Sony VPL-HW50ES Black Levels & Shadow Detail
Blacks look very good. Oh, not as good as the Sony's best 2K projector, the VPL-VW95ES ($6995), but impressive nonetheless. If you see having good inky dark blacks is really important, as I do, this Sony HW50ES projector almost certainly will not disappoint you.
Sony seems to have built this HW50 with better abilities in terms of blacks, than the older HW30ES. With this projector, Sony now is right there slugging it out for best blacks under $5000.
This Sony is definitely right up there challenging last year's sub-$5000 champ, the Epson 5010/6010 in terms of blacks. I did a good deal of side by side viewing of dark scenes. Both home theater projectors use dynamic irises (as do almost all), for deeper blacks, and are the two best around.
While viewing the two, they were very comparable. On some types of scenes the Sony had the edge, on others the Epson. First time in years anything this affordable could take on the Epson. JVC's got their RS46 / X35 coming out in a few months, they manage to do really good blacks without an iris - they actually have more dynamic range, but can't actually get blacks as dark as the Sony.
Here are a couple of side-by-sides Sony VPL-HW50ES projector vs. the Epson Home Cinema 5010. First, though, the two projectors are very different. The Epson isn't near as bright calibrated, so we had to run it, in Livingroom mode, vs. the Sony HW50 being in its best calibrated mode. Still, I couldn't get the images to exactly the same brightness. You'll note that the Sony is a touch brighter, which means when comparing the blacks (such as the letter boxing) allow for that letterbox to be a touch brighter because of that.
VPL-HW50ES Black Levels
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Normal Exposure
First fairly normally exposed followed by greatly overexposed.
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Overexposed
For the overexposed version I converted to grayscale to make things easier to see, and to remove the distraction of the color shifts in these long time exposures. On this particular night train scene below, the Sony's letterbox is brighter, a bit more so than the projector brightness advantage. Ultimately they are very close to identical, with the Epson the slightest advantage
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Overexposed
For the overexposed version I converted to grayscale to make things easier to see, and to remove the distraction of the color shifts in these long time exposures. On this particular night train scene below, the Sony's letterbox is brighter, a bit more so than the projector brightness advantage. Ultimately they are very close to identical, with the Epson the slightest advantage
Below, the Sony VPL-HW50ES and other projectors, with most photos converted to grayscale. For comparing: If two projectors have the starship equally overexposed, then the one with the darker letterbox, is the one that has the blacker blacks. You might also notice that in the starfield but comparing the letterbox is easier, as differences in gamma have less affect.
The less expensive Sony VPL-HW30ES
Optoma HD8300:
Epson Home Cinema 8700UB ($2199) the sub $7500 black level champ from two years back:
Optoma HD33 (lower cost, $1499 3D capable projector):
JVC DLA-HD250: This JVC is slightly less expensive, no 3D abilities.
Runco LS10d projector ($27,000+): This one is included to make the point, that a lot more money doesn't mean any significant improvement in black levels. Think, instead that other things become more important.
Sony VPL-VW90ES ($9995):
Sharp XV-Z17000 (direct competitor):
BenQ W6000, a "perennial favorite" lower cost DLP
Sony VPL-HW50 Shadow Detail Performance
The standard "Bond" night train image does a great job for checking out shadow detail as well. This too is a very dark scene overall. Look to the shrubs on the right, especially behind the tracks, and also look for shadow detail in the wood behind them. Click, as usual, for a much larger image.
