- Full HD, 3D, 1080p Performance
- Super-bright 2200 lumens color and white light output
- Up to 40,000:1 contrast ratio
- Included two pairs of Active Shutter 3D glasses
- Two built-in 10 W stereo speakers
Product Features |
Product Information
Technical Details
| Brand Name | Epson |
| Item Weight | 18.8 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 19.8 x 17.3 x 12.2 inches |
| Item model number | V11H421020 |
| Batteries: | 2 AA batteries required. (included) |
Additional Information
| ASIN | B005VONPT8 |
| Shipping Weight | 20 pounds |
| Shipping | Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. |
| Shipping Advisory: | This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply. |
| Date First Available | October 5, 2011 |
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Product Description
From the Manufacturer
PowerLite Home Cinema 3010
Home Theater Projector
| WHY BUY? 3D-ready, HD Home Theater Projector with Integrated Speakers. Bring a 3D experience right to your living room with the PowerLite Home Cinema 3010. Immerse yourself in eye-popping 3D adventures, 2200 lumens color and white light output¹, full HD, 1080p performance and a remarkable contrast ratio of up to 40,000:1. Amazing audio with two powerful built-in 10 W stereo speakers. This high-value home theater projector also features great 2D performance. It’s never been easier to entertain family and friends with a true-to-life 3D cinematic experience — includes two pairs of Active Shutter 3D glasses. |  |
The best-selling projectors in the world
Epson offers a wide range of high-quality projectors to meet almost any need. Built with image quality and reliability in mind, Epson high-definition projectors take home theater entertainment to a whole new level, featuring color and detail that’s sure to win rave reviews from friends and family alike. With the vivid realism of Epson 3LCD technology, these projectors will make your home the hottest ticket in town.
3LCD technology
Innovative technology with proven reliability
Energy-efficient E-TORL lamp, exclusively from Epson - Delivers more lumens per watt and lasts up to 4000 hours³
- Minimizes both light diffraction and light leakage
- E-TORL lamps maximize your presentation time, while minimizing your costs
Amazing color and white light output
The PowerLite Home Cinema 3010 delivers 2200 lumens of color light output and 2200 lumens of white light output¹ for rich, colorful images. Whether you’re projecting images with deep, dark colors or bright whites, you get consistent light output.  3D cinematic adventures Enjoy thrilling 3D adventures right in the comfort of your living room. Featuring a full HD, 240 Hz active shutter with powerful 1080p technology, the PowerLite Home Cinema 3010 puts you right in the middle of the action.  Captivating sound Enjoy amazing audio with two built-in stereo 10 W speakers. |  |
Split screen feature
Project two images (video or still) side-by-side from two different sources simultaneously. Choose from three layout options. You can swap the images, chose the source for the audio and even display closed captioning if the source signal includes it.
 Layout Option 1: 50-50% split screen |  Layout Option 2: Main image on left |  Layout Option 3: Main image on right |
Reliable service and support
The PowerLite 3010 is backed by Epson’s two-year limited warranty, which included next-business-day shipping service and PrivateLine dedicated toll-free support for added peace of mind.
- Replacement product sent via overnight shipping* — shipped Next Business Day to the United States or Canada, free of charge
- We pay the postage both ways — your replacement projector will come with a return shipping label, postage paid
- An extreme level of support — they’re the world’s best-selling projectors and they’re backed by one of the world’s finest customer care programs
Features/Benefits
- A true 3D theater experience — full HD, 240 Hz active shutter and powerful 1080p technology put you right in the middle of exciting, lifelike adventures
- Sleek design — fits in any setting
- 3D ready — includes two pair of Active Shutter 3D glasses
- Dimensions (W x D x H) — Including feet: 16.6-by-14.4-by-5.5-inches, Excluding feet: 16.6-by-14.4-by-5.4-inches and Weighs 13.3-pounds.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX
| ACCESSORIES
|
Eco Features - Designed to be recycled4
- Epson America, Inc. is a SmartWaySM Transport Partner5
- Color and white light output will vary depending on mode selected. White light output measured using ISO 21118 standard.
- Data source: ProjectorCentral.com Jan. 2011. Average of 1038 shipping models for which manufacturers provided lumens and total power data, all resolutions and brightness levels.
- Lamp life will vary depending upon mode selected, environmental conditions and usage. Lamp brightness decreases over time.
