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Epson QL7000: two-minute overview
The Epson QL7000 is a projector designed for conditions the place you usually wouldn’t use a projector: well-lit rooms freed from the darkish furnishings and grey partitions typical of dwelling theater environments.
What makes the Epson QL7000 uniquely certified for such conditions is its brightness, which fits far past what you get with the best projectors and even matches among the best TVs. The QL7000 has a specified 10,000 lumens brightness, the place a typical dwelling theater projector tops out within the 2,500 to three,000 vary. That’s one of many the explanation why the QL7000 prices $29,999 (round £22,400 / AU$47,000), although there are different good causes as properly.
The QL7000 is a ‘body-only’ projector that must be outfitted with a separate lens. Epson presents a variety of particular lens choices, together with long-throw ones that allow you to place it removed from a display, and ultra-short-thow ones that allow you to set up it super-close. This degree of set up flexibility is exclusive for a consumer-grade projector, particularly one as small and light-weight because the QL7000. It additionally has a lovely case design that may let it slot in together with your lounge’s decor.
The QL7000 makes use of a laser 3LCD mild engine, together with pixel-shifting, to show 4K photographs. Epson’s 32-bit QZX Image Processor is used for upscaling and different kinds of processing, and it helps the HDR10 and HLG excessive dynamic vary codecs (however not HDR10+, a format we’re seeing growing help for in projectors).
A pair of HDMI 2.1 ports on the QL7000 help 4K 120Hz and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), making Epson’s projector, which additionally has a low 19.6ms enter lag, an incredible choice for gaming. However the actual draw of the QL7000 is watching sports activities – its super-bright image can simply maintain up in rooms with the lights on, and video games of all kinds have an extremely immersive high quality on an enormous display (as much as 300 inches max, on this case).
The QL7000 additionally appears to be like nice whenever you dim the lights for film time, and with a variable laser mild output adjustment, you’ll be able to create a separate image mode optimized for extra conventional theater-style viewing. Epson’s high-lumen projector lacks the black degree refinement seen in among the prime 4K projectors, however with such highly effective brightness reserves aided by a dynamic distinction characteristic, motion pictures watched on the QL7000 pack a powerful visible punch.
In the end, the QL7000 is a specialised projector designed for multi-use environments, and it serves that function brilliantly. Between the projector itself and the separate lens, you’ll pay fairly a bit to expertise its beautiful brightness in your house, however for some, it is going to be properly value the fee.
Epson QL7000 overview: worth and launch date
- First obtainable: March 2025
- Worth: $29,999 (round £22,400 / AU$47,000)
The flagship mannequin in Epson’s Q Collection projector lineup, the QL7000 lists for $29,999 (round £22,400 / AU$47,000). Costs for Epson projectors usually stay constant over time, although reductions are sometimes tied to gross sales occasions. This worth is for the QL7000 projector physique solely, with 4 lens choices obtainable at further value.
Different Q sequence fashions embody the Epson QL3000 (6,000 lumens, $14,999) and Epson QB1000 (3,300 lumens, $7,999).
Epson QL7000 overview: Specs
Display screen sizes supported: |
60 – 300 inches |
Brightness (specified): |
10,000 lumens |
HDR help: |
HDR10, HLG |
Optical know-how: |
Laser 3LCD |
Sensible TV: |
NA |
Connections: |
2x HDMI 2.1, 2 x USB-A 2.0, 3.5mm audio output, Ethernet, RS-232C |
Dimensions (W x H x D): |
22.8 x 7.5 x 22.4 inches (579 x 190 x 567mm) |
Weight: |
64.6 kilos/29.3kg |
Epson QL7000 overview: design and options
- Compact and classy for a high-lumen projector
- A number of lens choice, together with ultra-short-throw
- Twin HDMI 2.1 ports with 4K 120Hz and ALLM help
The Epson QL7000 represents a departure from the huge, industrial look of typical high-lumen projectors. It’s not solely smaller and lighter than such fashions, nevertheless it has a classy, angled case that’s obtainable in black or white. This units it aside as a projector that may mix in with a lounge setting relatively than dominate.
The QL7000 is a “body-only” projector that requires a separate lens. Epson sells a variety of lenses, which permit for every little thing from long-throw to ultra-short-throw set up choices. For this overview, the corporate despatched me a middle-throw choice with a 1-1.6 zoom, +56 to -56 vertical shift, and +16 to -16 horizontal shift.
A laser 3LCD mild engine within the QL7000 makes use of separate purple, inexperienced, and blue imaging chips and employs pixel shifting to show a 4K picture. Mild output is specified at 10,000 lumens (white and coloration), round 4 occasions as excessive as typical dwelling theater projectors, and the QL7000 additionally helps Epson’s contrast-enhancing UltraBlack know-how.
