Customer Reviews

Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8100 Home Theatre Projector (V11H336120)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This technically is my third projector so I am experienced in projectors. My InFocus Screenplay 4805 had reached 3000 hours and the lamp burned out. I was ready to upgrade. At first I bought the Sanyo PLV-1080HD as an open box buy. When I got it home, to my dismay there was over 700 hours on it! BUMMER!! Since I had 30 days to return it, the salesman told me new projectors were on the way and to hold tight. (I would never buy a demo projector again!)

Well two weeks later I saw the Epson in the store. Since I had the Sanyo for 2 weeks, I had something to compare it to. The blacks are twice as good. It is super bright. The colors POP like an LCD TV. Basically it turned my white screen at home into the world largest flat panel. They had a gray screen at the store and the whites were still plenty bright. The screen at the store had glass particles that showed up and were distracting during the movie, so I won't be purchasing a glass particled screen.

Both projectors were much better at my home. The demo room has too much light near the screen. At home, I was a little alarmed by the Epson 8100's oversaturated color right out of the box. The Sanyo was pretty good right out of the box, but the Epson demands adjustment. On HDTV (Cox) most of the people were overly reddish. One of the preset modes for HDTV removed too much color.

I found a review of the projector that included calibration configurations and that made a WORLD of difference. That's when it started to shine even on ECO mode! (I think it could beat Sanyo PLV-1080HD's brightest mode on ECO mode!) I am so excited to have purchased this brand new. I find it a definite upgrade to be able to go 4000 hours on a bulb and only pay $300 for a replacement versus Sanyo's approximate 2000 hours and $400 for a replacement.

Blu-rays were awesome on the Epson 8100. Razor sharp. Even up close to the screen, you can hardly see the porch screen. The contrasts and shadow details were notable.

There are plenty of parameters to adjust this projector. With the warranty, lamp life, and awesome picture. I will definitely be pleased for a long time.

Some reviews went back and forth about organic versus inorganic panels and guess about what kind of panels this projector is made of. The two year warranty give me peace of mind that if the panels go bad, I will get it fixed.

I have used a projector since 2005 and I have used it for TV, movies and some computer use. I do cut it off if I'm not watching but I have fallen asleep a few times. It's on most of Saturday and Sunday. Still in 4 years, I only used the In Focus for 3000 hours.

I had considered having a LCD TV in addition so I could save the bulb, but I can buy a lot of bulbs for that cost and even a 52" TV seems tiny after being accustomed to a 92" screen. I was watching Larry King and the wall behind him was true black. The color was awesome. CNN shines! Sports look GREAT. (Sports were dim on the Sanyo PLV-1080HD.)

My projector is at least 20 feet away and giving off plenty of light even with my lights on. According to one of the reviews, the light is considerably cut when you have it too far away. I have it at the longest distance where you can have it 100" and using ECO lamp with the light off and it's plenty bright.

I have it on a shelf in the back of the room so I can still enjoy my ceiling fan in the summer. The exhaust vent on the front is a life saver on this unit. The Sanyo was blowing hot air and some bright light out the side of their projector. The Sanyo did have a door to hide the lens but Epson has a lens cover. Since I can easily reach the lens, I'll just put the cover on, when I'm finished. I may even purchase a full projector cover for when it's not in use to cut down on dust.

There were overwhelming positive reviews for the Sanyo, but this Epson will blow it away. Even the exterior design in a little more sexy in pearl white and a little bit more stream lined and less boxy.

Finally, don't pay full price as it's a buyer's market. I got an awesome price at a major retailer and for 0% financing, so get yours today! Get this projector!

It turned out to be a Big, Costly Mistake! I failed to grasp that comments and reviews for Epson PowerLite® Home Cinema 8100 were for a newly released projector. No one had owned and operated the 8100 more than 90 days when I was reading the reviews in late November and early December 2009! No available information could possibly verify the published claims Epson's was making about the 8100's lamp life being 4,000 hours. DAH!

A professional reviewer did briefly mentioned that Epson had experienced early lamp blowouts in the 8100 Beta versions and changed suppliers. A couple of bloggers noted that they had experienced blown lamps with up to 400 hours on them. They were sent replacements - no problem. One reviewer even had two lamps blow and was given a replacement projector. So I brushed over that information as just isolated incidents resolved to everyone's satisfaction. It turns out that that brush stroke will cost me [...].

