Epson’s EF-22B Projector: Why buy a TV?

Over the years, I’ve consciously avoided using projectors in my home theatre setup. The lack of wall space for a projector screen, the inability to project crisp, well-saturated images in daylight conditions, and that oh-so-irritating cooling fan noise were all easily avoided with a decent OLED TV. Sealing the deal was the sheer amount of farting about getting a projector set up, not to mention having to replace expensive high-wattage projector lamps on an ongoing basis.

The engineers at Epson have faced these challenges, putting a tonne of effort into their latest projector in an effort to overcome these hurdles.

The EF-22B is a compact laser projector that cranks out an impressive amount of light. Its fan runs at 18 dB, making it almost silent. It can project a screen of up to 150 inches, which makes its sticker price very appealing, especially when compared to a similarly sized TV. For $1849, the EF-22B delivers a big picture bang for pocket-pleasing bucks.

Design-wise, the EF-22B doesn’t resemble your typical home projector. Where most are rectangular and low-slung, the Epson is square and boxy and mounted on a stand/gimbal that can be pointed anywhere. This proved super handy owing to my lack of spare wall space to project onto, so I tilted it upwards at my bedroom ceiling, thus allowing me to lie on my bed to test it. My inner lazy bastard approves. Its design also meant that even with its gimbal base, it took up less space than other projectors I’d used.

There are also plenty of connectivity options. In addition to the HDMI (ARC) port, there’s a USB (type A), a USB (Type B), a 3.5mm headphone socket, Bluetooth, Chromecast support and Wi-Fi.

As you’d expect from Epson, the build quality is excellent. It’s light enough to carry from room to room but also solidly built. Its chassis feels sturdy, lacking the creak and flex of other Tupperware-clad projectors I’ve used.

It also runs Google TV, which makes for a hassle-free, super-quick setup over Wi-Fi. As well as giving me access to a shedload of streaming platforms and apps, it also integrated seamlessly into my smart home (thanks to its integrated Google Assistant).

With both its design and setup ticking all the right boxes, how did it perform? The EF-22B can deliver an impressive 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio, ensuring that projected content is not washed out. While pulling curtains during a rare, sunny day in Wellington helped things along, the laser projection system was bright enough to be useable under daylight. Epson’s 3LCD technology can crank out as many colour lumens as white lumens. In non-projector-geek-speak, it projects bright, vivid pictures, even in ambient light conditions. It also has four preset colour modes, one of which is customisable so you can tweak colours to your taste. The lush colours and dark noir-like textures of Alien Romulus looked superb.

I often used the Dynamic colour mode, which delivered plenty of brightness at around 1,080 lumens, and is slightly brighter than Epson’s claimed 1,000 lumens. Projected colours from warm reds and vivid yellows looked great, as did cooler colours such as greens and blues.

The EF-22B has a fixed lens and a 1.03:1 throw ratio. This means that the largest projected image size depends on how far the projector is from your screen/wall/ceiling. Placing the projector on my bedside table and aiming it at the ceiling (which, being in an old villa, equated to just over 3 metres), I saw it projecting a 130-inch image. While it projects 1080p with HDR, it’ll also play 4K content (with HDR), albeit at 1080p. Chromecast support also meant playing content from my phone or other devices was effortless.

Another advantage of Epson’s Laser 3LCD technology is that the projector will provide around 10 years’ worth of viewing before it needs servicing, making it a significantly more cost-attractive investment than bulb-based projectors, given the limited life expectancy and cost of projector lamps.

If that’s the good news, the not-so-good news is that it lacks a gaming mode. Pro gamers may baulk at this, but I found it perfectly usable for casual gaming with my PS5 and Xbox.

While Google TV made the setup process less of a chore, baked-in auto focus, auto keystone correction and a clever auto screen-fit capability sealed the deal. While I did have to tweak keystone settings to get a properly rectangular image, I was otherwise good to go after plugging it in and switching it on. The projector used built-in sensors to detect and obligingly shift the projected image to one side of the ceiling light so I didn’t have to. Nice!

Built-in 5-watt stereo speakers at the projector’s rear helped simplify placing the EF-22B. Instead of fiddling with speakers and cables, the projector could be used completely alone. While its speakers proved adept at dialogue and effects, they didn’t exactly fill my room with cinematic bone-shaking bass. Adding larger speakers (or a good pair of cans) via Bluetooth, or even a soundbar via HDMI ARC is an easy way to get around this. Either way, the sheer simplicity of its plug-and-play setup gives the projector plenty of appeal.

The EF-22B is a solid consumer-grade projector choice for anyone wanting placement flexibility, easy setup, and decent overall performance. While it isn’t ideal for all usage scenarios, it offers compelling value in ease of use, portability, and image quality.

https://www.epson.co.nz/products/projector/EF-22B.asp