- See our website for convenient and reasonable recycling options at www.epson.com/recycle
- SmartWay is an innovative partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that reduces greenhouse gases and other air pollutants and improves fuel efficiency.
Epson is a registered trademark, Epson Exceed Your Vision is a registered logomark and Better Products for a Better Future and MegaPlex are trademarks of Seiko Epson Corporation. Apple, iPhone and iPod are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iPad is a trademark of Apple Inc. SmartWay is a service mark of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. All other product and brand names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Epson disclaims any and all rights in these marks. Copyright 2011 Epson America, Inc. 8/11
Product Description
3D-ready, HD Home Theater Projectorwith Integrated Speakers.Bring the power of 3D right to your living room with thePowerLite Home Cinema 3010. Immerse yourself ineye-popping 3D adventures, 2200 lumens color and white light output, full HD, 1080p performance and a remarkable contrast ratio of up to 40,000:1.Amazing audio with two powerful built-in 10 W stereo speakers. This high-value home theater projector also features great 2D performance. It’s never been easier to entertain family and friends with a true-to-life 3D cinematic experience - includes two pairs ofActive Shutter 3D glasses.
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
75 of 75 people found the following review helpful
By R. Slaughter
I've had my epson 3010 for a few weeks now, and I believe I've reached the point where I'm familiar enough to put together a good opinion with a few backing facts.
First, this thing is **BRIGHT**. As in, lights all the way up in the room, still plenty bright BRIGHT. I'm coming from another projector that's rated at 2800 lumens (optoma pro350w), and this thing blows it out of the water for brightness!
For image quality - I'm not a trained critic, but it does look exceptionally good to my untrained eye. It beats my old projector in just about every way, but given that the old one is quite a but further down the entry level pricing scale, that definitely should be the case.
What I can talk about is 3d. The old projector is a pro350w, and the common knowledge is that DLP is the way to go for low crosstalk 3d. And I've got to say, I've definitely never had a complaint in that department with the pro350w - But I've also got to say that if the Epson isn't matching it, the difference is low enough that I can't distinguish it. Basically, with either projector I can see very minimal crosstalk in black-on-white test screens, but I've never been able to see any hint of crosstalk in any movie I've viewed. And keep in mind, this is with a *MUCH* brighter picture, so any white imagery being "crosstalked" should be similarly more visible, but in my experience it's simply not an issue.
For glasses, I've now found several options that work with this projector. Obviously the Epson glasses are one option, but they're apparently not readily available to purchase yet. Fortunately, the IR protocol follows the m-3di standard, so any glasses following that standard will work fine. There are apparently several glasses planned to follow that protocol, but the downside is only one is yet in production and even that one is very limited - the 3rd gen panasonic viera glasses. And being new, they're a bit hard to find as well. I did find a vendor with them in stock and was able to get a pair to try. I can confirm they are compatible. I found them slightly more comfortable than the stock epsons due to their light weight. However, with any active glasses, looking through them at an angle will reduce their effectiveness; the Optoma stock glasses seemed less succeptible to this than the panasonics, but it's not enough of a difference in either case to matter to me - I just grab whichever of my glasses are easiest within reach : As a note, I was also able to get the Monster Vision RF glasses (the kit with the detector and emitter packaged) using the Monster Vision's IR sensor. Also note - this projector apparently emits a HUGE amount of infared light. I could not, under any circumstances, make the glasses lose sync. Simply couldn't do it. That's the good news, but there's a down side there...
Which brings us to a few points of bad news.
-The IR output from 3d apparently interferes with remote functionality big-time. I didn't realize that myself, as I use an RF (URC RF20) with ir emitters stuck on the fronts of all my equipment. It wasn't impacted at all. But after hearing some other users mention that issue I tested, and yes, EVERYTHING started having trouble picking up infared remote signals when 3d was on. Obviously an easy solution there is the one I was using anyway; a remote with RF like the RF20 + RF expander or one of the logitechs that has RF (personally don't like logitech, but that's another review :
-The iris is a bit noisy. In my case the projector is in its own chamber, so I really don't hear it most times, but with the cover off it is audible enough that it might be annoying to many people, so I thought it worth mentioning.
