Despite being the world’s biggest-selling projector brand for nearly a quarter of a century, Epson arguably hasn’t made quite the sort of impact on the currently trending portable home entertainment projection world that we might have expected it to. The brand seems to be intent on putting this right from today, though, with its innovative and attractive new Lifestudio range of LED projectors.
The Epson EF-72 features a 4K resolution, ambient light effects, and a cute Oak wood finish for its stand and top edge.
Photo: Epson
Boasting two separate series of two models each available in a range of different colour options, Epson’s Lifestudio projectors aim to offer something for every home entertainment need and room design with integrated Bose sound systems and, for the first time in Epson’s history, portable projection-friendly RGB-LED 3LCD technology designed to deliver optimal performance bang for your buck.
The new Lifestudio Flex EF-71 and EF72 and Lifestudio Pop EF-62B/N and EF-61W/G/R models all also feature Epson’s 3LCD Smart projector powered by Triple Engine technology, which Epson claims delivers cost-effective images that are up to three times as bright as those achieved by rival single-chip DLP projectors. All four projectors will support high dynamic range video, too.
I’ve had the opportunity to see an EF-72 running in fairly typical living room light conditions against popular portable projector rivals and was seriously impressed by how bright, colorful and sharp its picture looked.
The Epson Pop EF-61W is a more compact, less bright but cheaper alternative to the new Flex projector models.
Photo: Epson
The Bose sound systems in each projector are backed up by integrated Bluetooth music playback (they can all be run in “portable speaker” modes) and Dolby Audio for a more immersive home cinema experience, and all four models cater for gamers with ALLM support for automatically switching the projector into its low latency mode when a game source is detected.
As we now expect to see with portable projectors, all four of Epson’s Lifestudio models feature integrated Google TV smart systems, complete with support for personalized profiles, curated recommendations, Google Assistant voice recognition/control, and support for Google Casting from compatible phones and tablets.
Portable projectors should ideally be easy to set up, of course. So it’s great to find all four new Lifestudio projectors carrying an Intelligent Instant Setup system that automatically corrects focus and keystone correction, as well as being able to reposition the image so that it isn’t affected by any obstacles that might be between the projector and your screen or wall. I’ve seen a live demo of this auto-set up feature in action with an EF-72, and it seemed to be one of the most effective and intelligent such systems I’ve witnessed to date.
All of Epson’s new Lifestudio projectors feature Bose audio systems capable of filling your room with sound.
Photo: Epson
Getting into features specific to each series, the two Lifestudio Flex portable projectors sport an integrated stand under their cubic bodies offering tilt (+90 degrees/-15 degrees) and swivel (±90 degrees) so that you can get their images to play on almost any surface – including the ceiling or floor if you so desire. They support images up to a claimed 150 inches in size, too, giving them genuinely cinematic potential.
The Flex EF-72 boasts a claimed 1,000 lumens of brightness, 4K resolution, touch LED and ambient lighting support, and a USB-C charging port, while the EF-71 reduces the brightness to 700 lumens, swaps the EF-72’s 4K resolution for full HD, and loses the Touch LED, Ambient lighting and USB-C features of the step-up model. The EF-72 features a tasteful Oak colour scheme, including a wood effect top edge, while the EF-71 sports a Diamond White finish.
The Pop EF-62 and EF-61 models feature a more compact design than the Flex models, swapping the cubic shape and integrated tilt hinged pole stands for more conventional – though unusually compact – rectangular designs and much smaller tilt and swivel stands. Both of the Pop projectors are rated to deliver 700 lumens of brightness, but the EF62 sports a 4K resolution while the EF61 is full HD. The EF-62 is available in Metallic Black and Metallic Navy colour options, while the EF-61 is available in Diamond White, Ice Green and Rose Quartz.
Epson will also be selling optional accessories for its new Lifestudio projectors in the shape of an optional ELPFS01 floor stand for the Flex models with adjustable height (between 60 and 80cm) and angles, while an ELPKM01 Wireless Karaoke microphone will be available for all four projectors.
Despite such unusual specifications for the portable projector market as 4K native resolution in two cases and relatively high claimed brightness figures by portable projector standards, Epson’s new Lifestudio projectors are surprisingly affordable. Available from today, the EF-72 is £1,149.99, the EF-71 is £879.99, the EF-62 is £799.99, and the EF-61 is £649.99.
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