Epson has announced the latest addition to its Lifestudio projector range – and it's a departure from the stylish EF-72 that we reviewed last year.
The Lifestudio Grand EH-LS970 is the brand's new flagship ultra-short-throw (UST) projector that instead hopes to steal the spotlight from Hisense. It certainly has the credentials to do so on paper. It replaces the EH‑LS800, a projector we reviewed at four stars back in 2024.
The EH-LS970 boasts a “Real 4K UHD” resolution, according to Epson, featuring 8.3 million pixels and a maximum screen size of up to 150 inches.
It uses a 3LCD laser light source, which Epson boldly claims features “no rainbow effect”; we'll have to verify that ourselves when this new beamer lands in our home-cinema testing room.
Furthermore, that light source can reportedly deliver a staggering 4000 lumens of brightness, which is 1000 lumens more than the Hisense PX3-Pro's claimed maximum. You needn't worry about changing that light source, either: it reportedly boasts a 20,000-hour life span.
While that is an impressive picture specification on paper, Epson is also collaborating with a big name in the audio space to help it sound as good as it looks. The EH-LS970 features a Bose-engineered sound system with support for Dolby Audio.
Epson is leveraging an AI-backed picture-processing engine, and Google TV is on board, providing a wide range of streaming apps, including Netflix and Disney Plus.
Epson is even touting a handful of quality-of-life features, including “whisper-quiet operation” with a claimed fan noise of just 29 dB, or 18 dB in the projector's quiet mode. Gamers are also well catered for, with ALLM support and a reported input lag of under 20ms.
This all comes packed into a stylish chassis that aligns with the other lifestyle-leaning Lifestudio projectors in Epson's range.
It features a claimed throw ratio of 0.16–0.4:1, meaning you can achieve the full 150-inch picture by placing the EH-LS970 merely centimetres away from the wall (Epson has, unfortunately, not specified just how many centimetres so, again, we shall have to wait for a test sample to come in to confirm precise numbers).
Pricing for Epson's new UST projector is yet to be revealed; it is, though, expected to hit shop shelves in April of this year.
MORE:
Read our full Epson EF-72 review
As well as our Hisense PX3-Pro review
And check out our list of the best projectors
