Sony VPL-VW1000ES 4K SXRD 3D Home Theater Projector Preview

One of the "gotta see" events at CEDIA were the 4K projectors on hand. Now these weren't commercial theater products. Companies like Sony Electronics were releasing home theater products that bring the 4K experience to the home. That means that their new VPL-VW1000ES 4K home theater projector doesn't look like an air handler for a single family home. No, it's elegant and shiny - just as you'd expect for a $25,000 home theater projector. What's amazing is that just a few years ago $25k would have defined a high end 3-chip DLP projector. Now you can jump to 4K. I like technology and how fast it advances so quickly - we all get to benefit in the long (and often short) run.

The 2,000 ANSI-lumen projector immediately revealed itself as a home unit simply by not coming with a commercial-level lamp system that outputs ungodly amount of light. Instead, the VPL-VW1000ES is set to output just what it needs to produce tons of contrast in a light-controlled theater room (Sony makes the outrageous claim of 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, but we all pretty much ignore those numbers at this point). At 2000 lumens, the VPL-VW1000ES actually puts out almost 2x the light output of previous Sony home theater projectors. Sony claims it can hit screen sizes up to 200" diagonal.

The SXRD panel on the VPL-VW1000ES is of the 4K variety and, like former SXRD chips, it produces insanely deep black levels. Sony also uses its new Iris3 technology to further adjust the dynamic range based on content to deliver better overall contrast. As you might expect, Sony doesn't waste the 4K panel. The projector has a 4K upscaler that both 2D and 3D 1080p content and scales it up to the fullest resolution possible. Like many of the projectors we saw at the show, Sony is using lens memory settings to Scale, Position and Zoom the image to avoid the need for an outboard video processor to prep content for anamorphic viewing on 2.39:1 screens. These modes also work for both 2D and 3D content. Essentially, this is a picture position memory which memorizes the position of the zoom lens in various modes and let's you take advantage of different aspect ratio content. With a 4K chip and a good scaler, this makes even more sense.

Viewing Impressions

We checked out the Sony 4K demo at CEDIA and, unfortunately, were somewhat underwhelmed by it. This could have been due to a variety of things. First off, there were some technical difficulties prior to our demo. The demo involved two projectors a competitors 1080p model and the new Sony VPL-W1000ES 4K model. They were showing the same images (presumably using a 1:2 HDMI splitter) and had physically blocked half of each image to render a side-by-side comparison. We're not sure what those technical difficulties were, but the presenter in our demo pointed the laser pointer at the 1080p side of the screen when he was referring to 4K and vice versa. The trouble was, nobody seemed to notice - and honestly the differences were subtle (but they were there - just not where the presenter was pointing!).

At the end of the demo they played a 4K version of a clip from the new Spiderman movie. It was great to watch, but it didn't blow me away. Frankly, there was another demo at the show that wiped the floor with this one - and even the Epson 61000 Reflective LCD demo seemed better, though the screen was smaller. With that said, we're pretty sure either the demo material or a technical glitch was responsible. 4K should, and probably does, look better than this through the VPL-VW1000ES. Let's not write the Sony off just yet and give them the benefit of the doubt here.

The VW1000ES offers a variety of installations options, including dual triggers, a 2.1 motorized zoom, expanded throw distances, an RS232 interface, control over IP and compatibility with the leading home automation systems.

The Sony VPL-VW1000ES 4K home theater projector will ship in December through authorized dealers and is expected to retail for under $25,000.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.