11 September 2008

By: Alex Vochin, Technology Editor
Eyes-On with Epson's Short Throw EMP-400W Projector
Up to 110 inches in diagonal from just 0.54 meters
Short-throw projectors have become extremely popular lately, due mostly to the fact that they allow users to enjoy the same advantages provided by a regular projector while requiring a lot less space in order to do so. And that's also the case with Epson's EMP-400W, which we've had the chance of testing for ourselves during the press event mentioned yesterday. As you can see from the photos, the first thing that will most likely draw anyone's attention to the EMP-400W is its huge lens, which is actually "responsible" for the device's short-throw capabilities. This lens offers a throw ratio between 1,47 - 1,77 : 1, an F-Number equal to 1.8, a focal length of 6.48 mm, manual focus and a 1.35x digital zoom. However, despite the fact that it packs such a big lens, the EMP-400W is actually pretty easy to carry around and install, since it measures somewhere around 258 x 327 x 95 mm (without the additional support) and weighs somewhere around 3,6 kilos. In the real world, the numbers provided above translate into image diagonal sizes ranging between 50 and 110 inches, while the projection distance ranges between 0,54 m - 1,22 m. According to Epson's representative who gave us the heads up on the company's devices, these short-throw projectors were especially popular in the business environment but also for educational purposes, in locations where the available space is rather narrow. Like most other projectors from Epson, this model also uses the company's own 3LCD projection system, being able to attain a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, 16.77-million colors, with 16:10 image aspect ratio (automatic detection and resize for 4:3/16:10/16:9 ratios). Moreover, the light output provided by the E-TORL 170W UHE lamp is quite OK, namely 1800 ANSI lumens (although the image displayed in picture 3 was rather uninteresting, it was quite bright). All in all, Epson's EMP-400W is quite a useful projector to have in areas where there's not too much space to spare, but, unfortunately, the price tag of around 1,600 US dollars makes it rather unattractive for most home users.   We are just a few, but there are many of you, Softpedia users, out there. That's why we thought it would be a good idea to create an email address for you to help us a little in finding gadgets we missed. Interesting links are bound to be posted with recognition going mainly to those who submit. The address is.
Epson EMP-400W angle view Softpedia
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