Sony VPL-VW100 Review Part 1

Tom Norton of Ultimate AV has published part one of review of Sony VPL-VW100 SXRD 1080p projector. Since its introduction, VPL-VW100 ( code name Ruby )has been a topic of tremendous interest even from people that do not recognize LCD projector for video. In this part of the review, emphasis is given to features and some basic tests. And obviously there is no conclusion although he says it should take an earthquake to make this projector a no go. Anyways, Sony VPL-VW100 is one of the best projectors in the market for $10,000 price range and in some cases it outperforms its bigger $30,000 brother Qualia 004. Here is an excerpt of choice:

The black level from the Sony is so impressive that it's easy at first to overlook its other attributes. It produces a very sharp, yet at the same time very creamy-smooth picture. Most of my watching so far has been to DVDs, and it isn't all that easy to see the improvement that upconversion of a 480i source to 1080p brings in contrast to the more common 720p. A number of other price-competitive projectors will equal the Sony with respect to subjective sharpness, detail, and color (though remember, a full color calibration of the Sony is coming in Part II), and some provide more flexible setup controls (though they're really only useful if you have test tools). Occasionally these will even look slightly sharper than the Sony on some program material. But then never look better overall—thanks to those great blacks. Nor are they less audibly intrusive—thanks to the quiet fan. And many of them are at least a little compromised by the rainbows that still afflict all single-chip DLP projectors (some more than others, but this is not a factor at all with the Sony's three-chip SXRD configuration). And all of those that challenge the Sony in other respects apart from its black level are priced as high or higher.

Here are the links to other Sony VPL-VW100 reviews.

• UltimateAV Magazine
  
• Cine4Home.de ( Google translated from German )
  
• AVSForum member reviews his own Sony Ruby

Related: Sony VPL-VW100 Review Part 2