Epson HC5040UB, PC6040UB Projector - Calibration & Settings

Epson Pro Cinema 6040UB Calibration Presets notes

Eric's notes:

Although the 6040UB has faux K (pixel shifting), this is nothing new in HT projectors, JVC has been doing this for a few years now and Epson has had it in their LS1000 laser projector, which started shipping early 2015.

A note about HDR (high dynamic range): HDR is a fast evolving technology that is rushing into the market with everyone playing a bit of catch-up. As a calibrator for example there is very little in the way of test patterns to truly evaluate how well HDR is working. Each projector manufacturer has implemented their own HDR10 tone mapping and gamut mapping algorithms so the standard is a bit of a moving target. I predict a lot of firmware updates from manufactures as they themselves learn and refine their approach to HDR.  The HT projector market has always had a bit of brightness wars between manufactures but now with HDR, (as with 3D) light output is even more important. 

My time with the early engineering sample 6040UB was limited but I did find a number of issues with it that I hope are ironed out before Epson ships them to market. I sent most of my time in Cinema & Bright Cinema modes.

We provided our findings to the Epson product team, regarding many of these items, which require just minor corrections (i.e. changing the default HDR mode to HDR1, not the HDR2 used in this sample). Short version:  There doesn't seem to be anything on Eric's list here "that needs fix'n", that Epson can't have updated before first shipments.  -art

First up 1080p content:

• In Cinema mode with BT.709 content, the pre-production 6040UB only displays the larger P3 (digital cinema) color gamut whether you select Auto, BT.709 or BT.2020. By reducing the saturation levels (too near 0) I was able to calibrate the 100% saturation gamut down to BT.709 but if you look at the after gamut chart you can see the 20, 40 & 80% saturation levels are way off (under saturated). (note: no projector can display BT.2020 so they scale down to P3 which is still bit bigger than BT.709)
• In Bright Cinema mode, BT.709 content was displayed correctly, and was improved by calibration.
• Grayscale bias controls were a bit course making precise adjustments difficult
• In Cinema Bright mode gamma was extremely bright. I set my target to 2.10 which I thought was reasonable for a bright mode. What you see in the gamma log charts is the gamma set to -1, going to -2 just lowered gamma a little but kept the extreme peak and only attaining a 1.83 average gamma. I tried the custom gamma controls but found them very frustrating. I own the 5030UB and the custom gamma is just as frustrating, maybe I just need some tips from Epson on how to use it. I was hoping to use Cinema Bright for a “Day” mode but now I would only use it for sports or news, any movie watching I think I might use Cinema with lamp on high instead.

4K (UHD) / HDR content:

• When you feed the 6040UB 2160p/HDR and under Signal tab in the menu you have it set to Auto, the projector switches to HDR Mode 2. Problem is there are 4 HDR modes and mode 1 seems to be the closest to the EOTF (Electro-optical Transfer Function) aka gamma target, as you can see in the ETOF charts.
• The 6040UB allows you to choose SDR even though it’s being fed HDR. I would think you should not be allowed to do this and should stay locked into a HDR mode while being fed an HDR signal similar to what it does when fed 3D.

Epson PC6040UB Pre- and Post-Calibration Settings and Image Enhancement, By Mode

Cinema Mode Pre-Calibration Charts

Epson PC6040UB Cinema Mode Pre-Calibration CIE 1976 Saturation Sweeps (target BT.709)

While in Cinema mode, the pre-production 6049UB only displays the larger P3 (digital cinema) color gamut whether you select Auto, BT.709 or BT.2020.

Epson PC6040UB Epson PC6040UB Cinema Mode Pre-Calibration CIE 1976 Saturation Sweeps (target BT.709) - Larger Color Gamut

This shows the larger P3 color gamut, notice some of the color points line up a little better than the BT.709 chart above.

Epson PC6040UB Cinema Mode Pre-Calibration RGB Balance / Grayscale Tracking (target D65)

Epson PC6040UB Cinema Mode Pre-Calibration DeltaE 2000 (target below error of 3)

Epson PC6040UB Cinema Mode Pre-Calibration Gamma Log 2.24 Average Gamma (target 2.20)

Bright Cinema Mode Pre-Calibration Charts

Epson PC6040UB Bright Cinema Mode Pre-Calibration CIE 1976 Saturation Sweeps (target BT.709)

Epson PC6040UB Bright Cinema Pre-Calibration RGB Balance / Grayscale Tracking (target D65)

Epson PC6040UB Bright Cinema Mode Pre-Calibration DeltaE 2000 (target below error of 3)

Epson PC6040UB Bright Cinema Mode Pre-Calibration Gamma Log 1.56 Average Gamma (target 2.10)

Bright Cinema Mode Pre-Calibration Charts

Epson PC6040UB Bright Cinema Mode HDR (HDR Mode 1) Pre-Calibration ITU-R BT.2020 50% Sat 50% Lumenance

I started with Bright Cinema calibrated CMS. As you can see the colors at 50% are a little under saturated.

Epson PC6040UB Bright Cinema Mode HDR (HDR Mode 1) Pre-Calibration RGB Balance / Grayscale Tracking (target D65) (Based on calibrated Bright Cinema SDR as starting point)

Epson PC6040UB HDR Bright Cinema Mode (HDR Mode 1) Pre-Calibration DeltaE 2000 (target below error of 3)

Epson PC6040UB HDR Bright Cinema Mode (HDR Mode1) Pre-Calibration (Electro-optical Transfer Function) aka gamma

Post-Calibration Color Temperature

New Home Cinema 5040UB, Pro Cinema 6040UB Calibration Settings

❮ ❯

This section shows our most recent calibration for 4K HDR/ BT.2020 content.  It produces results far superior to our early attempts (days after the first shipments of the first Blu-ray UHD player.