Epson EH QB1000

A serious movie projector that's also great for gamers

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Everything about the EH-QB1000, from its substantial design to its eye-catching specification sheet screams that here we have a projector aimed squarely at proper home cinema fans. Erm, except that, on closer inspection, it isn't actually aimed squarely only at proper home cinema fans. Tucked into its long list of premium attractions are a few that clearly show some serious love for gamers, too.

The QB1000 is big. As in, really big. Bigger, in fact, than even most of the high-end megabucks projectors we occasionally get to strain our test benches with. It's also pretty heavy, and the black finish of our sample along with the presence of all sorts of dramatic-looking venting on its front and side edges complete the impression that the QB1000 really isn't here to mess about. The recessed lens sports an opulent-looking gold metallic ring around its edge, and each edge and corner is gently and gradually rounded off to try and soften the vibe.

The QB1000 quickly justifies its home cinema credentials and step-up price point. It uses a laser lighting system to illuminate a three-chip LCD optical system that is claimed to muster a peak light output of 3300 lumens. While we see brightness figures like that fairly routinely now on some living room and ultra short-throw projectors due to them often needing to punch through ambient light, it's an unusually high figure for a serious home-cinema projector intended to be used in a blacked-out room. Going for so much light in a home-cinema environment clearly indicates that the QB1000 is serious about trying to make something of the high dynamic range today's premium picture sources are so often mastered in.

HDR is famously difficult for projectors to handle convincingly, given that it was originally designed for much brighter TVs. But 3300 lumens in a darkened room should certainly go further than most movie projectors can in delivering a good sense of HDR's expanded light range.