Epson Home Cinema 6100 - Performance 3

Epson Home Cinema 6100: Bottom Line Sharpness

The Home Cinema 6100 is one of the sharper 1080p projectors out there. Definitely not the sharpest, but, for all practical purposes, sharp enough!

Light Leakage

Image Noise

The Epson 6100 doesn't use the same image processing as the more expensive Home Cinema 6500UB, but still performs admirably. Performance relating to Jaggies, 3:2 pull-down, mosquito noise, etc., are all at very acceptable levels.

Audible Noise

The Epson Home Cinema 6100 is quieter than the older Home Cinema 1080 it replaces, although not by a great amount. The Home Cinema 1080 (and UB version) was on the loud side of average, just slightly quieter than a typical DLP projector, and a couple of LCoS projectors. The quietest projectors, in terms of Audible Noise, tend to be 3LCD projectors, but the older Epsons are a couple of the noisier 3LCD models. The 6100 is likely at least 3 db quieter than the old 1080. The Sanyo, Panasonic and Mitsubishi competitors are all still noticeably quieter, but the 6100's performance has improved enough to make audible noise a non-issue for all but the most noise adverse people.

Those most audible noise sensitive may not like the Epson when running at full lamp power, but the Epson is very quiet in low power, claiming 22 db, and probably close (relative to other projectors and their claims). The 30db claim for full lamp power, is also probably about right. Most DLP projectors tend to be 30 - 35 db claimed, and most are somewhere between just a little noisier, to a full step noisier.

You won't notice the fan noise (full power) except on a dead quiet (or almost) scene, at worst. The dynamic iris, which made a bit of grinding-like noise on the old 1080 UB, is much quieter with this new projector, and now definitely not a factor.

The Home Cinema 6100 has a dynamic iris, and it makes a low, rumbling sound as it works. A few people complained about this on the older series. The new Home Cinema projectors though, seem to also be a little quieter in terms of the iris noise. Mind you, you won't hear this during normal watching, but you might just notice it, if the projector is placed near you, on extremely quiet scenes. I do not consider this to be a real issue.

So, keep audible noise as a possible issue (full power), in the back of your mind, but it really won't be an issue for the vast majority of people. I can tell you that when our forced air heat, or air conditioning kicks on, the noise of the air coming out of the vents in my room is definitely, noticeably noisier than the Epson 6100 running at full power. Hopefully this provides you with some useful perspective.