Sony VPL-VW915ES 4K SXRD Projector Review - Special Features: Laser Light Engine, Native 4K Resolution, HDR Compatible, Frame by Frame HDR Dynamic Tone Mapping

Sony currently has two 4K HDR home theater lamp-based projectors the VW295ES and the newly announced VW715ES. There are five that are laser-based 4K HDR models in the lineup and the time of this review.

Sony claims their Z-Phosphor light engine has a 20,000-hour lamp life. The Sony brightness can be adjusted in 1% increments from full power to minimal power.

The 20,000-hour lamp life ensures several years of maintenance-free viewing. If you Watched the VW915ES for 8 hours a day, five days a week the laser light engine would last about a decade. By the time you would need to replace this unit there will probably be 8K projectors available.

VPL-VW915ES is only one of the four Sony laser projectors that have both dynamic laser functionality and a mechanical dynamic iris. The new projector optimized X1 processor controls both the projector’s dynamic iris and the unit’s laser engine’s dynamic dimming which results in outstanding dynamic contrast and black level.

What has always separated Sony's video displays from the competition is superior processing. While the processing in Sony flat panels continued to evolve, it has been a while since they update the brains of their home theater projectors.

Several years ago, Sony introduced a powerful new processor called the X1 in their highly rated Z9D flat panel TV.

This year the VW915ES and the VW715ES utilize a version of X1 processor optimized for projectors. The projector's Reality Creation feature analyzes HD, 4K, and HDR content frame by frame to enhance detail, colors, and detail. The X1 ensures that Full HD is upscaled close to 4K quality.

The X1 processor also includes a brand-new technology they call Dynamic HDR Enhancer to improve the look of HDR content. Brighter HDR scenes are brighter, with richer colors and better black level. We will discuss Dynamic HDR Enhancer in detail later in this review.

The VW915ES also incorporates a new Digital Focus Optimizer which digitally compensates focus loss in the image’s corners caused by the projector's lens. While a Sony projector equipped with their higher end ARC-F lens will still deliver a sharper overall picture. This new technology improves overall focus by compensating for any optical degradation to deliver improved corner-to-corner clarity.

While several manufacturers like Epson and BenQ offer good mid-priced Home Theater projector, For the past decade when it came to higher-end home theater projectors ($5000 to $20,000) it was a two-horse race between JVC and Sony. Who is the king of home theater projectors in 2020 will be determined by which projector delivers the best HDR picture.

The HDR provides a major improvement in dynamic range as well as color. It lets you see more detail in the shadows and the bright areas and delivers more saturated lifelike colors.

There are two HDR standards, first is the PQ (ST2084). While there are three variations of PQ, most projectors are only compatible with HDR10 which is mostly used for UHD Blu-ray discs (4K movies), and recorded streaming content. Dolby Vision and HDR10+, like the more mainstream HDR10, are also based on PQ (ST2084). The only difference between the three PQ based formats is what type of HDR metadata is delivered to a video display to help it tone map HDR content to fit a display’s brightness capabilities.

The second HDR standard is HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) and it was developed for live broadcast. The VW915ES supports both HDR10 and HLG. Since most HDR10+ and Dolby Vision content is either backward compatible with or available in HDR10 you can enjoy 99% of HDR content available on the market now and in the future.

Sony has a habit of hiding major improvements under obscure names. The VW915ES along with the VW715ES and GTZ380 has a new feature called HDR Contrast Enhancer.  By utilizing a version of Sony’s X1 processor optimized for projection, these are the first Sony projectors that are able to measure HDR content frame by frame for precise dynamic tone mapping of HDR10 content.

There is a variety of information embedded in HDR content that an HDR display uses to make picture adjustments. First, there is an HDR Infoframe which tells the video display to switch to the appropriate HDR mode. Next is metadata which a display can use to help tone map HDR content. The two pieces of metadata that the projector’s video processor uses for HDR tone mapping are:

• MaxFALL (Maximum Frame--Average Light Level) average brightness of the brightest frame in the entire clip. Authoring guidelines state that this should not exceed 400 nits.
• MaxCLL (The Maximum Content Light Level) which is the brightest pixel in the entire clip.

The average brightness of most HDR video frames is usually much less than 400 nits with a few peak highlights (sparks, flame tips, reflections) reaching up to 10,000 nits. Let’s discuss why tone mapping is needed.

