At September's CEDIA convention in Denver, the Sony VPL-VW50 1080p SXRD front projector generated some serious excitement. It wasn't just that Sony had unveiled a new three-chip 1080p model (there were others); it was because the VPL-VW50 (codename: Pearl) is an SXRD front pro priced at less than $5,000. Given that Sony's first SXRD projector sold for $30,000 when it came out, the Pearl looked like a product that might just live up to its alias.
Glancing at the VPL-VW50's spec sheet, I found that Sony had swapped in a UHP (ultra-high performance) lamp for the xenon bulb used in the earlier Qualia 004 and VPL-VW100. Xenon's benefits include even spectral output and quick warm-up and cool-down, but UHP lamps last longer and are cheaper to replace.
Bulbs aside, the VW50 provides the same 1080p pixel count as its big brothers, as well as dynamic and manual iris control — a key feature that regulates light entering the lens to help achieve a punchy picture with deep, cinema-style blacks.
The Sony's side input panel contains most of what you'll need, including two HDMI jacks, a component-video input, and a VGA port. Of note, the projector's HDMI inputs accept 1080p/24-frame signals from a Blu-ray Disc player and it displays them at a speedy 96-Hz refresh rate — a technique intended to cut down on judder, a motion-picture artifact, and eliminate the unevenness imparted by the 2:3 cadence required for standard 60-Hz display of film-originated material.
|
The Short Form |
| Price $4,999 / sonystyle.com / 877-865-7669 |
|
Snapshot
|
| Sony's new 1080p SXRD projector has an impressive picture, but it's not without its problems. |
|
Plus
|
| •Crisp picture with excellent detail •Vivid yet natural color •Deep blacks and strong contrast •Clean upconversion of standard-def •Affordable price |
|
Minus
|
| •Requires special calibration to correct picture uniformity •Some deinterlacing artifacts with 1080i |
|
Key Features
|
| •1,920 x 1,080-resolution SXRD projector •Auto and manual iris modes •Accepts native 1080p signals via HDMI •Video inputs: 2 HDMI; component-, composite-, and S-video; VGA •15.6 x 6.9 x 18.6 in; 24.3 lb |
|
Test Bench
|
| After calibrating the VPL-VW50's User preset, grayscale measured ±117K from 20 to 100 IRE — excellent performance. Color decoder error on both HDMI and component-video was 0%, while color points showed mild oversaturation on red and blue and heavier saturation on green. Both 1080i/p and 720p test patterns revealed full picture resolution for all high-def inputs. Calibrated light output (100 IRE, 93-inch screen) was a very bright 20.3 ftL. Some red fringing on crosshatch patterns indicated slight misalignment of the projector's three display chips. Picture uniformity was poor, with pink and green tinting visible on both gray full-field patterns and program material, although the amounts varied on my two test samples. Full Lab Results |
SETUP I positioned the VPL-VW50 about 14 feet from a 93-inch wide Da-Lite High Contrast Da-Mat "gray" screen with negative gain and an 87-inch Stewart/Sony Firehawk SST 1.1-gain screen designed specifically for this projector. The Firehawk SST helps the projector deliver a better picture in higher ambient-light conditions, as well as a wide viewing angle with no hotspotting. But in my pitch-black theater, there wasn't much difference between its picture and that of my regular Da-Lite.
For a budget model, the Sony packs a surprising number of setup features, including motorized focus, zoom, and lens shift (though the latter was so coarse I was better off using the manual adjustment). Horizontal and vertical keystone controls are provided but noticeably reduced picture sharpness.
The six picture presets include three User modes, all of which can be custom-tweaked for each input. You get custom and preset color-temperature controls and, among other settings, adjustments for Gamma, Black Level, Noise Reduction, Color Space, and Cinema Black Pro (iris).
Of the projector's presets, Cinema mode delivered the most natural and film-like picture on movies, but tweaking the User presets delivered much better results. I found that the Low lamp mode delivered a plenty bright picture in a dark room, while turning both Gamma and Black Level off and selecting Wide Color Space delivered a picture with more than sufficient brightness and color saturation. I left the iris on a mid-level manual setting for most viewing. Sony's Low color temperature preset also displayed mostly accurate color balance, but additional tweaks in the Custom mode allowed me to improve it further by removing a greenish bias that was most visible on skin tones.
PICTURE QUALITY An HD DVD of Mission: Impossible III arrived at my home just in time to test the Sony — good thing, too, since it's the best-looking disc I've yet seen. A nighttime scene where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and crew infiltrate a German industrial plant to rescue a kidnapped colleague dramatically showed off the capabilities of the Sony's iris control. As Ethan sprinted down a dark corridor in the plant, shadows looked utterly black while background details such as machinery and pipes came through with exceptional clarity. And the projector's powerful contrast held up even as bright spotlights partially flooded the corridor.
Another scene from M:I III proved a natural for evaluating the Sony's detail. As Ethan approaches the wall of the Vatican, intending to scale it and gain entry, the thin layers of stone looked very crisp and detailed, although I noticed some line-twitter when the camera panned across them — the result of the Sony's less-than-perfect deinterlacing of my Toshiba HD DVD player's 1080i output. And when the scene shifted to a society event inside, the crimson dress worn by agent Zhen Lei (Maggie Q), as well as her orange car and the rows of yellow flowers in the background, looked rich and punchy. Even so, both the agent's tanned flesh and the considerably paler face of Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a sinister arms dealer, came through accurately.
But as fantastic as M:I III looked on the Sony, other movies revealed some picture-uniformity problems. In the mood for horror, I pulled out a black-and-white favorite of mine from Universal, The Mummy. Again, the picture showed snappy contrast, but the top and bottom edges of the frame had a distinct pink tint and the center looked comparatively green — a problem that was even more apparent on test patterns. Switching over to high-def cable, I saw the same issue on the black-and-white stills shown in a PBS documentary on Abraham Lincoln, although it was harder to detect on full-color programs. A second sample from Sony showed a reduced level of pink discoloration and no greenish tint.
Eventually, Sony blamed this on sample variation that falls within range of its manufacturing tolerances and said "an experienced technician" can enter the service mode and adjust for uniformity using the projector's multipoint gamma control. I was able to remedy the problem using this adjustment, and chances are you can hire an ISF technician to do the same. This calibration would not be covered by warranty, however.
I also checked the projector's noise-reduction processing and was impressed at its ability to clean up noisy-looking standard-def cable programs without removing detail. And its handling of 720p HDTV, such as a Raiders vs. Seahawks football game on ESPN-HD, was also very good.
BOTTOM LINE Some moments I had with the Sony VPL-VW50 1080p SXRD front projector rivaled my experience with much costlier projectors. Granted, the uniformity problem I encountered with black-and-white and (to a much lesser extent) some color programming may not be an issue for some users, though it mars an otherwise great picture and necessitates professional calibration. Even with that said, however, Sony has produced a really impressive projector for the price.
Full Lab Results
Back to Homepage
What's New on S&V