Today, at CEDIA Expo in Dallas, Epson has officially unveiled a brand new UST (Ultra Short Throw) projector, the EpiqVision Ultra LS800 ($3,499). It's a native 4Ke ("4K Enhanced") projector which uses a laser light source and three separate LCD panels to crank out a whopping 4,000 ANSI Lumens of color and white brightness. This light cannon should be well-suited to creating a huge screen home theater experience, even in a bright living room.
> Buy or Find Out More about the Epson LS800 UST Projector on ProjectorScreen.com
Not just a basic display device, the LS800 offers "smart streaming" features, with Android TV on board. This includes access to the top streaming services like Netflix, YouTube, Disney+ and HBO Max. The projector also has Google Assistant built-in: you can use the microphone in the remote to ask Google to play the latest episode of "House of the Dragon," "How's the weather?" or pretty much anything else you can think of. You can also control smart home devices like lights or a Nest thermostat on the Google Home platform.
The projector includes a built-in high quality 2.1 channel sound bar, thanks to an exclusive design partnership with Yamaha. In addition to enhancing sound from TV shows and movies, the soundbar can be used for music listening with or without the screen active. It even includes Bluetooth support so you can use it as a standalone wireless bluetooth speaker.
"Streaming live sports games with an epic, larger-than-life picture from the comfort of your home is the next big thing to being physically at a game," said Fernando Tamashiro, product manager, Epson America, Inc. "The EpiqVision Ultra LS800 Laser Projector brings an astounding viewing experience with complete content immersion, while only needing to be placed inches from the wall. With a display size up to 150 inches, avid sports fans, gamers, and movie enthusiasts will feel like they are part of all the action."
Pair the LS800 with a motorized light rejecting screen like the Vividstorm Rising ALR Screen and you can have a huge screen 4K TV which virtually disappears when not in use.
In addition to Movies and TV viewing, the LS800 makes a good choice for gamers as it offers a gaming mode with under 20ms input lag time. With a laser-based light source, the LS800 will never need a bulb replacement and is expected to deliver bright moving images for at least 20,000 hours (that's over 10 years of average viewing).
It's important to note that the Epson LS800, while being called a "4K UHD Pro" projector uses the company's dual phase pixel shift technology. This results in screen resolution that is twice as detailed as 1080p HD, but only half as detailed as native 4K. The company also offers "quad-phase, dual-axis pixel shift technology" on some of its traditional home theater projectors (like the excellent LS11000). Quad shift does support a full 4K (3840x2160 pixel) resolution.
Does it matter? Frankly, in terms of perception of picture quality, one would be hard-pressed to see a difference between dual phase and quad phase pixel shifting on most content, even on large screens. With the extreme brightness (4000 ANSI Lumens of both color and white brightness) of this projector, and its correspondingly high contrast, the perception of detail exceeds that on some true 4K projectors that offer lower brightness. We believe it will provide a satisfying large screen viewing experience with most content.
The LS800 can be mounted on a console stand, TV cabinet, coffee table or even on a ceiling (with a proper mount). It weighs about 27 pounds and measures in at around 27.3 x 13.4 x 6.1 inches (width x depth x height). Noise rating is a reasonable 32 dB in standard mode or a whisper quiet 19 dB in Economy mode. The LS800 is available now from Epson dealers including ProjectorScreen.com.
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