HDR consumer content (4K blu-ray and streaming) is mastered for playback on a flat panel, not a projector, so it’s produced at a variety of brightness levels ranging from 1,000 nits (292 fL) to 4,000 (1167fL) nits.

Most 4K HDR capable projectors can only deliver between 100 nits (29fL) and 200 nits (58 fL). This means no HDR compatible Home Theater projector can reproduce all brightness found in consumer HDR content.

As a result, HDR projectors utilize tone mapping which is a compromise between maintaining bright highlight details and delivering full screen brightness. When the HDR info frame is detected, most HDR projectors switch to HDR mode with a fixed tone map. It is basically one size fits all which hurts HDR performance.

Last year companies like JVC began introducing projectors with auto tone mapping which automatically adjusts the projector’s HDR settings (tone mapping curves) to try to optimize HDR10 image quality. The goal was to better utilize the projector’s brightness capabilities based on the HDR content being shown.

Since the MaxFALL/MaxCLL metadata is based on the average brightness of the brightest frame and brightest pixel in the movie, certain scenes with lower than average frame levels can still look way too dark.

In many cases, the metadata is missing or incorrect so the projector might not have the right information to work with. Also, since the same embedded metadata (MaxCLL/MaxFALL) is applied throughout the entire movie, sometimes the tone mapping decisions made by the projector can be a little off. Higher end LCD and OLED TVs have been able to measure the HDR content frame-by-frame to generate accurate metadata dynamically for years.

Last summer to further improve the HDR performance of their projectors, JVC added the capability to dynamically measure HDR metadata to their higher-end D-ILA projectors like the NX5, NX7, and NX9. This year, Sony is introducing that capability as well.

Unlike most projector manufacturers, Sony has years of experience with HDR tone mapping since Sony 4K TVs have had the capability since 2017. The new “X1 for Projectors” processor not only improve detail and resolution it also made a noticeable improvement in the Sony HDR performance compared to the VW885ES. HDR content is brighter, colors are richer, black levels are deeper, and bright highlight detail is visible.

When watching HDR content, sometimes brighter highlights will still be clipped, but Sony believes this necessary to keep most of the image on the screen as close to the director’s intent as possible.

You can adjust the tone mapping level using the HDR Contrast adjustment. There are 3 levels (LOW, MED, and HIGH), I left the setting on LOW most of the time with excellent results.

BTW, since HLG is based on a Gamma curve just like SDR, it does not need to be tone mapped by the projector.

ViewSonic PX706HD Gaming Projector Review – Hardware 2: Control Panel, Remote Control, Menus

The ViewSonic PX706HD’s control panel is located on the top of the projector, with its indicator lights nearby. The control panel sports an extremely compact design and is well laid out, consisting of three rows and four columns. On the left of the control panel is a large Power On/Off button, taking up an entire column and all three rows. In the top left you’ll find the Menu button, which doubles as the Exit button.

To the right is the manual Vertical Keystone Correction button which doubles as an Up Arrow, followed by Blank, which hides the screen image and switches to a blank black image to conserve power and lamp life. On the left of the middle row is the Volume Down button which doubles as a Left Arrow button, with an Enter button to the immediate right, and a Volume Up button that doubles as a Right Arrow next to that.

The bottom row consists of a Source Button, a manual Vertical Keystone Correction button that doubles as a Down Arrow, followed by a button labeled Color Mode. Next to the control panel are the three indicator lights. Top to bottom, they are Power, Temperature, and Lamp. The different illumination colors and patterns of the indicator lights signify different operating and error conditions which are detailed in the user manual.

The ViewSonic PX706HD gaming projector includes a user-friendly remote control, with one-touch access to color modes and different input sources. The top row of the remote control consists of a large red On button and a large green Off button, which toggle the projector between power on and standby mode.

Below the power buttons is a section for the different input sources. They’re laid out in two rows. The top row, left to right, is Component, followed by HDMI, then USB-C. The second row consists of Auto Sync and Source.

The next section of the remote is the standard direction keypad consisting of an Up, Down, Left and Right Arrow with a large Enter button in the center. The Up Arrow and Down Arrow double as manual Vertical Keystone Correction.

