
Transform virtually any room into a true cinematic experience with the Lifestudio Grand Plus ultra short throw laser projector from Epson. With ultra short throw laser technology, you can place the Lifestudio Grand Plus projector just inches from the wall and enjoy a stunning 4K HDR experience up to 150''. And the picture quality is exceptional—especially with HDR content. You may never go to the theater again, it’s that good. Powered by unique Epson 3-chip 3LCD technology, the Lifestudio Grand Plus projector produces an impressive 4,000 Lumens of Color Brightness (IDMS Rated) and 4,000 Lumens of White Brightness (ISO Rated)¹, creating a bright, vivid picture, in nearly any lighting condition. Featuring built-in Sound by Bose technology, the custom-designed 2.1 stereo system creates audio you can feel, delivering rich, balanced sound with deep bass, pulling you—and everyone around you—right into the action. We can’t wait for you to hear it. And finding something to watch has never been easier. Just power on your Lifestudio Grand Plus projector and the built-in Google TV² puts over 10,000 streaming apps at your fingertips³, including Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu. With Google Assistant you can use the included voice remote to search across all apps, including live TV and even YouTube to find exactly what you’re looking for. Whether you’re watching live sports, gaming on the latest generation of consoles, or creating an amazing cinematic home theater, the Epson Lifestudio Grand Plus projector delivers an epic big screen experience that will simply amaze you.
Q: Does this projector have wireless connectivity?
A: Yes, this projector has Wi-Fi wireless connectivity.
Q: Is a remote control included with this projector?
A: Yes, a remote control is included with this projector.
Q: How many HDMI ports does the projector have?
A: The projector has a total of three HDMI inputs.
Q: What is the rated white brightness of this projector?
A: The projector has a white brightness of 4000 lumens (ISO rated).
Q: What is the native resolution of this projector?
A: The native resolution of this projector is 3840 x 2160 (4K).
Q: Can the projector display HDR content?
A: Yes, this projector supports High Dynamic Range (HDR).
Q: Does this projector have built-in speakers?
A: Yes, this projector has integrated speakers included.
The Lifestudio Grand Plus (EH-LS970) is Epson’s newest ultra short throw (UST) projector. This is essentially the replacement for the LS800. The major difference between this new projector and the LS800 is that the Grand Plus now uses 4 axis picture shifting to produce a full 8 million pixels for 4K where the LS800 and several other Epson UST’s used a 2 axis system only producing 4 million pixels or half of 4K. Epson uses a 3 chip 3LCD design as opposed to the more common single chip DLP system. The benefit here is that if you are susceptible to rainbow effect (RBE) which can be common with DLP projectors the Epson will not produce this effect. The projector can get very bright. Epson claims a 4000-lumen brightness for both color and white. This allows the projector to be used in rooms with higher ambient light and still produce a bright image. Epson UST’s offer some of the shortest throw distances of any projectors on the market. This allows the projector to sit extremely close to the wall and can produce an image up to 150 inches. As far as features the projector has 3 HDMI ports (2-2.1 ports and eARC), optical port, USB-A and a headphone jack. All of these features are housed on the side of the projector with a cover that snaps over the ports. Behind this panel is also the manual focus adjustment. The projector does not have auto focus. One thing to note is that if you plan on using a Roku stick as I did you will need to get a HDMI male to female adapter as the Roku stick will not allow the cover to close properly due to its length. The projector does come with built in Google TV operating system now with Gemini. I found it to be somewhat slow and laggy at times which is why I opted to use the 4K Dolby Vison Roku stick instead. The projector has audio provided by Bose. This is a 2.1 system mounted in the front of the projector. The sound is surprisingly good and gets loud enough for a larger room. I would still recommend a full audio system or top tier soundbar. The picture quality is very good with vibrant colors and decent black levels. Both SDR and HDR performance were on par with a good mid-tier mini LED TV. Motion handling was also very good. There are a good number of picture adjustments available. The projector is extremely quiet in operation. I noticed no audible fan noice while watching content. I am not a gamer so I did not test this feature but Epson claims excellent gaming functionality. This is where it kind of fell apart for me. Ultra short throw projectors are temperamental when setting up and typically need some form of keystone correction to get perfect. The Grand Plus offers 2 forms of adjustment. There is the Epson screen setting App and manual adjustments in the menu. I attempted using the App multiple times only to have the App disconnect from the projector halfway through the process. I could never get it to work. On the manual adjustment side there are 3 screen configurations available depending on how skewed the screen is. You have to use only one at a time because if you make changes in one of the options and go to another option to make fine adjustments the whole picture gets reset and you must start over. It’s a real pain. A couple of other things that are disappointing at this price point are that the projector does not support Dolby Vision and HDR 10+. It only supports HDR 10 which isn’t terrible considering how bright the projector can get. The projector also does not support 3D. This may not be a issue for most people but for those of us who are still doing 3D it’s a big deal. The other minor issue is the remote. It’s easy to use and get used to but at the price of this projector I would expect it to be backlit. Also, the projector is large and on the heavy side. At around 27 inches wide and weighing in at a little over 27 pounds it is one of the larger UST’s on the market. I have owned one of the top rated ultra short throw projectors on the market for a little over a year and can say that with its support for Dolby Vison and 3D as well as being extremely bright and color accurate and easily out performs the Epson on many different levels that it’s hard to recommend the Epson. This is not to say the projector is bad as it does have a good picture and can be placed very close to the wall but unless you are highly susceptible to the rainbow effect I really can’t think of a reason to recommend the Epson. There are just too many excellent UST’s on the market in this price range.
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