-And this one might be a dealbreaker for some: LAG. Serious lag. If you're watching non-interactive video, this won't matter to you one teeny bit. But if you're gaming, it can be anywhere between a mild annoyance and completely unplayable. I measured it at its best 60ms slower than my supposedly <5ms LCD monitor, so total would theoretically be between 60-65 ms of lag. Nothing I could do would improve the number. I contacted Epson's support and was told that's functioning as designed. Epson's responses to multiple customers questioning the lag have generally been that this is "functioning as designed" - so it is unlikely to ever improve.
Let's quantify that a little more, though. 60ms, what does that mean? Here's a few games I've played with it and the impact it had on those games:
-Batman Arkham City: Played through the entire game, got all the riddler trophies and riddles, etc. not 100%, but most of the main stuff). Very seldom did lag impact me. On occasion I'd feel like I hit the counter button but it didn't count it, but generally not an issue at all.
-Gran Turismo 5: Never noticed the lag at all.
-Left 4 Dead 2: I could definitely tell at first, but after about 30 minutes I guess my brain re-learned how much to anticipate shots, and it felt fine again. I've played it probably 5 hours or so since then and haven't had an issue.
-Killing Floor: Very similar story to left 4 dead 2- seemed to be an issue for a bit, then it got better.
-Enemy Territory: This was an issue. Reaction times were significantly handicapped, and while that often won't matter when it's just you vs the PC, other players are quick to take advantage of it.
So in short, if you're pitting your reaction times against other players, it's definitely an issue. Also, games requiring quick reaction times are an issue (I keep hearing people talk about wipeout as an example). But there are other games where the problems are less pronounced, and how much of an issue it is really comes down to what you play and at what level.
First, this thing is **BRIGHT**. As in, lights all the way up in the room, still plenty bright BRIGHT. I'm coming from another projector that's rated at 2800 lumens (optoma pro350w), and this thing blows it out of the water for brightness!
For image quality - I'm not a trained critic, but it does look exceptionally good to my untrained eye. It beats my old projector in just about every way, but given that the old one is quite a but further down the entry level pricing scale, that definitely should be the case.
What I can talk about is 3d. The old projector is a pro350w, and the common knowledge is that DLP is the way to go for low crosstalk 3d. And I've got to say, I've definitely never had a complaint in that department with the pro350w - But I've also got to say that if the Epson isn't matching it, the difference is low enough that I can't distinguish it. Basically, with either projector I can see very minimal crosstalk in black-on-white test screens, but I've never been able to see any hint of crosstalk in any movie I've viewed. And keep in mind, this is with a *MUCH* brighter picture, so any white imagery being "crosstalked" should be similarly more visible, but in my experience it's simply not an issue.
For glasses, I've now found several options that work with this projector. Obviously the Epson glasses are one option, but they're apparently not readily available to purchase yet. Fortunately, the IR protocol follows the m-3di standard, so any glasses following that standard will work fine. There are apparently several glasses planned to follow that protocol, but the downside is only one is yet in production and even that one is very limited - the 3rd gen panasonic viera glasses. And being new, they're a bit hard to find as well. I did find a vendor with them in stock and was able to get a pair to try. I can confirm they are compatible. I found them slightly more comfortable than the stock epsons due to their light weight. However, with any active glasses, looking through them at an angle will reduce their effectiveness; the Optoma stock glasses seemed less succeptible to this than the panasonics, but it's not enough of a difference in either case to matter to me - I just grab whichever of my glasses are easiest within reach : As a note, I was also able to get the Monster Vision RF glasses (the kit with the detector and emitter packaged) using the Monster Vision's IR sensor. Also note - this projector apparently emits a HUGE amount of infared light. I could not, under any circumstances, make the glasses lose sync. Simply couldn't do it. That's the good news, but there's a down side there...
Which brings us to a few points of bad news.
-The IR output from 3d apparently interferes with remote functionality big-time. I didn't realize that myself, as I use an RF (URC RF20) with ir emitters stuck on the fronts of all my equipment. It wasn't impacted at all. But after hearing some other users mention that issue I tested, and yes, EVERYTHING started having trouble picking up infared remote signals when 3d was on. Obviously an easy solution there is the one I was using anyway; a remote with RF like the RF20 + RF expander or one of the logitechs that has RF (personally don't like logitech, but that's another review :
-The iris is a bit noisy. In my case the projector is in its own chamber, so I really don't hear it most times, but with the cover off it is audible enough that it might be annoying to many people, so I thought it worth mentioning.
