Epson's HC5050ub Projector

[mechman]

Epson has finally released it's replacement for the much celebrated 5040ub/ube line of projectors. I took that opportunity to update my 5040ube to a 5050ub and I'll post my calibration narrative here. All of these readings below are using SDR mode to measure except for Digital Cinema. Digital Cinema and Cinema are the two modes which engage the color filter to get expanded gamut coverage. The other modes do not engage that filter. In hindsight, I probably should have gotten some HDR readings from Cinema mode but from my experience with the 5040ube I've found that Digital Cinema is generally the much better mode for HDR.

Pre-Calibration

Dynamic

Average DeltaE of 6.4

5050UB Dynamic Mode OOTB

• mechman
• May 3, 2019

Epson HC5050UB

Bright Cinema

Average DeltaE of 7.02

Bright Cinema OOTB

• mechman
• May 3, 2019

Epson HC5050UB

Natural

Average DeltaE of 3

Natural OOTB

• mechman
• May 3, 2019

Epson HC5050UB

Cinema

Average DeltaE of 6.04

Cinema OOTB

• mechman
• May 3, 2019

Epson HC5050UB

BW Cinema

Average DeltaE of 3.69

B&W Cinema OOTB

• mechman
• May 3, 2019

Epson HC5050UB

Digital Cinema

SDR

Average DeltaE of 5.41

Digital Cinema SDR OOTB

• mechman
• May 3, 2019

Epson HC5050UB

HDR

Average DeltaE of 12.01

Digital Cinema HDR OOTB

• mechman
• May 3, 2019

Epson HC5050UB

Looking at the numbers, Natural mode looks outstanding out of the box for SDR with a DeltaE of 3. The rest of the modes look to fall within the realm of what you would see with similar displays out of the box.

Contrast Ratio

Dynamic

Dynamic Contrast Ratio OOTB

• mechman
• May 3, 2019

Epson 5050ub Contrast Ratio OOTB

Bright Cinema

Bright Cinema Contrast OOTB

• mechman
• May 3, 2019

Epson 5050ub Contrast Ratio OOTB

Natural

Natural Contrast OOTB

• mechman
• May 3, 2019

Epson 5050ub Contrast Ratio OOTB

Cinema

Cinema Contrast OOTB

• mechman
• May 3, 2019

Epson 5050ub Contrast Ratio OOTB

HDR Digital Cinema

HDR Digital Cinema Contrast OOTB

• mechman
• May 3, 2019

Epson 5050ub Contrast Ratio OOTB

These are out of the box values - non-calibrated. I'll wait until the 5050ub has around 200+ hours on it before I even think about calibrating it.

Some of the things I have noticed so far is that the 505o has a HDR button on the remote which when pressed brings up a HDR slider. The slider has values from 1-16 with the lower numbers being brighter and the higher numbers being darker. I've tended to adjust it as needed but it seems that it is generally anywhere from 6-8. The default value is 8. There's also a new grayscale calibration feature. There is still the old RGB Gains/Offsets under 'Custom' in 'Color Temp'. Now there is also a menu item titled 'Grayscale' just below 'Custom'. It includes 8 step grayscale calibration that includes adjustments for Red, Green, Blue and Brightness. I haven't played around with this at all and I'm not quite sure what 8 steps Epson has included for calibration but it is a step forward and the should be commended if this feature functions properly. Outside of that, I haven't noticed anything that stands out to me as different from the 5040ube.

I'll be adding to this thread as I go along.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Ohhhhh... nice!!! Awesome data.

Looking forward to reading impressions and seeing some post-cal measurements!

 

[mechman]

So far I'm impressed. It's a nice step up from the 5040.

 

[mechman]

Installed CalMAN 2019 the other day and I figured I'd better get a Color Volume check on this new pj.

Color Volume

• mechman
• May 19, 2019

Epson 5050ub Color Volume OOTB

 

[mechman]

Projector has 97 hours on it and I spent a 2-3 hours calibrating HDR10. I've found that the best results calibration-wise and film content are to have the HDR slider at 10. When I watch hockey however, as I am now, that's too dark and I slide it up to 7. Here are the calibration charts from CalMAN - Digital Cinema mode:

Pre-Calibration

HDR Pre-Cal

• mechman
• May 19, 2019

Post-Calibration

HDR Post-Cal

• mechman
• May 19, 2019

 

[JStewart]

That’s a nice improvement

 

[mechman]

I just checked the hours and I'm at 253. I'll be doing a full calibration on it this week and I'll chronicle it here in this thread. I'll also have to make some tough choices as to whether I want the expanded gamut that Digital Cinema offers or the brighter image that Bright Cinema offers. Each can do their own thing but neither can do them both.

