Epson Pro Cinema 4030 Projector: The Bottom Line

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Art Feierman

SUMMARY 3: PRO CINEMA 4030 - THE BOTTOM LINE

A Few Final Thoughts

The Bottom Line is this: The Pro Cinema 4030 is a well endowed home projector suitable for a dedicated theater or cave, but it is almost as happy in a family, living, bonus room setup that's less than perfect.

Once you figure the value of the included spare lamp, free ceiling mount (typically $100+ for a good universal mount), and the two pair of glasses, back those values out of the $2499 selling price, figure you are spending about $2000 for the Pro Cinema 4030 home theater projector. And that makes it an excellent value. If you are looking for peace of mind with your purchase, the Epson support and warranty should put this first on your short list.

In the gallery below, the side by side comparison image of Shanghai is the Pro Cinema 4030 on the left, and the 6030 UB on the right! Click in the upper right to take a closer look with the larger images. BTW, the two projectors on a table are the 4030 (top) and the 5020UB bottom. preparing for some competitive viewing.

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At that $2000 price point, there are several projectors that should be roughly comparable at black levels (for those into serious movie viewing). A couple of those that calibrate as nicely. Of all the ones I'm thinking about, only the Sharp, however, offers comparable placement flexibility (or for some, even more thanks to lens memory). But none of the competitors (other than the more expensive Panasonic, or the Epson UBs, that can produce a "brightest" image that is as bright as the 4030. Nor can those others, in their brightest modes, produce a picture with better color. That Sharp I mentioned, for example tops out with Mike's quick-cal at 1018 lumens mid zoom, so this Pro Cinema 4030 projector is still a full 25% brighter. Check out the competitors page for more.

For those already looking at other Epsons, the Pro Cinema 4030 offers a great trade-off if you can give up a few lumens, and a few features.

If I was on a tight budget, and was also considering the Pro Cinema 6030 UB, (that first image above - Shanghai - shows the 4030 on the left, and 6030UB on the right,) I wouldn't have a hard time at all deciding to go with the 4030 to save big bucks. Oh, I'd rather have CFI, and a few other features from the UB, but that $1000 savings could be spent to get you a high quality fixed screen and other goodies! If I have one complaint it's not with this projector but the fact that there aren't two versions. That is, that Epson didn't refresh their Home Cinema 8350 with a Home Cinema version of this 4030.

If you are strictly an online shopper, the 5030 UB isn't that much more $200 (but less warranty, and no spare lamp or mount)). On the other hand, I consider this Pro Cinema 4030 to be a significantly superior projector compared to the Home Cinema 3020 projectors and that HC8350 as well.

All that's left in this projector review for you folks, are the last two pages: The next one is our usual lists of Pros and Cons, followed by our specifications page.

Editor's note: This is our first review published on our redesigned site, so: If you found our review helpful, we hope you'll LIKE us, and perhaps even recommend us. And also a reminder: If you are planning to, or have recently purchased a projector and would like to try not just the calibration settings we publish on a review's Calibration page, but also the additional advanced settings Mike comes up with, we'd love to have you become a (paid) Member which would give you access to the full CMS calibration numbers. OK That's enough commercial! thanks, -art

Well done Epson.