-And this one might be a dealbreaker for some: LAG. Serious lag. If you're watching non-interactive video, this won't matter to you one teeny bit. But if you're gaming, it can be anywhere between a mild annoyance and completely unplayable. I measured it at its best 60ms slower than my supposedly <5ms LCD monitor, so total would theoretically be between 60-65 ms of lag. Nothing I could do would improve the number. I contacted Epson's support and was told that's functioning as designed. Epson's responses to multiple customers questioning the lag have generally been that this is "functioning as designed" - so it is unlikely to ever improve.
Let's quantify that a little more, though. 60ms, what does that mean? Here's a few games I've played with it and the impact it had on those games:
-Batman Arkham City: Played through the entire game, got all the riddler trophies and riddles, etc. not 100%, but most of the main stuff). Very seldom did lag impact me. On occasion I'd feel like I hit the counter button but it didn't count it, but generally not an issue at all.
-Gran Turismo 5: Never noticed the lag at all.
-Left 4 Dead 2: I could definitely tell at first, but after about 30 minutes I guess my brain re-learned how much to anticipate shots, and it felt fine again. I've played it probably 5 hours or so since then and haven't had an issue.
-Killing Floor: Very similar story to left 4 dead 2- seemed to be an issue for a bit, then it got better.
-Enemy Territory: This was an issue. Reaction times were significantly handicapped, and while that often won't matter when it's just you vs the PC, other players are quick to take advantage of it.
So in short, if you're pitting your reaction times against other players, it's definitely an issue. Also, games requiring quick reaction times are an issue (I keep hearing people talk about wipeout as an example). But there are other games where the problems are less pronounced, and how much of an issue it is really comes down to what you play and at what level.
66 of 73 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Budget 3D 1080p Projector with Bright and Vibrant 3D images, loaded with features and comes with free glasses !!
December 4, 2011
By Photon
First a quick background. I am not a videophile and am new to PJ world and dont have any biases for/against LCD or DLP. I am a huge 3D enthusiast and bought a latest model of a 65" Panasonic plasma 3DTV for 2K, only to be disappointed with terrible crosstalk. I also realized that you need the biggest screen size possible for truly enjoying 3D. The only other TV thats bigger than 65" was the 82" Mitsubishi DLPTV but I hated it when I saw at Frys as the image was blurry, washed out and dim. That's when I realized that I should be looking at the world of Projector's as they offer the largest screen size for a fraction of TV cost. First thing I did is to buy an inexpensive FAVI screen of size 120" which is the largest i can fit in my apartment ! I would have gone for 140" if I had the space !!! Once and for all I can put my mind at ease as I don't need to think about screen size anymore !
My search eventually lead me to the latest DLP 1080p 3D Optoma HD33 which I owned for a few weeks and was very impressed with stunning cross-talk free 3D on my 120" screen. However I eventually returned it as it had some issues (such as settings getting erased, loud noise when changing from 3D to 2D, missing menu items in the C0 firmware that cant be upgraded via USB so one has to send it to Optoma, some users complaining that their remote doesn't work and only way to shut down the PJ is to pull the power cord...not good for bulb life) and I read bad reviews about Optoma's customer support which I did not want to deal with. It seems the only way you can get reliable support from Optoma is to upgrade to a more expensive Optoma HD3300 for another 320 dollars (if you need to pay state tax) which has 3 year replacement warranty, but before going that route I wanted to check out another brand new model Epson 3010 which has LCD 1080p 3D as well which comes with 2 free glasses (unlike Optoma HD33 for which you need to buy glasses separately).
If you read the AVS forums you will see there are two major camps that argue which is better DLP or LCD. As each camp is biased for their own solution, I decided to find out for myself and went and got the 3010 from Best buy. Here are my impressions comparing the two after owning each of them 3-4 weeks...please note that I am not a professional reviewer and solely go by what my eyes see and so don't flame me if you don't agree with what I observed. Also I will not go into any technical details but will try to highlights my perceptions of how they differ from user experience. You can find full professional review of these and other PJs by doing a google search.
1) Packaging:
HD33 comes in a colorful box that shouts out its 1080p 3D and many folks including me reported that the box had a side flap that usually comes open risking loss of accessories. The 3010 comes in a well packaged black and white plain box and doesnt even mention 1080p 3D in bold letters.
