Epson - Home Cinema 1080 V11H980020-N

UPDATE: Ended up going with the Epson Home Cinema 1080. It was the last one at Staples and I feel as though Rainbow Effect would be bothersome for me, as I notice those kinds of things quite easily. Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions! Hey, I'm new to projectors and have no idea what I'm looking for or need. The room is roughly 12' x 12'. It's the bedroom and isn't the main source of watching TV or movies. I won't be gaming on this, at least not in the foreseeable future. I would like to ceiling mount the projector and would like to have a retractable screen. I have about an 8' x 8' section in front of the closet doors I'd like to put the screen. I have no idea how big of a screen I would want or need. It would also rarely be used in the daytime and would only ever experience a dimly lit lamp for light. $500 to $700 CAD for the whole setup would be ideal but if spending an extra hundred or so more gets me something way better we might be able to swing it. Thanks!

You want to focus on getting the best image quality for your budget. Most start with a decent 1080p projector and upgrade from there as budget and need allows. Sound is another separate part of the puzzle. If I were starting today, I'd be looking at an epson home cinema 1080. I started on the 1040 and ran that for 6 years before I upgraded to a 4k unit it's crazy bright for the money and I only had to replace the lamp once in that time. I managed to nearly double the lamp's expected life, which I found to be impressive. Also you should consider a decent screen for it eventually as no wall is a great surface to project onto. I used a cinegrey 5d screen for my high ambient light room. Lastly, sound, you have some options here. I started with a used stereo Teac amplifier for about $30 on eBay, with two used tannoy book shelf speakers. I initially used Bluetooth but the audio delay was too much so I used a USB amp from my computer, which had a headphone jack and connected to the amp with and RCA to headphone jack. Eventually I bought an AVR and ran my audio over HDMI and am building my own 7.2.4 atmos setup. Welcome to the Rabbit hole of money and neverending upgrades!

Yeah, I bought the Epson Home Cinema 1080, from what I understand it's pretty much exactly the same projector. Everyone (and myself) who has been over to watch movies on it loves it. I'll upgrade to some nice 4k projector some day when this one dies, but I can't imagine there are many 1080p projectors that would be noticeably better. And certainly not any close in price.

Epson Home Cinema 880 or 1080 (model numbers). Check for sales. Mine was at least $100 off on sale.

I bought an Epson Home Cinema 880 for $220 and actually just got an Epson Home Cinema 1080 yesterday for $200.  If you can stretch your budget a bit, I highly recommend these projectors.

Epson Home Cinema 880 or 1080.  They're great 1080p projector that are BRIGHT and cheap.   I got my 880 for $220 and my 1080 for $200.

I have the Epson 880 and 1080.  They're both fantastic projector and some of the best values you can possibly get, especially in the 200 - $250 range, which is phenomenal value.  1060 is, as I understand it, similar to between the 880 and 1080 so I would absolutely recommend it.

I got both the Epson Home Cinema 880 and 1080 used in excellent condition with low bulb hours at around $200 each on separate occasions, and they're both phenomenal 1080p projectors.

Best you can get is an Epson Home Cinema 880 for around $200 used.  I got one for $220 and an Epson Home Cinema 1080 for $200. I would just push a bit more to get to the $200 mark and then wait for a really good deal on one used and you'll find yourself with a superb bright (3,300 lumen) projector.

You don't need 6k lumens for a 200 inch screen. I'd say you need a solid 3,500 lumens a good screen with maybe at least a 1.3 gain, and you need it to be dusk to night time. To confirm this, I entered in the Epson Home Cinema 1080, which has 3,400 lumens. And entered a 200 inch screen with a 1.3 gain into the calculator. Projector Central's lumen's per square foot estimate came out to 24 fL per square foot, with the manufacturer's estimate coming in at 36. Both of which are adequate for viewing with moderate to high ambient light levels. Even with a gain of 1.0, the fL worked out to be 18 and 28 for Projector Central's and manufacturer's estimate respectively. Which would be adequate for low to moderate ambient light levels.

Well, my point of reference is my 3,300 lumen 880 Epson Home Cinema projector shining in on my 150 inch screen in my basement. A 200 inch screen is roughly 75% more screen area. But I've blown up the image to almost that range before and it still looked really good to me. But I am a peasant basically. More lumens can be great, but they can also decrease contrast levels and whatnot. Sometimes size trumps all, and I think a 200 inch screen powered by a 3,500 lumen projector in the back yard at night would be dope as hell! Even if the picture quality could be better, it's still probably pretty good on dark nights.

Love my 1080!

