Epson - Home Cinema 660 SVGA 3LCD Projector
I’ve got a perfect room for this Epson 660, because I can get it completely dark and project onto a 110” screen. But I didn’t need that room for this projector, as I quickly discovered. This projector could end up accompanying me during presentations or for movies against an outside wall at night or maybe home movies at family events. The Epson is light, at just over 5 lbs. so dragging it around is not a big deal. It has an adjustable throw range and projection distances that can accommodate most room sizes. Keystone correction both vertically and horizontally allows you to locate the projector where it makes the most sense for your setting. (The EPSON is easiest to set up level with the bottom of your intended projection area if its set on a table or level with the top of your projection area if ceiling mounted — and yes, the image can be flipped using the EXTENDED MENU, submenu “Projection”.)
Out of the box, I had the projector connected by a longer than typical HDMI cable to the monitor output of my Audio/Video Receiver. In this setup, I didn’t care about the projector’s audio capabilities and my AVR managed the audio output from my various sources: DirecTv, Oppo Blu-ray player, ROKU, and Mac laptop. It’s even simpler to use the Epson 660 without associated home theater equipment. Just swap the single HDMI input to the device providing that signal. If your computer requires the VGA input, it’s available. Even composite video is available. And, there is also a USB input for projecting images with only a USB device. The SOURCE SEARCH button will find the connected device. There is a complete set of menus to adjust the image parameters, but the default setting of CINEMA (for a bright white screen/wall in a dark room) or BRIGHT CINEMA for a room with more ambient light seemed perfectly fine for me.
IMAGE: Before I share my observations, please realize that I’m comparing this EPSON 660 based on my experiences using a $5,000 premium movie projector which I do NOT drag around to various locations because of its cost, its weight and the fact that it needs a long cool down period. The Epson requires none of these concerns. It’s light, inexpensive and requires no cool-down.
This is one bright, colorful, crisp picture. Very bright. Very colorful. It easily projects a TV video (see picture off of 110” screen) from a spring baseball game broadcast. It projects a Blu-Ray as you can see from my “A Bugs Life” photo, from the same screen. The pictures tell the story. Very pretty images. As a live viewer I should add that the pixel structure at this 110” horizontal screen size is visible from 7’ away, but becomes harder to see as you step back.The blacks are not nearly as deep on this Epson as on my premiere comparison projector. But, those other, $4000 premium projectors ought to buy you something extra, right? This much less expensive EPSON 660 is a very entertaining projector . . . and it can easily serve business or classroom video duties.
SOUND: The Epson 660 actually has a built-in speaker. If you really care — and if you’re using this for a lecture or business presentation, you might — the internal speaker is OK and can serve an average classroom or meeting room. For a larger lecture hall or for movie night or a pool party, you should augment your sound. We’re a movie family with sporting events reserved for weekends. I demand big, realistic, surround sound and using this small speaker to recreate a movie experience is just silly. But, that’s me.
SUMMARY: For my earlier, science teaching career, I would loved to have a personal cinema projector with this level of flexibility, affordable price and great image quality. For now, it’s the family’s portable, video entertainment accessory. Highly credible image quality. Very easy to recommend.