The QL7000 makes use of Epson’s proprietary 32-bit QZX Image Processor for upscaling, body interpolation, and dynamic HDR tone mapping. HDR help contains HDR10 and HLG, however not the HDR10+ format supported by some dwelling theater projectors, together with the Epson QB1000.
Gaming options on the QL7000 embody two 40Gbps HDMI 2.1 ports with 4K 120Hz help and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM). A 3.5mm audio output can also be offered (like different high-end projectors, the QL7000 lacks built-in audio system), together with twin USB-A, Ethernet, and RS-232C ports. There’s additionally help for Crestron, Control4, and different dwelling automation programs.
The QL7000’s setup options embody horizontal and vertical lens shift, keystone correction, and level correction. Since I put in the projector on a desk for my testing, the setup was easy, with the trickiest half being inserting the lens into the projector’s entrance. 4 adjustable ft are offered for leveling the projector throughout setup, although most QL7000 installations will use a ceiling mount.
A full-size, absolutely backlit distant management comes with the QL7000. The buttons are giant and properly organized, however the capabilities appear primarily aimed toward set up, with no controls to make fast changes to primary image settings like brightness and distinction.
- Design and options rating: 5/5
Epson QL7000 overview: image high quality
- Extremely shiny HDR photographs
- Spectacular HDR tone mapping
- Very low enter lag for gaming
First, let’s take a look at some measurements. With the QL7000 set to Pure mode (probably the most correct image preset) and a 100% laser mild output setting, it measured 1,005 nits on a ten% white HDR sample. It additionally measured 1,340 nits in Dynamic mode, which is the one I ended up utilizing for many of my image analysis after calibrating the grayscale and coloration factors. For the sake of comparability, the DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives, a theater business commerce group) digital cinema specification requires 300 nits brightness for projectors to correctly show HDR.
Distinction ratio in Dynamic mode with Dynamic Distinction on and the laser mild output set to 30% was 68,000:1. With laser mild output set to 100%, that quantity was boosted to 253,600:1, a superb outcome that many competing projectors, notably DLP-based ones, would wrestle to match.
The QL7000’s UHDA P3 coloration area protection was 83.7% in Pure mode, and BT.2020 protection was 61.8% in the identical mode. These numbers aren’t almost as spectacular as high-end dwelling theater projectors just like the JVC DLA-NZ800, which is able to full P3 protection, or sure triple-laser ultra-short-throw fashions just like the Hisense PX3-Pro that may absolutely cowl BT.2020. Even so, colours appeared punchy on the QL7000.
Enter latency examined with a Bodnar 4K Enter Lag meter was 19.6ms with the QL7000’s Picture Processing menu choice set to Quick. That’s a superb outcome for a projector, and mixed with the QL7000’s ALLM characteristic, it units the QL7000 aside as an incredible choice for big-screen gaming.
Probably the most distinctive facet of the Epson QL7000’s image is its beautiful brightness. Even when watching in a shiny room with mild streaming in from home windows, the crisp, clear 4K picture beamed by the QL7000 had a real window-on-reality high quality.
A principal profit to all that brightness is getting to observe sports activities on a really huge display. Once I first noticed a demo of the QL7000 on the 2024 CEDIA Expo, Epson had paired it with a 200-inch display in a well-lit room, and the soccer video games they have been displaying appeared clear and shiny. For my setup, I used a way more modest-sized 92-inch matte white, 1.1 acquire Stewart Filmscreen Cima display, with the projector’s lens floor located at a 10-foot distance.
As luck would have it, each the NBA playoffs and the Stanley Cup playoffs have been occurring throughout my time with the QL7000. No scarcity of sports activities to observe! Viewing within the daytime with room lights on, the QL7000’s exceptionally shiny image made a Pacers vs Bucks match look extremely sensible, with the Pacers gamers’ shiny yellow uniforms retaining their wealthy yellow hue even in my brightly lit room. With a typical dwelling theater projector, the identical picture would have had washed-out-looking colours, however that was under no circumstances the case with the QL7000.
The identical held for a Capitols vs Canadiens match, with the big, shiny projected picture giving me a rink-side seat. The purple hue of the Montreal gamers’ uniforms popped in opposition to the rink’s icy, white floor, and the QL7000’s wonderful movement dealing with made fast-action performs look utterly strong.
With the lights in my room dimmed for film viewing, the projector’s image benefited from decreasing its laser mild output to 30%, which offered extra balanced distinction. Watching a 4K Blu-ray of Dune, in a scene the place Paul Atreides is examined by the Reverend Mom, her veil got here throughout as a strong black, and there was good general element at midnight background.
