Epson Dreamio EMP-TW2000 high definition home theatre projector - REVIEW

Adam Turner
Monday, 07 January 2008 03:15

Your IT - Entertainment

Epson's second high definition projector, the Dreamio EMP-TW2000 caters to perfectionists and it doesn't disappoint.

The Dreamio is a ''short throw'' projector, meaning it can produce a large image from a short distance - great for small lounge rooms. In ours it threw a mammoth 2.4 metre-diagonal widescreen image (that's 96 inches in the old money) over a distance of just 2.9 metres (nine and a half feet). If your room is big enough you can blow the picture up to an impressive five metres.

The fact that it's high definition (1920x1080p resolution) means the Dreamio can screen Blu-ray and HD DVD movies in all their glory, which is important because ordinary DVDs start to look shabby when you blow them up this big. The Dreamio is a 3LCD projector, which means you don't get the ''rainbow effect'' you see on Digital Light Processing (DLP) projectors. The rainbow effect means when you move your eyes you see parts of the image momentarily blur into red, blue and green - it can very very distracting. In DLP's defense, it generally offers higher brightness and contrast than 3LCD, but this isn't the case with the Dreamio.

The EMP-TW2000 is Epson's second generation HD home theatre projector, following on for the very impressive EMP-TW1000. The EMP-TW2000 offers four new key features. The first is that it's 30 per cent brighter at 1600 lumens, which is very high for a home theatre projector. It offers a choice of seven brightness settings depending on your lighting conditions, from Dynamic for bright rooms to Theatre Black 1 and 2 for pitch black conditions.

Switching to Theatre Black 1 or 2 drops the brightness slightly, reducing heat so the internal fan can spin down to almost silent. Even without this the TW2000 isn't too noisy to sit next to once you become engrossed in a movie. Thankfully the exhaust fan is at the front, whereas as many projectors have it at the side - making them uncomfortable to sit next to. If you owned this projector you'd probably mount it permanently on the ceiling, making heat and noise less of an issue.

The second improvement is contrast ratio, which refers to ratio between black and white. The Dreamio offers 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio (up from 12,000:1), which means the whitest white is 50,000 times brighter than the blackest black. "Dynamic contrast" is a form of voodoo mathematics in which the projector drops the brightness of the lamp in the dark scenes to create blacker blacks, but regardless of such trickery the Dreamio produces an exquisite picture with very deep blacks and fine details in the shadows.

The third improvement is that it features two HDMI 1.3 inputs rather than one, along with component (YPb'Pr' or YCb'Cr'), 15-pin D-Sub, s-video and composite video. It also has a D SCART input which can connect to a SCART output via an adaptor.

The final point is a little technical but worth noting. The new EMP-TW2000 can project high definition 1080p movies at 24 frames per second (the format in which they are filmed), whereas the old EMP-TW1000 converted 24 fps movies to 50 or 60 fps. The sad truth is most Blu-ray and HD DVD players convert the signal to 50 or 60 fps before it even leaves the player. Having reviewed both Dreamio models, we'd doubt all but the most discerning eyes could spot the difference.

The EMP-TW2000's biggest weakness is the quality of its predecessor, the EMP-TW1000, which has now dropped from $AU4999 to $AU3499. The new EMP-TW2000 is the projector for perfectionists who were put off by the first Dreamio's lack of 1080p/24 support. To be honest, your average punter won't appreciate the higher contrast and brightness or the native 24 fps. They should strongly consider buying the TW1000, which is now an absolute bargain, and put the $AU1500 saved towards a good Blu-ray or HD DVD player and a HD personal video recorder.

Epson's Dreamio EMP-TW2000 high definition home theatre projector retails for $AU4999. For more details visit www.epson.com.au