The next row has a bright blue Menu button on the left side, with an Information button in the middle, and Exit on the right. Below that is a row consisting for Aspect, which allows the user to select between six different aspect ratios: Auto, 4:3, 16:9, 16:10, Native and 2.35:1. Pattern displays a test pattern, Blank hides the screen image, and 3D opens the 3D Settings menu.

Volume controls follow in the next row, with a Mute button on the left, Volume Down in the middle and Volume Up on the right. There are three more rows of three buttons. In the first row, left to right, the first row is where you find Brightness, Contrast, Color Temperature. The second row allows one-touch access to color modes – they are Sports, Movie and Gaming. The final row consists of a green ECO Mode button, followed by Standard Mode, which control the brightness of the projector’s lamp. The last button is Audio Mode, which displays the Audio menu.

ViewSonic PX706HD Gaming Projector Review – Hardware: Overview, Inputs and Connectors, Lens

The ViewSonic PX706HD is a compact projector, measuring 4.5 inches tall by 11.5 inches wide and 8.7 inches deep, and weighs 6 lbs. Automatic vertical Keystone Correction makes setup easy – this is a real plug-and-play projector. This ViewSonic can be installed on a table top or ceiling mounted in front of the screen, or behind on a table or ceiling mounted if paired with the right screen. Front table or ceiling mounting will be the most used.

The front of the PX706HD houses the lens and an IR Remote Sensor for the included remote control. There is also an easily adjustable front foot to control the elevation of the projected image. The ViewSonic’s proprietary SonicExpert® audio system is housed within the right side of the projector, along with the cool air intake vent. The left side of the projector is where the hot air exhaust is found, with the exhaust vent wrapping around to the front corner of the projector.

Manual zoom and focus controls are found on the top of this unit, along with the control panel.  The rear of the projector houses all the inputs and connectors; there are few connections but plenty for its primary intended use as a gaming projector. The bottom of the ViewSonic PX706HD features a security bar for an anti-theft lock, and ceiling mount holes. Now, onto those inputs!

The ViewSonic PX706HD offers a simple panel of inputs and connections on the rear of the unit, but everything you need for your home entertainment/gaming purposes. The A/C Power Cord connects in the bottom left corner of the panel. On the left side, there is a blue Audio In 3.5mm mini-jack port, and below that a green Audio-Out mini jack port, to connect external audio equipment and speakers to the projector.

To the immediate right of the audio ports are the dual HDMI ports for connecting high definition video gaming systems and BluRay players, as well as laptops and other similar media sources. Next is a USB-C port, which provides for fast data, audio, video and charging over a single cable, supporting smart mobile devices. Then we have a VGA port labeled “Computer In” which is useful in connecting PCs for computer gaming on the big screen, an RS-232 port for legacy command and control.

There is also a Mini-USB port for connecting card readers and other media for PC-Free Presentations, and a yellow Component Video (RCA) port for legacy video game systems and other old-school video devices. That’s not a huge amount of connections, but it’s still plenty for the primary use and its price point.

Epson PowerLite 1785W Projector Review – Hardware: Overview, Inputs and Connectors, Lens

The Epson PowerLite 1785W is a portable projector that measures 11.5 inches wide by 8.4 inches deep, only 2.1 inches tall, and weighs a mere 4 lbs; that’s the size and weight of a laptop for ultra-portability.  This projector is well suited for front table top use, but also supports ceiling mounting and both front and rear projection.  For this review, I set the 1785W up on a table top using front projection, so descriptions will be written as this unit appeared when sitting on a table top.

The front of the Epson PowerLite 1785W houses the lens, with a manual shutter that doubles as an Audio and Video mute.  The vents to the left are the hot air exhaust, and on the right you’ll find the sensor that is used for Automatic Image Correction and Gesture Presenter.  The right side of the projector houses the 1-watt speaker and cool air intake vent.  The rear of the PowerLite 1785W offers a simple array of connectors and a slot for a security lock.  The left side of the projector is entirely closed and featureless.

The top of the projector is where you find a basic control panel that is quite functional and easy to use.  The NFC symbol is found to the left of the control panel to assist in linking an Android device to the projector.  You will also find the zoom lens control on the top of the projector, as well as five status indicator lights.  The bottom of the projector features holes for attaching the unit to a ceiling mount.

