Epson EF-72 Review

Design

• Stylish aesthetics
• Tiltable stand
• Different versions available

Handsome is the word I’d apply to the Epson EF-72, which is not a word commonly associated with projectors. Traditional projectors are functional – both in terms of looks and actual function – the EF-72 is the type of projector that invites you to touch it.

There’s no lens cap (and if there is I couldn’t find it in the packaging), but its dapper appearance with the fabric covering its midriff and the glass-black surface indicates ‘premium’; the (oak) wood surface on top offers a natural feel that makes it more ‘homely’.

It stands on a plinth which, as far as I can tell, can’t be detached; but makes it a good option for placement on a desktop or any type of flat surface. It that sense it can be very accommodating to the layout of your room.

That’s further aided by the tabletop stand that can tilt up, down and to each side. You can put the EF-72 in one place in your room and have it face somewhere else with a 90-degree rotation to the left or right. It can almost tilt upwards to the ceiling as well as down to the floor. At time it’s a bit easy to forget which is the actual front of the projector.

The black surface can attract fingerprints and smudges if your hands are anything like mine, and a piece of the back panel did fall off when moving the projector – I’m not sure if it’s detachable on purpose, considering nothing was revealed when it fell off.

Tap the wood surface, and you can reduce the strength of the Ambient Light mode – did I mention this projector could double up as a bedside lamp? – a neat trick that makes this more than just a projector.

There are multiple versions of the EF-72, and I won’t bore you with detail but there’s an EF-71 model that comes in different finishes, and a luxury version in the EF-73. There’s not much difference between these models aside from the EF-71 being less bright, Full HD and less expensive.

User Experience

• New-ish Google TV platform
• Missing iPlayer app
• Google Assistant voice search

The EF-72 features Google TV, and by the time you read this, the projector will have been updated to the latest version of the smart platform that started rolling out in January 2026. The changes are not much different from the previous version aside for a tidier menu system and renaming of a few pages.

Google TV has had an odd relationship with TVs and projectors in the UK, picking up some UK catch-up apps while leaving others on the roadside. Channel 4, ITVX and Channel 5 have all onboard but BBC iPlayer was missing at the time of review. It’s easy enough to remedy this by casting from iPlayer to the Epson EF-72, but I don’t believe casting supports HDR.

It takes about 44 seconds for the projector to boot up, quicker if the projector is left plugged in standby.

There’s Google Assistant support for voice control and it works well, recognising my voice and opening apps quickly enough.

I can’t say I love the choice the menu settings, especially pressing back means exiting the ‘Settings’ completely rather than going back to menu options where display. The settings don’t come with a description or explainer (at least none popped up), and there have been times when calling up settings paused video in some apps but not all of them.

The remote is the same as the Optoma Photon Go but feels more responsive, and the user interface is quicker to navigate. You get a five-year guarantee (if you buy direct from Epson) and seven years of security updates so the Epson EF-72 has an eye on sticking around for the long term.

Features

• HDMI eARC
• HDR support
• RGB laser lens

Connections are around the back with two USB inputs (one of which is service only) a sole HDMI input that supports both ARC and eARC audio spec, USB-C (for the power supply), and a headphone output (if you prefer private listening); plus wireless options in Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2

On the AV front, the EF-72 supports 4K resolution (3840 x 2160) with HDR10 and HLG support with Dolby Audio for sound.

Epson’s PRO-UHD projectors don’t deliver native 4K images but do so through technical trickery to create an image that looks 4K. This EF-72 uses RGB laser technology via Epson’s 3LCD technology that it claims offers more vibrant, brighter and natural images. Contrast ratio for the EF-72 is an enormous (and slightly unbelievable) 5,000,000:1

The sound system is a 10W Bose sound system, which Epson claims delivers an “immersive” performance. Don’t confuse “immersive” with Dolby Atmos, which would be unexpected for a projector – even one as fancy as this. Sound modes are a choice of Standard, Cinema, Dialogue, and Music.

Epson EF-72 packs 1000 lumens of brightness, making it a decent option for watching in a room with some ambient light. It can cast an image from as small as 30-inches to as large 150-inches with its throw ratio of 1.20:1.

I measured its fan noise (with an app) at about 47dB – it was relatively loud even when settling on the Google TV home screen and can spike to 50dB at times. That’s more than the 28dB Epson claims in its Normal mode.

There’s digital zoom capability, along with refresh rates are supported up to 240Hz (helpful if you’re a PC gamer), and the LED light source is rated to last up to 20,000 hours whether in the Epson’s ‘High’ mode or ‘Eco’ mode. You’d think Eco mode would last longer, but 20,000 hours is still a very, very long time.

There are plenty of convenient features as well, including Auto Shape Adjustment (which creates the image to fit your wall/display). There’s Auto Focus and Auto Obstacle Avoidance (formatting the size of the screen so it doesn’t beam against a lamp, or a chair).

You can switch the Ambient Light on and off or have it set to welcome lighting whenever the projector is turned on. There’s a Wall Colour Correction setting too, a feature I didn’t notice until as I’d wrapped up testing.

