Epson 5030ub Calibration Settings

[Jonathon Burnside]

Beloware the calibration settings Mike ended up with in doing a grayscale calibration, and general settings. Although the Epson has a very good THX mode, if other HC5030 UB's are consistent with this one, they can be slightly improved. See Mike's notes at the bottom regarding the finer points.

Dynamic mode is the brightest but with very strong greens. Reducing the green makes for a major viewing improvement, but the HC5030 UB still manages more than 1700 lumens, and that's at mid-point on the zoom, so an easy 2000 lumens with the zoom at wide angle!

Here's a look at the other modes, just reporting on White - (100 IRE). Note that Natural, Cinema and THX are, best we can tell, virtually identical. For those with EU or other international versions, the Cinema mode is what you should use instead of the THX mode we list, since, as best I understand it, the TW8200. (I trust that your units have a Cinema mode!)

There was an error on this page regarding the grayscale settings for Gain and Bias for RGB. That has been corrected, and it now matches the same data on the Advanced page for our subscribers. Subscribers though have access to our CMS calibration data, that is, the calibration of each primary and secondary color. It may be what I've often called "the last 5 or 10% of a calibration, but it can make a real difference!

In addition to calibrating Red Green and Blue for a correct grayscale balance (6500K), there are a number of other settings that come into play. Typically Contrast and Brightness (white balance and black balance), need to be done first. Color saturation and gamma also need adjustment. In the case of the HC5030 UB projector, most of these default settings were fairly close to ideal, with only contrast altered more than slightly in most modes.

To the left are Mike's adjustments for the THX and Dynamic modes. Again the goal of "best" is a great looking 6500K grayscale, and the goal of "brightest" is to improve a bright mode in terms of color accuracy, but without compromising brightness significantly.

The 5030UB still throws out more light than anything in its class, allowing it to be used in situations aside from total darkness--unlike so many of those videophile favorites. It also boasts the accurate color and solid video processing we liked before, and beyond the picture, the package is compelling: included 3D glasses, all the expected setup options, even a sliding lens cover.

So Epson has another winner, and no matter how many projectors we test this year, it's tough to imagine another besting it for the Editors' Choice. We'll review a few more before we make it official though.

Design

White and curvy in a generic way, the 5030UB is the kind of projector that looks best on a ceiling or otherwise hidden away, out of sight. It's not ugly per se, just uninspired compared to sleeker high-end units like the JVC DLA-X35. Large black vents, the only antidote to the white, flank the sizable lens, which is in turn dwarfed by its circular opening. That extra space leaves plenty of room for the lens to shift around, and a nifty lens cover snaps into place when the unit powers down.

Topside are the controls for lens shift, both manual and plagued by somewhat inexact, soft-feeling dials. I also wasn't impressed by the feel of focus and zoom, which lack the smoothness of some lens mechanisms.

The remote is massive and fully backlit, with a dedicated key for pretty much every function. No complaints there. Epson's menu system is nothing fancy, filled with esoteric adjustments and nested options that are, unfortunately, par for the projector course.

Compared to its predecessor 5020 from last year, the main improvement is an almost doubling in contrast with the new Ultra Black image system. The contrast ratio specification has increased from 320,000:1 to 600,000:1, while the light output remains constant at 2,400 lumens. In other words, Epson is saying the black levels are much better now. Our testing shows they are better but not as much as the numbers might imply; see the next page for details.

Setup: Complete with all the setup options I expect at this price, the Epson was simple to get configured and aligned from positions both above and below the screen. While only the front feet are adjustable, the vertical and horizontal lens shift which makes it much easier to set up than units that lack both. Unlike the JVC DLA-X35, however, all of those lens controls are manual as opposed to power-controlled. Of course I prefer these functions--at least focus, so you can easily tweak it from a vantage closer to the screen--to be motorized. I don't expect it at this price, however.

The 5030 has a slightly higher throw ratio than the step-down 3020 model, from between 1.34 and 2.87 times while also being able to display a maximum 300-inch screen size. With the 5030's spectacular light output, it should have no trouble filling very large screens with a punchy image.

Picture settings: THX certification is the most notable addition here. That set-it-and-forget-it picture mode, which we found the most accurate out of the box, joins modes Natural, Cinema, and Dynamic. When activating 3D content the projector offers three more options: 3D Dynamic, 3D Cinema, and 3D THX.

