9400 and RS quoted me MORE than they sold it to me 8 months ago.




On the future for Epson, there is a very real chance that Epson instead just start a laser war and smack down a competitive native 4K laser PJ but if they charge £6-7k for it, they will get no one buying it. Who is going to buy that over an JVC N5 or N7? Sure Laser has its perks (no flicker, extremely long bulb life, no light drop off so no need to recalibrate, quick on/off) but it won't compete or come close to the contrast of a JVC projector which will in that case be cheaper or the same price. The smarter move will be a BUDGET laser model at 2-4k. Can this be done? Well.. yes it can as Optoma and the DLP brands have shown. Yes it can. But can Epson go native 4K, DTM, imrpove contrast AND laser without bumping up the price a lot? I doubt it

If Epson do try and start a high-end laser race, the only brand they're competing with is Sony in a very small market. JVC can just price drop the N5 and N7 and pick up ALL the sales because no one in their right mind is getting an Epson projector instead of a native 4K JVC with the best tone mapping in the world.

Also their Epson 9400 without dynamic tone mapping and a native 4K lens is just.. a projector at a great price point but full of compromise. It feels dated, having to move the HDR slider to adjust the highlights. I feel like an early adopter using it.. but we're now a couple of years into 4K/HDR and the Epson Pjs are the only device where you need to do this for HDR. If one of the lesser DLP brands bring out a laser DLP with DTM, they risk losing 9400 sales. Likewise if JVC decide to drop down and bring out an N5 budget model with poorer build quality for 3-3.5k, Epson are in trouble again.

The smartest move for Epson is to release a native 4K 9500 with dynamic tone mapping, a brightness bump to 2700-2800 lumens and to REDUCE the light loss (nearly 50%) from using the HDR filter or even get rid of it altogether if they can afford to and release that for around £3k with a free bulb.

If they go laser or don't.. it doesn't solve the big issues with the 9400 which are no dynamic tone mapping (which affects films and games) and no native 4K (e-shift is good, its great, but its not 4K, elements ARE over sharpened and its just not an as natural pleasing image to the eye.. its easy to pass the illusion in films which are normally only 2K DI or sometimes even 1080p but as us gamers know.. video game's can't be easily improved with a sharpening filter beyond a very low intensity one.. resolution is resolution).




So in my opinion, given you already got stung with the HW40-HW45ES debacle, I would try to be sensible and source a 9300 for a very reasonable price with the warranty intact. Your other optin is a second hand JVC X5000+ model BUT they are overpriced at the moment on the second hand market and the warranty and service repair from JVC for transferred warranties (or even bought warranties) is terrible. Even the biggest JVC fans don't defend htem.

 

[aoaaron]

Sorry for the essay.

Also I take it for tone mapping, you will be watching your content or can watch most of your content on a PC. If so, use MADVR and download the beta update for it. Then enable dynamic tone mapping and you'll get tone mapping BETTER than JVC on your Epson (whether you go 9300 or 9400). This makes the HDR slider on the 9400 pointless as the MADVR PC will do everything for you.

Streamed HDR content, you are stuck but I would just find physical or remotely accessible versions of the material.

For videogames, we are stuck on Epson projectors. Some games HDR will map nicely but some will simply not and you will be playing with the slider forever trying to find a good image. I did this with TLOU2 for AGES. The snow scene looked like evening. I switched to LG OLED 77'' I use as a reference monitor and the scenes were night and day different. My friend took a pic of it on his JVC N7 and the tone mapping was similar to my OLED.. so we knew who the odd one out was.


Anyway.. thats just my friendly advice. I think if you were buying a year ago, I would say 9400 but we are close to a refresh of projectors. God knows when due to COVID, could be May, could be September time but I don't feel it is that far away. And most importantly I hate paying full launch RRP for a device which is now old. I feel like a chump doing it.


If you do want an easy PJ and not obsessed with having latest and greatest, get 9400.