As the EF-72 is framed as a ‘lifestyle’ projector, I’d have hoped it’d have made these features easier to find. Instead, it buries them in the settings so unless these features are already known (or enabled), I have my doubts the audience in mind will dig deep to find them.

Picture Quality

• RGB Laser tech
• Not the best contrast
• Rich, bright colours

The word ‘lifestyle’ tends to get a shabby reputation, the idea that it trades fancy aesthetics for a performance that isn’t as good as the price suggests. That was true enough a few years ago, and you’ll still find instances where performance doesn’t meet expectations but the Epson EF-22 avoids falling into that trap.

It’s not a revelatory performance by any means but it is good, consistent and enjoyable. The black level performance is what I’d expect it to be, which is it’s grey-ish rather than true black, but the EF-72 pumps out a bright looking image.

Contrast is limited – if you’re projecting on a wall the EF-72 can struggle. A dedicated screen can offer better but the contrast won’t match a TV.

Kicking things off with a stream of The Couple Next Door (Channel 4) in SDR and the EF-72 offers a strong, persuasive sense of colour with good shading to skintones that looks warm but also natural. Colours never look washed out or thin or come across as too rich – there’s a nice sense of saturation to images.

Jumping to season two of Gen Z on Prime Video in HDR and that saturation of colours seems to dim a little. It’s not the punchiest of performances – reds especially aren’t as vibrant as the Epson struggles to read some colours with blues that look more green, and white tones that verge on an orange creamy look.

But levels of sharpness and detail are all very good, and the image is warm but balanced enough with black levels that are fine, if again a little grey.

Dark detail is an area where the Epson struggles. The amount of detail in the darkest parts of the image looks decent, but then those areas aren’t true blacks. The slight greyness to the black levels does also mean that contrast and brightness is affected. Playing around with the Local Contrast Control setting and the result is a slightly brighter image and deeper blacks but contrast could still be better.

Again, an episode of Black Mirror (Netflix) shows that its HDR performance isn’t the punchy, vivid look that I’d want. Those warm skintones look natural, and the overall colour performance is good with nice shades of pink and blues – I’d just like some more punch and vibrancy from the Epson’s HDR performance.

Some motion issues crop up – an image that avoids stuttering but is slightly too smooth when watching a 4K Blu-ray, but with the Frame Interpolation setting, you can dial this down (or ratchet it up).

It’s with Civil War (4K Blu-ray) where the black levels start to really struggle. Night-time scenes look shallow, murky and lack depth, with skintones that skew very warm (warmer than on the built-in apps). The colour performance of the EF-72 isn’t the same as its app performance when watching through the HDMI input.

With Nosferatu, while the black levels look fine, there’s not much depth or detail and watching the film in a slightly bright room as the Epson lacks both the brightness for daytime viewing and the contrast for a proper HDR experience. The image is a pale as Nosferatu himself.

It’s a similar experience with Alien: Romulus which features both grey-ish black levels and a lack of detail with those blacks, so at the point of repeating myself, strong black levels aren’t the Epson’s forte.

With Thunderbolts* the Epson struggles to recreate the green tones of the film (which come across as more blue), while the white jacket worn by Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valetina Allegra de Fointaine is more orangey cream than white. Avoid the Dynamic Colour Booster as that results in overstated, inaccurate colours.

However, bright films that are rich in colour seem to suite the Epson EF-72, especially if you’ve got a 4K Blu-ray player plugged in. Across the Spier-Verse is rich, colourful and cinematic in appearance, and testing the picture modes, it’s Movie that wins out with its richness and warmth that’s lacking from Standard and Vivid modes.

Brightness pops with this film with rich reds, warm yellows and oranges – it’s a dazzling showcase for the Epson laser colours.

Some motion issues do crop up – setting Frame Interpolation to ‘Max’ makes some of web-slinging happen as if fast-forward has been turned on, and there’s some noise and judder that makes itself known.

A step down to a Blu-ray of Troy and it’s another pleasingly rich and colourful image (again, Standard mode is less colourful than Movie). Are the colours accurate? Probably not as accurate as they could be, but when it looks this good I find I don’t mind too much.

Sound Quality

• Sound by Bose
• Good with dialogue
• Better with simple tracks

If there’s an area where projectors struggle, it’s sound. Even more expensive projectors do away with a built-in sound system. So how does the Epson EF-22 fare?

It depends on what you watch. If it’s a simple, 2.0 stereo soundtrack, the projector doesn’t run into any trouble. If it’s having to deal with anything more complex than 5.1, then it struggles.

An episode for a college party in Gen Z is a quiet affair. The Epson EF-72 focuses on the voices but the music and other sound effects get lost. There is a sense of bass but what’s provided is slight, with no depth or extension.

Dialogue does sound clear and free of sharpness, so it sounds natural; but with action scenes the lack of much dynamism means that when things get going, the EF-72 stands still.

It’s a decent-sized sound, almost filling the room at higher levels. With stereo tracks the Epson offers a better sense of dynamism, a broader, more spacious soundstage with better bass too. Raise it up above volume 50 and it’s good, less than that and there’s not much substance to what you’re listening to.

While you can connect to the Epson over Bluetooth to play music to, I couldn’t successfully do so. There is Karaoke mode though if you fancy belting out a few tunes.

Should you buy it?