Review: Epson HC1060 1080p Home Theatre Projector

People are always looking for a way to super-size their entertainment experience. For the majority of folks, the solution is to acquire a bigger and bigger television. Size does matter… in the world of TVs. That’s what I’ve heard. Something to that effect, anyway. But, at a certain point that TV can only be so big on your wall. And, what if you’d like to invite the whole neighbourhood over to see the big game? You can’t fit that many people in your living room. That’s where something like the Epson HC1060 1080p Home Theatre Projector can come in quite handy. Here’s my hand’s-on review.

Taking a look at the Epson HC1060 Home Theatre

Inside the box, you’ll find the projector, a remote and batteries, plus the power cable and usual quick start guide and documentation. At first glance, the Epson HC1060 itself looks a lot like those projectors that we used to have in our classrooms when I was a kid. The difference is that when you really take a look, this is a much more modern version of those old projectors.

The Epson HC1060 is much lighter than its old school ancestors, coming in at less than six pounds. It’s made of a durable-looking hard white plastic that gives it a much cleaner and modern look than if it was black or grey. On the front you’ll find the lens, with a cover you can open and close using a lever on top of the unit. Underneath the front is a little jack so you can angle the projector upwards. On the back, you’ll find the slot to plug in the power cord, as well as two HDMI ports, two USB connections and the component video inputs. That should offer you more than enough ports to plug all your different consoles and Apple TV boxes to for your viewing pleasure.

How does the Epson HC1060 Home Theatre perform?

This is a really nice projector. It’s the kind of thing that, for instance, if you had to stay cooped up in your home for a couple months with your family for some reason—a totally random and unlikely scenario I know—would be just perfect. Is it bright, you may ask? Bright? This thing is super bright! I read another reviewer who has a lot more technical expertise with projectors than I do, and he said the HC 1060 overdelivers with a whopping 3300 lumens, exceeding its 3100 lumen rating. So, I’m not sure what a “lumen” actually is, but this projector has them to spare (note: okay, okay, I looked up “lumen” and according to Wikipedia it is a measure of the total quantity of visible light emitted by a source per unit of time. Okay, that wasn’t helpful. But, I guess lumens basically measures the brightness of light.).

For testing this baby out, I hooked my Nintendo Switch console up to it and projected the image onto my bedroom wall. My home isn’t too terribly big, and I couldn’t find a proper blank wall to use without having to take down a bunch of pictures and decorations. If I were going to buy a projector like this, I would suggest you invest in a large plastic white drop sheet or something (they can be found easily in most stores) so you can pin it up anywhere, inside or out, to use as a jumbo screen.

I played The Witcher 3 for a while, marvelling at the swaying foiliage, streaming sunlight and bloody battles as they played across a screen that took up one whole wall. The details were pretty crisp and everything was really responsive. I didn’t play around too much with settings, but to my eye the blacks could have been a little blacker, while the colours were really bright and vibrant.

Later, when my two kids came into the room to see what I was “oohing” and “ahhhing” about, and completely took over. They made me switch out the RPG monster-slaying goodness of Witcher 3 and let them get a little Mario Kart 8 action in.

“This is awesome … can we get one of these?” inquired my daughter, as she focussed her attention on throwing a turtle at her little brother so he would spin out and she could win the race. They were really impressed by the projector’s clear, sharp image and bright colour.

What can you connect to the Epson HC1060 Home Theatre?

The Epson HC1060 Home Theatre is pretty versatile when it comes to what you can connect to it for your viewing pleasure. To start, you can hook anything up that has an HDMI connection, such as an Apple TV box, your cable box, any consoles such as a PS4, Nintendo Switch or Xbox, etc. But, you can also put a movie on a USB thumb drive and pop it into the USB slot and watch it on the big projected screen. You can also download the Epson app for your smartphone and then connect to the printer and mirror your phone’s screen onto the wall. That’s great for sharing photos or your vacation videos with a group of friends, or for sharing a website or documents with people in a meeting.

Final thoughts on the Epson HC1060 Home Theatre

Do you want the power and versatility of those large, bulky stationary conference room projectors, but in a lightweight, portable model? Of course you do. How about something that’s less expensive than your typical big screen television, but is more versatile in terms of what can be connected to it? Yeah, you want that too. It’s funny. I really love blogging for Best Buy, but the editors tend to send me things to test out and review that I would never have thought of owning before. It just seems so normal to have a big television bolted to your wall. But now, since playing around with this projector and seeing how easy it is to use, and how versatile it can be… well, now I want one.

What about you? Would you be willing to trade in your TV for a projector like the Epson HC1060 Home Theatre? Let me know in the comment section below and don’t forget to check out all the projectors and accessories available online at Best Buy.