The cinema could be any wall or ceiling thanks to Epson’s return to laser projectors, now smaller than they’ve been for the company.
The idea of a personal cinema is something we can all aspire to, even if it’s the sort of thing people with lots and lots of money typically get access to over everyone else. You only need to glance at the CEDIA awards to see what we’re talking about, with plenty of big home cinemas for people with sizeable pockets to match.
That isn’t most people. Not everyone has an extra room they can shape for the purposes of watching films.
You might be lucky enough to have a wall or a ceiling, and that needs a slightly different option.
With that in mind, Epson has reworked its laser light projectors, moving on from the excellent EF-100W several years ago to something made to be smaller and easier to position.
This year’s update comes in the EF-21 and EF-22, two similar models that basically provide the option of a compact laser projector with Google TV and two 5W speakers, one of which is designed like a standard projector (flat aim it at something while sitting flat on a surface) while the other includes a stand (so you can aim it anything, including up).
Between them, they both share the same technology, with the key difference being the stand. They both have a 1000 lumen laser light source, auto-correct keystone adjustments, and support for Bluetooth.
They also both support Full HD in HDR, an upgrade on the 720p of the EF-100 a few years ago, with support for both HDMI and USB for power, allowing you to plug in devices like an Amazon Fire TV Stick of sorts for power. The Epson EF-21 and 22 both have Google TV built in, so you can probably leave both the older Chromecast and the newer Google TV for something else.
As you can probably imagine, they’re priced like most other projectors, with the EF-21 costing $1299 in Australia, while the stand-equipped EF-22 is $1599 locally, competing with other similarly designed models including Samsung’s The Freestyle, as well as Leica’s much more expensive Cine Play 1.
