Pro Cinema 4030 Hardware Tour 2

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Art Feierman

HARDWARE TOUR 2: Inputs and Connectors, Menus

Inputs and Outputs

The Epson Pro Cinema 4030 has a pretty typical lineup of inputs and outputs. Nothing really fancy that's unique. Looking at the image here of the back of the projector, let's start on the left:

There are two HDMI 1.4 inputs. Interestingly, Picture in Picture will work with both HDMI inputs at the same time, which is rare (and nice)! Next over is the component video input (three color coded RCA jacks) then the composite video (another RCA jack). The analog computer input comes next (DB15 connector), please know that it can instead be used as a Component video 2 (adjust in menus). An RS232 is next in line for command and control.

The RS232 (serial port) is there for command and control, such as controlling the projector from a room control system like Crestron or Control4.

Finally there's a small service port, for support.

Click Image to Enlarge

Pro Cinema 4030 Menus

Here are about a dozen of the key menus of the Pro Cinema 4030 projector. The player rotates through them all. Click for the larger version to see all the menus and to be able to read everything. The first menu: Image is where most of the image controls are, with more, like Gamma and the calibration controls (adjusting color temp and the individual primary and secondary colors, in the Image menu's Advanced sub menu.

3D controls and more are found on the next main menu down. The other main menus are more operations oriented.

The last menu on every Epson projector is the Information menu, which as you can see, provides a wide range of info, from the resolution of what you are watching to the hours on your lamp.

The Most Important Epson Menus

Epson Image Menu

Epson's main menu screen, The main menus go down the left side. Image menu offers extensive control.

Image - Advanced submenu

Gamma control and color calibration controls

Image - Advanced - Gamma submenu

Offers five preset gammas, but lacks the customizable gamma option found on the Epson UB projectors

Image - Advanced - RGB submenu

These RGB Gain and Bias controls adjust the grayscale balance.

Image - Advanced - RGBCMY

This sub-menu allows the fine tuning of each of the primary and secondary colors for hue, saturation, and brightness

Lamp Door

The Epson lamp door is located on the top. That way, when you have the Pro Cinema 4030 Projector ceiling mounted (which would be upside down, aka "inverted"), you will not have to unmount the projector to change out the lamp.

Remote Control

Epson keeps making minor changes to the remote control with each generation, but this series of remotes is several years old, and one of the better ones out there. Believe it or not, one of my biggest complaints is that the backlight is in the upper right. The remote is long enough that when you hold it balanced in your hand, it's not easy to hit that button without using your other hand. Tsk Tsk!

Let's take a look at the remote control starting at the top.