Reality struck Home suddenly and darkly when my Epson 8100's 4,000-hour projector lamp blew. It had lasted less than 400 hours or just 10% of life expectancy. What really smarted (a poor choice of words considering my oversight) was my 90-day warranty was also blown (that's better)by 37 days. That 4,000-hour lamp life expectancy wasn't something any of us made up, it was actually published in Epson's 8100 User's Guide Specifications on the top of page 66 and included in Epson's sales literature.

So please keep in mind that all reviewers before now have been new owners with less than 3 months experience with the 8100. After 4 months plus I can tell you:

1. The fan is not noticeable until the there is a quiet scene, and then you will hear the fan blowing air; and
2. The picture is really amazing - until your lamp blows.

OK, let's go back to the beginning if you care to learn from my miscalculation (or just want to be amused by my naivety).

We had finally decided to break open the Ol' Piggy Bank and upgrade our 80's vintage 27" RCA TV, Stereo and VHS/DVD combination in the family room to a 2010 Home Theater System in the lower level play area thanks to all the kids reaching double-digits. I did all the usual research like going to Big Box Electronic stores and watching 60" flat Plasmas, LCDs and Projectors. I listened to 5 and 7-channel surround sound receivers and speaker systems. I went on-line and read professional reviews and blogs about Home Theater systems. I spent hours scouring over Sony, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Epson, InFocus, Vivitar, etc. specifications, prices and warranties to determine which products made the most sense for us based on budget and use.

On December 10, 2009 we ordered the Epson PowerLite® Home Cinema 8100 to anchor our Home Theater. We added the 7-channel Yamaha RX-V565 A/V Receiver and 8 Cerwin-Vega speakers (10' sub, 8" woofers, 6" mids & 2.25 twits) to give great surround sound to match the picture. Then we took the plunge and added a Panasonic DMP-BD60P-K Blu-Ray player as a Family Christmas present (amazingly a couple of family oriented BR discs ended up in the kids' stockings compliments of Santa). The last step was to hook up our existing DVD/VHS player, a Wii and PS2, and we were all set up 'til the kids left for college.

The Epson 8100 was newly released in October 2009 and won out over the other projectors due to its relatively low, [...] entry cost to LCD projector technology, and its published specification of 4,000 hours of Lamp Life - even at the brightest setting. That 4,000-hour lamp life wasn't something the reviewers made up either. It was actually published in the User's Guide Specifications on the top of page 66. Other manufacturers specify projector lamps to last between 1,000 and 3,000 hours and cost [...]. Epson's 4,000-hour lamp life and [...] price tag were Big selling points to us since we expected that we wouldn't need a replacement for 3 or 4 years.

I must admit that the 8100 provided an amazing 120" picture even when projected on a bare wall painted flat, eggshell white. It was so good that we elected to postpone buying the [...] fixed frame screen until the fall. Unfortunately the 4,000-hour projector lamp lasted less than 400 hours; but greater than the 90-day warranty (it blew on Day 127).

As part of my earlier research, I read about common lamp killers like movement when warm, poor circulation, and extended ON times. Since Day 1 the components have been ON no more than 3 hours consecutively, sitting side-by-side on a 48" long, stable shelf with 3-4 inches of side clearance, and greater than 12 inches of rear wall clearance. The projector filter has been cleaned every month. The 8100 and BluRay have been plugged into one point of use surge protector and the Yamaha receiver, VHS/DVD player, Wii and PS2 have been plugged into another point of use surge protector. Both surge protectors have been plugged into a 15-amp, 120V, 2-plug wall receptacle. The receptacle is on a circuit that includes a couple of 60 watt reading lamps.

I decided to contact Epson's Technical Support in hopes that they had insight or information about blown lamps. I really would have liked to know more about lamp blowouts before I shelled out another [...] on the 8100. I asked them if they had any suggestions, remedies or rebates (hint, hint) for 8100 owners whose lamps blew with less than 10% of 4,000 hours gone. They sent a very quick auto response promising "An Epson representative will respond to your e-mail shortly." After 48 hours I decided to write again and express my disappointment that someone couldn't even bother to send me a, "Sorry you are out of Warranty." auto response.