But for me this is the logic:

9300 = £1000
9400 = £2400

Scenario 1: Buy 9400, Epson release 9500. Cry or sell 9400 for big loss and trade up to 9500.
Scenario 2: Buy 9300, pocket £1400 saving. Epson release 9400. Sell 9300 for what you paid for it (depreciation is already applied, maybe lose £100 or even gain money). Buy 9500.
Scenario 3: Buy 9300. Pocket £1400. Save another £1000. Buy 9500, have 2 projectors

The pocketed £1400 I think is useful for putting towards another device. I'm personally putting it towards the secret JVC fund.

 

[3t3P]

I like the essays don't worry. It's hard to find actual constructive user opinion that isn't 'this PJ is totally amazeballs with no cons' !

I don't have PC in my lounge, I've heard of MADAVR for HDR tone mapping but no access to it.

Re the 9300, I don't plan to change PJs like that, although selling them is certainly a good idea. I also can't find that model in stock anywhere.

I know what you mean buying a model near it becoming EOL, covid is certainly going to have and still be delaying engineering meetings and construction for all electronics. It's a safe bet of course that an equivalent 9500 prototype is sitting on a lab bench somewhere

I wish I could just demo but my dealer is far from me and ofc COVID19.

In the states the N5 is often bought below RRP, being only a grand or so more than a 9400.

I appreciate projectors are more complex mechanically than TVs and made/sold in less numbers.

Still it's frustrating to only have what we have now. I can afford a 270es or an N5 but it is financially 'unwise' for me to do this and I am not in a batcave but a light controlled room with a grey tab tensioned screen.

Know what, I ordered LOTR UHD of Warner Bros site direct as new customers get 10% off with WELCOME code.

I'm gonna get a UB820 and enjoy it downsampled to 1080p with Atmos sound. In fact may get the greatest showman too as only way to get Atmos mix is with the UHD discs (hate saying 4k when it's not).

 

[aoaaron]

I like the essays don't worry. It's hard to find actual constructive user opinion that isn't 'this PJ is totally amazeballs with no cons' !

I don't have PC in my lounge, I've heard of MADAVR for HDR tone mapping but no access to it.

Re the 9300, I don't plan to change PJs like that, although selling them is certainly a good idea. I also can't find that model in stock anywhere.

I know what you mean buying a model near it becoming EOL, covid is certainly going to have and still be delaying engineering meetings and construction for all electronics. It's a safe bet of course that an equivalent 9500 prototype is sitting on a lab bench somewhere

I wish I could just demo but my dealer is far from me and ofc COVID19.

In the states the N5 is often bought below RRP, being only a grand or so more than a 9400.

I appreciate projectors are more complex mechanically than TVs and made/sold in less numbers.

Still it's frustrating to only have what we have now. I can afford a 270es or an N5 but it is financially 'unwise' for me to do this and I am not in a batcave but a light controlled room with a grey tab tensioned screen.

Know what, I ordered LOTR UHD of Warner Bros site direct as new customers get 10% off with WELCOME code.

I'm gonna get a UB820 and enjoy it downsampled to 1080p with Atmos sound. In fact may get the greatest showman too as only way to get Atmos mix is with the UHD discs (hate saying 4k when it's not).

9300 would have to be used mate. I've actually just bought one used for £1000, 5 years warranty and bulb warranty. Phoned Epson up and they send me a NEW bulb which is scheduled to come tomorrow. Just keep an eye on ebay. Every single UK sold Epson with a serial number has warranty. Its as easy as logging onto chat, say what does or doesn't work and they pick it up the next day or send you a replacement part. Yes, the 9500 has to come out soon because the 9400 cannot be their flagship with no native 4K and no DTM in a world where HDR is now more common by the day.

I went for the 9300 because I'll be using MADVR DTM for all of my PJ film content and the main use case of this PJ will be 100'' 3D films, whilst my 77'' OLED holds the gaming and challenging HDR duties. Once I move house and can fit in my 110'' Draper React 3.0, I'll then move to JVC (or even the Epson 9500 because I'm blown away by their customer service and reliability).

