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Epson snuggles up to the wall with extreme-short-throw laser projector

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"The PowerLite 810E pushes innovation in the display category with a newly designed optical and cooling engine to create a massive 80- to 160-inch, 4Ke, 5,000-lumen image from a very short distance," said Epson America's Remi Del Mar
Epson
"The PowerLite 810E pushes innovation in the display category with a newly designed optical and cooling engine to create a massive 80- to 160-inch, 4Ke, 5,000-lumen image from a very short distance," said Epson America's Remi Del Mar
Epson
The PowerLite 810E can throw an 80-inch 4K Enhanced image at an inch away from the wall or screen
Epson
The projector features two HDMI inputs and one HDMI out, HDBaseT, USB and Ethernet LAN as well as onboard Wi-Fi with support for screen casting
Epson
The PowerLite 810E can be optioned with a wall mount for permanent overhead installation
Epson
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Ultra-short-throw projectors are great for viewing large when you don't have the space to set up a long-throw beast. Epson has now released a new PowerLite model that can throw 80-inch 4K visuals from just an inch away from a wall or screen.

The PowerLite 810E is billed as Epson's first 3LCD extreme-short-throw lamp-free laser display with 4K Enhancement Technology, and is primarily aimed at classrooms, workspaces, museums and event spaces rather than consumer living rooms.

The unit boasts a 0.16:1 throw ratio that produces 80-diagonal-inch images when positioned only an inch away from the display surface. Pull it back to 4 inches and that increases to 100 inches corner to corner while the maximum 160-inch display area is achieved by putting a distance of 14 inches between projector and wall/screen.

The 810E is built around a 3LCD three-chip projection system for native 1080p resolution with pixel-shifting 4K Enhanced capabilities. There's support for 4:3, 16:6, 16:9, 16:10 and 21:0 aspect ratios, and frame interpolation, HDR and "scene adaptive gamma image processing" promise smooth and detailed visual output. A split-screen feature can also be served up with the help of the companion mobile app, allowing for simultaneous multi-device casting.

A laser-diode light source is reckoned good for up to 30,000 hours of use, and can put out 5,000 lumens of color/white brightness, the system reportedly offers 2.5-million:1 dynamic contrast, and manual keystone correction is on hand to help with setup, along with manual-focus digital zoom.

Cabled connectivity shapes up as HDMI, USB, HDBaseT and RS-232 ports, with a handy wake on signal feature included plus built-in media player support. There's Ethernet LAN as well, and cooked-in 802.11ac Wi-Fi with Miracast for screen mirroring from a mobile device. The unit also rocks a pair of speakers "to fill virtually any room" and an optional wall mount is available for permanent overhead installation.

The 27.3 x 13.5 x 5.7-in (693 x 342 x 144-mm), 27.6-lb (12.5-kg) PowerLite 810E is on sale now for US$3,299. A similar 815E model with a black chassis instead of white is expected to follow in September.

Product page: PowerLite 810E

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2 comments
Malatrope
There is a practical limit to getting close to your screen, you know. Unless the screen surface is perfectly flat, and not bumpy, you will get shadows and smeared out pixels. This projector seems to be well within that limit. You cannot drive the incidence angle to zero. No sale, here.
Smokey_Bear
Had a buddy buy an ultra short throw projector...he returned it.
We learned you can't use them with a drop down screen, those tiny waves or bumps completely ruin the image.
So if you buy any of these, be aware, you must project it onto your wall...after you sanded it to remove the texture, then paint it white.