Brightness
As was noted in our recent reviews of the Epson BrightLink 585Wi and 595Wi ultra-short throw projectors, “we still haven’t figured out a good way to accurately measure the brightness of an ultra short projector like this Epson“. Because the angle of the light varies from moderate to steep, and the distance so short, it’s really is a challenge. Thus different reviewers may come up with different lumens values for the 1430Wi as well as other ultra short throw projectors, even if they are using identical light meters/sensors.
There are several possible ways to measure brightness values with this and similar projectors, but most have real shortcomings. We could measure reflected light off of the screen, at “eye level”, but that puts the screen’s characteristics also into the resulting measurements.
The technique I ultimately used to measure the projector’s lumens output in each of its various color modes should be with perhaps within 10% of what might be expected from a measurement using some “ideal” method (if someone could tell me what that method is).
It should also be noted that with ultra short throw interactive projectors, you can only go so large in terms of screen size. If the screen’s too big – then it’s too tall for the people using the pens or fingers interactively, to reach up to the top of the screen. For that reason, few ultra short throw interactive projectors are designed to work with screens larger than 100″ diagonal, which in a 16:10 format is about 66 inches tall. So, if the bottom of the screen is a low 36 inches off the floor a 100″ diagonal would have the top of the screen around 36+66 = 114, which is 8.5 feet. Few can reach that high without a ladder.
My point is this, for screen sizes around 100″ diagonal or less, 3000+ lumens is a whole lot of lumens and even 2000 lumens produces an image capable of dealing with a fair amount of ambient light!
For my measurements I had the projector table mounted and projecting a 16 x 10 image that was very close to 100 inches diagonal. Factory default settings were used for all color modes.
Color Mode Measured Lumens
Dynamic 3507
Presentation 2863
Theater 2871
Sports 3040
Photo 2055
sRGB 2059
Whiteboard 2273
DICOM SIM 2252
Note that Sports mode is only available with a input signal in component (YCbCr) format and Photo mode is only available with an input signal in RGB format.
I found brightness uniformity to be good with less than 20% light variation from the center of the image to the corners.
Color uniformity also looked good when viewing a full screen white image.
Eco mode decreased the light output by about 40%, measured in Dynamic mode.
Epson’s rated lamp life is rated at 4000 hours in normal mode and 6000 hours when operating in Eco mode. If you have sufficient brightness in Eco mode, most likely when running in one of the better bright modes such as Presentation, then it makes sense to run the projector in Eco mode and save the lamp and reduce the electric bill as well.
With most projectors we provide our measurements with the lens at mid-point of its zoom range, but with these ultra short throw projectors there is no zoom lens.
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Audible Noise
There’s not much to report. The Brightlink Pro 1430Wi is reasonably quiet at full power, and certainly quiet enough to not matter at all, when in Eco mode.
We do not measure audible noise. None-the-less, Epson’s claims of 35 db at full power and 28 db in Eco mode are very believable. At full power most home theater projectors tend to be between about 27 and 33 db. Consider that the demand for quiet projectors is much greater in the theater, than a training room or classroom, so any projector that’s really not significantly noisier than a quality home projector is doing just great. For perspective, Epson’s own 5030UB home theater projector claims 32 db at full power, so the 1430Wi is just one small increment louder.
And of course 28 db in Eco mode is quieter than most home theater projectors can do at full power. That’s pretty quiet!
Finally, by virtue of the ultra short throw, the projector is right up by the projection surface, far from the audience, so they are far less likely to notice than if it was a projector with an average throw distance, which would have it mounted above their heads. Bottom line: No issue!
Sharpness
Sharpness issues have plagued many ultra short throw projectors. Over the years we’ve seen some pretty poor attempts at edge to edge sharpness, and even some that never really look sharp at all. These days that’s more the exception than the rule, which is a good thing.
The Epson ultra short throw projectors including this Brightlink Pro 1430Wi, follow in the footsteps of other recent Epson ultra-short throw Brightlink models, including the previously reviewed Brightlink Pro 1410Wi and Brightlink W595Wi, in that they offer excellent corner-to-corner image sharpness. This projector is extremely sharp, rivaling any longer throw projectors.
Bottom Line on Brightlink Pro 1430Wi sharpness: Outstanding!
