Epson Home Cinema 3800

An advanced projector at a budget price

Epson continues to refine their pixel-shifting projection technology, and with the Home Cinema 3800, they've made it affordable for more movie fans. Technically, the 3800 is a 1080p projector, but it accepts 4K content, including movies and shows encoded with HDR. The picture looks noticeably sharper than any HD projector we've seen.

The 3800's built-in video upscaling helps standard Blu-ray discs and other HD sources look amazing, too. And there's no need to retire your favorite DVD titles, because Epson's Super Resolution "smart sharpening" feature gives standard-definition video sources a crisp, clean look.

A big, bright picture with lifelike detail, color and contrast

The Home Cinema 3800's extra-sharp, detailed picture is the result of Epson's 4K Enhancement Technology, which shifts each pixel diagonally by half a pixel and combines the two images to provide a sharper picture. This allows the 3800 to render 4K content clearly with remarkable detail, for a bright, crisp image. The projector also supports HDR10, the most common HDR format, as well as HLG, the likely HDR format for the next generation of over-the-air broadcast TV.

HDR-enhanced movies and shows produce more realistic contrast swings, and colors with extra pop, when displayed through the 3800. There's lots of 4K/HDR movies and shows available from streaming services like Netflix® and Amazon Instant Video. Since the 3800 has no built-in web apps, you'll need to connect a 4K media streamer to explore this great-looking content. Of course, for life-sized projector images, the ultimate high-resolution source is an Ultra HD Blu-ray player.

Plenty of light for bright rooms, plus light control for dark rooms

If you don't have a fully light-controlled room for viewing, don't worry. The 3800 has plenty of light power to handle real-world family rooms, home theaters with really big screens, and situations where others in the room need to keep some lights on.

On the other hand, if you're able to make your room really dark, you'll want to use one of the projector's lower light settings, and turn on the "auto iris" feature, which boosts contrast and deepens blacks in dark scenes.

Flexible placement and hookup options

Whether you end up placing the 3800 on a table or shelf, or ceiling-mounting it, you'll find the projector's horizontal and vertical "lens shift" controls will allow you to position the projector off-center and still get a perfectly true image.

For the best picture quality from this 4K-compatible projector, we recommend using a 4K-rated projector screen.