2) Pricing:
Cant discuss exact pricing but if you do the math you will realize that Epson can be obtained for $300 less than Optoma. Here I took HD33, added a 2 year 3rd party warranty, 2 RF glasses to make it equal in high level features to Epson (which is loaded with many other extras like built-in stereo speakers, two side-by-side displays, USB photo viewer that Optoma doesn't have, better image controls similar to ones buyers are used to on TV's). So clearly Epson has a lot going for its price. So the question is what does Optoma have extra over Epson thats $300 worth ? To truly equalize warranty, one has to compare 3010 to HD3300 and the price difference quickly becomes huge (around 600 dollars)....something budget PJ buyers need to evaluate carefully..I for one can see myself getting more glasses for this price difference or invest in 3D movies or even get an extended warranty.
3) Build:
I really liked HD33 when I first saw it. However, 3010 is beautiful to look at, feels more sturdier in exterior casing. The HD33 has a manual lens cover that's attached to the PJ with a string...but you risk messing up the focus/zoom when you use the lens cover as they are around the lens. 3010's lens cover doesn't attach to PJ so has a risk of getting misplaced...but it doesn't mess up the zoom/focus settings as they are not near the lens.
4) Noise/Sounds:
HD33 has much louder fan noise even in eco mode and 3010 is much quieter in 2D mode but I heard the fan a higher level in 3D mode but still quiter than HD33. 3010 has whisper quite IRIS (some early models had loud IRIS that got fixed when they got replacements, so beware). The HD33 makes this loud noise when switching from 3D to 2D that Optoma says is perfectly normal.
5) Setup:
I am projecting from a table top from the side of my couch onto a 120" 1.0 gain white matt screen in my living room (no light control in my apartment) and I found 3010 was much easier to setup owing to its extra zoom, horizontal shift and lens being centered as opposed to HD33 that has lens mounted to right end. I believe 3010 gives more flexibility for people who don't want to mount the projector in a fixed sweet spot as it has Horizontal and Vertical shift and centered lens (keep in mind that any kind of digital adjustment like V/H-shift may degrade the image, but many may not notice it when viewed from the normal seating distance).
6) 2D Image:
When I first projected HD33, my jaw just dropped with the super sharp image and colors out of the box and i was almost in tears as I realized I can get a superb 1080p 120" image for fraction of a cost of HDTV ! I tried several movies and played some photos and there is almost 3D-like quality to the image and I finally understood what they DLP-POP people keep talking about. I was thrilled to see well defined square pixels resulting in sharp edges.
Having been impressed with many of the positives mentioned above, I was very eager to see what 3010 would look like and I fired off the in built pattern that is a blue screen with a white cross hair. Out of the box, I noticed a few artifacts. First its not as sharp as HD33 even when perfectly focused and I clearly saw the RGB not converge for many pixels on the white cross hairs when I was few inches from the screen....however within a couple of feet away you wont notice this. In normal viewing I do not see any impact on image quality other than a bit of softness in the LCD image. I sampled some 2D movies such as Cars and Transformers, and I am floored by the vibrant film-like image quality of 3010. You need to see it for yourself to decide which is more important for you DLP-POP or LCD-Film like quality.
After watching more 2D sources, I dont see any negative effects from not seeing the individual pixels and the color convergence has not showed up in normal watching, so I believe both these are minor issues. I loved the POP of HD33 but 3010 is no less impressive and perhaps to me it looks even better than HD33 in many respects. The skin tones on 3010 seem to be more vibrant than HD33 and 3010 gives explicit controls to change skin tone that will allow you to tune it the way you like (very important for non-videophiles like me who may prefer to tune the PJ themselves as professional calibration is out of reach for many $wise) and overall image is no less impressive than the HD33. So to my eyes both PJ's will deliver an excellent image that will blow you away. The 3010 image is significantly brighter than HD33, but it doesn't hurt my eyes as HD33 did (apparently some people like me are sensitive to DLP images and some see RBE...although I dont see any) and you can be assured that 3010 will deliver excellent image even with ambient light, something i value highly as i don't have dedicated HT room and my living room has good ambient light.
