Epson Home Cinema 2040 1080p 3D 3LCD Home Theater Projector
The first projector I got was around $150. My friend actually gave me the idea to get one for my own house after she had set up an awesome movie night in her backyard for a birthday party. This ultimately lead me to get one for myself and look into the different brands on the market. By no means did either of us have a fancy high-quality projector at the time, but after having my first one for a year I was curious to see how I could take my home theater to the next level. When I was at Best Buy I found the one I’m reviewing in the article below. I had every intention of returning it because I was just dabbling with the idea of having a high-quality projector BUT I was so astounded by the quality it delivered that I knew it was too good to return. Check out the last part of this article if you’re looking for a thorough buying guide.
This is what I feel is the best projector on the market right now. The Epson Projector Home Cinema 240 1080p is hands down my number one rock star when it comes to how much it contributes to my home theater experience.
Specs
- White Brightness: 2200 Lumens
- Up to 7,500 hours (ECO mode) and up to 6000 hours (Normal mode). This is twice the average bulb length for other brands like BenQ
- * 3-year update: it’s still running strong with no deterioration in brightness or need to replace bulb*
- It even comes with its own speakers (that aren’t great by any means).
- You can easily resize or scale the image up or down depending on the screen.
- Can play videos from USB stock or wireless display.
- Still usable in the daytime to a significant extent- which means its forgiving to light pollution.
To dramatically increase the quality of this projector, be sure to get some blackout curtains to minimize light pollution!
Dynamic settings
- Ability to tilt the image up, down, left, right– giving you maximum flexibility as to where you can mount the projector in your room and maintain good image quality.
- HDMI ports as well as standard video cords on the back.It has two screws you can use to tilt the image by tilting the projector itself. On the front, you have an image size adjuster and lenses protector. This is especially useful for when you plan to have it outside for long periods of time.
- Comes with a remote that can adjust the same settings as on the projector itself
- Wireless display screen is exactly what you would think it to be. It connects easily and with any wireless monitor. There is a slight delay which shouldn’t surprise you. I’ve never utilized this feature but if you’re into it, it has it.
- 3D Compatibility
- Can mount it upside down on a ceiling like other high-quality models
- A useful trick for placing the projector on a shelf
- Once you have it sitting on the ideal position, use a sharpie to mark where on the shelf it best sits. Next time it gets bumped out of position, you’ll easily be able to tell where to best realign it.
Minimal Fan Noise
It is kept to a minimal level and while there is some, you will never find it to be an annoyance at all nor impeding to your viewing experience. If you find that the fan noise is too loud for any projector, it is because it is not ventilating heat well enough. The best solution to this is to make sure it can be mounted in a cool place in the room- ideally near an AC vent or just in a room that has AC. Mine is positioned on a shelf near the ceiling and I’ve noticed it gets the loudest during a hot summer afternoon (this is also because I don’t have AC flowing through). Most people that comment on the reviews about fan noise say that it’s virtually silent when they have it next to an AC vent. Even on the hottest summer days, the loudest it goes is still a white noise hum and you pretty much forget about it once the speakers are playing sound.
If you want to dramatically decrease the fan noise without doing anything else to help it vent, just turn it on Eco Mode. Epson generally makes projectors that are brighter than other models- which is a good thing. It’s built with enough Lumens (measurement of brightness) to look good even in Eco Mode. If you see anyone else online complaining about how the fan is too loud, it’s probably because it’s in a room/position that’s too hot or doesn’t ventilate well.
Fantastic Image Quality
I was genuinely amazed by how good this thing looked the first time I powered it up. The images look sharp and it can display some killer color contrast. The first thing I recommend doing as soon as you set it up is to play any 4k video on it, just to see how well it can display color and contrast. Streaming quality is outstanding as well even with a poor connection. Modern HD TVs produce better image quality, but not by much. Plus, this projector can fill an entire 120 inch screen with 1080p quality that looks almost as good. Viewing on a screen this big also gives you a way more immersive feeling and multiple people can view this from all across the space of the room. It’s a little bit more difficult to do that with a TV. Again, the image quality will look the best if you have blackout curtains but even without them or during the day, you can still use it without being disturbed by light pollution.
