Epson Home Cinema 8700UB Projector Calibration and Settings

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Art Feierman

Below are the RGB settings we ended up with post calibration. While there is some slight variation in color from one lamp to the next, you should find these provide a better picture than the defaults. Plug'em in, save them in one of the 9 User memory areas, and try them out. To get the color temp settings above, the following adjustments were made to gain and bias:

RGB Settings

Header Content
	THX (on User 1)	Dynamic (User 2)
Offset	R = 1	R= -5
	G = -1	G= 0
	B = -1	B= 15
Gain	R = 0	R= 10
	G = -1	G= -10
	B = -2	B= 0
Color Saturation:	-4	0
Tint:	-1	0
Gamma	2.3	2.3
Lumens:	442	1016

Again, please note, in terms of brightness that the full production 8700UB (the second one they sent, measured 9.4% brighter than this first unit, that would translate into THX post calibration of about 483 lumens, and Dynamic of 1112 lumens!

You will want to do your own settings for Brightness, Contrast and Color Saturation, based on your screen surface type, and room conditions. I generally find that Mike's saturation measurements tend to end up a little more saturated than most people will find ideal, so I find myself dialing Color (saturation) down when viewing on my high contrast gray Firehawk G3. That may not be the case, if you are using a white surfaced screen.

Brightest Modes

This year Dynamic offers a warmer - and more ideal color temp than Living Room mode. In the past, Dynamic was over the top in terms of greens (like many, or rather, most home projectors in their brightest modes), this year, however Epson has tamed Dynamic quite a bit. Sure, greens are still slightly overdriven, but this year's Dynamic mode is far more pleasant to view than last year's - before adjustments. This year's Dynamic mode is great. With Mike's settings it really looks excellent for a brightest mode, but even looks a lot better with the defaults. This is one of those "minor" year to year improvements, that can make a real difference in your viewing enjoyment.