Sony VPL-VW885ES 4K Laser Projector Review - Hardware 2

Sony VPL-VW885ES 4K Laser Projector Review - Hardware 2: The Remote Control, The Menus, The Lens

The Sony remote is long and has good weight.  You should be able to read the buttons in the picture so I won't run through them all.  I like the light is top left, easy to get to.  I don't like the blue led light, it's not bright enough I find it too dark, hard to read in a dark theater.

Input is also on the top row, and that works great.  Press the button and a list of sources  (a very short list, btw) appears in a small menu, which will appear in different places on the screen depending on what you choose for menu position.

It gets better, next is three rows of picture modes.  No menus needed to quickly switch.

After that larger buttons to control the lens - motorized focus zoom and lens shift.  I do wish Sony would let you control those with the source image selected, but instead, it brings up a focus and position  screen (not much on it) to focus, zoom  and lens shift.

That big curved Position button is where you find the Lens Memory controls

Underneath the navigation area is another array of buttons this time mostly direct access to specific adjustments such as Color Space or Advanced Iris.

Other than the backlight, great remote and excellent range.

We did not photograph the menus in the short time we had the VW885ES.  The are essentially the same as the VW5000ES and the VW665ES which we have reviewed.

This Sony has a 2.1:1 zoom lens. It's not Sony's best, but it is plenty suitable for 4K. The recessed lens is paired with extensive lens shift, so that the projector offers Lens Memory, for working with wides screens to switch back and forth between Cinemascope shaped movies and other content that's in HDTV format.

I haven't confirmed the the placement range, for filling a 100" 16:9 screen should allow the lens of the projector to have the same specs as the VW665ES and VW675ES:

This is about as much placement flexibility of any home theater projector that doesn't have an array of optional lenses.