So I guess as a purchaser of my first Epson product I have to warn those looking into buying an Epson PowerLite® Home Cinema 8100 to discount the 4,000 hour lamp life specification in your decision-making process. I can only vouch for about 400 hours so far. I can say from experience that Technical Support has a quick auto response system; but I am still not sure there are any "Live Ones" at the switch. Like a Toyota owner of yesteryear, I have to assume Epson isn't keeping any inherent problems from the buying public. I mean they didn't send me any additional information so nothing could possibly be wrong - right?

Oh yeah. One more thing. You might want to hold off on buying that fixed frame screen until you've purchased a back-up 8100 lamp.

UPDATE 1/28/2011-- I've had this installed for well over a year now and absolutely love it. I would emphasize the fact that the image can be adjusted greatly (talking size, skew and side to side) which is so helpful, especially if you're neurotic like me and have to fill every inch of the screen maintaining perfect level and square. Kids have had a blast playing PS3 on it, too. Still highly recommend this machine!

Short of it--AWESOME! I'm projecting a 150" screen from about 16'. BluRays are unbelievable--theater quality. Very quiet. Very easy to install and adjust (first one I've done and it took 5 minutes to set up out of the box, and then another 1-2 hours spent mounting it) It is very bright--room does not need to be black for excellent image. What else can you say? It does what it says. Beware other cheapy projectors w/o lens shift, though--lens shift on this makes the installation so easy and gives a lot of latitude as far as height and distance from screen/wall.

I have immense praise for the Epson 8100 home cinema. My last projector was a 1300 lumen 480p Mitsubishi (HC100) and this projector is just so much higher quality it's stunning. It's quieter, brighter, immensely more clear, and boots to display much faster. I have not had any large issues with it yet. If given the choice I would absolutely buy this one again. I do have a good basis of comparison too, my friends all have projectors in their homes as well and the Epson easily competes with my buddies $5000 projector that he purchased around 9 months before this one.

Two things I would like them to change...
1. When displaying via the HDMI input, I would like to be able to re-size the image. Even if the signal is sent at 1920x1080, there are times I want to zoom in or stretch the image (Fullscreen DVD played on a windows desktop at 1080p)
2. When looking at BIOS Setup on the Media PC I have connected, the BIOS menu is all jammed up on the left side and does not format correctly. This is due to the projectors improper support of "Text Mode". It's usable, but looks bad.

5 stars, worth every penny I paid for it. LOVE IT!

I was interested in the Epson 8100 projector for my customer recommendations and, possibly, for myself. I'm an ISF ([...]) certified calibrator and I decided to do some research on the product.

Reading through the reviews on other sites and on Amazon, this projector was one of the best of it's class but...

I was taken aback on the small but vociferous number of customers unhappy about the 4,000 hour rated lamp failing in as few as 400 hours. This makes the product unusable for someone like me who has to recommend product and as a consumer; the lamp is an expensive consumable at hundreds of dollars to replace.

Worse, the customers complained that the 90 day warranty on this specific part didn't match the two year overall warranty and after 90 days they're out of luck.

Now to sidebar, that kind of policy is just being cheap and, overall, *stupid*.
One can't even USE the projector bulb even CLOSE to that rated lifetime in 90 days! 24 x 90 = 2160 ! How (place unflattering adjective here) is that?

Back to the narrative...

I called up the pre-sales Epson Customer support line today, 11-02-2010. I was transferred to a gentleman that answered my questions on this issue.

Asking about the reported lamp problems, he related to me that the policy wasn't correct and Epson warrantied the product in its entirety for the FULL duration of the two years, lamp and all, and that it was even posted at projectorcentral.com
(I did due-diligence and looked up the source and quote and is included below)

I dug a bit deeper, and the rep related to me that the policy had changed (although I didn't ask for a specific date of their change of heart) and that some older machines would also have their warranties honored as well. He did mention to me the models, but I didn't record them as I was only interested in a specific model.

I asked him about the reason that Epson didn't publish this information in other sources besides projectorcentral like Amazon and the like. The reply was a fairly unsatisfactory answer that I won't go into here. But at least it's published (below is the source and the info).

After asking a few tech questions which he answered in a very forthcoming and friendly way, I closed out the conversation. At least he was eager to assist and I was appreciative.

