Sony VPL-HW30ES Projector Calibration and Settings

Virtually every home projector we review gets calibrated. Note we do not calibrate many all-in-one, and gaming projectors. This Sony VPL-HW30ES is no exception. Mike got to calibrate it before I really started watching the VPL-HW30ES.

Our calibrations, including this Sony VPL-HW30ES, are normally limited to a grayscale calibration, along with brightness, contrast, color saturation, tint (where applicable), etc. Only in very special circumstances will we calibrate the individual colors, in which case we discuss why.

10/7/11 - Art Feierman

Here are some pre-calibration numbers for the Sony VPL-HW30, our calibration settings, and the final results.

Sony VPL-HW30ES Color Temperature

Before we provide our settings, lets see what we started out with: Pre calibration, these are the color temperatures over the grayscale range:

Color Temp over IRE Range (Best Mode, Pre calibration):

                  Cinema 1(best)            Cinema 3           

30 IRE            7018                           7632           
50 IRE            6779                           7261           
80 IRE            6796                           7007                                                  

100 IRE          6715                           6712           

Very slightly cool (shift towards blue), while Cinema 3 was much cooler   

Lumen Output and Color Temp at 100 IRE (mid zoom):

Dynamic = 1016 @ 9608, Custom Color Temp 5 yields 1224 lumens, but more green in image           
Standard = 961 @ 8343
Cinema 1 = 867 @ 6715
Cinema 2 = 787 @ 5637
Cinema 3 = 863 @ 6712
Game = 855 @ 6722
Photo = 553 @ 5545, Using Auto iris 1 increases to 775 lumens
User 1 = 863 @ 6726
User 2 = 855 @ 6736

According to Mike, the variation in brightness is tied to the different color temperature settings. In other words, changing the color temp of a mode, will cause the brightness to change to pretty much follow these numbers.

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Sony VPL-HW30ES Basic Settings

In addition to calibrating the HW30's Red Green and Blue for a correct grayscale balance (6500K), there are a number of other settings that come into play. Typically Contrast and Brightness (white balance and black balance), need to be done first. Color saturation and gamma also need adjustment.

Settings for measurements (default values are in parenthesis):

 
Dynamic
Standard
C1
C2
C3
Contrast (90)
(Max=100)
89
89
90
90
89
Brightness (50)
52
52
52
50
50
Color
-55
-55
-50
-50
-50
Tint (50)
Color Temp
(High)
(Middle)
(L1)
(L2)
(L1)
Gamma
-6
-5
-7
-4
(Off)
Color Space
(W3)
(N)
(W1)
(W2)
(N)
Iris
(A1)
(A1)
(A1)
(Off)
(Off)

 

 
Game
Photo
User 1
User 2
Contrast (90)
90
90
89
90
Brightness (50)
49
50
52
50
Color
-55
-55
-50
-50
Tint (50)
Color Temp
(L1)
(L2)
(L1)
(L2)
Gamma
-2
-8
-7
(Off)
Color Space
(N)
(N)
(W1)
(N)
Iris
(Off)
(M50)
(A1)
(Off)

 

Lamp Mode=High (unless noted otherwise)
All other settings at default (untouched)


Sony VPL-HW30ES Post Calibration Grayscale: User Mode

 

Post-Calibration color temps, 20 – 100 IRE:

VPL-HW30ES User Mode                     

Color Temp over IRE Range (Post calibration):

20 IRE            6148
30 IRE            6487
40 IRE            6550
50 IRE            6560
60 IRE            6553
70 IRE            6573
80 IRE            6568
90 IRE            6531
100 IRE          6699

Average gamma= 2.25

           

  Overall, that's about as tight and nice a grayscale calibration as you will see.

Mike's Notes: Color is quite accurate on Normal color space.  No need for CMs with that setting.  Any other setting has oversaturated greens, but might be more useful for 3D.  Cinema 2 is too red and Photo is about the same.  Game is pretty much the same as Cinema 3, which is pretty good.

Quick cal of User 2 w/Custom 5 color temp reduces the green, but only results in 39 more lumens than default Dynamic setting and looks similar to it. 

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VPL-HW30ES RGB Settings

                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                     
                         User 1 – Custom 3   Quick Cal, User 2 – Custom 5           
Gain                      R = 7                                 R = 0
                             G = 0                                 G = -15
                             B = -1                                B = 0
                                                                       
Offset                    R = 4                                  R = 0
                             G = 0                                  G = 0
                             B = -10                               B = 0

                                                           
Lumens

at 100 IRE:                  814 @ 6699                   1065 @ 9113

NOTES: Dynamic Black is OFF for User 1. 
Bright mode (Quick Cal) is set to color temp Native. 
Other settings are as shown in the Settings area.

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