Glittering kind of nailed this answer. Xgimi is a new name but they’re a player now so I would not hesitate to consider one if it fits the bill. The ISSUE with most of these sub $1000 solid state models is they tend to offer really slick designs but lack usable lumens. If your goal is something small that you can take with you or setup in a hurry on a ‘smaller’ screen then it might be a good fit. But if your primary concern is image performance then I would make the argument that, below $1000 at least, bulb models are still the best bargain. Simply owing to their ability to buy out a LOT of light for not a lot of dough. There can obviously be exceptions but that’s been generally good advice to follow. When it comes to projection, lumen output is one of the most important factors for choosing a model that fits your use case. Unfortunately, manufacturer lumen ratings are often hilariously inaccurate. Some brands advertise a lumen spec that is based on an antiquated or dubious test methodology. Others, even reputable brands, advertise a lumen output for a specific ‘bright’ or ‘dynamic’ picture mode that you would never actually use in real life as it looks so awful. Less reputable brands straight up fib. The Samsung Freestyle 2 you mentioned: 230 ANSI lumens and actual real world performance will be less. The Xgimi Mogo 3 is one of the brighter of these portable models at 450 ISO lumens. Performance should be pretty close to that mark. Contrast that with Epson HC1080 above. Rated lumens are 3400 ANSI which is a *bit generous. Still, in its most accurate picture mode it’s producing over 2000 lumens. That’s a massive amount of light and over 10X what the little Samsung produces. That will result in a vastly brighter image with more saturated color and better visible contrast all while being able to drive really large screens or compete with ambient light. Even an affordable solid state home theater projector like the BenQ HT2060– which used to be $1000 before the tariffs forced a price increase— BenQ rates it at 2200 ANSI, I got just under 1000 lumens calibrated. That’s not especially bright but consider this is a model intended for dark theater use. It’s STILL multiple times as bright as either of those little guys above.

For $1000 or less you’re either getting the cheapest lamp based 4K unit or a pretty nice 1080p model and solid state (laser or LED) is probably on the table. My no. 1 recommendation for a $1000 model USED to be the BenQ HT2060. I say used to because the price has gone up since this tariff insanity. Assuming you can catch a sale or deal on a refurb the HT2060 would still be my top pick. The reason: image quality. It produces a bright, crisp, colorful image with one of the highest native contrast ratios of any projector under $5,000 (my $3000 4K projector produces around half the native contrast). It’s 4LED so no bulbs to replace. 1080p/120Hz with 8-16ms of input latency and instantaneous pixel response which makes it perfect for even competitive gaming. The only negatives if you can call them negatives is it’s not a portable or ‘lifestyle’ projector so it doesn’t have built in streaming or a gimmicky gimbal mount. It’s an honest-to-goodness home theater projector with optical zoom and lens shift. Though it does have pretty good built in sound if you’re into that. I would recommend the H2060 for screen sizes of 90-120”. Any larger and you might want a brighter projector which at this price probably means going bulb. The BenQ TH575 or Epson 1080 are good alternatives. Neither will have the contrast nor will either be as colorful as the 2060 but you’ll get more output to push a larger screen or compete with more ambient light. The Epson in particular lacks the sharpness of the DLPs but is a certified light canon cable of driving enormous screens. https://www.avsforum.com/threads/benq-ht2060-4led-hdr-home-theater-gaming-projector-review-and-owners-thread.3270380/

For a 75 inch image, a TV is the way to go. You can get an excellent budget set that will outperform a projector in brightness, contrast and image quality (4K vs 1080 HD). If you must go the projector route, I highly recommend the Epson Home Cinema 1080 for a quality inexpensive bright projector. However, the drawbacks are that the image will be much larger than 75 inch at 11 ft distance. Think 6ft or so for 75”. It will also be 1080p not 4K. Currently they are running $500 on the Epson refurb site. I have one I use for movie night and football cookouts on a 120 inch screen and it works great for that! https://preview.redd.it/vmwwrul4p6oe1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f573c0fd030c05e55ddc0e02d40509c62255045 [https://epson.com/Certified-ReNew/Home-Entertainment/Home-Cinema-1080-3LCD-1080p-Projector—Certified-ReNew/p/V11H980020-N](https://epson.com/Certified-ReNew/Home-Entertainment/Home-Cinema-1080-3LCD-1080p-Projector—Certified-ReNew/p/V11H980020-N)

I second the Epson suggestion. I just got my first projector, a used Epson Home Cinema 1080, for $80. I realize I got a hell of a deal (threw my employer some money for it instead of watching it get e-recycled), but normally you can still find a used one for around $300 give or take. People in this sub definitely jumped down your throat on this one, but rewording your question next time (mention your budget and ask for used suggestions rather than specific models considered to be nothing more than manufactured e-waste) might yield less hostile responses.

Good call on the Epson HC 980; that's a solid pick for your use case. If you want slightly better contrast and a touch of lens shift for easier placement, the BenQ HT2050A or HT2060 are great alternatives, but for simple nighttime streaming the HC 980 is a solid pick.