In this regard 3010 has a lot of potential to be a better choice for many non-videophile customers like myself who cant dedicate room for a batcave (where all the walls, roof, floor etc are dark giving perfect light control), but crave for humongous screen size with TV like bright image for daytime viewing. Although I don't watch sports, there are many users who are very happy with 3010 for Sports viewing for which they prefer to have some ambient lights. Even though HD33 has higher native contrast than 3010 it does not have dynamic IRIS. In 2D scenes which are predominantly dark, 3010 's IRIS produces dark images that are as satisfying as those by HD33. Even in high contrast scenes which have bright objects with dark background (where IRIS is fully open and the blacks are at the mercy of native contrast of the PJ) the 3010 Blacks and Contrast to my eyes are just as good as HD33 in my non-blacked out living room because your eyes also have IRIS that constrict giving the illusion that dark regions next to bright regions look inky black....people with batcaves may be able to percieve the difference in blacks better...but most non-videophile users like me will be perfectly happy with the blacks....so unless you are a videophile, you cant tell the difference in black levels that easily.
7) 3D Image:
HD33 being a DLP has better response times and has superb 3D image with ZERO ghosting (at least with optoma-dlp-link glasses) in a wide variety of 3D content and the contrast with glasses ON seems much much higher than in 2D mode with inky blacks owing to higher native contrast and darker Optoma glasses...however this comes at the cost of lumens where the image is darker than in 2D mode even with a new bulb and one should expect it to get worse with lamp dimming over time.
In 3D mode 3010's IRIS is disabled and the PJ is at the mercy of lesser native contrast. Also the Epson glasses are much lighter in shade. Due to these reasons, 3010 has noticeable drop in contrast and the blacks look grayer than HD33 in 3D mode. Read more ›
My search eventually lead me to the latest DLP 1080p 3D Optoma HD33 which I owned for a few weeks and was very impressed with stunning cross-talk free 3D on my 120" screen. However I eventually returned it as it had some issues (such as settings getting erased, loud noise when changing from 3D to 2D, missing menu items in the C0 firmware that cant be upgraded via USB so one has to send it to Optoma, some users complaining that their remote doesn't work and only way to shut down the PJ is to pull the power cord...not good for bulb life) and I read bad reviews about Optoma's customer support which I did not want to deal with. It seems the only way you can get reliable support from Optoma is to upgrade to a more expensive Optoma HD3300 for another 320 dollars (if you need to pay state tax) which has 3 year replacement warranty, but before going that route I wanted to check out another brand new model Epson 3010 which has LCD 1080p 3D as well which comes with 2 free glasses (unlike Optoma HD33 for which you need to buy glasses separately).
If you read the AVS forums you will see there are two major camps that argue which is better DLP or LCD. As each camp is biased for their own solution, I decided to find out for myself and went and got the 3010 from Best buy. Here are my impressions comparing the two after owning each of them 3-4 weeks...please note that I am not a professional reviewer and solely go by what my eyes see and so don't flame me if you don't agree with what I observed. Also I will not go into any technical details but will try to highlights my perceptions of how they differ from user experience. You can find full professional review of these and other PJs by doing a google search.
1) Packaging:
HD33 comes in a colorful box that shouts out its 1080p 3D and many folks including me reported that the box had a side flap that usually comes open risking loss of accessories. The 3010 comes in a well packaged black and white plain box and doesnt even mention 1080p 3D in bold letters.
2) Pricing:
Cant discuss exact pricing but if you do the math you will realize that Epson can be obtained for $300 less than Optoma. Here I took HD33, added a 2 year 3rd party warranty, 2 RF glasses to make it equal in high level features to Epson (which is loaded with many other extras like built-in stereo speakers, two side-by-side displays, USB photo viewer that Optoma doesn't have, better image controls similar to ones buyers are used to on TV's). So clearly Epson has a lot going for its price. So the question is what does Optoma have extra over Epson thats $300 worth ? To truly equalize warranty, one has to compare 3010 to HD3300 and the price difference quickly becomes huge (around 600 dollars)....something budget PJ buyers need to evaluate carefully..I for one can see myself getting more glasses for this price difference or invest in 3D movies or even get an extended warranty.
3) Build:
I really liked HD33 when I first saw it. However, 3010 is beautiful to look at, feels more sturdier in exterior casing. The HD33 has a manual lens cover that's attached to the PJ with a string...but you risk messing up the focus/zoom when you use the lens cover as they are around the lens. 3010's lens cover doesn't attach to PJ so has a risk of getting misplaced...but it doesn't mess up the zoom/focus settings as they are not near the lens.
