Pros & Cons
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- Epson's 4K PRO-UHD technology delivers resolution equivalent to 4K
- Supports HDR10 and HLG
- Fully integrated Google TV
- Three-LCD chip design guarantees a rainbow-artifact-free image
- Low input lag suitable for casual gaming
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- No 3D support
- No Dolby Vision support
Epson Lifestudio Flex Plus Specs
| Dimensions (HWD) | 9.7 by 7.5 by 7.5 inches |
| Engine Type | LCD |
| Inputs and Interfaces | Bluetooth |
| Inputs and Interfaces | HDMI (ALLM, eARC) |
| Inputs and Interfaces | USB-A |
| Inputs and Interfaces | USB-C (power only) |
| Inputs and Interfaces | Wi-Fi |
| Maximum Resolution | 3840 by 2160 @ 60Hz, HDR |
| Native Resolution | Equivalent to 3840 by 2160 using Epson's 4K PRO-UHD technology |
| Rated Brightness | 1000 |
| Warranty | 2 |
| Weight | 8.8 |
The Epson Lifestudio Flex Plus ($999.99) is a strong contender among portable projectors, thanks to its high-quality image, built-in stand, good looks, and more. It's also the first room-to-room portable that offers both 4K-equivalent resolution plus a three-LCD design, which means you won't see any of the rainbow artifacts that DLP models tend to show. It doesn't offer quite enough to replace the brighter Anker Nebula Cosmos Laser 4K SE as our top pick for an inexpensive 4K-class portable, but it stands beside it as our Editors' Choice pick for its rainbow-free image. And even for those who don't see or don't mind seeing red/green/blue flashes, this projector offers more than enough to be worth a close look.
Design: Three LCD Chips, Three LED Colors
One of the practical issues for a portable projector is that you have to set it up every time you move it. Most top-of-the-line room-to-room models today, including the Flex Plus, make that easier in part by including a permanently attached mount. However, Epson takes a different approach than most competitors, using a stand that attaches at a single spot on the bottom center of the projector, instead of a gimbal mount that attaches on each side. The stand gives the Flex Plus a distinctive look while offering much the same capability as a gimbal mount. It lets you rotate the projector 180 degrees horizontally and tilt it from 15 degrees down to straight up at the ceiling. With the projector pointed straight ahead, the overall dimensions are 9.7 by 7.5 by 7.5 inches (HWD). The weight, including the stand, is 8.8 pounds.
A more critical difference between the Flex Plus and its competition is that it's built around three LCDs instead of a single DLP chip. The three-chip design enables it to project all three primary colors—provided by red, green, and blue LEDs—at the same time. (DLP-based models rotate through the colors in sequence, which is what leads to the potential for seeing red/green/blue flashes.)
(Credit: M. David Stone)Like 4K DLP models, the Flex Plus utilizes pixel shifting to produce a higher resolution than the LCD's native 1080p (1,920 by 1,080 pixels). Note that it doubles the number of pixels, rather than quadrupling it, so it doesn't put a full 4K (3,840-by-2,160-pixel) image on screen, as with some of Epson's more expensive models that also use Epson's 4K PRO-UHD technology. However, thanks primarily to the limits of human visual acuity, plus video processing and Epson's attention to lens quality, it's almost impossible at normal seating distances from the screen to see any difference in resolution between the full 4K pixel count that 4K DLP models offer and half that number for the Flex Plus.
Setup and Features: App and Excellent Sound System Included
The Lifestudio's initial setup is a little unusual. The only guidance provided with the projector is a card featuring a QR code for downloading an app, along with a note stating that the projector can be set up without the app by using the online Quick Start Guide. The card also provides the URL for Epson's online support, but it doesn't specifically indicate how to access the Guide.
If you use the QR code, you must create an Epson account and download the app to access the instructions, which seem like two unnecessary extra steps at first. However, if you want to take advantage of Epson's Projection Studio feature (which I'll discuss below), you'll need the account and app. Taking care of both in the initial installation means you won't have to go back and sign up or download anything later.
(Credit: M. David Stone)I'm not generally a fan of reading instructions on a phone screen, but Epson's setup screens are easy to follow. And it helps that you can probably set up the projector even without them. Simply turn it on, connect the cables, and follow the Google TV setup steps, which include setting up Wi-Fi (the only choice for connecting to your network).
