Sony VPL-VW70 Projector Calibration and Settings
We calibrate each home theater that is reviewed. It is a pretty standard calibration, there's always more that can be done by some of the "hi-end" calibrators. As is typical, for this VPL-VW70 review we calibrate the grayscale, but not the individual colors.
5-18-09 - Art Feierman
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Sony VPL-VW70 Color Temperature
First, here are the color temperature measurements for the Cinema mode, right out of the box
30 IRE (dark gray): 6551K
50 IRE (medium gray): 6465K
80 IRE (light gray): 6326K
100 IRE (white): 6254K
Overall, that's not bad at all, but definitely a bit warm (red), mostly in the brighter ranges.
Immediately below are the color temperature readings of white (100 IRE) for all three preset modes, for white (100 IRE):
Cinema = 6254K (Iris on Auto 1)
Standard = 7539K
Dynamic= 8368K (changing color temp to Middle changes it to 7223K
Interestingly, the color temp of white in Cinema mode, changes significantly when the Auto Iris is turned off. It jumps about 500K to 6783K. When calibrating, we set the Iris to Auto 1, as we expect users to have the iris engaged.
Sony VPL-VW70 Basic Settings
In addition to calibrating 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 typically need adjustment.
Our final settings for brightness, contrast, etc., are immediately below. If there are two numbers, the one in ( ) is the initial default setting.
Contrast:
Cinema: 90, Standard: 90, Dynamic: 95
Brightness:
Cinema: 49 (50), Standard: 50, Dynamic: 50
Color Saturation:
Cinema: 51 (55), Standard: 37 (55), Dynamic: 38 (60)
Tint:
Cinema: 52 (50), Standard: 46 (50), Dynamic: 42 (50)
Lamp Mode: High Brightness (full power)
Dynamic Iris: Auto 1
Gamma:
Cinema: 3
Sony VPL-VW70 Post Calibration Grayscale
Post calibration, here are the grayscale measurements we came up with for the Sony VPL-VW70:
20 IRE - 6516K
30 IRE - 6568K
40 IRE - 6599K
50 IRE - 6603K
60 IRE - 6630K
70 IRE - 6616K
80 IRE - 6584K
90 IRE - 6518K
100 IRE – 6478K
Now that's about as pretty as it gets, with the whole measured range within 160K, and tightly around the target 6500K. No wonder skin tones are very natural looking!
Gamma (on 3) is 2.1, just a hair low the optimum 2.2 for movies. Changing gamma to 4 increased measured gamma to 2.4.
RGB Settings
These are the adjustments we made to Red, Green and Blue for the grayscale balance of the Theater Black 1, and Dynamic modes:
Cinema settings:
Gain:
Red: 18
Green: 0
Blue: -25
Bias:
Red: 3
Green: 0
Blue: 0
Color Saturation: -8
Tint: -12
Gamma: 2.4
Dynamic settings (a "quick calibration") We attempt to improve color accuracy without sacrificing too many lumens. The color accuracy therefore will not be as good as in Cinema mode:
Gain:
Red: 5
Green: 0
Blue: -15
Bias:
Red: 0
Green: 0
Blue: 0
Color Saturation: 2
Tint: 0
Gamma: 2.4
Note: Brightness of Dynamic mode with these settings (and Iris Off, fully open), measured 633 lumens, and the color temperature at white (100 IRE) is 7210K a shift toward blue. I find that around 7000 - 7500K is a color temperature range that does well when trying to watch with a lot of ambient light present, and still yield respectable color - if a touch weak on reds. I like that temperature in general for sports in my room when I've got more than a little light.