Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 5010e

Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 5010e

It's tempting to think of the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 5010e ($3,000 street) as a bigger, better version of the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 3010e ($1,799 direct, 4 stars), that I reviewed earlier this year, with a slightly higher brightness rating, at 2,400 lumens, and more convenience feature, including lens shift (the ability to adjust image position by shifting the lens instead of moving the projector). However, unlike the Epson 3010e, the 5010e is clearly designed for home theater, rather than home entertainment, and it delivers a better-looking image. It's also a shoo-in as Editors' Choice. Although the Epson 3010e and 5010e are distant cousins at best, they share some basic features. Both are built around LCD engines with 1080p native resolution, which means both are guaranteed to be free of the rainbow artifacts that can be a problem with DLP projectors. Both also offer full 3D support, along with 2D of course, so you can connect them directly to HDMI 1.4a devices like 3D Blu-ray players to watch 3D. The 5010e, however, adds a real-time 2D to 3D conversion feature, so you can watch 2D material in 3D as well.