Epson - Home Cinema 2150 Wireless 1080p 3LCD Projector

Do you live anywhere near a medium-large city? If so just search FB Marketplace for full hd projectors from name brands. I got a Epson Homecinema 2150 in excellent condition with a spare bulb for 350. It has around 29 ms input lag which is perfectly acceptable for casual gaming. If you can't find a good used one in time for the party I'd get an Elephas W1K off Amazon (250$ last I saw). Probably the best out the box performance you'll get from a brand new projector under 300 and it's pretty easy to set up. I had one before I returned it to get the used Epson. Which I would still recommend returning the Elephas to Amazon after the game and either finding a better used one or saving up for a quality brand new projector. Good luck and enjoy the game!

If you want a solid, reliable projector that’s not overly complicated, I’d lean more toward something like the BenQ HT2050A, it’s got great image clarity and pretty good brightness, especially for casual movies and gaming. The Epson Home Cinema 2150 is also a strong pick if you want a bit more flexibility and a brighter, more evenly lit image. The Anker Capsule is super portable but limited in lumens, so it’s best for very low-light setups. As for Dangbei, I’d recommend checking out their compact laser/LED models, they offer great value for picture quality, build, and long-term performance, especially if you're okay investing a little more for quality.

The Elephas has nowhere near the specs of the Epson. Remember, you're buying a projector, not a 'smart' device. You want to focus on the things that matter. Zoom, lens quality, technology quality, brightness, and contrast. The Elephas has no optical zoom at all. It is using a mobile phone screen inside of it which is not very durable and suffers from premature failure all the time. It is typically not a properly sealed light path, so you end up with dirt and debris inside the system all the time. They tend to be quite noisy, while only giving a few hundred ANSI lumens of light output. It may claim 800, but that is likely not the case. Epson uses 3LCD technology that is used by quality manufacturers throughout the world. Epson, Panasonic, Christie Digital, NEC, and more all use 3 LCD tech in their projectors. Some of which are rated to 10,000+ ANSI lumens. This technology is built to survive. So, even in low lamp mode, the Epson will be a order of magnitude brighter than the Elephas or almost any single LCD panel projector on the market. Yes, it uses lamps, but that means that when the lamp inside it burns out in 1,500 or so hours, you can just replace it with a new one. And the replacement lamp is only about $70 for an Epson original. The 2100 and 2150 are almost identical models in reality. Same rated brightness, a bit better black levels on the 2150, but not much better. Read specs at Projector Central... [https://www.projectorcentral.com/Epson-Home\_Cinema\_2100.htm](https://www.projectorcentral.com/Epson-Home_Cinema_2100.htm) [https://www.projectorcentral.com/Epson-Home\_Cinema\_2150.htm](https://www.projectorcentral.com/Epson-Home_Cinema_2150.htm) NOW: If you want 'smart' features, just plug in a smart device like the Amazon Fire TV Stick for $30. It has integrated Bluetooth and can stream from all the major services.

I bought the epson years ago and love it. Compared a bunch of different projectors at the time (was beginning of COVID so had a lot of time…) This was the best for me in price class. Image was sharp and full.

**Do not get caught up in hype advertising or features like lasers - find out how the projector actually performs.  The 2019 Epson 5050UB bulb projector performs better than the 11000 laser version that supposedly replaces it. And the 4050 is the exact same thing, minus the UB polarizing filter and newer HDMI.  But it is 1/3 the price. The Epson 2150 is remarkable and I have enjoyed mine for... over 5 years.  Still on the original bulb.  It out performs some of the currently in-production Epson projectors (the HC 1080 has something awful like 16,000:1 claimed contrast, vs 60,000:1 on the HC2150). Having said that I don't know what they are going for these days.  The HC2350 is $750 refurbished on the Epson website right now - the picture quality won't be much better (but it might have a 250 watt bulb for a bit more brightness) - it will have the pixel shift 4k... which I've never felt the need for. Regardless of what you decide - if you care about image quality as your #1 - you must go with an Epson LCD.  DLP cannot compete with picture quality, not at any price point.  If you want 240hz for gaming, or streaming or something... then you might want to look elsewhere.

I'm still rocking my Epson 2150. I'm on my second bulb so far. One of the reasons I chose this type of projector is the relatively easy and affordable bulb replacement.

My 1080p long-throw projector looks fantastic with TV and gaming, and it's from 2017. Not sure what model replaced it, if any, but mine's a Epson 2150. I'm on my second bulb and it looks and works great. I paid much less than $1k back then, so you should be able to find one that's reasonable. But like others have said, a good 1080p will outperform a cheapo 4k.

Scored an epson 2150 on the epson refurbished store on ebay for 500$ a couple months ago. Im really happy with the results for the price. Colors are vivid and its plenty bright for a dark room. Black levels are decent but for the price i cant complain. https://preview.redd.it/7wsbx4qxn3kf1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce2ad7438ce6c770ff8e8f22b6d4db0d04ad7366

It really feels like Epson is happy to ceed the sub 2k price range to BenQ, JMGO & all the other Chinese crap. Im located in the mid. West, and during the winter months we put 6+ hrs a day on the weekend on our Epson HC 2150. Its still throwing a great Pic, but i have desire to upgrade to at least faux 4k and if I want to upgrade visual wise it's pretty much 5050 or bust, which sucks. 5050s look good but they are really yesterday's tech. I'd like to upgrade to laser for some future proofing, but I guess I ll wait another year.

Epson 2150. 1080 super bright, and looks great gaming and you only spend $400/$500.

An epson HC2150 with a throw of 11 ft will get you up to 114 inch diagonal screen size. Its an older unit but you can find them for $500 ball park. Its bright, and with blackout curtains in that space it would certainly do college football Saturday. Get a good 110 inch fixed frame screen and enjoy.

Epson 2150. Buy off Ebay NOS. it's exactly what you want. Thank me later.

Black levels are okish enough.. focus issues crisp. I ve been using one for over 5 yrs now daily and for the $$ it's hands down a winner.

I bought the $60 dollar one and it was reasonable for watching low stakes entertainment. It crapped out 3 days into it. I bought a used $200 Epson 1080p 3D capable one and haven’t regretted it. (dont remember the model)

It can be tough to get a quality projector in that price range. I’d consider something used. I did a quick eBay check and you can get Epson and Benq projectors used in that price range. Those companies both make quality projectors. My projector is a an Epson Home Theatre 1080 and I love it ($900).