Epson - Home Cinema 980 Projector, 4,000 Lumens of Color and Brightness, 3LCD, Full HD 1080p - White

I am quite impressed by this Epson projector. The design is typical of any projector, perhaps a bit on the bigger side. However, it fits very nicely on the 11X15 inch tray of my tripod stand. That makes it quite portable -at least from place to place. Setting up is a breeze. The included quick setup sheet shows what’s important clearly. I appreciate the sliding lens cover as I have lost covers in the past. The controls on top are clearly labeled and can handle all basic functions. The included remote has a robust (maybe a bit unnecessary) number of buttons that can handle all the advanced features. The projector provides limited connectivity options. It does not have an OS and no Bluetooth. You will need a content player device such as a smart stick (least expensive way to go), console, or disc player. It is a good thing that there are two HDMI inputs. I liked that the smart stick can be powered with the projector’s USB port. For sound, an audio system or stand-alone speakers can be connected via a 3.5mm jack. I successfully used a cheap Bluetooth wireless adapter to connect to a soundbar. The projector has pretty loud speakers, but unfortunately, they are super basic with little to no bass. What really sells this projector is the picture quality. Boy, straight out of the box I was amazed as to how bright, vibrant, and clear the picture is –even if it is 1080p. At the default setting, I was able to see the picture in the middle of the day in my well-lit office. While understandably opaque, the colors do not become washed out. It’s truly quite watchable at any time. In a dark environment, the picture becomes almost too bright. Thankfully, the ECO setting not only brings down the brightness and saturation, but also makes the fan run very quietly. There are several video presets that work well for different content, and a manual color option for those who like to tinker. I threw the picture in my office at 75”. I have a 100” screen which I sadly damaged during setup, so I ended up using my studio wall. That was for the best because I was able to enjoy a full 142” screen. Both projection sizes looked amazing and cinematic. The Built-in Picture Skew Sensor worked very well at closer range, but I found that manually adjusting the keystone through the app works best on large projections. On top of that, there are a manual focus and skew wheel for the best projection. I have several 1080p projectors, and while the Cinema 980 is not the smallest nor the cheapest, I can confidently say that it is by far the best one I’ve tested so far –regardless of its few shortcomings. Therefore, I highly recommend checking it out!

After trying and using a handful of smaller form factor projectors over the last year or two, this one is certainly the nicest in terms of picture quality and brightness. But that's sadly about it. This projector is just missing features that I've come to just expect as standard on all home entertainment screen equipment or things that I've experienced and enjoyed on extremely cheap projectors in the past. Setup was just OK. Plug it in and you're off to the races initially. But then you need to find that good spot on your wall or screen and do all the adjustments and the menu for this projector is.. old. Like I've seen more sophisticated and organized menu systems on 25 year old digital cameras. Finding all the settings and figuring out what they mean (included instructions are fairly lacking) and how to use them wasn't a fast process. I eventually got to a point where I was comfortable enough mounting it upside down and trying to nail down all the dimensions. The hardware zoom/focus/skew settings are fine. Again, I've used much cheaper projectors that had really good autofocus and autokeystone features, but that's all clunky and manual here. I figure, with mine mounted on the ceiling, we shouldn't need to adjust things like focus and keystone all that often, though, so that's fine. Since the projector is so bright, when setting up the keystone, you can see some "black" projections of the full projection screen around your actual image which can be distracting if you focus on it. I'd love to tell you about connecting this to wifi, but I can't. Because there's no way to enter a wifi password greater than 32 characters and I'm not about changing my password and reconnecting every device in my house just because of this one terrible design decision. The network settings menu is also very crude. You have to enter your SSID (there's a button for scanning but I couldn't figure out how to select it). I'll harp on this again, everything about the software for this projector feels like it was designed 30 years ago and never updated. Then there's the audio. It does not sound great on it's own. And it doesn't support BlueTooth (like every crazy cheap projector I've ever used does). Another thing I've had on every other crazy cheap projector but not this one is some kind of interface with some of the major "apps" built in. Now this wouldn't have mattered to me anyways because I can't even get it on wifi, and I still use a FireStick or AppleTV over the built in systems but it's usually nice to have at least. And lastly, while on the topic of FireSticks and AppleTVs, a feature I just assumed was standard across any display technology in this day and age, is somehow a lack of HDMI-CEC support. There's one option in the menus that sounds like it's supposed to do something like HDMI-CEC but I couldn't get it to work with my FireStick. I was really baffled by this one. But the picture quality. It does take a minute to "warm up" to it's full brightness, but when it does, it's bright. Without even using a screen and projecting on a greyish-white wall, the picture was incredibly bright and very crisp. All the shortcomings listed above, I won't knock it's image quality and brightness one bit. Depending on the room you're projecting in, you can tinker with the Eco settings. I normally throw all eco settings out the window in home entertainment products but I turned them all on with this projector and the picture did get noticeably (but not a lot) less bright. More importantly though, the crazy jet engine fan that was blowing non-stop while the eco mode settings were off, turned down to imperceptible levels. So if you're using the projector in a smaller room where you might hear the fan noise, consider the eco settings to cut down on the noise without losing much in the way of brightness. All said and done, I know this is a "Home Cinema" product but I think the software leans way too far into the "cinema" side of that and not nearly enough into the "home" side. The biggest complaint I have is the incredibly ancient looking and functioning software. The picture is fantastic but without some of the bells and whistles I've grown accustomed to (bluetooth and HDMI-CEC especially), I have to recommend looking around in this price point for something a little more feature rich if you can find it.

