Epson - Home Cinema 980 3LCD 1080p Projector

I just got the 980 a few weeks ago and love it. Very bright, great picture, easy setup, compatible with my PS5. A few things I don’t love is no image shift, no way to dim the brightness (there is a setting to take the brightness down but it is only for the pictures brightness, not the actual brightness of the projector) and the hdmi ports are very sensitive but that could just be mine. Overall though very worth it and very happy with it

Also want to add, Best Buy had a deal on these for around $100 off in store. Not sure if it’s still active but worth a look

Putting the projector into ECO mode should lower the bulb brightness a bit.

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.

I would suggest either a business projector like Epson power lite or one of the Epson HC 880,1060,1080, 980 series which are for home cinema but are very bright. Some of them are older so you can look for them used or refurbished maybe in your price range

The Epson hc 880, 1060, and 1080 are wonderful little light cannons and great quality for value. If I find one at that price I'm buying it for a secondary or movable protector They still won't compete with the sun but will work well at night/ late evening and they are physically small and easy to move

Try to look locally and find a used epson 880/660/1080/1060 or benq ht2050. They're old enough that they're probably around that price used and they have well documented response times. I sold my HT2050 for 250$ on fb marketplace last year. If you can go up to 500$ you can find an epson official refurbished hc1080 https://epson.com/Certified-ReNew/c/cc?q=%3Aprice-asc%3AdiscontinuedFlag%3Afalse%3AinStockFlag%3Atrue%3AproductType%3APROJECTOR

Maybe try and find a used Epson 880, 1060, 1080, 660. You'll need a lot of light for 200in, those are very high brightness 1080p projectors. Most affordable while still being designed for home theater use (vs office use). If you can afford 400$, Epson sells factory refurbs for around that much

Epson 880, 1080, 1060, 980 Benq ht2050 or 2060 Might have to look used or refurbished to get some of those in your price range

the benq will have better color generally and I think the response time is pretty good. The epson 1080 is a light cannon but color/contrast not as good, not sure about response time.

Im still on a 1080p Epson home cinema. OG bulb. Never spend more than you need to for your application. Most hate is people trying to justify the insane price they paid for that extra 10% performance.

Man, still got 1080p Epson home cinema on a 140 inch screen. It really isn't that big a deal. Get a 4k unscaler and save yourself 1000s and/or put more in the sound.

I think you have the right instincts here A 4k projector will do the trick. Heck I have a 1080p Epson I picked up open box and a denon avr that can do 7.1. No atmos. And it sounds and looks amazing So nowadays an atmos capable receiver and 4k projector ( even just led ). Will look and sound amazing Just need a few small extra back speakers if and when you decide to use all the extra channels

I don’t have a 4k tv even. I will probably get one soon But I am really impressed with how good even an 1080p Epson can project at 110” image that is totally cinematic So I think any 4 k Epson will be totally good I feed it an Apple TV I have a marantz cinema 70 which is their lowest powered one and use an extra 2 channel amp I have to power fronts. That room looks pretty big so I would go with something cinema 50 and still have the option to add extra power later.

Yes it is. Got mine open box in 500$. For anime it's a no brainer.

For $800 you’re looking at 1080p not even pixel shift. You’ll have to do the math on throw distance but an Epson 1080 or Benq 585 are decent machines

Lots of decent options. The Benq 2150 will look best but an Epson 1080 or 90 will have more pop but less refinement. Could be good for your use. It’s less bright and not requested 4k but the xgimi horizon pro would fit some people’s setups in that budget.

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.

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/