Sony VPL-VW665 ES 4K Projector: Special Features 2

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Art Feierman

VPL-VW665ES PROJECTOR - SPECIAL FEATURES PAGE 2: CFI - Smooth Motion, Auto Calibration, Panel Alignment, Gamma Controls, Blanking

CFI - Creative Frame Interpolation on the VW665ES

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No real changes here compared to the older Sony, so only minor rewriting: The VPL-VW665 ES offers two speeds of (creative) Frame Interpolation. In addition it offers several options which relate. The image here shows the MotionFlow (as Sony calls it) options.

Interestingly Smooth High, Sony indicates is best for working with typical 24 fps content if you want smooth motion. I am not a fan of using "smooth motion" with 24 fps movies, but I must admit it wasn't bad, Low was even less noticeable. Oh still a touch of "soap opera" or live digital look to the movies, but not bad. Some of you will like it, it's a personal call. I won't use it normally.

I used the Smooth Low setting for the football (and some hockey) that I've recently watched. It works well enough. There are always detectable artifacts around the fast moving objects with CFI, but on this Sony, not normally noticeable (to me). I'm one of those who likes having CFI for sports mostly, but generally figure it's a feature that most can live without.

There's also a mode called Impulse, and one called Combination. Combination should be a very viable compromise mode, it is a little brighter than when engaging Smooth High. I'm not up on the tech, but it may have to do with whether black frames are used in between the regular ones.

One comment which I'll repeat on the performance page when I discuss image noise. This Sony VW665ES projector like all the other Sonys I've reviewed in the last few years has an achilles heel. When the camera in a typical movie is panned at one very specific slow speed, the Sonys show more bouncing of the image than any other projectors I've worked with. The movie I alway see this in, is Red (with Bruce Willis), near the beginning with a pan of the neighborhood in the first chapter. I just wanted to point out here, that using the Smooth Low or High setting almost completely eliminates that extra judder. Better if it wasn't sensitive to that one panning speed, but at least it can be corrected. Of course, to do so, you are watching with CFI engaged. Hmm!

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Auto Calibration

This is an important feature.

The manual was helpful. It describes the feature as a coarse setting, and compares and adjusts back to the original factory default, if I understand it correctly. There's even a comparison mode, pre vs. post. Thus, the assumption here, is that over time, the color (due to lamp aging in) will shift slightly, but the projector will adjust to take you back so it matches how the projector was, right out of the box in default.

That's great assuming the color is perfectly calibrated from the factory, but that isn't the case (although it's darn close). I'd like to really explore the benefits of the feature over time, as the lamp shifts color slightly, but that won't be possible.

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VPL-VW665ES Panel Alignment

Sony's VPL-VW665ES offers a Panel Alignment feature which is digital in nature. It is typical of other such controls. When you engage the feature, you select which of 2 colors you want to align first, Red, or Blue (against Green as the fixed). The screen turns to a grid and you work the corners then middle in terms of getting first Red to line up better with green. Then you go back, switch to Blue, and do the same. It works. It's not perfect, but it does improve sharpness by eliminating mis-alignment, and those trailing red edges, that can sometimes be visible if the alignment is off more than 1/2 pixel.

It's about a 10 minute job to do the panel alignment. No rocket science involved, its really easy. Do it. (Images shown were taken from a different Sony projector with the same panel alignment feature)

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Gamma Control

The VPL-VW665ES, like it's predecessor, offers up 10 different gammas, (and Off, which should be the same as 2.2). The range, as you can see in this image, runs from 1.8 to 2.6. With 2.4 or 2.6 having that dark mid-range content sometimes described as film. But officially, 2.2 is where most people want to be.

There are also four unique gamma's which we'll call "non-linear" in that thy favor bright or dark areas. For most, stick to 2.2, or perhaps 2.0 for some TV type content that you don't want to be quite so dark in the mid ranges. But, if you like those other gammas for some content, go for it. At the end of the day, watch things the way you like them best, not the way you are "supposed to." Check out the manual for more info.

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Blanking - Instead of Overscan or Masking

In reality the Sony's Blanking feature is a masking feature, but lets you control all four sides separately. The Sony does not offer Overscan (which you use to eliminate noise around the edges as you might find with some TV signals) by zooming in a bit. Overscan means no 1:1 pixel mapping, for less precision, a less sharp image, but it eliminates the edges while still filling your screen.

Typical masking is different. It simply crops off the edge all the way around, removing the data, so that area is black, thus also elimnating the noisy edges. The result is a slightly smaller image that no longer fills the entire screen, but 1:1 pixel mapping is maintained, for a precise, sharp image.

Sony's Blanking is just like masking, but you only need do one side at a time. So, if the noise is only on the top edge, just knock off (blank) 1,2, or 3 rows across the top, and leave the sides and bottom alone, for an image that suffers the least changing. I like this feature, it's a plus for dealing with edge noise, although a separate masking option that does all four edges at once would be an additional convenience.