When comparing LG PH300 vs Epson Home Cinema 2040, the Slant community recommends Epson Home Cinema 2040 for most people. In the question“What are the best projectors?” Epson Home Cinema 2040 is ranked 3rd while LG PH300 is ranked 6th. The most important reason people chose Epson Home Cinema 2040 is:
Epson 2040 has a native resolution of 1920x1080 and is capable of playing full HD 1080p content. The Detail Clarity Processor (also used in expensive Epsons) adds more detail and makes the picture look even higher in resolution than it is. The 2040 also has a dynamic iris installed for slightly improving the black levels when watching movies at night.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Great picture for video content
LG PH300 has a native 1280x720 high-definition resolution with a 16:9 aspect ratio. This is great for playing video content. For a pico-projector, the PH300 also has very decent black levels (the contrast ratio is 100 000:1).
Pro Very small and light
This LG is only 2.5 x 3.5 x 4.5 inches in size. It weighs just one pound.
Pro Everlasting lamp
The lamp lasts for up to 30 000 hours, so you probably will never have to replace it. Replacement lamps for PH300 are hard to find anyways.
Pro Low input lag for gaming
It has a 33ms input lag, meaning you can take it to a lan-party or play video games on a big screen while travelling.
Pro Rather quiet fans
The fan noise is a high-pitch whiny noise: 26 dB in normal mode and 28 dB in high brightness mode. The projector is rather quiet, but you can still hear the fans buzzing.
Pro Very good picture
Epson 2040 has a native resolution of 1920x1080 and is capable of playing full HD 1080p content. The Detail Clarity Processor (also used in expensive Epsons) adds more detail and makes the picture look even higher in resolution than it is. The 2040 also has a dynamic iris installed for slightly improving the black levels when watching movies at night.
Pro Great 3D experience
Many inexpensive projectors struggle with 3D performance due to low brightness. With brightness of 2200 lumens, Epson 2040 is the brightest under $1000 pick for watching 3D content. The 3D image is also high contrast (for detailed dark scenes) and rich in color.
Pro Low fan-noise
This Epson has rather low fan noise of 29 dB in Eco-Mode. Since the projector produces great brightness in Eco-Mode, the performance mode does not have to be used too often.
Pro Good lamp life and cheap replacement lamps
The lamp life is 4000 hours in performance mode and 7000 hours in Eco-Mode. In addition to a very decent lamp life, the replacement lamps are extremely cheap. They cost only $79.
Pro Low input lags for gaming
The 2040 measures an input lag of only 24.6 ms, making it a great pick for gamers.
Pro No rainbow artifacts
Since it is a 3LCD projector, there are no visible rainbow artifacts.
Cons
Con Poor sound quality
It’s not recommended to use the built-in audio system. These one-watt stereo speakers have disappointing sound quality.
Con Rainbow artifacts
It is a single-chip DLP projector, so you might experience a rainbow effect on the screen every once in a while.
Con Complicated setup
This projector has a slight negative throw offset. The bottom edge of the image is around 5% of the total image height below the center of the lens. If you mount it to the ceiling, you will probably need an extension tube for the projector.
Con Not a movie room projector
Black levels and contrast are not the strongest side for this Epson. If you have created a special movie room with ambient light blocked out, then you should probably purchase a more expensive projector as well. This projector is meant for watching movies in a room with ambient light (a family room). In this case, black levels and contrast are meaningless factors - they will not make much difference in the picture quality.
Con Noisy fans in performance mode
In performance mode the fan noise goes up to 37 dB, being the loudest among its closest competitors.
Con A blurry picture or extra input lags
LCD projectors have motion blur problems during fast movie scenes. Although the frame interpolation technology (analyzes and adds frames to the video) on the 2040 helps take care of the motion blur issue, this technology adds some input lag, so it can't be used while gaming.