Faced with fast-expanding flat-screen televisions, projectors were almost always on the back foot in the race to provide the best home cinema experience. But projector manufacturers haven’t shirked from refining the technology’s traditional downsides – including the need to shun bright sunlight like a vampire, kit’s tendency to chew through high-wattage bulbs, and the challenge of finding ways to keep such a high-intensity beam cool without noisy fans that drown out the accompanying soundtrack.
Many of these issues have been solved, and then some, with a new generation of compact laser projectors that are not just light and quiet, but are now the most cost-effective way to create a truly huge screen in the home. We sampled Epson’s latest mini projector, the EF-22, which along with the EF-21 model, can project a screen up to 150 inches. For reference, the largest conventional television currently available from Selfridges is LG’s mighty 97-inch Evo 4K TV, which comes in at just under £25k.
For a fraction of that price, and a fraction of the space consumed, the EF-22 conjures up nearly 140 per cent more screen area. The difference between the pair is the built-in stand, which allows the EF-22 to swivel freely about a solid podium, and even point straight up to the ceiling should your wall space lack the requisite spare area.
Epson has incorporated Google TV into the duo, a smart choice that allows for near instant set-up (via WiFi) and access to multiple streaming platforms, free, paid for and ad-supported. That’s a boon when you don’t want to spend your time hunting through menus, and fans of Google Assistant can use the controller for voice search and all the usual inane day-to-day questioning that we direct at our smart assistants.
The picture itself is handled by Epson’s 3LCD technology, capable of generating a 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio to ensure the picture is not washed out. In practice, we found that a drawn curtain benefitted the picture substantially, even if it wasn’t strictly necessary. The laser projector system should be capable of supplying ten years’ worth of TV viewing (not ten years of continuous television watching, mind you), which compares favourably to older OLED televisions (newer models have an apparent lifespan of 100,000 hours).
Spinning a projector around to cast onto a variety of different surfaces used to require endless setting up, but the EF-22 has a suite of functions that make this much simpler. Automatic focus, keystone correction, and screen-fit technology combine to make it easy to pop the projector at an angle to a wall or ceiling and then distort the projected image until it’s perfectly aligned.
Another benefit for those who will shunt the unit around their homes is the onboard speakers. The twin 5W speakers offer a perfectly decent sound experience for most viewing, but cinephiles will want to pair the projector with a larger Bluetooth speaker or a full soundbar via HDMI. Finally, the unit itself can become a stand-alone speaker for playing back audio via a smartphone – useful if nothing else is to hand and you absolutely can’t find anything to watch.
Epson EF-22 Mini Laser Projector, available in metallic black or metallic blue, £999, Epson.co.uk