The physical connectors are all on the back and include an HDMI port, which supports automatic low-latency mode (ALLM) for gaming. There's also a USB Type-A port—for reading files from USB memory, as well as connecting a mic, a pointing device, or a web camera—and a USB-C port for power only, so you can use a third-party power pack instead of plugging into an AC outlet. The connector for the supplied AC power block is on the base of the stand.
(Credit: M. David Stone)Like on many room-to-room portables, the only available zoom is digital. Automatic setup features include horizontal and vertical keystone adjustment, obstacle avoidance, and screen fit. In principle, all of these are best avoided, since they can lower image brightness and introduce artifacts. But as a practical matter, digital geometry adjustments are hard to avoid if you need to tilt or swivel the projector to position the image. You'll also want to take advantage of the autofocus and automatic wall color adjustment.
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The onboard Bose sound system offers dual 5-watt speakers and two passive radiators, as well as support for Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and Dolby Atmos. In our tests, it delivered quite usable quality and high enough volume to fill a large family room. You can also connect an external sound system using Bluetooth or the HDMI port's eARC support, as well as use the Flex Plus as a Bluetooth speaker for other devices. Note also that the Flex Plus offers mood lighting. You can turn it on and off, as well as adjust color and brightness, using both tap and tap-and-hold touch commands on the top of the projector.
Image Quality: Tweak First, Then Watch
The Flex Plus menu offers just four predefined picture modes. Each has the same set of settings options, ranging from basics like brightness and contrast to more advanced ones, such as Dynamic Contrast, Scene Adaptive Gamma, and a color tuner with all the necessary parameters for a full calibration. Note that although the picture mode names remain the same for both SDR and HDR input, the settings are saved separately for SDR, HDR10, and HLG. That allows you to use the same picture mode in each case, if you prefer, while still having different custom settings for each type of input.
For SDR viewing, none of the picture modes offers close-to-acceptable shadow detail straight out of the box, and even moderately dark scenes appear noticeably darker than they should. Cinema is the best of the batch, however, so I used it as my starting point in testing. After adjusting both brightness and contrast properly, the projector delivered more-than-good-enough image quality by most people's standards, including good color accuracy, contrast, shadow detail, and sense of three-dimensionality, along with a decent black level. The only other change I made to the settings was to turn off frame interpolation to remove the soap opera effect, which comes from the added frames making filmed material look like live video.
(Credit: M. David Stone)For my formal HDR10 viewing tests, using a 4K HDR disc of the same movies we use for testing SDR, I picked Vivid mode as having the best color quality, turned off frame interpolation, and also adjusted the brightness and contrast options, though I wound up with significantly different settings than for SDR. Surprisingly, the Flex Plus negotiated a 1080p connection, despite supporting 4K, which means that the player had to downconvert the image from 4K to 1080p, and the Flex Plus had to upconvert it. Much more important is that the projector handled the HDR version well enough to showcase the improved image quality that HDR promises, with enhanced color saturation and notably better shadow detail.
In my informal tests with streaming material, I was unable to confirm whether the projector connected at 1080p or 4K, but it displayed a message when the connection switched to SDR, HDR10, or HLG. It also gave essentially the same level of image quality as in my formal tests. Note that the Flex Plus doesn't offer 3D support.
(Credit: M. David Stone)A notable extra is the Epson Projection Studio app. It's designed to make it easy for anyone at an event (like parties or weddings) to take pictures, turn them into a show, and let the Flex Plus project it. You simply download the app, then connect to the Flex Plus, select the pictures to include, and start the show. (Note that the projector and mobile device connect through the cloud, so both have to be connected to the internet.) I didn't have a party scheduled to try it with, but the app works as promised, and I suspect it would be well received.
Gamers will appreciate the short lag time, at just a few milliseconds longer than is state-of-the-art for 60Hz input. I measured it using my Bodnar 4K Lag Tester, which yielded 20.9 milliseconds for both 1080p and 4K 60Hz signals.
The Flex Plus also scores well in terms of brightness. Based on the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) recommendations for a dark room, the rated 1,000 ISO lumens (equivalent to ANSI lumens) is bright enough to light up a roughly 125-to-165-inch, 1.0-gain screen. With the settings I used, both SDR and HDR images appeared suitably bright on my 90-inch screen, in lighting conditions ranging from a dark room to a family room at night with lights on. For daytime watching on a cloudy day, I increased the light output level from the default to maximum, and settled on a roughly 55-inch diagonal picture as highly watchable, though a little washed out.