Pros & Cons
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- Laser-phosphor light source with high brightness
- 4K resolution
- Notably short throw distance, even for an ultra short throw projector
- HDR10 and HLG HDR support
- Three-chip LCD design means no rainbow artifacts
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- No built-in streaming or 3D support
- Requires external audio system
- Pricey
Epson QS100 4K PRO-UHD 3LCD Laser Projector with HDR Specs
| Dimensions (HWD) | 6.2 by 27.4 by 13.4 inches |
| Engine Type | LCD |
| Inputs and Interfaces | Ethernet (control only) |
| Inputs and Interfaces | HDMI |
| Inputs and Interfaces | USB 2.0 |
| Maximum Resolution | 3840 by 2160 60Hz, HDR |
| Native Resolution | Equivalent to 3840 by 2160 using Epson's 4K PRO-UHD technology |
| Rated Brightness | 4500 |
| Warranty | 3 |
| Weight | 26.5 |
The QS100 4K PRO-UHD 3LCD Laser Projector is Epson's first, and so far only, ultra short throw (UST) projector in its premium high-brightness Q-series line. Q-series projectors can stand up to ambient light, but they're expensive. (The QS100 is $4,999.) Also, they are available primarily through contractors as part of custom home theater installations—the sort with a screen, external audio and streaming devices, and even an integrated remote control for the whole system. However, you can buy a QS100 to set up yourself, as essentially a brighter version of the Epson LS800, one of our top picks for mainstream UST projectors. It lacks the LS800's built-in streaming and audio, but it adds the menu options needed for a full calibration, making the model particularly attractive for people who demand top-notch images and are willing to put in the effort to get them. All that earns the projector an Editors' Choice designation.
Design: Built to Throw Big, Bright Images From Up Close
The QS100, available in white or black, is just enough brighter than the LS800 to make a visible difference at any given image size. Epson rates its laser-phosphor light source at 4,500 ISO lumens and as having a 20,000-hour life at full power. The two models share essentially the same display technology, using three 1080p LCD chips (one for each primary color), and doubling the number of pixels on screen through pixel shifting.
As I've discussed in other reviews, this approach delivers only half as many pixels as are in a 4K (3,840-by-2,160-pixel) image. But it makes little to no difference in perceived detail compared with the pixel shifting most DLP projectors use to deliver a full 3,840 by 2,160 pixels. Part of the reason Epson's approach works so well has to do with the limits of human visual acuity. At normal viewing distances, those limits hide any difference that might actually exist. Beyond that, the ability to resolve detail is also affected by contrast, lens quality, and digital image processing, among other variables, and Epson's PRO-UHD technology takes advantage of those factors as well.
(Credit: M. David Stone)Another important plus for the three-chip design is that it guarantees the image can't show rainbow artifacts (red/green/blue flashes that single-chip projectors can show). For those who don't see these flashes, this won't matter. But for those who see them easily and find them annoying, being rainbow-free can be a must-have feature, particularly if you're laying out this much money for a projector.
Getting the projector up and running is straightforward, but positioning and image calibration can be a bit tricky. The QS100 weighs in at 26.5 pounds and measures 6.2 by 27.4 by 13.4 inches (HWD). Basic setup consists of little more than positioning it, connecting cables, turning it on, and focusing. As always, however, if you want the best possible image quality, you'll need to position it carefully to fill the screen. Epson offers a robust set of adjustment features if you have to use them—including digital zoom, four-corner adjustments, individual point adjustment with your choice of three to 33 adjustment points on each vertical and horizontal line in a grid, and the Epson Setting Assistant phone app. However, all digital adjustments can introduce artifacts in some images, making them best avoided if you possibly can.
(Credit: M. David Stone)The QS100 also requires manual focusing, which means you can't stand back far enough to see the entire image at once, as you can with a powered focus controlled through the remote. It doesn't quite turn focusing into a two-person job, but it helps to have a second person farther from the screen, who can tell you when the focus is right.
