Epson EH-LS650 Smart Laser Projector

Epson EH-LS650 Smart Laser Projector

The Epson EH-LS650, also sold as the Epson EpiqVision Ultra LS650 Smart Streaming Laser Projector, replaces the living-room television with an ultra short throw design that sits centimetres from the wall and fills it with a screen up to 120 inches. Because the image is cast from almost touching distance, nobody walks through the beam during a film night and no long ceiling run of cables is needed – the projector lives on a low cabinet like a soundbar.

The picture is built on Epson’s 3-chip 3LCD technology with 4K PRO-UHD enhancement, rated at 3,600 lumens of both colour and white brightness, so films, sport and games stay crisp and colourful in a normally lit living room without a full blackout. A laser light source rated for 20,000 hours removes lamp replacements from ownership: at four hours a day it runs for well over a decade before the light source reaches the end of its life.

Streaming is built in through Android TV, which brings apps for films, shows and music to the big screen with voice search through the included remote, while a 2.1-channel sound system tuned by Yamaha – two full-range speakers plus a dedicated subwoofer, 20 watts total – delivers room-filling audio with no external soundbar required.

Key Features

• 4K PRO-UHD resolution with 3-chip 3LCD technology for bright, accurate colour
• 3,600 lumens of colour brightness and 3,600 lumens of white brightness for daytime viewing
• Ultra short throw optics: a 60-inch to 120-inch image from just centimetres away
• Laser light source rated for 20,000 hours – no lamp changes for years
• Over 2,500,000:1 dynamic contrast with HDR10 and HLG support
• Android TV with Chromecast built in and voice-search remote
• 2.1-channel sound by Yamaha with Bluetooth speaker mode
• Two HDMI 2.0 inputs (one with ARC), USB ports and built-in wireless LAN

What Does Ultra Short Throw Mean?

Throw ratio describes how far a projector must sit from the screen for a given image size. A conventional projector with a throw ratio of around 1.5 needs roughly 3 metres to fill a 100-inch screen; the EH-LS650’s throw ratio of 0.25 to 0.62 needs just centimetres, because the image is projected sharply upwards at a steep angle. This removes the usual compromises of projection – no ceiling mount, no long throw crossing the seating area, no shadows when someone stands up. A 100-inch image lands from a cabinet directly under the screen, making it practical in rooms where a large panel television simply would not fit.

Why a Laser Light Source Matters

Lamp projectors lose brightness steadily and need a replacement bulb every few thousand hours, along with a warm-up and cool-down period. A laser diode source switches on instantly, reaches full brightness immediately, and fades so slowly that 20,000 hours is the rated life. Colour stays consistent over those hours instead of drifting as a lamp ages, and the projector draws 264 watts in normal mode while idling under half a watt in standby, keeping running costs modest.

Where It Fits Best

The EH-LS650 is designed for the living room as a television replacement: films and streaming on a 100-inch or 120-inch screen, live sport with daylight in the room, and console gaming on the big screen with the family gathered in front of it. In a media room it can be paired with an ambient-light-rejecting screen, and the ARC-equipped HDMI port sends audio to an AV receiver or soundbar for a full surround setup. Its quiet 23 dB eco mode suits bedrooms and meeting rooms too, and Bluetooth mode lets the Yamaha audio system play music from a phone even with the picture off.

Specifications at a glance: 4K PRO-UHD resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio, full 10-bit video processing with up to 1.07 billion colours, scene-adaptive gamma and frame interpolation, Cinema, Dynamic, Natural and Vivid colour modes, quick-corner and point-correction geometry adjustment, a Kensington lock slot, and a footprint of 400 by 467 by 133 millimetres at 7.4 kilograms.