Epson EH-TW5000 LCD projector targets the home cinema market (IFA 2008)

Posted by Al Warmington on Fri 29 Aug 2008

With contrast ratios to make DLP blush

Epson is probably better known for its business projectors but that doesn't mean it has forgotten that there are plenty of swish pads out there in need of tech, some of which are rumoured to have no means of home cinema projection whatsoever. Worrying, eh? Something has to be done and maybe the Epson EH-TW5000 is the device to do it.

Perhaps the reason that Epson has been slow to crack the home entertainment scene is the use of LCD projection technology - most top end projectors use DLP because of its ability to generate smoother video and especially higher contrasts. However, LCD has come on a long way and Epson's 3LCD system claims to offer deeper blacks and a higher contrast than ever before.

The EH-TW5000 lobs out images boasting a contrast ratio of 75,000:1, along with 1600 ANSI Lumens brightness and full 1080p HD resolutions. The HQV video processor improves the picture quality and cuts out noise, while 12-bit processing smoothes out the motion flow to provide a proper cinematic viewing experience.

Connectivity includes a relatively modest two HDMI slots, plus composite, component, S-Video and D-Sub inputs.

The price is certainly right up there in proper home cinema territory too, with the EH-TW5000 selling for something in the region of £2,400. They're due out in October.