4) Noise/Sounds:
HD33 has much louder fan noise even in eco mode and 3010 is much quieter in 2D mode but I heard the fan a higher level in 3D mode but still quiter than HD33. 3010 has whisper quite IRIS (some early models had loud IRIS that got fixed when they got replacements, so beware). The HD33 makes this loud noise when switching from 3D to 2D that Optoma says is perfectly normal.
5) Setup:
I am projecting from a table top from the side of my couch onto a 120" 1.0 gain white matt screen in my living room (no light control in my apartment) and I found 3010 was much easier to setup owing to its extra zoom, horizontal shift and lens being centered as opposed to HD33 that has lens mounted to right end. I believe 3010 gives more flexibility for people who don't want to mount the projector in a fixed sweet spot as it has Horizontal and Vertical shift and centered lens (keep in mind that any kind of digital adjustment like V/H-shift may degrade the image, but many may not notice it when viewed from the normal seating distance).
6) 2D Image:
When I first projected HD33, my jaw just dropped with the super sharp image and colors out of the box and i was almost in tears as I realized I can get a superb 1080p 120" image for fraction of a cost of HDTV ! I tried several movies and played some photos and there is almost 3D-like quality to the image and I finally understood what they DLP-POP people keep talking about. I was thrilled to see well defined square pixels resulting in sharp edges.
Having been impressed with many of the positives mentioned above, I was very eager to see what 3010 would look like and I fired off the in built pattern that is a blue screen with a white cross hair. Out of the box, I noticed a few artifacts. First its not as sharp as HD33 even when perfectly focused and I clearly saw the RGB not converge for many pixels on the white cross hairs when I was few inches from the screen....however within a couple of feet away you wont notice this. In normal viewing I do not see any impact on image quality other than a bit of softness in the LCD image. I sampled some 2D movies such as Cars and Transformers, and I am floored by the vibrant film-like image quality of 3010. You need to see it for yourself to decide which is more important for you DLP-POP or LCD-Film like quality.
After watching more 2D sources, I dont see any negative effects from not seeing the individual pixels and the color convergence has not showed up in normal watching, so I believe both these are minor issues. I loved the POP of HD33 but 3010 is no less impressive and perhaps to me it looks even better than HD33 in many respects. The skin tones on 3010 seem to be more vibrant than HD33 and 3010 gives explicit controls to change skin tone that will allow you to tune it the way you like (very important for non-videophiles like me who may prefer to tune the PJ themselves as professional calibration is out of reach for many $wise) and overall image is no less impressive than the HD33. So to my eyes both PJ's will deliver an excellent image that will blow you away. The 3010 image is significantly brighter than HD33, but it doesn't hurt my eyes as HD33 did (apparently some people like me are sensitive to DLP images and some see RBE...although I dont see any) and you can be assured that 3010 will deliver excellent image even with ambient light, something i value highly as i don't have dedicated HT room and my living room has good ambient light.
In this regard 3010 has a lot of potential to be a better choice for many non-videophile customers like myself who cant dedicate room for a batcave (where all the walls, roof, floor etc are dark giving perfect light control), but crave for humongous screen size with TV like bright image for daytime viewing. Although I don't watch sports, there are many users who are very happy with 3010 for Sports viewing for which they prefer to have some ambient lights. Even though HD33 has higher native contrast than 3010 it does not have dynamic IRIS. In 2D scenes which are predominantly dark, 3010 's IRIS produces dark images that are as satisfying as those by HD33. Even in high contrast scenes which have bright objects with dark background (where IRIS is fully open and the blacks are at the mercy of native contrast of the PJ) the 3010 Blacks and Contrast to my eyes are just as good as HD33 in my non-blacked out living room because your eyes also have IRIS that constrict giving the illusion that dark regions next to bright regions look inky black....people with batcaves may be able to percieve the difference in blacks better...but most non-videophile users like me will be perfectly happy with the blacks....so unless you are a videophile, you cant tell the difference in black levels that easily.
7) 3D Image:
HD33 being a DLP has better response times and has superb 3D image with ZERO ghosting (at least with optoma-dlp-link glasses) in a wide variety of 3D content and the contrast with glasses ON seems much much higher than in 2D mode with inky blacks owing to higher native contrast and darker Optoma glasses...however this comes at the cost of lumens where the image is darker than in 2D mode even with a new bulb and one should expect it to get worse with lamp dimming over time.
