Michał Stekla
It looks like a night light 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 shows on it, it transforms into colorful ambient lighting that brightens up the room like a scene in a lounge club. And when it's time for a movie? In comes 4K UHD, HDR, Dolby Atmos, and a 150-inch 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 colors and a clear image. But let's not fool ourselves – this is equipment made for evening screenings. It has only 700 lumens, so it won't impress during the day, but at night? 5,000,000:1 contrast, 10-bit color depth, and HDR do the job.
Watching from the ceiling? Here you go
The projector is mounted on a gimbal that rotates 180° sideways and 105° upward. You can project an image onto the wall, ceiling, or wherever you want – without propping it up with books underneath. Autofocus, keystone correction, and corner adjustment – everything works automatically.
Sound? Dolby Atmos from built-in speakers
Two 6-watt speakers sound surprisingly good and support Dolby Atmos. And if you don't feel like watching, the EF-51 turns into a Bluetooth speaker. Inside, there's Android TV 13, along with Tencent Video, Aurora TV, a remote control, voice control, and screen mirroring. For dessert: HDMI with ALLM mode – meaning, yes, the console will also work well.
Price and Availability
For now, only China – for 5299 yuan, which is about 695 USD. But if Epson sticks to its strategy with previous EF models, we will soon see it in Europe and US as well. And then... it may turn out that the classic night lamp is a relic of the past.
