The EMP-S1 is a solid entry level projector at a highly attractive price. Read our Australian review.

The EMP-S1 is an SVGA-capable projector that Epson pitches at the home cinema market. While the purchasing of projectors has predominantly been a business expense, there's plenty of people out there that would love the additional screen size of a projector for home multimedia usage, but balk at the price. The EMP-S1's hook is that is retails for a remarkably cheap AU$1,999, which shows how competitive the projector market is getting.

Epson plugs the EMP-S1 as a portable projector, and a handle is built into the front face of the unit to help achieve that. Still at 3.2kg, we wouldn't want to be lugging it for too great a distance -- our last comparative projector review specified portable as equalling under 3kgs. It's also not hard to see where much of that weight has gone; the unit measures in at 265x370x114mm with the feet fully protruded. A provided carry bag does make the unit easier to lug around.

Fiddly feet are a common problem with cheaper projectors, and the EMP-S1 doesn't get off entirely scot-free. Release latches allow the feet to drop out, from where they than can then be rotated to an appropriate height. From there keystone adjustment can be performed for fine-tuning. This can be performed directly from buttons on the top of the projector, although if you're using the remote it's annoyingly hidden behind three levels of onscreen menus.

While the lamp in the EMP-S1 is rated at a solid 1200 ANSI Lumens, it's only got a contrast ratio of 400:1, meaning that some sharper onscreen colours can appear somewhat washed out, especially blacker tones. To its credit the unit managed most of our multimedia tasks without appearing too washed out. Epson even has a nod to multimedia presentation with dual RCA audio inputs, although predictably the sound through the single speaker couldn't be called anything but weak; it would do for presentations in a pinch, but given Epson's spin on this projector as being ideal for home use, we can't see anyone seriously using it for home cinema presentation.

For those looking at the EMP-S1 as a cheap business projector, Epson includes a USB-connected remote control that mimics common mousing functions, as well as page skipping in PowerPoint presentations. As remotes go, it's remarkably plain looking, but responds well enough to be worth slinging into the EMP-S1's bag. Another remote clicks into the back of the projector and controls onscreen functionality, including quick switching between 16:9 and 4:3 display modes. The projector supports 5 different preset colour modes, ranging from living room to sRGB, but lacks a true user-definable mode.

The lamp on the EMP-S1 is warrantied for 6 months and 2,000 hours of lamp life, putting it solidly in contention with projectors that start at more than twice the price of the EMP-S1. To aid users, an internal timer notes how many hours the projector has been active.

At the price Epson's offering the EMP-S1, it presents a strong challenge to pretty much every higher-priced projector out there, and comes highly recommended to anyone thinking of taking the plunge into home cinema.

Epson EMP-S1
Company: Epson Australia
Price: AU$1,999
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1300 304 767

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