You will be blown away my the 9400. Its amazing, just like the 9300 as they are essentially the same PJ but the 9400 as a HDR slider and 18GBPs which allows for 4K/60 for gaming.

The UK has got stuffed due to Brexit on JVC and projectors so we're going to live in an overpriced market for ages now Italy had a 20% sale on JVC projectors for Black Friday and their PJs were signifcantly less to consumers than what dealers pay for them.


I think the N5 is not a bad shout at all. Even in an untreated room, its going to look fantastic. If you can afford to buy an ALR screen too, it will mitigate a lot of the issues of your untreated room and give you a substantially better picture which will do the JVC maybe 70% justice, which is still going to be an amazing PQ.

I am personally going to upgrade to my 'big projector' when JVC renew their product range (probably around September 2021) because the N5/N7/N9 is a bit old now and I don't want to pay full RRP for a projector that old.

If you did want to go JVC, an italian company did a 20% black friday discount and might still honor the deal and you'll get an N7 for less than the price of you pay for an N5 in this country. I would snap that up in a heart beat because even if you sell it next year in the UK, you will still probably make money or break even-ish; even when JVC release their new line.


Also even if JVC release a new line, we have major supply issues in the UK due to [insert politics] so there is no guarantee of when you get it. I know there is a waiting list for a lot of my friends who have JVC N5s and N7s for their replacement models to come in (they've been waiting months) .. (I know that doesn't sound promising).

 

[aoaaron]

But if you can afford an N5 and don't mind potentially in a year it being outdated a bit (a year is a long time and JVC are assuring there isn't an immediate plan for replacement model), then shoot some emails over to Italy and they'll hook you up with an N5. It will be £4.3k + whatever your bank charges for euro conversion.

I am pretty certain the N5 successor in the UK will be around £6k anyway so its a real bargain.

The only reason I didn't go for it is
a) I can't fit it in my current room
b) I'm moving house so 4.3k leaving my bank balance is going to annoy a lot of people
c) I won't be able to use it to its full potential until June when construction work is finished for the new room
d) Its been out for a little while [but then again, its a very healthy discount which will NOT be available at launch for the JVC refresh.. whenever they decided to do it but not in the immediate future]

I'd say its actually a no brainer if you can afford it and want a PJ which will leave you with no compromises. There's not really much more you can want, even if they refresh the projectors outside of an unlikely laser and HDMI 2.1 (which is unlikely for PJs anyway).

 

[3t3P]

Using the UB820 I will have good HDR tone mapping yes? Or is dynamic mapping useful for all sources e.g. streaming?

The problem I think I and possibly others are facing is that 4-5 years ago when I got my first and only projector the Sony 40 es it was SO clear at that price that they wiped the floor with the competition. Now things have moved on in some ways and there are more enticing options at double /triple what I paid for my machine.

I could still sell the 9400 I suppose and keep abreast of the latest and greatest. Epson warranty is transferable?

 

[aoaaron]

Using the UB820 I will have good HDR tone mapping yes? Or is dynamic mapping useful for all sources e.g. streaming?

The problem I think I and possibly others are facing is that 4-5 years ago when I got my first and only projector the Sony 40 es it was SO clear at that price that they wiped the floor with the competition. Now things have moved on in some ways and there are more enticing options at double /triple what I paid for my machine.

I could still sell the 9400 I suppose and keep abreast of the latest and greatest. Epson warranty is transferable?

No. The Panasonic UB820 doesn't actually do dynamic tone mapping. Its more complex than that but the UB820 is better than nothing.
Yeah, you could buy an Epson 9400 and sell it. You'll lose about £600-800 if you do it before the 9500 is released. You'll probably lose a £1000 if the 9500 is put in place of the 9400. The issue is that if the 9500 has a native 4K lens and DTM (which it kind of has to), no on ein their right mind is going to look at the 9400 for a respectable price second hand. And heck, if they put a laser in it (I don't think they will) for the same price holder, then I don't think anyone will want a 9400 for more than 1200-1300 quid.