New for the 2013 models is a mode called Classic Black-and-White Cinema, which is designed to improve shades of gray on old movies without introducing false colors. Need more flexibility? The 5030 has 10 memory presets in case you accidentally reset your settings, or want to experiment with a "bright room" mode, for example.

For advanced setups, the projector offers an extensive number of controls, including a selection of Gamma settings and a Color Management System. We took advantage of both to better dial in color, but did miss the kind of detailed gamma control available on units like the JVC -- Epson's custom gamma didn't seem worth the hassle.

Our calibration also involved choosing the correct Iris setting. Especially on an LCD projector like the 5030UB, black levels benefit quite a bit from the iris. I measured an improvement from 0.0053 fL to a visibly darker 0.0015 fL when we switched the Iris from Off to either of the two On modes (Normal or High Speed). I chose Normal to minimize visible transitions, although watching quick-changing program material in High Speed I also didn't notice any such artifacts.

Connectivity: The 5030 offers a decent selection of inputs including twin HDMI ports, component and AV jacks, and a VGA input. A USB port is also included, designed mainly for charging the 3D glasses.

Pay an extra $300 for the 5030UBe and you'll receive the WirelessHD system, designed to transmit 1080p signals in lieu of an HDMI cable. It consists of a wireless receiver onboard the projector and a transmitter hub, which includes five HDMI inputs, one HDMI output, and an optical audio jack. While I didn't test the Wireless HDMI system on this projector, I expect it would perform identically to the one shipped with the 3020e; that is, works great, but it needs line of sight.

Picture quality

There's not much the Epson 5030UB does wrong. Its black level is superb, lending the image more pop and contrast than just about any projector at or below its price range. It also blasts out more light than any decent, somewhat affordable home theater projector we've seen--not presentation-worthy, but plenty to combat normal room lighting and deliver a watchable image. Its main weakness is the inability to match the contrast and punch of D-ILA rivals like the JVC DLA-X35. But for the 5030's price, that flaw is easy to overlook.

Black and white level: The 5030UB is capable of delivering a deep, impressive shade of black. Compared to the two projectors above, it sat in the middle, albeit closer to the lighter 5020UB than the suberbly dark JVC.

First off, Epson's claim of improved blacks over the 5020UB holds water in program material, but the difference was not drastic. Watching my favorite black level test, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," the 5030UB was a bit darker in the letterbox bars and darkest parts, such as the massing of the army overlooking Hogwart's, while the 5020 looked just a bit more washed out. In mixes dark and light, high-contrast scenes, such as the Room of Requirement, the difference was easier to spot but still subtle.

The 5030UB's inability to match the JVC's depth of black was more obvious. Yes, the two measured nearly the same in the chart below, but that's with a full black screen. With program content, invariably more varied, the JVC's superior contrast was clear. I watched selections from Chapter 12 and 13 of the very dark "Potter," for example, and even in the dimmest scenes the black of the JVC's letterbox bars and dark areas was much truer and more lightless than on the Epson.

The same went for brighter mixed scenes, such as when Hermione and Ron cause the flood in the hidden chamber (52:00). Again the JVC won with its deeper blacks. Highlights between the two were similarly bright, and the Epson revealed very slightly more detail in shadows. The JVC's shadow detail was still excellent, and it didn't crush or obscure any information near black -- the Epson just revealed a bit more. That said, the JVC clearly won at producing a pleasing dark-room image, and suffered no major tradeoffs.

Like its predecessor, the Epson 5030UB delivered excellent light output. At full bore, in the Dynamic mode showing a full-white screen, it was capable of 82 footLambert (fL), which is almost twice what the JVC and Sony VPL-HW50ES were capable of, and a near-match for the 5020UB. In lumens, a measurement that eliminates the variable of my screen, that works out to 2,696 (thanks to Chris Heinonen for the lumens calculator).

Color accuracy: No problems here. The 5030UB delivered the same color accuracy as its predecessor in both dark scenes and light, and a bit more pop and saturation due to its deeper blacks. It also managed to avoid the 5020's slight bluish tinge to black areas, like the letterbox.

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