Epson Lifestudio Grand Plus Review: Rich Colors, Gemini Support

Outstanding brightness and contrast. Colors popped during movies and PC gaming. Google Gemini amazingly useful.

The configuration process is outdated. Google Home did not admit the projector connected my network. Some issues with automatic keystoning.

Ultrashort-throw (UST) projectors connection much flexibility than accepted (long-throw) models. No 1 tin ever measurement successful beforehand of 1 and artifact the projection, since the portion doesn’t necessitate region and tin beryllium up adjacent to the surface alternatively than astatine the backmost of the room. This besides lets each your streaming gear, a soundbar, and a crippled console link adjacent to the screen.

At $3,800, the Epson Lifestudio Grand Plus (LS970) short-throw projector has a higher terms tag than the Epson Lifestudio Grand released past year. The Grand Plus specs are a large leap guardant implicit that exemplary arsenic well: a 150-inch representation alternatively of 120 inches, and 4,000 lumens of brightness alternatively of 3,600.

Minus a fewer quirks, it’s a beardown location cinema projector, but Epson besides makes a amended option, the long-throw Pro Cinema LS9000, that costs lone $200 much and is easier to configure. Also, the Leica Cine Play 1, different long-throw projector, outputs adjacent much vibrant colors. Ultimately, it comes down to a prime betwixt short-throw and long-throw, and the Grand Plus surely suffers from quirks, including keystoning and casting issues. On the positive side, the Grand Plus puts retired large representation prime and supports Google Gemini, which is simply a slayer feature.

Getting It All Configured

I won’t mince words: The setup process is confusing. The Grand Plus is big, heavy, and fussy astir wherever you spot it—usually astir a ft distant from the partition oregon screen. I had to experimentation with the placement until it was conscionable right, and adjacent then, the representation setup is cumbersome and time-consuming. In comparison, the Leica Cine Play 1 and the Soundcore Nebula P1 auto-keystoning bundle instantly set the representation with virtually nary manual setup—turn it on, and you’re done. The Grand Plus’ bundle feels outdated, and I besides didn’t similar however casual it was to bump the powerfulness fastener connected the broadside and crook it off.

I archetypal acceptable up the projector successful my household country with a level achromatic wall, since that is wherever I support astir of my audio gear. The Grand Plus kept trying to close itself for flimsy variations connected the wall, to nary avail. The trial signifier inactive looked wavy, adjacent aft doing a hard reset and starting over. Only erstwhile I moved the projector to my windowless investigating country with a nonrecreational surface did it yet auto-adjust some the keystoning and size correctly. (Epson reps told maine this is not normal, but my last presumption is that the Grand Plus works champion with a projector screen.)

The Grand Plus tin beryllium lone astir an inch (for an 80-inch image) oregon astir 11.2 inches (for a 150-inch image) distant from the wall. I had to compromise a small since my projector surface is 120 inches, but I was inactive capable to trial the portion astatine a 150-inch representation size against a achromatic partition (even with the keystoning issue).

While the Grand Plus’ representation is bright, clear, and vibrant astatine each of these projection sizes, the Epson Pro Cinema LS9000’s colors are somewhat much vivid. That’s due to the fact that the LS9000 has a amended optical lens and a abstracted processor (the ZX) to grip dynamic contrast. In fact, the LS9000 has an aperture with a 2 to 3 f-stop, whereas the Grand Plus' is f/1.8; this allows for a clearer absorption crossed the full representation and darker blacks, based connected my testing. When I tested the LS9000, I recovered amended opposition and absorption crossed the full image. The Leica Cine Play 1’s blues and purples popped much successful games, movies, and shows, though the Grand Plus is brighter and clearer.

The Grand Plus has 3 HDMI ports, 1 of which supports eARC for a soundbar oregon AV receiver. I recovered the ports a small hard to access, tucked distant connected the country of the unit, and since the projector sits connected the floor, it tin beryllium hard to crook down and link the cables.

Setting up Google TV connected the Grand Plus was mostly straightforward, but for immoderate reason, my Google Home app didn’t admit the instrumentality close away. I had to manually participate my Google relationship info. (Epson was capable to replicate this problem.) The information that you tin speech to Google Gemini by dependable is simply a immense win, though. Asking the projector to “show maine the latest thrillers from 2026” worked perfectly. I besides asked Gemini to mute and alteration the volume. (Kids could adjacent usage it to assistance with their homework.) Overall, it’s overmuch much almighty than Google Assistant and amazingly useful.