As already mentioned, the QS100's menus add all the right settings to let you fully calibrate (or, more likely, pay someone to calibrate) the projector for your room and screen. It will also let you store up to 10 different sets of settings in memory, so you can have separate calibrations for different lighting conditions, different sources, or both. What it leaves out, compared with the LS800, is built-in audio and streaming features, a design decision based on the assumption that, as with classic home theater installations, you'll want to add a custom external audio system as well as image sources. For connecting to those sources, it offers two HDMI ports, one of which supports eARC and ARC, and a USB-A port for reading files from USB memory. A removable cover (shown below) hides the ports and physical controls.
(Credit: M. David Stone)The projector also has a LAN port strictly for remote external control. It's noteworthy primarily because the QS100 supports Crestron and other common control systems that integrators often take advantage of. You also get an embedded web server (EWS) that you can log on to using a browser. However, it's less useful than it could be: You can easily switch sources or turn off the projector, but it doesn't help much for changing menu settings. Basically, you get the image of a touchpad on your PC's screen, and must move your mouse over that image while holding the mouse button down to move the highlight in the QS100's on-screen menu.
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You can also select a highlighted item with a mouse click, but I found this even less convenient than the remote. Note, too, that you have to go to the QS100 user manual on Epson's website to find the user names you need for logging on.
Image Quality: High Brightness Meets Exceptional Detail
Epson says the QS100's lens is suitable for a 16:9 image ranging from 80 inches (at 0.9 inch from the screen) to 160 inches (at 12.7 inches from the screen). For my tests, I used both the Epson SilverFlex 100-Inch Ambient Light Rejection Mega Screen, which we use for most UST projectors that don't come with a screen, and my 130-inch standard 1.0-gain white screen.
In addition to SDR input, the QS100 supports both HDR10 and HLG HDR. However, unlike most projectors, it doesn't offer separate sets of predefined color modes for each type of input. Instead, it offers the same four color modes and essentially the same settings for each in all cases. (A few additional options show only when the projector detects HDR.) If you want different settings for SDR and HDR, however, you can simply save your preferences for each to memory, give each stored set an appropriate name, and easily retrieve the settings to match the input as needed.
(Credit: M. David Stone)In testing, I found that the default settings for the brightest mode left the color with a slight yellow-green bias in the test unit, but still within a range that most people will consider quite usable. Color accuracy in the other modes showed no obvious issues, but purists will want to take advantage of calibration to make it even better. For my tests, I used Vivid mode for both SDR and HDR, primarily because it was the default setting, and none of the other modes showed obviously better image quality in my preliminary tests.
For 1080p SDR input and viewing in a dark room using the 130-inch screen, the only change I made from the default settings was to turn off frame interpolation, which is designed to smooth motion, but adds a noticeable digital video, or "soap opera," effect to filmed material, making it look like live video. Picture quality was impressively good overall, scoring nicely on color accuracy and contrast. I saw some minor loss of shadow detail in the darker scenes in our test clips, but the detail held well enough to make out what was going on in the scene.
(Credit: M. David Stone)For 4K HDR input, scenes dominated by midtones were too dark overall with the default settings, but adjusting both the Gamma and Scene Adaptive Gamma settings solved that. After the changes, the image quality held up nicely, even on the 130-inch screen. Of course, if you're using the projector in a room with ambient light, which is what the QS100 is designed for, you should be using an ambient light rejection (ALR) screen. Most ALR models, including the Epson screen I used for our testing, offer a gain lower than 1, which lowers image brightness but raises the level of contrast and shadow detail. As expected, when I switched to the 100-inch Epson SilverFlex, both of those factors improved significantly, making the image quality even more impressive. And with the lights on, the ALR material keeps the light from washing out the image.
(Credit: M. David Stone)The QS100 does not support 3D, which could be a deal killer for 3D aficionados. Lag time, meanwhile, is appropriate for casual gaming. My Bodnar 4K Lag Tester measured 37.1 milliseconds of lag for 60Hz input at both 4K and 1080p.
The 4,500-lumen brightness is easily enough to stand up to the level of ambient light in a typical family room, especially with an appropriate ALR screen. (Make sure you have one designed for UST projectors, as discussed in our guide How to Choose the Right Screen.)