Epson Home Cinema 5050UB 4K PRO-UHD 3-Chip Projector with HDR Expired

Yep now that the 6050ub is discontinued and the Epson laser LS11000 is going for $4000 and the LS12000 is going for $5000 and is only a moderate step up in resolution, lumens, and HDR still using 4k pixel shifting, they've got to clear out the 5050 stock.
Especially since both the Sony vpl-xw5000es 4k hdr laser and JVC DLA NP5 true 4k HDR with dynamic tone mapping have also dropped in price to $5000 and both beat the LS12000 in a shootout last year.

If your price point is under $3k go with this but if you want the next significant step up, get the JVC or Sony for 2x the price of the 5050.

I moved from the 5050UB to a very slightly used XW5000ES at a significant discount. The Sony picture quality is better, ballpark of 15%. It is a bit sharper and the colors are a bit better (hence my estimate of 15% improvement). I am in a dark theater room and both projectors were plenty bright and not at max brightness. The Sony is ready to use in less than half the time (roughly 25 seconds vs 60 seconds) after powering on. The Epson's bulb is rated at 5,000 hours in ECO mode or 3,500 hours in high power mode. The bulb may or may not last that long and an Epson replacement is roughly $300. The Sony's laser is rated at 20,000 hours at which time it is expected to be a half brightness. The Sony is a little quieter. The Epson is easier to set up (power vs manual lens adjustments) but this is minor.

My big annoyance with the Sony is the lack of HDMI-CEC which the Epson has. Not a dealbreaker but having to powering on my Sony and my Denon separately, instead of them triggering each other on power up and power down, is annoying.

So yes the Sony is better, but not twice as good, but it does have the long-run cost and reliability benefit of the laser vs bulb. Regarding overall reliability, this is unclear. My guess is Sony. I've owned the 5030UB, 5040UB, and two 5050UB's. The 5030UB developed a minor pixel problem at around 1,000 hours and was replaced under warranty. My first 5040UB bulb failed at 700 hours and the second one failed at around 1200 hours. At 1700 hours the unit was experiencing symptoms indicative of a board failure. My first 5050UB failed (or maybe the bulb failed) at 25 hours. All of these issues, except for the board failure, were covered quickly by Epson under the 2-year warranty.