Epson EH-TW7000 review

The Epson EH-TW7000 is Epson’s most affordable 4K projector. It has no built-in speakers and no smart platform. Almost all there is to judge it by is pure picture performance, and we’ve no problem with that.

The EH-TW7000 is almost identical on paper to the considerably more expensive What Hi-Fi? Award-winning Epson EH-TW7100. The lens, lamp and 3LCD projection technology are all the same. The only difference on the spec sheets is the missing built-in speaker array and a far lower claimed contrast.

We’re quite happy to save some money in exchange for the 20W speakers. The telling performance difference will more likely lurk behind those notoriously unreliable contrast ratios figures. Let’s lower the lights and take a look.

Build

The Epson EH-TW7000 is a ceiling or desktop projector that will work perfectly well from an AV rack or shelf within throw distance. For a 100in picture – this projector can produce an image of between 40in and 500in – you’re looking at anywhere between 2.95m to 4.77m to the projector screen, thanks in part to the 1.62x zoom lens.

The lens shift can move the image by +/- 60 percent on the vertical axis and +/- 24 percent on the horizontal, so there’s room for adjustment if you can’t get the projector positioned perfectly. There’s also a generous keystone correction built in. All in all, there’s enough scope to fit one into your current living space, if you’re not working with a dedicated home cinema room.

The chassis of the machine itself is a typically modest size for an Epson of this type. Again, it’s virtually identical to the TW7100 and, thanks to its rounded lines, a lot easier on the eye than the last flush of Epson devices. Around the back, there’s a choice of two HDMI sockets and two USB 2.0s for source material. You can also send audio out through Bluetooth or a 3.5mm cable.

There are enough buttons on the top of the TW7000 to navigate all the on-screen menus but the fully-featured, standard Epson 4K PRO-UHD home projector remote control is the better way of doing things. It has shortcuts to most of the settings and a backlight too.

There are no lens control buttons, however, and that’s because focus, zoom and shift are all done manually here. You’ll have to step up to the considerably more expensive, Award-winning Epson EH-TW9400 for motorised control.

Features

The core tech of the TW7000 is Epson’s 3LCD 4K PRO-UHD projector system. There are three 0.61in LCD panels – one for each of the primary colours – which use pixel shifting technology to create a 4K image, despite a lower native resolution. The light source is a 250W lamp that will last up to 3500 hours on High mode before it needs replacing.

Together, this tech can produce a picture of 3000 lumens brightness at a claimed contrast of 40,000:1. While it can be used in a partially lit room, the effect is far better in a fully darkened space.

Once up and running, the fan noise is perfectly acceptable. Expect somewhere in the region of 32dB when in High and 24dB in Eco mode. As with most projectors, there’s no Dolby Vision or HDR10+, but HDR10 and the ability to do active 3D processing are both included. You’ll need to buy 3D glasses separately, though.

Picture

We play Venom on 4K Blu-ray and this projector explodes into life from the start, with some excellent HDR handling and dark detail in the opening shuttle crash scene. The light levels run from the dark forest shadows to the extreme brightness of the floodlights. Despite this range, the tone of the scene is expertly controlled.

There is nothing remotely heavy-handed about the way it is done. The brightest patches of grass and the darkest areas of the forest are all properly exposed, lending a superb feeling of drama and depth to the image with the silhouettes of the trees in the background a particular treat. Naturally, we don’t get the same depth of black found in similarly priced OLED or LCD TVs – and a DLP projector will score better here too – but the blacks on this 3LCD machine still help to make for a fabulous wide shot that draws us right into the story.

Considering the price point, this projector is capable of some brilliant detail. Tom Hardy looks typically rugged in close-up – his stubble is sharp and his blemishes lend a great feel to the character. Don’t be afraid to push on the Image Enhancement menus (Super-resolution and Detail Enhancement) and the Sharpness settings when watching in HDR to get the most out of this projector. Out of the box, the calibration is a little soft. 

Similarly, while the preset Color Modes are all well chosen, it’s still worth checking in with the colour temperature to fine-tune the look of your film. With our particular sample, 7000K proves more convincing than the 6500K standard, but this may well vary between samples.

As with other Epson 4K PRO-UHD machines, there is no motion processing while watching 4K content. Fortunately, the natural picture is steady enough. Some moments of judder may happen in particularly fast panning shots but it’s no problem in the main. The TW7100 does offer a slightly smoother ride, but you have to pay significantly more for that privilege.

At 1080p, the picture from this projector is still top-notch. It isn’t blessed with everything under the hood that you’ll find on more expensive projectors, though, and without the benefits of HDR, the settings may take a little tweaking between different films of different aesthetics.

We watch Ant-Man on Blu-ray, and with plenty of colour and texture in the materials of the suit and almost every surface seen at ant-level, it makes for a good test disc. In response, the TW7000 offers a masterclass in budget projection.

When we view something moodier, such as Looper on Blu-ray, the main brightness slider needs a kick or far too much of the detail is lost to the shadows. The scene where Joe wakes in his apartment to find Seth tapping at the window is virtually all black until we do.

Similarly, with a film more heavily graded for colour and texture, such as Fargo, there are different changes to make. Both colour saturation and particularly the image sharpening tools take careful tuning to avoid ruddy skin tones and a noisy picture. The Noise Reduction filter is excellent in this instance.

The TW7000 does justice to all of these discs – and any other SDR content we throw at it – but with a slightly more limited contrast ability than its bigger 4K PRO-UHD siblings, it can sometimes need pointing towards the right set of parameters.

Even with standard def content, this machine does as good a job as we could hope for. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button on DVD is perfectly watchable whether it’s the darker scenes set of the Murmansk hotel bar or the brighter moments of the house in New Orleans. The deinterlacing mode will make the best of the detail. Take care to ease back on the picture processing and you’ll avoid the image getting too twitchy.

Verdict

Epson’s 4K PRO-UHD home cinema range is in a good place right now and the EH-TW7000 is yet another great example of an affordable 4K projector done well. Its relatively feature-free and stripped-down approach means as many of your pennies go towards the picture performance as possible.

The result is a hugely enjoyable big-screen experience, both for 4K and HD content. If it’s within your budget, the more capable and slightly smoother TW7100 is still well worth the step up, but the character and tone of what you get here, and for much less, is very much in line with its Award-winning bigger brother. The Epson EH-TW7000 is a must for your shortlist.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Features 5
• Build 5

MORE:

Read our guide to the best projectors

Read our Epson EH-TW7100 review

Read our Epson EH-TW9400 review