Awesomely Durable and Portable
This thing is awesome when it comes to watching outdoor movies. It comes with a lens cover, which keeps outdoor elements off the most important part. It’s built with a rigid structure that is forgiving to little dinks and scratches, unlike high end and fragile projectors. Hopefully, you’re responsible enough to not drop it and be one of the first people to assess how well it functions after something like that. As long as you don’t completely abuse it, it can easily take some dinks and scratches. What I especially like is that it deals well with being moved around a lot.
My brother will often take it with him to his friend’s houses for both indoor and outdoor movies. My brother is notorious for leaving this thing on all night and it’s never once overheated or exploded trying to play The Office for 6+ hours straight. That being said, this thing could easily take an all-nighter of watching movies or binge-watching Netflix without even wearing out. The bulky $3000 projectors aren’t really portable plus most of them are designed to be mounted to the ceiling and not move ever again. This Epson projector can easily be transferred almost anywhere around the house.
Maintenance is simple and easy. The filter is very easy to clean (can use a blow dryer to get dust out of the lens).
Biggest Bang For the Buck
This projector should not even be labeled as “entry level.” The only reason its labeled as that is that there are a million more expensive brands on the market even though they perform at the exact same caliber as this one. After having this one for three years and loving the quality it delivers, I really haven’t felt the need to upgrade and I don’t think I will as long as this one is running strong. Even if the bulb burns out like Best Buy says it would, you can easily replace them and restore the longevity in your projector! According to one review, Epson’s bulbs can be replaced by different manufacturers for $30 to $65.
After seeing a demo on some projector models in the store, I really didn’t see a dramatic increase in quality per price increase after the $1000 mark. I got this one for around $600 and even if I had a more elaborate home theater design in my house, I would still go with this projector and choose not to upgrade. This is simply because I don’t see a dramatic increase in quality after a certain point. The most I would spend on a projector (in the future) would be around $1000. The assistant at the store walked me into a model home theater and played a scene from Inception on a $9000 projector and I genuinely didn’t think it looked that much better!
Any Cons?
- Built-in speakers not sufficient. If you plan to use this for an outdoor movie all you need to do is hook up an aux cord from the projector to the speaker
- Miracast features don’t work on some Android devices. The Amazon firestick has Miracast built which can be used instead.
- Mounting has been said to be tricky by some people since it comes with only three screws
- Keystone correction settings have to be adjusted on the project interface and can’t be done on the remote
How to Identify a Quality Projector
- At least 1080p resolution display. The last thing you want is to spend a decent amount of money and still feel like the image is too grainy
- Good brightness. Make sure it has a minimum of 1500 lumens. A brighter projector around 2000 is good (mine is 2200)
- Default 16:9 focal length / aspect ratio
- Can tilt and angle the image without actually having to physically move the projector. Projectors that have these flexible settings make setting it up a lot easier in a variety of room sizes and shapes.
** Make sure you have at least 10ft of distance from the projector to a 120-inch screen in order to completely fill it **
Epson is not the only brand that delivers outstanding quality. However, I’ve yet to find another product as good as the Epson 2040 for its price range that is made by other brand names. Companies like BenQ and Sony often price their products at higher price ranges even though most people think they’re around the same quality level as this Epson brand. If anyone finds a model that squares up to this one for the same price level let me know because I’ve yet to find one. Good projectors should also be easy to set-up as soon as you get them. This one is basically “plug and go.” For more expensive brands it makes sense that they should have hardcore adjustment settings but even that doesn’t seem necessary. Since purchasing this one, I haven’t once tinkered with the brightness settings or made manual adjustments to the contrast. I’ve only used to default settings from this projector since the first day I got it.
Verdict
If you can’t tell by now. I think this projector is truly what makes my home theater an awesome experience. This was by far the best, first projector I could have possibly purchased and I say that with no marketing / sponsoring intent. This is all my honest opinion. If you were to go to the reviews of Amazon for the Epson 2040, everyone is basically saying the same thing. I didn’t even know what to look for in a projector except for the fact that I wanted it to have a clear image and look good on a 120-inch screen.
Until this thing explodes into a million pieces, I really don’t feel the need to upgrade my projector from the one I have now. If you have any further questions comments, feel free to reach out at entertainmentden.ns@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to answer any and all questions!