Epson LS12000 Laser Projector

[AVSCraig]

Here is the first review with numbers I've seen on the new soon to be available LS12000 - 

Epson EH-LS12000B test: Gregory's opinion. – – The PHC Blog – (passionhomecinema.fr)

[AVSCraig]

Specifications.

[Dylan Seeger]

I currently have an LS12000 here for review. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!

[Paul Heroy]

Very much looking forward to your review, Dylan. Aside from fairly obvious things on how it compares to the JVCs, laser operation, black levels, HDR handling etc. I don't know that I have any really specific questions that haven't been bandied about in the other forum.  

[Paul Heroy]

Projector Central's review is up: https://www.projectorcentral.com/Epson-Pro-Cinema-LS12000-Laser-Projector-Review.htm

I didn't see earlier that the Epson not only has no 3D but doesn't do dynamic tone mapping, just a slider you can manually adjust. That's a little disappointing, but they gave it good marks on HDR overall.

[TRainH2O]

WOW, 4K laser light engine (estimated 20,000 hours) and under $5000? 

I wouldn't miss its lack of 3D support.

[David Vaughn]

WOW, 4K laser light engine (estimated 20,000 hours) and under $5000?

I wouldn't miss its lack of 3D support.

The black levels compared to a JVC aren't very good at all. Once you have JVC blacks, you can never go back. 

[AVSCraig]

WOW, 4K laser light engine (estimated 20,000 hours) and under $5000?

I wouldn't miss its lack of 3D support.

You can get more in-depth info a week from Thursday - 

Epson LS12000 review webinar March 31st 7:00PM CST - Premium Projectors - AVS Discussions (avscience.com)

[Paul Heroy]

The black levels compared to a JVC aren't very good at all. Once you have JVC blacks, you can never go back.

Doesn't feel like a fair comparison. As we all know the laser based JVCs start at >2x the price, nearly 3x if you factor in the LS11000 at $4K. Unless you go with the NP5, of course. 

[David Vaughn]

Doesn't feel like a fair comparison. As we all know the laser based JVCs start at >2x the price, nearly 3x if you factor in the LS11000 at $4K. Unless you go with the NP5, of course.

Agreed, but you're getting what you paid for. Also with JVC is that they have a long history with lasers from the simulation market. 

[rob-houston]

The black levels compared to a JVC aren't very good at all. Once you have JVC blacks, you can never go back.

"Once you black you'll never go back"!!!!!!

That was true about 30 years ago when I bought a 19" "None more black" Proton monitor.  Compared it to my brothers RCA monitor. He wasn't happy with the result. So we took my Proton to a friend of his that had a 19" Sony Profeel. We used a $50,000 RCA camera and $25,000 Sony camera aimed at a lighted oil painting. Everyone agreed that the Proton easily beat the Profeel including the professional freelance videographer! The owner of the Profeel and my brother came to Houston from Shreveport and the owner bought 2 19" Protons. When the 25" Protons came out the former Profeel owner came back to Houston and bought 2 25' Protons!!

[bmoney]

also is not native 4k.  not worth the 5k$ price tag imho

[Paul Heroy]

also is not native 4k.  not worth the 5k$ price tag imho

Of all the reasons to slag this projector that seems among the weakest. It's a 1080 chip yes, but it's a 4x pixel setup so it does actually put 4K pixels on the screen. From everything I've read that seems to be really hard to differentiate between a native 4K unit. And the only native 4K unit at $5K is the Sony, which isn't laser driven and can't do HDR as well as this one. It is better in other areas of course. 

Still looking forward to Dylan's review and comments. Those of us who can't play in the 5 figure realm are interested. I'm jonesing for an upgrade over my JVC RS-500 but it's still not clear that there's an option that would improve on it without losing something.

[bmoney]

i have a e-shift and have seen a true 4k.  10000% a visable difference.  the sharpness is quite noticeable on native 4k

[David Vaughn]

Of all the reasons to slag this projector that seems among the weakest. It's a 1080 chip yes, but it's a 4x pixel setup so it does actually put 4K pixels on the screen. From everything I've read that seems to be really hard to differentiate between a native 4K unit. And the only native 4K unit at $5K is the Sony, which isn't laser driven and can't do HDR as well as this one. It is better in other areas of course.

Still looking forward to Dylan's review and comments. Those of us who can't play in the 5 figure realm are interested. I'm jonesing for an upgrade over my JVC RS-500 but it's still not clear that there's an option that would improve on it without losing something.

Look for the RS2000/RS3000 used. I'll be getting one of the lasers later this year and will be selling my RS2000 then. In all honesty, I really have no reason to upgrade since this is the best projector I've ever owned, but it will be nice not having to change a bulb every year.