Epson’s LCD projectors enjoy a name in many markets including India for their affordability, design and projection quality. Without doubt, it is one of the best players in this market, vigorously upgrading its repertoire and technologies. But of late like many other device makers Epson also seems to be a tad confused when it comes to understanding the market and, most importantly, what consumers want. The Epson TW650 clearly reflects this dilemma.

To be fair, Epson TW650 has many pluses and very few minuses. It sports the popular, time-tested 3LCD technology, has the fairly advanced RGB liquid crystal shutter, Full HD support and more. For starters, images from 3LCD projectors are said to be not suffering from colour break-up (the rainbow effect) and the projections don’t hurt your eyes.

The ultra-high energy (UHE) lamp light is strong at 210 W and hs 4,500 hours and 7,500 hours durability on regular and economy modes, respectively. The TW650 has 15,000 : 1 contrast ratio, which is decent at this price point.

Working around

Epson TW650 has an aspect ratio of 16:9 and can negotiate up to 1.07 billion colours, which is a premium faculty. The device supports USB 2.0 Type A and Type B jobs, has wireless LAN, VGA and HDMI ports and audio in slots. The body looks fragile but feels strong. The white exterior can get dirty easier, especially if the device is kept mounted on the wall or ceiling for a longer period, which is usually the case with most projectors.

The split-screen function is useful in business presentations. The projector has a colour/white output of 3,100-1,925 lumen (economy mode), which in a way signals that it is mostly meant for business presentations in dimly lit rooms or even open avenues and not in dark environs. You can manually slide the small gate in front of the lens and mute the audio and video.

You also have to manually adjust the focus of the lens, there is no autofocus faculty built in. The device can be wirelessly connected to your phone via QR scanning and your phone’s screen can be beamed via the projector.

The projection quality is very impressive, especially in a dark environment and Epson TW650 supports various projection modes — cinema, games, dynamic and bright cinema. There is built-in audio which is just there for the sake of it. And there is no audio out, which given the price is a big minus.

The projector supports USB memory devices; insert one and the photos or movies saved in it are projected automatically. Technically, the device supports USB video playback, but you will then have to be happy with the feeble, stretchy and cluttered audio inside the device. Ideally, you’re supposed to connect the audio from your source (laptop, for one) to an external speaker system. That’s one added layer of wires.

If you know how to use an HDMI splitter and similar workarounds, you will be able to get better audio results. Also, the device doesn’t support newer file formats such as .mkv or encoding technologies such as x265.

Placement issues

Getting the projector placed properly and adjusting the screen is dedicated to the pros and not for the lesser mortals. It took us some time to get used to the very idea of adjusting the screen. Granted the device offers the so-called automatic keystone adjustment, which means the systems adjusts the image according to the way it is placed and in sync with better viewing practices.

But turns out, that’s not always up to the mark and if you are using it as a portable home theatre or for other similar purposes, be prepared to spend some time adjust the display and screen.

For those who have been fans of Epson’s EB-X31 business projector (full disclosure, this reviewer is one and has a friend who vouches for its quality performance), which is now available for just about ₹37,000 on Amazon, the EH-TW650 falls short on many, though small but significant, counts and users might prefer its higher-priced cousin EH-TW5650, which ticks many columns that the TW650 has left unchecked, such as the audio-out.

In sum, the TW650 is a bit expensive if you’re looking at it as a business projector and the home theatre experience it delivers will leave you craving for more.

PRODUCT: Epson TW650

PRICE: ₹58,999

PROS: Good projection, strong body

CONS: No audio out, cumbersome keystone adjustments, expensive if used only for slideshows

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