Epson Home Cinema 4010 4K review: A powerful projector worthy of a dedicated screening room

Many of us fantasize about switching to projection and switching to our current clunky home entertainment devices. Consumer digital projectors have finally gotten thinner in physical size and price. Perhaps you are considering using a mid-range portable projector to complement your HDTV.

Epson Home Cinema 4010 4K is not for that. It’s on another level. From Epson’s market-leading home theater lineup, this is a beast machine, designed and perfectly suited for the most discerning movie buff.

We recently tested Epson’s Home Cinema 4010 4K projector after it was loaned to us by the brand’s review unit. Read our honest review.

Related: We’ve tested the best projectors for every budget and viewing experience.

Epson Home Cinema 4010 4K Projector: Overview

A heavy machine designed for the most demanding cinephile, with a dedicated home screening room. Epson anchors the top-of-the-line 4K home projector with incredibly sharp, near-perfect images and a full color gamut. But with no built-in battery or speaker, it’s not a regular, permanent sight.

Positive:

Cons:

Buy Epson Home Cinema 4010 4K Projector, $2,000:
Amazon | Epson | Walmart

Epson Home Cinema 4010 4K review: Overall design

The first thing that strikes you about the Epson 4010 is its weight. It takes up most of the space on top of my home office desk (although, to be fair, I live in a relatively small office and the desk is small). If you’re looking for casual viewing, look elsewhere for a portable projector. There’s no battery or built-in speaker (not that you’d want such small sound for such a maximalist device). You should if you want to replicate the home theater experience and if you have the space and money to spare. Maybe you’re dreaming of turning that empty room into a custom screening room. (You might feel good about never going back to the multiplex, a Hollywood nightmare!)

Epson 4010 home theater 4K Overview – Configuration

Just like there’s no built-in battery or speaker, there’s no Bluetooth or Wi-Fi on the Epson projector. You’re left with a basic wired setup: HDMI for your picture input and an audio jack for your audio output (a surround sound speaker system with a subwoofer works great). Since you won’t be taking the 4010 for a drive, you’ll want to optimize it for your home theater, including focus and projection. Fortunately, autofocus is fast and accurate.

Epson 4010 home theater 4K overview: image

The Epson 4010’s optics are excellent: 4K images, the resolution that is the gold standard for technophiles looking for the best of the best, are incredibly sharp even when scaled up to a ridiculously giant 80 inches on a bare wall. My humble house. But for this kind of device, you need to get a proper dedicated screen. Blacks are like ink and whites are bright, with a brightness of 2,400 lumens and a contrast ratio of up to 200,000:1, significantly exceeding the specs of the budget projectors shown here. And more subtle tones are provided by the processing power of three LCD chips that display the full DCI-P3 three-dimensional color gamut. I didn’t see any hot spots or other weird visual aberrations.

For testing purposes, I watched it again. Dogma On an Epson 4010, designed in native 4k resolution for Christopher Nolan’s 2020 blockbuster. When I saw it, I was struck by how rounded the image was – nothing looks flat or missing from the camera’s eye. I no longer regret skipping a visit to see a movie in theaters at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This thing looked as shiny as it could come out of a professional projection booth. Nolan’s sharp imagery manages to be crisp throughout, both in the sweeping action shots involving multiple actors (that plane crash! Those sailboats!) and in the intimate close-ups. In John David Washington’s handsome movie star face, I saw tiny cracks I didn’t even know existed. But they are there.

Verdict: One of the best high-end home projectors

Whether you’re looking for the upper echelon of home projectors or looking to upgrade your midrange projector, it’s hard to beat the Epson Home Cinema 4010 4K. It comes from a trusted brand that conquered the category. And the 4K image and full color spectrum lives up to the hype. You won’t miss the impact of multiplex ticket stickers.

Is it worth buying the Epson Home Cinema 4010 4K?

absolutely. Get the Epson 4010 for your home theater if you want to enjoy the best 4K resolution. Ebert himself would be proud.

Epson 4010 4K Projector Specifications:

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Buy Epson Home Cinema 4010 4K Projector, $2,000: Amazon | Epson | Walmart