Epson Home Cinema 3800

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TL;DR: Good value, no RBE, flexible; but weak HDR and black levels.

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Sentiment score84% positive
41
5
3

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Last updated: Apr 17, 2026

Reddit Reviews

Reddit IconAltruistic_Army_7367
9 months ago

Epson 3800. Got mine for $650 used

Reddit Iconanakhizer
12 months ago

I got a new 3800 for 1350€ recently, very happy with it.

9 months ago

RBE hater here represented - I actually tried out a TK700Sti after reading all the good stuff about it. Turns out, I see RBE literally almost every second, and hated it. Returned it, and now have an Epson TW7100 (or 3800 for US) and love it. Tiny bit softer picture, but other than that it's perfect for my needs.

10 months ago

same here, hate it. I got a Epson 3800 (EH-TW7100) and it's in the living room, no blacking out done and I still think most of the time picture quality is superb. Only sometimes (in darker scenes) I feel like the black levels are a bit raised due to so many white surfaces.

Reddit IconAnorak6201
10 months ago

Personally, Epson 3800. I just bought mine used off of eBay, no bulb, no remote, 500$. Bought a bulb and remote for 125$ all together and it's been absolutely incredible for what is just about the same size and throw distance your looking at currently. I have about a 16-14 foot throw distance 120" screen with it not yet mounted and it's decent even with the multiple windows worth of light coming in, and at night it is stunning. Note that this is not only during the day, but the morning, and there are 2 more windows behind this image that add additional room light.

Reddit IconAV_Integrated
11 months ago

No projector works outside during the day, and dusk is even questionable. But, the Epson 3800 is the model without any RBE that I would get. It will work great indoors as well which is a big plus. Pair it with a Amazon Fire TV Stick and a Bluetooth speaker and it'll be a nice outdoor setup.

11 months ago

I think the Epson is a better model overall with better contrast and much more placement flexibility. The BenQ has faster pixel response time for gaming, and a solid state light engine which is a big plus at this time. If you have access to replacement lamps in the future, then the Epson is an easy favorite in my opinion.

11 months ago

If this is a permanent installation, look at home theater projectors, or lifestyle models designed to be easily ceiling mounted. A proper 5.1 audio installation with an AV receiver is a must, especially in a dedicated space with a home you actually own. Run wiring in the walls before you paint, and you will have a life long proper surround system. Avoid equipment at the front of the room if possible. Run HDMI to the projector and make it so you can swap out that HDMI cable. Wireless/screen mirroring is generally quite a lousy way to do anything. Use a wired device like an Apple TV or a Chromecast. If you're just streaming, consider a Roku or similar. The lifestyle models, as seen in the video, and as recommended with the X1 are decent solutions for sure, but are trickier to ceiling mount if they don't have a 3-point or 4-point mounting structure as is common with traditional projectors. Plus, they rarely have zoom and lens shift is almost unheard of. These are more common features on traditional projectors. But, the Hisense C2 Pro is a model with good zoom but terrible mounting. The Nexigo Trivision Ultra is well reviewed and has 4-point mounting which is nice for a ceiling setup. No zoom, no lens shift, so positioning must be very accurate for best results, as is common. Super easy to setup are models like the Epson 3800, but they are lamp-based and pretty much past their prime. A shame we haven't seen a laser version of those models yet. The BenQ X500i or X3100i are considerations as is the TK710 (or TK710STi) which are decent traditional models. High end starts around $5000 with Epson, Sony, and JVC models, all worthy in a good theater. Not sure what you're really hoping to spend here. A fixed frame screen from Silver Ticket is a excellent way to go.

Reddit IconAZSharksFan
8 months ago

Epson 2040 and 3800 and no noticeable lag. 110" screen with 7.1 speaker set up. RDR2 in particular was absolutely mind blowing. Hearing things all around and really feeling like you're in the game... incredible

Reddit Iconbetodeth
10 months ago

Too many units have this corner fuzzy errors on Epson 3800. Thats why was a no no for me and buyed the Hisense c2 that I fell on love since the first time I turn on and watched the Witcher 4 trailer on it.

Reddit IconCautious_Dare2094
10 months ago

yep - **Epson** **EH-TW8400 4K PRO-UHD Home Theatre** **Projector** \- be keen to know if anyone else has this projector what HDR settings they are using for it

Reddit Iconchaiscool
2 months ago

Did you test with sdr? Epson 3800 iirc has iris so should get higher contrast. Advantage of laser projector is color coverage for bt2020 and laser dimming without subtitles - so in dark scenes the laser can dim to have even better black floor. If you watch non dark content with subtitles then just keep the epson. Also, contrast ratio is affected by zoom level - try the same throw ratio on the others to match the epson. Maximum throw gives higher contrast, so your valerion at its biggest picture vs smallest picture will have like 40% contrast difference. Smaller picture has better pq, so you need to put the projector further back.

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