Epson Home Cinema 3700 Projector Review: Hardware Tour 2

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Art Feierman

Home Cinema 3700 Projector Review - Hardware page 2: Lens Throw Distance, Lens Shift Range, Remote Control, Menus

Home Cinema 3700, 3100, 3900 Lens Throw, for 100" Diag, 16:9 screen
Closest (Wide-Angle)	9 feet, 8 inches
Furthest (Telephoto	15 feet, 8 inches

As mentioned on the previous page, this Epson, and it's siblings, the Home Cinema 3100 and Home Cinema 3900 offer up more range in their zooms than most of the competition, but there are a couple other projectors with just as much. I can't think of any, though, at this price, with more.

Epson Home Cinema 3100, 3700, 3900 Lens Shift Range

There's a good amount of lens shift range. If you are using a 100" 16:9 diagonal screen, the projector can be placed (measured from the center of the lens), anywhere from 5 inches above the top of the screen surface, to 5 inches below the bottom, including anywhere in between. That's based on 60% of 1 screen height, one screen height = approximately 50 inches, so roughly 30 inches above the center of the screen, equals 5 inches above the top.

Horizontal lens shift is more moderate at 24%, so up to about 21 inches to the left or right of center.

Remember, the more you use of vertical, the less horizontal available, and vice versa. If you use the maximum vertical (as an example) you would not have any horizontal shift available.

Epson Home Cinema 3700 Remote Control

Epson Home Cinema 3700 remote control

Epson uses the same basic remote control for many of their models, but labels some of the buttons differently to match up best with particular projectors.

The black Epson remote is about 10 inches long, feels solid and fits well into one's hand. From the top left:

There's a round power on button, and next to it, a smaller power off button. On the right is a slightly glow in the dark button for the remote's backlight.

Source inputs, including the two HDMIs (MHL support for streaming devices is on HDMI 2). One of them is for a LAN (in conjunction with the wireless module).

There's also a Home button (right side) to bring up the Home menu, and below that the P-in-P or Picture In Picture button. This Epson allows for a larger image and a smaller one.

The larger image fills the screen, the smaller one is inset, and can be in a small or larger thumbnail size.

To control P-I-P features, once you have hit the P-In-P button, then tap the menu button which will allow you to change the size of the smaller image, swap the larger image for the smaller one, and decide which corner you want the smaller image to appear. P-In-P works only with the HDMI inputs.

The next section consists of 9 buttons (three rows) for the HDMI link to control other HDMI-Link compatible devices such as properly equipped Blu-ray players. One of those buttons is an audio mute.

The next row left is the HDMI Link button which brings up a menu showing you which other HDMI link devices are hooked up, so you can select the one you want this menu to control.

This Picture In Picture image was shot with a different Epson - the 5040UB, but it works and looks the same on the Home Cinema 3700, 3100, and 3900 That is the larger size of the "in" picture.

Next over to the right are volume up and down.

Three white buttons come next, the left one selects among 3D modes, the middle one labeled Color Mode lets you toggle between the four preset color modes (Cinema, Bright Cinema, Natural, and Dynamic) or when in 3D, the two 3D color modes. The right button is labeled Image Enhancement. It brings up, and lets you toggle between the five image enhancing modes and Off.

I suggest #2 as my all around favorite, but #2 setting looks killer sharp, but can sometimes be "over the top." #4 is even more "fun" definitely over the top, adding hardness to the image, but I often like it for sports, especially when I'm watching multiple games at once with GameMix.

Navigation comes next. Four arrows in a round configuration, with the Enter button in the center. Below that, in a curve, is the Default button (returns any menu item you are in, to it's default setting. The Menu button itself is next, in the center, and Esc which takes you back up a level in the menus, is on the right.

That leaves the last nine buttons - eight of which simply, take you directly into key menus, while the ninth is the A/V mute which will black the screen and mute the sound.

Overall, an excellent remote control. Range is very good, rated 32 feet. I can use it anywhere in my 450+ sq foot theater without any problem, although mostly I bounce the remote signal off of my screen.