Epson 5020 2.35:1

I can share my experience - I have a 2.35:1 screen, about 115" Diagonal and I have an Epson 3010 (last years model) sitting on a shelf from about 14 feet away. I would say my throw distance is roughly 13-13.5 feet. Going by that as a reference, and to answer your questions

1. It can do cinemascope. What I have done is zoomed it in to the extent where it covers the screen completely. The only downside to that is that I do have some overscan and I have not figured out how to get rid of it. I have stuck black duct tape below that and the overscan is not noticeable.

2. The image looks great and I don't see any noticeable drop in quality.

3. It should without any trouble.

4. Well that's the part where you may want to re-consider. I bought my projector to primarily view cinemascope content. For 16:9. I use my Plasma TV. You can adjust the zoom and have it pillarboxed but I'm sure that will become quite tiresome given that the projectors (3010 and 5020) don't have lens memory.

I have attached some pictures to give you an idea of the WP_001213.jpg 661k .jpg file WP_001138.jpg 126k .jpg file overscan.

If you look at the 2nd picture - thats my ps3 displaying 16:9, you will see a thin blue image that appears below the screen. That's the overscan I was referring to.

Oh, and here are some pictures of actual 2.35:1 content WP_001129.jpg 132k .jpg file WP_001134.jpg 99k .jpg file

I have the Epson 5010 with a 2.4 screen size of 50"x120". The 5010 is installed in a hush box so its difficult to manually zoom an un-zoom when I change the ratio. So I have installed a motorization system for the zoom, the lens shift and the focus. See my thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1401911/diy-motorization-of-epson-5010

you can also see my cinema in my signature.

To answer your questions:
1- Yes, you can but the zoom and lens shift should be accessible. Fortunately, when you zoom the focus doesn't change.
2- No visual change in image quality from a seating distance of 11 feet.
3- This projector is really bright. I use it in cinema mode, low lamp. The projector is installed at ± 14 feet from the screen. If yours is installed farther away you will lose some brightness.
4- You can see a video in my thread. Its not long around 20 seconds.

You can also look at the Panasonic AE8000. It has motorized lens and memory and its almost as bright as the 5020 but the blacks are not as good. You can see some comparisons at Projectorcentral.com and at projectorreviews.com

I hope that Epson will have motorized lens with memory in their next gen.

I have the 5020 and have a 150" 2.35 screen. I just bought the house and projector so my walls are still white. I have no problems with brightness in the cinema setting and in eco mode. This is the lowest brightness possible on the 5020. This projector is really bright when you switch it to living room or dynamic. If you do not want to mess with with manually zooming all the time you will have to get the motorized zooming BobSev was talking about or a video processor. I have a lumagen radiance that I use and I love it. Find a used one because they will be a olt cheaper that way if you choose to go that route. By the way.....the 5020 is awesome so enjoy it.