Take Away: The product is covered for the whole warranty period. Customer Service, in this particular occasion, seemed hammered by the question(s) on this but assures us that the product is indeed covered and also other models as well.
-----
From projectorcentral.com
[...].

Says Evan Powell, Editor
"I have spoken to Epson about this situation. They have looked into it and, like the dealers I talked to, they say they have not discovered any aberrant issues. Nevertheless, Epson wants to ensure customers that it stands behind its products. Therefore, Epson's spokesperson has informed me that if you experience any problem with premature lamp failure on any Epson 1080p projector, you may return the lamp for a replacement lamp anytime during the life of the projector's warranty. Yes, you read that right--premature lamp failure on any Epson 1080p projector will be covered for the entire duration of the projector's warranty, not the lamp's warranty."

The Epson 8100 is at the perfect sweet spot as far as value. There are projectors with more features, but you'll pay a lot for very minor gains. There are cheaper projectors, but you lose a lot for only slight savings. This projector is right in the middle and perfect for pretty much everyone.

The main pros here are 1) extremely high brightness for this pricepoint; 2) great zoom range and lens shift; 3) crisp colors with excellent blacks; 4) no rainbow effect, as it's LCD.

In more detail on each point: We use this in a living room facing a wall that's basically floor to ceiling picture windows with no drapes. On the top two brightness settings (Dynamic and Living Room), the picture is fantastic and clear even in the middle of the day. The high zoom range and lens shift means you have a lot of slack in where you want to place it, and you can shift and expand the picture accordingly. Both of these points are a substantial gain over a close competitor in this price range, the Optoma HD20 High Definition 1080p DLP Home Theater Projector (Grey). The colors are great, and it has 30 bit deep color and x.v.Color.

The main cons are that it's one step down from Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8500 UB LCD Projector (V11H337020), which has more brightness and 36 bit deep color. However, you pay quite a bit for those two gains, and for most folks, the quality of the 8100 will be indistinguishable from its big brother the 8500.

I wish I had seen the "costly mistake" review before I bought my 8100 in Feb. I, too saw the concern about "beta" units, and discounted them. Well, I was initially a VERY satisfied buyer. This is the second projector I've owned, the first was a Panasonic 720P PT AX200U. The 8100 is a big improvement over that one in picture quality, perceived brightness, etc., as it should be, being several years newer technology and 1080P resolution. For 600 hours and 5 months, I was happy. Then all of a sudden, the bulb severely dims. I spend the next 5 minutes checking various settings, hoping to make this go away so we can finish watching the movie we were streaming from Amazon, then POP (loud) goes my bulb, like the old-school flashbulbs of yore, scaring the *^(*^ out of me and my wife. The next day, I check my warranty information, and discover that the advertised 4000 hour bulb is only warranteed for 90 DAYS. My bad, should have read the fine print. I go online and find out that I am not alone, others have been experiencing this same kind of premature failure, and there are hints that Epson is "extending" the 90 days in the interest of customer service. So, I try the Epson "direct customer line" card provided with my projector, only to find the PIN the supplied on the card is not valid. OK, I spend my dimes and call the support toll number. I describe my problem to the 1st level support specialist, and he instantly transfers me to a "projector bulb specialist" who takes my info. and with no argument agrees to send me a replacement bulb, after walking me through the extraction procedure (little bits of glass raining down on me in the process, as it is ceiling mounted). OK, I say, I am a satisfied customer, but kind of worried about the next bulb's life. Three days later, the bulb arrives, it's the WRONG one. I call support, same drill, this time they keep me on the hold for a long time, then transfer me to a "customer relations" specialist. She proceeds to tell me that Epson policy is that they can't send me the correct replacement until they receive the wrong one back, and that I can't return it until they send me a return label. I say, wait a minute, this was your fault, not mine, I'm not happy about this, my projector will be down a week, isn't there someone who can authorize an expedited replacement, you can take my credit card # for security? No, she says, due to the value of the bulb, it's company policy, and that's that. Five days later, I finally get the return label, which was sent regular US Mail, and it is for regular ground shipment, not even expedited. Took 3 more days for them to get it, and then they did Fedex Next Day the replacement, but after the cutoff, so I finally got the replacement more than two weeks after the failure. It works so far, but who knows how long it will last, or if they'll replace another one after more time. Having to be without living room entertainment for 2 weeks, and dealing with service that doesn't care about customer satisfaction or even get the part #s right is not that entertaining, either. Probably the last Epson product I'll ever buy. My 3 1/2 year old Panasonic projector is still going strong, installed elsewhere, on it's first bulb, after 3000 hours, ironically.

