Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8350 Review

It used to be that in order to get a good home projector system, you'd have to lay out thousands of dollars and have a custom install, not to mention the space to house your theater as well as good blackout curtains, or a nice room with no windows. Luckily, those days are gone. You can still do that model if you want, of course, but the alternatives are wonderful today.

While there are many new projectors out there, this page will focus on a very popular and pretty kick-ass model called the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8350. This projector comes in at under $2000 and is pretty powerful. It features full 1080p High Definition and can project a very large picture onto a screen, or your wall, or your ceiling, or even your neighbor's house at 3am, but we don't recommend that one.

This thing boasts a contrast ratio of around 50,000:1. This gives you some nice blacks that don't cause you to strain your eyes while watching some movies where the director obviously fought with the DP while the lighting crew stuffed their faces at craft services. It also throws out roughly 2000 lumens, which is nice and bright, and doesn't require blackout curtains.

Another nice benefit is that it's pretty quiet. The fan doesn't blow obnoxiously throughout it's use. While no projector is silent, the noise doesn't really detract from the experience. With that said, anything is better than going to a current movie theater and having to sit through all the rude people on their phones, or texting, or just otherwise being degenerate.

The lamp is rated to last up to 4000 hours, but some people have complained that it lasted far shorter. Some have burned out after around 400 hours, or 2 viewings of the Lord Of The Rings extended DVD set. While that sucks, it appears that Epson has been more than helpful in sending out replacement bulbs promptly. Three cheers for customer service.

The unit can be pretty easily positioned in that it has extended zoom, focusing, and shift capabilities. It's still better to set it up as precisely as you can, but know that there is some leverage when tackling setup. Ceiling mounts are available, but a nice high level surface can do pretty well on a budget. Keep in mind though that this projector is on the larger side compared to other models, and certainly business class projectors.

One bad if you think this is a bad is that it lacks 3D support. Some people love 3D, so if you do, there are alternatives in the DLP projectors, and a couple in the LCD range, notably the
5010 and 6010 PowerLites, but they are relatively more expensive. If you love the 3D fad, those might be better choices for you.

All in all, this is a great projector and well worth the money. Alas though, with projectors, you still need a decent sound system to make it really worthwhile. That's another topic though, and outside the scope of this article.

Check out the link to Amazon on this page, as we found a pretty nice price on this that you'll love.