Epson 5040UB not doing 4K upscaling. Help. (1 Viewer)

[Hal Masonberg]

4K Enhancement not working on 5040. Just purchased the Epson 5040UB. Set it up and noticed that while I had 4K Enhancement set to ON, frame interpolation was also still active. I had read that 4K Enhancement overrode that feature. So I went to the Projector Info section of the menu and it says 1080P. Called Epson and they didn't know why the 4K Enhancement didn't seem to be working. They said it should register here in the Projector Info menu. I tried 2 different Blu-ray players. Sony PS3 and a regular Sony Blu-ray player. I tried FINDING NEMO Blu and TREE OF LIFE Blu. Both sent a 1080P signal to the Epson, but there was no 4K Enhancement happening despite the projector being set to 4K Enhancement ON.

Anyone have any ideas why this is happening? How do I know if 4K Enhancement is working?

Thanks in advance.

Hal

 

[Mark-P]

I think you've got it backwards. The Epson 5040UB is not a 4K projector, but rather a 1080p projector that can handle 4K content including HDR. It doesn't turn Blu-rays into 4K. If you want to see the 4K enhancement work you will need to play a 4K Ultra HD disc on it.

 

[sleroi]

Mark is correct, though I understand your confusion.

From the Epson website:
4K Enhancement Technology shifts each pixel diagonally by 0.5 pixels to double the resolution to 3840 x 2160 and surpass Full HD image quality.

Sounds like upscaling.

But also from the site:

• 4K Enhancement Technology— accepts 4K input and supports HDCP 2.2 for truly immersive scenes with 4K content

So yes, you do need 4k content to utilize 4k enhancement. But unlike a tv screen, with a set amount of pixels to fill, I don't see why you would need to upscale 1080p material.

 

[Mark-P]

The Digital Bits just reviewed this projector yesterday. Honestly I had not realized that this was a 3D projector. I did however know that it had lens memory and 4K support. Lens memory is an absolute necessity for my Constant-Image-Height 2.35:1 screen. This review has convinced me that I need to start budgeting so I can buy it before it gets discontinued. I've had a Panny PT-AE4000U for almost 7 years now and while I've been very happy with it, I've longed for 3D in my home theater (currently I have to watch 3D on my 50 inch plasma screen). This Epson projector is the perfect blend of 3D and 4K (faux) with HDR. I'd rather have a 3D projector with fake 4K than a real 4K projector without 3D.

 

[Hal Masonberg]

My understanding from everything I've read is that the 5040 will also upscale 1080 content to 4k. From Projector Central's review: "Uses pixel shifting to enhance both 4K and 2K – 1080i and 1080p content." Also, I have a Sony X800 4k Blu-ray player that ALSO does upscaling as well as native 4k. When using the Sony for upscaling, ALL contact is sent to the 5040 projector as 3840 × 2160 when the upscaling feature is turned on. When it is off, only native 4K content is sent as 3840 × 2160.

The reviews I've read say even 1080p sources look better upscaled to 4K. My eyes may be deceiving me via wishful thinking, but it definitely does look better to me. It seems this is what the 5040 does as well when receiving 1080p content. So now the only question I have is should I let the Sony player do the upscaling or the Epson projector?

 

[John Sparks]

From all I've read, let the Epson do it, that's one of the things it does best.