We're mid transition. JVC and Sony haven't come down to play at the mid-range levels yet. They'll come, but it doesn't look like they'll be coming anytime soon. There will that HW40ES moment but probably in 2 years time.

If you have the cash, you're better off buying a JVC N5. That'll be way easier to sell on if you get it at the 20% discount Italy rate and sell on in a years time and you'll lose hardly anything because they're basically an endangered species.

Also if epson release a PJ, it'll be ready and supply plentiful. If JVC do, we have 3-6 months waiting for them to actually ship the thing.

 

[Mr Big]

I have had the JVC N5 and the Epson 9400 side by side and me and the big lad who is a home cinema nut watched some content and to our eyes we could not tell the difference sitting a relative distance from the screen now the closer you move to the screen the more you can see the Epson is not quite up there with the JVC.



I myself are in the market for a new projector I have a 133’’ diagonal ALR screen 16.9 in a room which is 20’ x 23’ my thought was to buy the JVC N5 which I did then I jumped ship and cancelled that transaction as I just could not part with 5K on the JVC projector after looking at the projectors in the home cinema shop meaning how well the Epson looked I could not justify the 5K spend over the 2.5K Epson.



So I believe Epson are releasing something wonderful in 2021 near the end of the year autumn time which I have no doubt will be 4K whether it is bulb based or laser who knows but it is bound to shake up the home cinema projector market if they come in under 3K or even 3.5K to stay completive and Epson is known for being competitive now wouldn’t that be wonderful.

So I will wait another year it sounds along time but surprisingly it will Wizz by quite quickly knowing me I will want to upgrade so no point in throwing money away when we are so close to an updated Epson which is overdue by now. You can buy the Panasonic DP-UB9000, 4K Bluray palyer and set the tone mapping to output automatically to your Epson or whatever projector you ahve hooked up so the blu ray palyer does it for you saves you having to muck about witht he controls on the projector with each film, it is not ideal but better than nothing and surprisingly it works well at least we thought it did when we saw it in action it worked wonderfully well so much so I purchased one best thing I ever bought.

 

[3t3P]

Seems I am waiting and just running the HW40ES in high all the time for extra punch with the new bulb is helping as I have a grey screen. I may try putting the ND filter back on as it was originally calibrated for use with it for extra perceived contrast. It puts out fantastically realistic images, reminds me of a plasma TV without trailing behind the pixels which I can see.

Motion is just so good on the Sony, you can scroll netflix Icons left and right and nigh on but not quite read what they say. Fast SXRD pixels and motion flow working well together there.

I'm going to get a UB820 regardless and enjoy atmos and supersampling on UHD discs (can anyone say LOTR), I think it will be cool.

DTM is worth waiting for. All hell will break loose once Epson go Native 4k what will Sony and JVC then do?!

I am surprised in the times we live in that laser light sources are actually expensive to manufacture. I know they're different to the laser pen craze of 20+ years ago but still haha...

 

[aoaaron]

I'd just track down an Epson 9300.
It's virtually a 9400 without HDR at 4k/60 (which is for games, where the HDR tone mapping of Epson sucks) for £1000. It's also a little quieter.



At least if you buy that, you won't lose any money selling it on or kick yourself cos £1k is much less than £2.5k or £5k.

 

[3t3P]

I pay off my student loan in Dec/Jan. Will give me nice funds to get something pretty baller this time next year.

I've taken the calibration filter off the 40es (it was slightly red to allow more green/blue push when calibrated to get more brightness).

Honestly white looks white now and all colours still accurate. Did a chroma and hue test with the Disney WOW BD and the blue filter you hold up, everything spot on.

Now I see this projector is actually bright with a new bulb on my grey screen, it looks great. Just going to run in high lamp mode exclusively I think from now.