Best in Class – $5,000+ Performance Home Theater: Sony VPL-VW995ES

The Sony VPL-VW995ES is such an amazing projector that it feels like a bargain at its just-below $35,000 price tag. Though the VPL-VW995ES is not technically Sony’s top-of-the-line projector – that title is reserved for their brighter, but noticeably older, $60,000 VPL-VW5000ES – this model is, in several ways, superior to it, although not as bright. This year, the Sony VPL-VW995ES took home our Best In Class Performance Home Theater Award in the $5000+ Projector Class.

Naturally, it’s feature-laden. This Sony has a 2.10:1 zoom lens, which is a generous amount of zoom, but the lens is much more significant than its ratio. Sony uses their ARC-F lens (All-Range Crisp Focus), which has a large-aperture, all-glass design, consisting of 18 elements. This lens is so high-end, that it is only used on the $34,999 VPL-VW995ES and the $60,000 VPL-VW5000ES. The bottom line? Superior optics to what other manufacturers provide. The lens has motorized functions for zoom, focus, and lens shift.

Most projectors don’t typically have enough “horsepower” in terms of lumens to fully handle HDR content (HDR has a drastic dimming effect on the image), this is one dynamic-looking projector. We have not seen anything else that pops like the Sony VPL-VW995ES when projecting in HDR. The VW995ES supports both software-based HDR: HDR 10, and HLG (Hybrid Gamma Log for broadcasting). It has Auto Tone Mapping, and produces a beautiful dynamic image.

Speaking of beautiful – let's talk picture quality, in terms of color. I chose not to calibrate the Sony when it came in, simply because I was able to run it side-by-side against another just-calibrated projector, and they were so close that I considered it a waste of money to pay our calibrator to do what really wasn't necessary. What you're going to get it is extremely accurate color across multiple modes – there are even modes for situations where you do not want to fully darkened room. The VPL-VW995ES is even a quality gaming projector, with Sony claiming 27ms input lag, which is generally considered very good by serious gamers. It also has the 18 Gbps required for 4K gaming.

It has other features, such as Auto Calibration. Once the projector is calibrated, even as there is slight color shifting over months and years (this happens to all projectors), the projector can maintain flawless color. When it comes to sharpness, the combination of the lens and Sony's excellent image processing produce a stunningly sharp, yet natural looking image. Sony 4K projectors can handle IMAX Enhanced content for a truly immersive experience. It also is 3D ready!