Epson Home Cinema 5050UB 4K PRO-UHD Review

The Epson Home Cinema 5050UB is a high-performing home cinema projector with pixel-shifting technology and outstanding digital user interface features like digital lens shift and digital focus buttons. It's a beast of a machine in both size and performance and won't let discerning buyers down once they get past the sticker shock.

Performance Comparison

Entertainment

As far as entertainment-centric projectors go, the Epson 5050UB is the cream of the crop, despite not having built-in streaming apps. It has an impressive 1920x1080p resolution, but it shines with its additional 4K Enhancement Technology –– a feature that accepts 4K UHD content and upscales non-4K content to display better than Full HD resolution.

We noticed sharp precision in every image during our photo browsing analysis, and the video tests were even more impressive. Macro videos were crisp and clean, and we were thrilled to watch 4K movies on the Epson 5050UB's big beautiful screen. It felt like true movie theater quality. Detractors may argue that this unit's 4K Enhancement Technology is not true 4K viewing; however, our testers were very impressed with all of the 4k output from this projector.

The color accuracy of the Epson Home Cinema 5050UB is where this model really shines. Its fantastic out-of-the-box colors pop, and unlike most projectors, no color suffered from a noticeable shift in hue. This projector was the benchmark by which we graded all others in the test with regard color accuracy and image quality.

The only holding this projector back from a perfect score in this metric is its lack of smart features like native streaming apps and mobile device mirroring capabilities. However, most users purchasing a projector at this price point are probably already invested in or planning out a component system with dedicated audio and high-quality streaming devices to complement it.

Business

Some of the qualities that make the Epson 5050UB a great entertainment projector carry over into the business metric, but in many other ways, it just doesn't excel for the business use case.

This projector's color accuracy and clarity will be top-notch no matter where you set it up, and while it has adequate luminance to perform in well-lit spaces, it's not as bright as some of the models aimed squarely at business users present in bright rooms. Font sharpness, edge-to-edge clarity, and color accuracy to match source documents were all very good with this projector, and it even has a nice selection of ports: 2x HMDI, 1x computer, 1x USB-A, and B, 1 video, and a RS 232C.

Where things start to fall apart for the Epson Home Cinema 5050UB in the business metric are its physical size and weight, which contribute to poor portability. It tips the scales at nearly 25 lbs, and it's large at 20"L x 17.75"D x 7.13"H, which is not ideal for lugging around between meetings.

Lastly, we feel that business projectors should have all the necessary buttons to access settings located on top of the projector. The 50505UB has very few of them. Most of its functions are accessed from the remote control. That's fine unless the remote control gets lost or left behind before an important business presentation.

Contrast Ratio

Epson claims a stunning 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio for the Home Cinema 5050UB. We measured a ratio of 67:3 in our ANSI contrast test. Don't let that number deter you, as they were able to make the most of it through its ultra-whites and inky blacks. Both leaped off the screen, but mid-tones lost some contrast due in part to the extreme performance on the ends of the spectrum. Bright whites tended to wash out surrounding areas, and dark grays melded right into blacks.

In our video tests of clouds and space scenes, we were amazed by the brilliance and depth of the whites and blacks but lost some of the effects in transition areas. Surrounding colors were slightly washed out. Nevertheless, we felt that the darker shadowed scenes were phenomenal, and overall, we had a great viewing experience. The 5050UB has some of the best blacks of any projector but gives up some ground to other premium units in the whites and midtones.

Brightness

The Epson Home Cinema 5050 has a manufacturer-claimed brightness of 2600 lumens; however, we measured an average of 1,410 lumens in our ANSI lumen test.

While this is a significant drop from the manufacturer's stated output, we found that it didn't greatly impact the projector's viewability of pictures and movies in a home theater setting. A projector doesn't necessarily need to be the brightest to excel in that environment, but if you plan to set the projector up in a bright space, there are brighter prospects on the market.

Setup & Use

While the 5050UB had an impressive technical performance, we discovered some of our favorite features during the setup and ease-of-use tests. First up is the lens focus method. Unlike most projectors where the lens is twisted, and focusing is a process of corrections, overcompensating, and corrections again, the Epson 5050 has digital lens focus buttons on both the side of the unit and the remote, allowing users to make micro-adjustments to focus at the touch of a button. During 4K viewing, the ability to precisely adjust focus and not lose out on resolution due to setup errors is important. The digital lens shift (obstacle avoidance) and zoom were also nice features to have, as were auto and manual keystoning. There's also an integrated tripod/ceiling mounting point for specialized installations.

The large remote is intuitively laid out, with big backlit buttons that make navigating easy, even in the dark. One thing to note about the Epson 5050 is that despite its size, only the front two feet of the unit adjust, whereas you can adjust all three or four legs with most models.

Input Lag

Input lag measures the response time of the video on the screen. It's most important to those who wish to play competitive online video games with their projector. If that's you, you may not be satisfied with the Epson Home Cinema 5050UB's middling 68 milliseconds average response time.

Incidentally, many of the budget projectors possess superior response times. That is likely due to their simpler operating systems that don't overburden themselves with advanced image processing.

Should You Buy the Epson Home Cinema 5050UB 4K PRO-UHD?

The Epson Home Cinema 5050UB 4K PRO-UHD is a knockout of a projector that leads the pack in image quality for entertainment use; however, it comes with a price tag significantly greater than the competition. If you are crazy about colors and want a truly high-end projector right out of the box no matter the cost, then this is likely to fit the bill. If you plan on a stationary home theater for your cinematic favorites, then the Epson 5050UB could be a great model for you.

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