In 3D mode 3010's IRIS is disabled and the PJ is at the mercy of lesser native contrast. Also the Epson glasses are much lighter in shade. Due to these reasons, 3010 has noticeable drop in contrast and the blacks look grayer than HD33 in 3D mode. Read more ›
39 of 43 people found the following review helpful
I owned this projector for 2 weeks, and then I returned it. My bottom line- This projector was going to be used for gaming at least half of the time... and the input lag (delay from button press to seeing it on screen) was just too high. To be clear- there is no issue with "blurry image" or "slow response of pixels" that would cause fast action on its own to look bad... it's just the delay before you see a picture. This only affects high speed gaming.
I measured the lag to be 78 ms higher than my laptop and an autocalibrating Rock Band Guitar (RB3, Xbox360) calibrated the lag to be 108 ms, which was 68 ms higher than my previous "sort of laggy" projector. There are a lot of people who wouldn't play with 40 ms input lag, but it never consciously bothered me. On the 3010, the 78-108 ms lag was just too high. I was always at least a little aware of it and it made certain types of games just hard to play. I wouldn't call any of them unplayable, just harder than they're supposed to be.
Now that that's out of the way, MAN! WHAT A PICTURE! Others can probably give a more definitive review here, but I was very impressed with the picture. Placement was also convenient to my dedicated home theatre (it went up in the same position as my previous PJs for the same screen size) and the price was definitely right. Especially considering it comes with 2 pair of 3D Glasses.
The 3D was quite good, but I think I saw a fair amount more ghosting than some other reviewers. There are apparently "early run" units and "later run" units and some people have reported improvements in iris noise, convergence, and ghosting when replacing an earlier unit with a newer one. (No word on whether lag is reduced in the new units). I hope that was the case with the ghosting/crosstalk that I saw. In most film/video content, you couldn't really see much crosstalk, but when completely different pictures were going to either eye, the ammount of crosstalk was rather high. I sit relatively close to the screen, which broadens the angles the light is coming into the glasses and this may be another reason I saw more ghosting.
Other than that, I was quite happy with the 3010. If not a gamer, I think I would have been quite satisfied with this option. As a gamer, it just wouldn't do. If Epson can do anything to reduce the input lag, I would buy one again and be very happy with it.
Also worth noting: The other 3D projector at this price point is the HD33. I owned one of these for a day or so, but the RainBow Effect (RBE) was too much for me and I returned it right away. Not everyone is sensitive to RBE, but be aware if you are.
I measured the lag to be 78 ms higher than my laptop and an autocalibrating Rock Band Guitar (RB3, Xbox360) calibrated the lag to be 108 ms, which was 68 ms higher than my previous "sort of laggy" projector. There are a lot of people who wouldn't play with 40 ms input lag, but it never consciously bothered me. On the 3010, the 78-108 ms lag was just too high. I was always at least a little aware of it and it made certain types of games just hard to play. I wouldn't call any of them unplayable, just harder than they're supposed to be.
Now that that's out of the way, MAN! WHAT A PICTURE! Others can probably give a more definitive review here, but I was very impressed with the picture. Placement was also convenient to my dedicated home theatre (it went up in the same position as my previous PJs for the same screen size) and the price was definitely right. Especially considering it comes with 2 pair of 3D Glasses.
The 3D was quite good, but I think I saw a fair amount more ghosting than some other reviewers. There are apparently "early run" units and "later run" units and some people have reported improvements in iris noise, convergence, and ghosting when replacing an earlier unit with a newer one. (No word on whether lag is reduced in the new units). I hope that was the case with the ghosting/crosstalk that I saw. In most film/video content, you couldn't really see much crosstalk, but when completely different pictures were going to either eye, the ammount of crosstalk was rather high. I sit relatively close to the screen, which broadens the angles the light is coming into the glasses and this may be another reason I saw more ghosting.
Other than that, I was quite happy with the 3010. If not a gamer, I think I would have been quite satisfied with this option. As a gamer, it just wouldn't do. If Epson can do anything to reduce the input lag, I would buy one again and be very happy with it.
Also worth noting: The other 3D projector at this price point is the HD33. I owned one of these for a day or so, but the RainBow Effect (RBE) was too much for me and I returned it right away. Not everyone is sensitive to RBE, but be aware if you are.
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