For the last week, I've been testing the new Epson Home Cinema 980 3LCD 1080p Projector. Overall, this is an excellent projector that performed much better than I thought it would. I have tested many projectors over the years, and Epson continuously proves it's a leader in the projector space. The Epson Home Cinema 980 is Epson's entry-level home cinema projector, so my initial performance expectations were low, especially since it displays at 1080p resolution. However, after setup, I quickly learned that entry-level doesn't mean low quality. The 4000-lumen lamp performs fantastically. When paired with my Chromecast, this projector gave me a 120-inch screen at 10 feet and easily produced a super bright, clear, and colorful picture that rivals my significantly more expensive 4k laser projector and blows away competing travel projectors. The brightness was so good that I could keep my lights on while watching movies. This projector also has great features like two HDMI ports, a remote control, keystone correction, a quiet fan, and an acceptable two-watt speaker. The only real drawback is that the wired sound outputs are limited to HDMI and 3.5mm audio. However, it's not a big deal because nowadays, home theater systems are wireless and connect to a streaming stick via Bluetooth. With all that said, this is a fantastic projector for someone entering the large-screen projector space.

The Epson Home Cinema 980 is a solid medium range + high lumen full HD projector. Very usable brightness even in a bright room in daylight, does get a bit washed out, but plenty for a toddler to watch Bluey. Playing basic games look great too, but anything competitive is a bit slow. (felt some input lag playing rocket league) The menus/options do require some digging, but I knew this going in. (I’ve worked in IT with Epson projectors for years) This projector is in an odd location in the myriad of projector options out there these days. It’s a “dumb” projector without any built in apps or anything, just has a couple HDMI ports. At this value, it’s a bit off for me. Good HD picture, obviously "only" HD, solid brightness, Epson's solid, if not utilitarian, overall feel. The problem for me is there is nothing that really stands out with this model. I feel like you can get more value even within Epsons own product stack. If you can find this Home Cinema 980 on sale, it may be a great option, but otherwise make sure this fits your needs!

The brightness is outstanding, making it perfect for watching movies and sports even in rooms with some ambient light. Setup was incredibly easy and straightforward, and I had everything running within minutes. The display quality is crisp, sharp, and vibrant, with excellent color clear details. Images look stunning on a large screen, creating a true home theater experience. The overall quality is excellent