For those of you with the Epson HC720 (which seems to be few of you) or those of you who are smarter than I am (which seems to be many of you), I have a question.

I am replacing my Panasonic PT-AX200U with the Epson HC720, the reasons why are in other threads, so let's not get into that here. From what I have read, the HC720 is nearly as bright as the AX200U. The HC720 will be positioned exactly where the AX200U was -- 14 feet from the screen, mounted slightly left of center and aligned with the top of the screen and casting a 120" image. If I am using the projector calculator on projectorcentral properly and based on what the .pdf of the HC720 manual states, this set-up should work out just fine -- especially from a lens shift perspective.

Can anyone confirm this for me?

Expect crickets. I really hope the traffic on this model picks up. I may have to order one to test. I would hate to return a perfectly good projector if I ended up not liking it. It just seems nothing can be confirmed except on various spec sheets. I know of only one owner, and hopefully he hasn't put up a review because he is too busy watching his projector.

But the last few Espon HCand PC projectors have all been rated at the same 1600 lumens, they probably are fairly similar in brightness to the 720, but thats guess. Maybe someone with a 810 or a TW700 can chime in.

Hi darthclem,

As far as the optics, it appears the 720 is exactly the same as the 810. So, you have more shift range than the Panasonic. Of course, keeping lens shift to a minimum helps.

My only experience is with the 400, and I've found that at extreme lens shift ranges ( combinations of vertical and horizontal ) that I can see corner focus issues. At more normal ranges it looks good to me.

Jonathan

Hi MJN,

My 400 is very bright in it's brightest mode, although I don't think you'd want to watch it for anything other than daytime sports or games. The Panasonic is brighter when comparing 'best' modes. Since I'm using it as a TV, using the bright mode for TV/Sports is fine. For watching movies at night, the theatre black modes are fine as far as brightness on a reasonable sized screen.

What I like about the Epson compared to the Panasonic is the they achieve the same brightness but with a lower wattage lamp. They do it using some tricks to recover 'lost' light by adding additional reflectors to the lamp. To me, less wattage means less heat, and heat is big factor in longevity of the electronics. Of course you can mitigate heat by cooling .. but good cooling is loud. The Epson is louder than the Panasonic in it's brightest mode. For me, I'd rather err on the side of louder and more air flow. Of course, good cooling design plays a critical part in this. My Mits 1000 is quite bright and quite quiet. I think their great cooling design helps out here. Not too many posts about Mits 1000 failures here.

A year or so ago an Australian site tested the TV700 and found it to be brighter than the AX100 in it's brigtest mode. So I would imagine the 720 would at least match this. Art's review in the coming weeks will tell the tale.

Jonathan

Darn, I meant to say maybe someone with the 810 or TW700 can comment on the lens shift. I got mixed up on his comment about the 720 being nearly as bright as the Ax200, my fault. But thanks for the info on brightness. Very helpful on the max modes Panny vs. Epson. Noise is one of my worries on the Epson. 33db rating in highest mode is totally unacceptable and 26 in lowest is still pretty darn high.

For those of you with the Epson HC720 (which seems to be few of you) or those of you who are smarter than I am (which seems to be many of you), I have a question.

I am replacing my Panasonic PT-AX200U with the Epson HC720, the reasons why are in other threads, so let's not get into that here. From what I have read, the HC720 is nearly as bright as the AX200U. The HC720 will be positioned exactly where the AX200U was -- 14 feet from the screen, mounted slightly left of center and aligned with the top of the screen and casting a 120" image. If I am using the projector calculator on projectorcentral properly and based on what the .pdf of the HC720 manual states, this set-up should work out just fine -- especially from a lens shift perspective.

Can anyone confirm this for me?

I just ordered an Epson HC720. Should arrive around Tuesday. Please post your impressions when you get yours

Maybe start a users thread?

I just ordered an Epson HC720. Should arrive around Tuesday. Please post your impressions when you get yours

Maybe start a users thread?

Once I have mine up and running, if there isn't already a thread, I'll start one.