The Epson EpiqVision Mini EF12 Smart Streaming Laser Projector is a more refined version of the Epson EF-100. It has a higher resolution, at 1080p (1920-by-1080), and lower brightness, at 1,000 lumens. Both are smaller than typical for laser projectors, both are designed for streaming, and neither supports 3D. But the EF12 offers integrated Android TV instead of a bundled dongle, adds support for 4K UHD (3,820-by-2,160) input for downconverting, and adds HDR support for both HDR10 and HLG. Color accuracy is excellent and the stereo speakers are impressive for the size. Overall, the EpiqVision Mini EF12 has a polished feel, and it’s impressive enough to earn an Editors’ Choice nod for streaming projectors.
Laser Light and Streaming Too
One of the advantages lasers have over lamps is that most are meant to last the life of the projector, eliminating the cost of replacement lamps. The EF12’s light source is rated at 20,000 hours of projecting at full power. It’s paired with a three-chip LCD (3LCD) design, which ensures that you won’t see any rainbow artifacts and that color images will be as bright as you would expect from the lumen rating, which isn’t always true for single-chip projectors. All this is packed into a matte black near-cube that measures just 5.3 by 6.9 by-6.9 inches (HWD) and weighs only 4.7 pounds. You can easily move it from room to room. Or install it permanently, including in a ceiling mount.
There’s no zoom, so you need to move the projector to adjust image size. In my tests, the distance from the screen for a 90-inch diagonal image was 6 feet, 2 inches. Beyond that, physical setup is limited strictly to connecting cables. The EF12 auto-focused in my tests every time I moved it even a little, consistently delivering sharp focus. You can also adjust the focus manually, but I was never able to do better than the auto feature.
The first time you turn the projector on, you’ll have to run through a setup routine, with instructions projected on the screen. By default, the setup assumes you’ll want to connect by Wi-Fi. It also gives the option of connecting by Ethernet, but there’s no mention on screen, in the quick start guide, or in the user manual that you need to buy a USB-to-Ethernet adapter to do that. At this writing, Epson says it’s considering how to best add that information. Epson also says that the EF12 will not work with all adapters, but it worked swimmingly with the one I happened to have on hand. All I had to do was plug in the adapter and network cable.
During setup, the integrated Android TV asks for permission to download a starter set of apps from Google Play Store, including YouTube and TuneIn, and it has links for downloading more apps and games. The EF12 isn’t a good choice for games that require quick reaction time, however. Our Bodnar meter measured a 114ms input lag at 1080p 60Hz, which is long enough to be noticeable.
The EF12’s focus on Android TV and streaming and its intended use as a smart device also show in the buttons on the remote, with one for YouTube, one for bringing up the Apps screen, and one for giving voice commands using Google Assistant. However, you can also connect video sources such as Blu-ray players to the two HMDI 2.0 ports, and it even offers CEC support, to let you control multiple devices with one remote. It also supports Chromecast for connection to computers and mobile devices.
The audio features are another strong point. The dual 5-watt stereo Yamaha speakers and audio processing options deliver enough volume to fill a large family room along with surprisingly good sound quality for such a small projector. If you prefer to use an external audio system, you can connect it using the 3.5mm audio output, HDMI ARC, or Bluetooth. There’s even a setting to correct for loss of sync between video and sound when using Bluetooth or ARC.
Moderate Brightness, Excellent Color
The EF12 offers a choice of six picture modes. The brightest, Dynamic, shows a slight green bias, which is expected for the brightest mode in any projector. However it’s far less obvious than in many projectors, and most people will consider it more than acceptable when they need the high brightness. All of the other modes—Bright Cinema, Cinema, Natural, and Vivid—deliver much more neutral color, with only a little difference from one mode to the next. Bright Cinema edges out the others for color accuracy and other image quality issues, most notably shadow detail and contrast. With one particularly challenging dark scene in our test suite, the black level wasn’t dark enough to show all of the scene’s visual impact, but it retained most of it, including all the shadow detail along with good contrast and sense of three-dimensionality.
For HDR10 tests, I used the 4K UHD HDR versions of the same movies I used for 1080p tests. Results were mixed. With the HDR versions, the EF12 rendered scenes dominated by midtones—which includes most scenes in most movies and TV shows—with noticeably better contrast; richer, more saturated color; and greater three-dimensionality. However, dark scenes were disappointing, with less shadow detail and far lower contrast. The same challenging scene that looked so good with the SDR version of the movie looked muddy with the HDR version. Fortunately, few movies have many dark scenes.
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The 1,000-lumen rating puts a relatively low limit on image size. According to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), 1,000 lumens should be bright enough for a 140-inch diagonal, 16:9, 1.0-gain white screen in a dark room, but in moderate ambient light, it’s only suited to screens up to 80 inches. In my formal tests with lights off, Bright Cinema mode delivered a suitably bright image using a 90-inch, 1.0-gain screen. In a family room using an 80-inch screen, it delivered nicely saturated color at night with lights on, and a watchable image in daytime.
Top Tier for Streaming
The Epson EpiqVision Mini E12 has an impressive array of features not matched by any comparable projector, though some come close. The less expensive Epson EpiqVision Mini E11 offers the same resolution and brightness, but it doesn’t have integrated streaming. (However, it’s worth a look if you prefer an Apple TV, Roku, or other streaming HDMI dongle over integrated Android TV.) If you need higher brightness and don’t mind a 720p resolution, take a look at the Epson EF-100, which, like the EF12, is priced at $999.99 and can often be found for less. Or if you want 4K resolution, consider the more expensive ViewSonic X10-4KE.
But if you’re looking for a sub-$1000, 1080p laser projector that’s small enough to move easily from room to room and bright enough to give you a highly watchable 80-inch image with lights on, not to mention its integrated Android TV and smart home features, the Epson EpiqVision Mini E12 delivers it all. This polished little package with a great price is unquestionably our Editor’s Choice for streaming projectors.
