Epson Home Cinema 5020 UB Projector - Physical Tour

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Art Feierman

Epson Home Cinema 5020 UB Projector - Appearance

Observing the exterior, the finish is white, with dark grey front vents. It's not overly large, (call it a large "medium"), has lots of rounded edges, and in general, looks pretty cool. We're not talking Gucci here, just a pretty clean looking projector, but not dull looking. I like that the front grills are dark. After all, why have a white surface reflecting light back to the screen (even if minimal), when people with theaters try for dark walls/ceiling/floors, for the same reason.

The Home Cinema 5020e looks exactly the same as its predecessor, except for the name tag, and slightly on the back panel, with the addition of a connector cover. Since we're talking about appearance, I should note that there is also a black Pro Cinema 6020, (photo below). That Pro version is, as noted, the version sold through local installing dealers, and almost identical performance wise.

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Starting with the front: The Home Cinema 5020 UB has a center mounted, recessed. manual, 2.1:1 zoom lens. The focus and zoom controls consist of recessed dials on the top, right behind the lens. A lens shutter closes to protect the lens when powered down. There is an IR sensor for the remote control, that is also located in the front. Intake and exhaust vents are in the front as well. The hot air is aimed forward and to the right.

If you aren't ceiling or shelf mounting, let me point out that you probably don't want to be sitting 2-3 feet in front of the projector and a foot or two to the left. It will get warm there due to the exhaust.

The top has the lens shift controls, while the control panel is mostly recessed on the side (right side if you are facing the projector). You can see the small sliding door in the image above. Inputs and other connectors are on the back. There's a single, fixed, rear foot, on the back bottom.

Look to the bottom, and you will find two screw thread adjustable front feet.

Besides the focus and zoom dials, you will find smaller vertical and horiztonal lens shift dials on the top.

Home Cinema 5020 Control Panel

Moving to the side, the power switch and source selection buttons are up by the front (right side if you are facing the projector). The rest of the Control panel consists of a square recessed panel with a sliding door to cover it. They are backlit blue. (You may turn off the projector's lights via a menu option).

Slide it out of the way, and there is your basic feature set, a menu button, the navigation buttons in a diamond shape, a Center enter key, and then Enter and Esc keys.

Just above the control panel, actually on the top, are three indicator lights for power, temp and lamp.

Home Cinema 5020 Projector - Input/Output

The Home Cinema 5020 is pretty average when it comes to inputs and connectors. As usual, our tour of the panel begins on the left. Two HDMI 1.4a inputs, capable of Blu-ray 3D, are on the left.

Continuing to the right, one set of component video with the usual red, green and blue RCA jacks, followed by the obligatory composite video (yellow RCA jack).

The Epson Home Cinema 5020 and the other variations, each have the usual, analog computer input (HD15 connector) for a monitor out.

Next over is serial port, RS232C and a 12 Volt trigger to control a screen, or an anamorphic lens (Epson 6020). There's also the power receptical, hard power switch, and a Kensington lock slot.

Of note, there is no S-video input, as was the case last year. I notice that this year that a number of projectors have been dropping S-video. I do not know if the EU or other versions have that jack - it's possible.

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