The Grand Plus distant reminds maine of an Amazon Fire TV remote. There are 4 dedicated buttons astatine the bottommost (for YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and escaped tv channels). The layout is logical: The backmost fastener is connected the little left, and the measurement buttons are casual to find connected the right. Epson adjacent has dedicated brightness buttons for speedy adjustments. The distant is not backlit, and pairing lone works wrong 3 to 4 feet from the unit.

Rich Cinematics

I was anxious to commencement investigating movies and shows erstwhile the Grand Plus was up and running. I streamed an full movie called Sirāt utilizing the Hulu app connected my iPad. The apocalyptic roadworthy movie looked hyperrealistic astatine 120 inches, with heavy reds and browns; the characters' sun-creased faces had a pronounced texture acknowledgment to the precocious dynamic opposition ratio. I utilized the projector’s filmmaker mode for a much cinematic look, which made the heavy blacks and reds look adjacent richer.

I besides streamed the boxing movie Christy via the HBO Max app. After immoderate archetypal frustrations getting the projector to judge the streaming cast, everything worked fine. Once the movie started playing, determination were nary hiccups, similar stuttering oregon pausing. Skin tones looked peculiarly realistic acknowledgment to the precocious brightness and contrast, but not truthful overmuch that the actors look washed out. Overall, the colors looked incredibly vibrant, but not rather arsenic awesome arsenic the Leica Cine Play 1.

When I ran a fewer benchmarks, I started to lukewarm up to this location cinema projector. During an HDR10+ trial with tegument tones, I noticed flimsy variations betwixt the faces that were not evident utilizing lower-end projectors with mediocre contrast, similar the Soundcore Nebula P1. Green writer popped nicely successful a trial country with a obstruction successful winter, and a fewer sunset scenes showcased however the Grand Plus tin replicate subtle differences successful oranges, reds, and browns.

Next, I suffered done the full endurance thriller Thrash connected Netflix to trial situation dependable utilizing the Grand Plus’ built-in soundbar. Dolby Atmos worked perfectly, and during respective acheronian scenes, I could spot the enactment acknowledgment to the exceptional opposition ratio. Blacks had variance, tone, and adjacent depth.

The built-in soundbar successful the Grand Plus is simply a bully bonus, offering 20 watts of power. While the situation dependable during Thrash was not astir arsenic convincing arsenic the Focal Muso Hekla soundbar I tested recently, it’s surely thunderous. For euphony playback, the opus “Bovine Excision” by Samia sounded good but didn’t rather shingle the sheetrock successful my surviving country capable for my tastes, compared to a much susceptible talker similar the Cambridge Audio Evo One.

Immersive Gaming

I’m inactive playing done the main run of Crimson Desert, my existent go-to crippled for investigating graphics and refresh rates. On the Grand Plus, I connected a gaming laptop astatine 120 Hz, and the gameplay looked creaseless and realistic, but not rather arsenic vibrant arsenic the Epson LS9000. Still, astatine this monolithic size, you consciousness transported into the crippled world. During a wood scene, you tin spot idiosyncratic leaves shaking successful the wind—something that is little evident connected a 65-inch TV.

Switching implicit to the sci-fi crippled Pragmata, I came to admit different Grand Plus spec. The Epson Grand Plus shines erstwhile connected to a machine astatine 4K resolution. My Windows desktop ran astatine 4K arsenic well, and Pragmata looked crystal wide adjacent astatine 120 inches. During 1 acheronian conflict scene, I could spot each of the enactment clearly, and the main quality looked monolithic connected my trial screen.

I adjacent tested a Google Slides presumption I was prepping for a speaking engagement. The pictures and substance had a clarity that outclassed respective location cinema projectors, showing heavy blacks for my larger headlines. It reminded maine that Epson has a heavy past with bureau gear.

Other than the outdated setup process and a fewer glitches, I recovered the Epson Lifestudio Grand Plus to beryllium a highly susceptible projector, with Google Gemini enactment arsenic a useful bonus.