Michał Stekla
It looks like a bedside lamp from Ikea, but it has a laser inside. The Epson EF-51 is one of those gadgets that pretends to be something completely different. When you're not watching series on it, it turns into colourful ambient lighting that brightens up the room like a scene in a lounge club. And when it's movie time? It brings in 4K UHD, HDR, Dolby Atmos and 150 inches of image at night.
Looks like a lamp, but it's a projector!
EF-51 combines 3LCD with triple LED (separate for red, green, and blue), which in practice means vibrant colours and a clear image. But let's not kid ourselves – this is equipment designed for evening screenings. It only has 700 lumens, so during the day it's not impressive, but at night? 5,000,000:1 contrast, 10-bit colour depth, and HDR do the job.
Watching from the ceiling? No worries
The projector is mounted on a gimbal that rotates 180° sideways and 105° upwards. So you can project an image onto the wall, ceiling, or wherever you fancy – without fumbling around with books underneath. Autofocus, keystone correction, and corner adjustments – everything works automatically.
Sound? Dolby Atmos from built-in speakers
Two 6-watt speakers sound surprisingly good and have support for Dolby Atmos. And if you're not in the mood to watch, the EF-51 turns into a Bluetooth speaker. Inside, it has Android TV 13, as well as Tencent Video, Aurora TV, a remote, voice control, and screen mirroring. For dessert: HDMI with ALLM mode – so yes, the console will find its place too.
Price and availability
For now, only China – for 5299 yuan, which is about 1,050 AUD. But if Epson sticks to its strategy with previous EF models, we will soon see it in Europe and Australia as well. And then… it may turn out that the classic bedside lamp is a relic of the past.
