In almost all ways, the Sony VW95 looks great. But there are some interesting things going on worth noting, since this is a pre-production projector.
When the Sony is switching sources or at other times with no signal, the background "black" of the Sony definitely takes on a very deep red caste. This only seems to manifest into a visible amount on some very dark scenes. Viewing the Ministry of Magic in Potter's Order of the Phoenix, the red manifested by bringing out a lot more detail in the floor. In the dark night train scene, that touch of deep red does add "color" and makes one more aware that the scene seems to be shot in the daytime.
Is this good? No, I don't think so. But then, background color issues are fairly common on pre-production and engineering sample projectors. At any rate, in brighter scenes, skin tones look great, etc. This is something I would expect to be gone in full production projectors, and I hope to get a close look at a newer one at CES, to confirm.
The side-by-side image below shows the on the left, and the
That extra red down there shouldn't be, but two things keep me from being concerned. First, it's slight. You probably wouldn't notice unless looking for such things, and perhaps more to the point, I don't expect to see the deep red on those full production projectors.
Sony (right) with the $20K SIM2 Nero 3D-2 projector, on the left.
Sony (right) with the $20K SIM2 Nero 3D-2 projector, on the left.
Sony easily did better on black performance than the SIM2. The SIM2 seemed to do a typically good job for A DLP projector with dynamic iris, but this Sony is just excellent.
On the left is the Epson 8700UB - a projector with the best black levels of pretty much everything under $5000. If a projector can best the Epson, its black level performance is excellent. In side by side viewing, the blacks of the Sony are definitely better than the Epson! Below, note how much brighter the whites and bright areas are, compared to the two projector's similar blacks. In this case, the blacks look a touch brighter on the Sony, but the image is far brighter overall. An impressive "win" for the VW95ES.
Pre-calibration, very good. Post calibration, great. Other than the tendency of oversaturated colors, which reducing the color saturation tends to address, there's really nothing to complain about. I've got over 50 hours now, logged, watching the VPL-VW95ES in 2D, and I've enjoyed all of it. Oh my old JVC can do better blacks still, but at the moment, my JVC is underpowered if I want to watch a movie filling my full 124" diagonal 2.35:1 screen, whereas the VPL-VW95ES handles it no problem, in terms of brightness!