I bought the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8100 after visiting a friend of a friend, who had an older Epson HD projector set up, and it blew me away. I had thought of getting a projector in years past, but never did due to what I thought was very expensive to own (lamp $$ and replacments), initial purchase, and screen purchase. I found that the bulb is rated at 4000 hours, that's like 3 years at 4 hours of watching the projector every nite! I bought the projector, and was BLOWN AWAY to see the picture in HD on my regular painted light brown wall with no screen yet. The picture was so bright, so clear, I was not going to pay $750 for a 120 inch permanent screen like my friend of a friend did. I did a test to hold a sheet on the wall and project half on the sheet and half on the wall - to my surprise, the colors (skin tones too) were perfect whether on the brown wall or white sheet, and perfectly acceptable to my surprise. I later found a Da-Lite screen for $99 (72INX96IN Model B Manual Pull Down Screen Matte White by Da-Lite) on Amazon free shipping no tax to my door, which adds about 20% brightness and a little more contrast to finish off the purchase. I use the projector with HDMI HD cable box out for TV, HDMI blu ray player, Component for HD xbox 360 (yes xbox is HD 1080 even using component cables), and use the VGA input with a PC and a 50 foot VGA cable to a VGA repeater, so my home PC in the other room can show on the projector if I want it to. Projector is awesome and I recommend it highly. Aside from no one being disappointed with this picture quality, the next biggest feature is the "throw" of the lens. Meaning, most people can't put the projector in the middle of the room on a stand in the way of your furniture. They usually ceiling mount it. If you have high ceilings like I do (8 feet) and want the projector as much out of the way as I do (almost touching the ceiling) rather than have to aim the projector on an angle towards the middle of your wall, the lens has an adjustment to drop the entire rectangular image DOWN very low and sizable left or right of the projectors face. This means it will install in more places than many other projectors. I just hope the lamp life will live up to expectations, and not die out or considerably dim to half at half life, etc. I can't find anyone who has yet changed their bulb once or twice to comment if it stays relatively bright until it dies or dims a little every 1000 hours, we'll see - but you CANNOT be dissapointed by this projector AT THIS PRICE. If you have another grand, that's different, but for around $1500 this one is the one. Couple that with 90 day advance replacement warranty from Epson, and 2 years parts and labor from Epson direct (projector comes with your own PIN for fast tech support) you will love this one!

This is my first review of any product, ever.
I had tried out a projector about 10 years ago, and image was dim and blurry.
I thought that I'd try again 10 years later. What a difference.
I have used this with Draper 140" high contrast gray screen
the image is huge, and when I'm done I just roll the screen up in about 2 seconds
a 50 inch screen now looks like a postage stamp;
- even w/o blu-ray (just upconverted) the image is beautiful - with blu ray I feel like I have a museum to the motion picture arts in my living room.
It is magnificent, particularly at night without any ambient light.
Kudos to Epson team - particularly the hard working engineers who stayed late in the labe to make this possible;
manufacturers of regular flat screen TV's should be frightened of this product.

This projector is an installers dream and for my clients who thought you had to spend a ton of money to have a great picture in their media rooms, well the quality and savings made everyone happy. Lens shift works fantastic allowing you to mount off center and project a perfect image. Helpful hint for the DIY people always mount your projector as close to lining up in the center of screen without obviously being in the way of your friends enjoying the show this will help pic quality and setup a little easier. Level projector from front to back and side to side don"t aim projector if on ceiling angling down towards screen let the lens shift do the work. Use a good mount as a installer that trys to save you money I've used cheap and worked to hard on install, my recommendation is the Premier mount PBL-UM/US little more $$$ but you'll love the easy install. If you want a projector that has a great pic and won't break bank, here's your man! This is my go to projector for media room budgets that want to stay under 5k. I match it with the Elite screens, Onkyo receivers,Polk Audio in-ceiling speakers and Polk Audio DSW MicroPro 1000/ or 2000 subwoofer for an awesome system.