 

[Michael Scott]

niiiiiiiiiiiiice. I'm in the market (hopefully) to replace my JVC RS46 sometime to a 4K (ish) projector, and the 5050ub has been on my radar. Glad to see it's an actual improvement and not just a repackaging. that light output is pretty impressive.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Epson is the best thing going on if you’re looking to spend less than JVCs top three lamp-based 4K models.

Hang tight, tho, Mike. JVC *might* have some big announcements at CEDIA!

 

[Michael Scott]

Epson is the best thing going on if you’re looking to spend less than JVCs top three lamp-based 4K models.

Hang tight, tho, Mike. JVC *might* have some big announcements at CEDIA!

haha, yeah I love my JVCs, I just don't like their price for the 4K stuff. the stuff I want from them is $4,000 on the LOW end. They've sadly not been able to adapt to the $2500-$2800 market like they were in the 1080p projector world. I'd love an NX5 or NX7, but it's outside my price range by a good margin

 

[Todd Anderson]

You might be able to get one or two models reviewed in the used market... but unlike used JVC 1080p projectors, you'll be left to deal with older HDR content.

I should get some hands on with the new Epson gear in about 2 weeks. I'll let you know what I think!

 

[Michael Scott]

Yeah. The older hdr tech was my worry for going used. The new advances in hdr and Dolby vision are what really makes these new ones...I'm willing to give up a few things if the display has proper hdr and good black levels (been spoiled with jvc black levels that's for sure lol)

 

[mechman]

I’m still trying to find time to get to calibrating my 5050. Life has been busy lately and it’s been getting pushed back.

The one thing that sets this model back is that you have to accept the trade-offs. You can get full P3 color, but at a big hit to brightness. You can get solid HDR brightness, but you don’t get full P3 coverage. When I calibrate mine I intend to calibrate both a full P3 mode (Digital Cinema) and a high brightness (Bright Cinema) mode and I’ll probably switch between those two depending upon content.

 

[mechman]

Looking at post #5, the HDR post cal grayscale readings are seriously off. Either it took SDR readings or something is terribly amiss. The line should look more like the pre-cal readings but with the red, green and blue lines being much tighter.

Don't know why I never saw that originally but I should have caught that. Either later today or tomorrow I intend to calibrate the 5050ub. I'll put it all here.

 

[Michael Scott]

you're forgiven. but only this once. Next time beatings ensue

 

[Sonnie Parker]

mech... is the 5050 that much better than the 4040... and if I were to get the 5050 and copy your settings, would it work... or is every unit that much different?

 

[mechman]

you're forgiven. but only this once. Next time beatings ensue

I can't believe (actually I can...) that I put that up there. Better charts coming today.

mech... is the 5050 that much better than the 4040... and if I were to get the 5050 and copy your settings, would it work... or is every unit that much different?

I've never seen the 4040 in person but it's my understanding that the 5050 has more lumens. But the lumen advantage may disappear for HDR. Not sure how the 4040 handles wide gamut color but the 5050 engages a color filter to hit the wider color gamut. Brightness takes a pretty decent hit with the filter engaged (Digital Cinema or Cinema mode).

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Well the 5050 only comes in white... I want black. I may scoot up to the 6050.

I wonder how that will work with the Panny UB9000 and all that HDR stuff.

 

[mechman]

Figured for sure you'd buy a white one and spray paint it black.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Well... it did cross my mind... or just buy some black velour and a can of 3M spray glue... or even better... wrap it in black duct tape.

 

[mechman]

It would give it that custom look and feel!

 

[Michael Scott]

Well... it did cross my mind... or just buy some black velour and a can of 3M spray glue... or even better... wrap it in black duct tape.

that's called redneck ingenuity

 

[Sonnie Parker]

If I were a redneck... well... I am a redneck.

Bona fide cussumization!

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Got my Pro Cinema 6050 ordered today. Looking forward to getting it in and seeing some improvements.

 

[mechman]

Got my Pro Cinema 6050 ordered today. Looking forward to getting it in and seeing some improvements.

Did you get it setup yet?

I've still got to get those charts up....