Epson Home Cinema 3200 Home Theater Projector Review - Hardware

Epson HC3200 Projector Review – Hardware: Overview, Control Panel, Inputs and Connectors, Lens Throw & Shift

The Home Cinema 3200 is compact for a 3LCD home theater projector. Since it weighs less than 15lbs, it is easy to move from inside to outside for backyard movie night.

The projector’s lens is located on the right side of the front panel. The left side of the front panel is the air exhaust vent. Focus is done manually by turning the lens focus ring. The image can be zoomed in and out via the outer zoom ring. The window for the IR remote receiver is located toward the right side of the lens.

The top of the projector has status lights and right above the lens are knobs for vertical and horizontal lens shift adjustments. The control pad is also located on the top toward the rear. On the left side of the projector is the air take and filter cover.

The center rear of the projector holds all the inputs, the power connector and a 2nd IR remote receiver.

At the top left are a pair of HDMI 2.0 (HDCP 2.2) inputs. Both HDMI inputs are 18Gbps so they support 4K HDR up to 60fps. As with many newer home theater projectors, many of the older “legacy” type inputs are gone, including a VGA input or component video and S-Video.

Beside them is a service port and a USB input. To use the projector over a wireless network, you can also plug in an optional Epson wireless LAN module in the projectors USB input.

Below them is the Audio Out port that you can use to connect the projector to an external audio system using a stereo mini-jack cable.

The next row contains a single 12V trigger output which can be used to control a screen, the sled of an anamorphic lens, or motorized shades.  Beside it is a traditional serial RS-232C port (DB9 connector) for “old school” command and control. There is also a security cable attachment point and DC Power Port (2.0A) to power a device via USB.

Most home theater projectors have zoom lenses with 1.1:1 out to 1.6:1, depending on the brand and model. The Epson Home Cinema offers 1.6:1 which is in line with what you would expect.

The Home Cienma 3200, like most 3LCD and LCoS projectors, offers a good amount of lens shift range while most DLP projectors usually offer less. More lens adjustment increases installation flexibility making it easy to utilize projectors like the Home Cinema 3200 in a variety of applications including ceiling, shelf, or tabletop mounting.