The projector’s considerably elevated black degree – not surprising in a mannequin designed for top mild output – prompted some shadow particulars to be obscured. Nonetheless, each reducing the gamma setting to -1 within the Superior menu and setting black degree to 0% within the Dynamic Distinction menu helped considerably on this regard.
Watching a reference scene from the Bond movie No Time to Die that I take advantage of to check movement dealing with, a panning shot throughout a craggy hillside cemetery confirmed solely minimal judder and movement blur. With the QL7000’s Body Interpolation mode set to Low, these artifacts utterly disappeared, and there was solely a slight movement smoothing penalty seen within the image.
As a ultimate check, I watched a number of scenes from The Elephant Man on 4K Blu-ray. The QL7000 offered the movie’s black-and-white picture with wonderful uniformity – there was no signal of tinting or variable brightness throughout numerous sections of the display.
- Image high quality rating: 4.5/5
Epson QL7000 overview: worth
- Offers a bigger image than biggest-screen TVs
- Image brightness a match for some TVs
- Distinctive choice for bright-room viewing
At $29,999 (round £22,400 / AU$47,000), the Epson QL7000 crosses over into the money-no-object realm for projectors, making worth virtually a moot level. Its principal profit is in projecting a 4K picture onto screens as giant as 300 inches, and with a degree of brightness that’s so highly effective you’ll be able to watch throughout daytime hours with room lights on.
Now you can purchase super-bright mini-LED TVs within the 100-inch vary for considerably much less, a actuality that might put one thing of a dent into any consideration of the QL7000’s worth. However 100 inches pales compared to 300 inches, and sure, folks really exist who need screens that huge.
Header Cell – Column 0 |
Notes |
Ranking |
---|---|---|
Options & Design |
A number of lens choices, twin HDMI 2.1 inputs with 4K 120Hz help and ALLM, horizontal and vertical lens shift; trendy, compact design for a high-lumen projector |
5/5 |
Image high quality |
Distinctive brightness and good distinction, although photos missing some shadow element |
4.5/5 |
Worth |
A singular projector with a singular worth proposition |
4/5 |
Ought to I purchase the Epson QL7000?
Purchase it if…
Don’t purchase it if…
Additionally take into account…
Header Cell – Column 0 |
Epson QL7000 |
JVC DLA-NZ800 |
Epson QB1000 |
Sony Bravia Projector 8 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Worth: |
$29,999 |
$18,999 |
$7,999 |
$15,999 |
Display screen sizes supported: |
60 to 300 inches |
60 to 200 inches |
50 to 300 inches |
As much as 150 inches |
Brightness (specified): |
10,000 lumens |
2,700 lumens |
3,300 lumens |
2,700 lumens |
HDR help |
HDR10, HLG |
HDR10, HDR10+, HLG |
HDR 10, HDR10+, HLG |
HDR10, HLG |
Optical know-how: |
Laser 3LCD |
Laser D-ILA |
Laser 3LCD |
Laser SXRD |
Sensible TV: |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
Connections: |
2x HDMI 2.1, 2x USB-A, 3.5mm audio, RS-232C, Ethernet, |
2x HDMI 2.1, 2x USB-A (powered), IR, RS-232C, Ethernet |
2x HDMI 2.1(1 with eARC), 2x USB-A (powered), RS-232C, Ethernet |
2 x HDMI, 2x USB-A (powered), IR, RS-232C, Ethernet |
How I examined the Epson QL7000
- Examined at dwelling, in a room with managed lighting
- Measurements have been made utilizing Calman coloration calibration software program
- A 1.1 acquire Stewart Filmscreen Cima matte white projection display was used for analysis and measurements
Once I check projectors, my first step is to make use of them for informal viewing to evaluate the out-of-box image presets. The following step is to pick out probably the most accurate-looking preset (sometimes labeled Film, Cinema, or, within the Epson QL7000’s case, Pure) and measure the white steadiness (grayscale), gamma, and coloration level accuracy utilizing Portrait Shows’ Calman color calibration software. The ensuing measurements present Delta-E values (the margin of error between the check sample supply and what’s proven on-screen) for every class, and permit for an evaluation of the projector’s general accuracy.
Together with these checks, I make measurements of peak mild output (recorded in nits) for each customary high-definition and 4K excessive dynamic vary utilizing a ten% white window sample. Protection of DCI-P3 and BT.2020 coloration area can also be measured, with the outcomes offering a way of how faithfully the projector can render the prolonged coloration vary in ultra-high-definition sources. The ultimate measurements are distinction ratio, which is the ratio of the brightest white to the darkest black that the projector can show, and enter lag, which is measured utilizing a Leo Bodnar 4K HDMI enter lag tester.
First reviewed: Could, 2025