The PowerLite 1785W by Epson offers a very simple array of connectors and inputs, but makes up for the lack of physical connectors by its ability to connect to computers and smart mobile devices wirelessly.  The input panel consists of a single row.  Left to right, you will find the connector for the A/C power cord, followed by component video.  To the right is a standard VGA cable for connecting to a computer, followed by a USB-B port.  The USB-B port is important to note as it is a required connection when linking a computer to the projector for Gesture Presenter applications, except when using EasyMP Multi PC Projection or Screen Mirroring to connection the computer to the projector.

Next we find the standard USB-A port, which allows, among other things, for a USB storage device to be connected for PC-Free presentations.  Following the USB port is a single HDMI port.  I really would have liked to see an additional HDMI port, especially since this projector offers Split Screen.  Next is a 3.5mm mini-jack Audio port which is for inbound audio, intended to allow presentations from a computer utilizing component video, VGA, or USB-A connections to play audio through the PowerLite 1785W’s internal 1-watt speaker.  To the right is the sensor for the remote control, and to the far right (out of picture) is a standard security lock port.

LG HU80KA 4K Home Theater Projector Review – Picture Quality: Out of the Box Picture, Skin Tones, Black Level Performance, Dark Shadow Detail

Like many projectors, the LG HU80KA has a whole lot of preset picture modes, with names like Vivid, Standard, Cinema, Sports, HDR Effect, Technicolor, Expert…

In the image player above, in addition to a few “right out of the box photos” there is a set of all the major modes, using the same Victoria Secret model shot.  Two of the modes (noted) are calibrated, the others are not.

Vivid and Sports appear to be the brightest, although 5 of the modes, including those two, are all within a few percent of each other.  Most modes start out cool – more blue than red.  In all cases, the projector’s default color temp, is set to Warm.  Warm delivers the best color, and Eric our calibrator did not bother to try to calibrate using any of the other preset color temps

I’ll discuss further on the Performance page, but the Warm color temp is just over half as bright as Natural mode, which is the brightest, and gets the HU80KA close to its claimed 2500 lumens.  But there’s always a yellowish caste to the picture if using Natural, so generally, except in “break glass in an emergency (of too much ambient light), stick to the Warm Color temp.

With warm color temp selected the is pretty darn good light out of the box, if always a bit cool (could use a bit more red).  But most won’t notice in the better modes.

Vivid has the most pop.  It is over the top, in saturation and dynamic look, because that’s your go to mode if facing a lot of ambient light.  If facing way too much ambient light that’s when you also adjust the color temp to Natural.

Standard mode, unadjusted is even cooler. We are using it, post adjustment, though for our 4K HDR calibration.  Cinema is going to be your most accurate “right out of the box” mode, for movie viewing.  I do like Vivid and Sports though for my sports viewing, because I allow far more light into my theater.

Eric had setup three “calibrated modes” (see our calibration pages) that noticeably improve the picture. Standard, as mentioned, set up for 4K with HDR, and also used for our “brightest” mode (with good color).  Expert Dark Room was calibrated to provide our best overall viewing of 1080 content (really anything without HDR).

Overall, skin tone handling on our two calibrated modes – varies from just respectable to very good.  Many (the brighter ones mostly) modes are, overall, after calibration, a bit on the cool side, not quite enough red, in skin tones, so they tend to look a touch pale.  Mind you just upping the saturation isn’t a cure for that, because other colors will end up over saturated.  The Expert Dark Room mode, one of the ones Eric calibrated

That said, there’s not issue with too much green in our adjusted modes, even our “brightest” setup. That’s a good thing.  Of course, if you need max brightness more than good color, you can take Vivid mode, switch color temp in that mode to Natural, and have a light cannon, but skin tones will not be right, they will typically seem almost golden/brown – aka: way off.  That’s ok, every projector has one of those “break glass in case of emergency” modes, that are way too green, or gold, or yellow green. Use that option (Natural) sparingly.

For the rest, this projector has no problem putting out 800 or so good looking lumens when it comes to best skin tones, Expert (Dark Room)  Standard, even post calibration, and the mode we are using for our brightest (and also 4K HDR), with the color temp staying on our recommended Warm setting, definitely comes across a bit brighter (over 1000 lumens), with more pop, to deal with ambient light.

While perfectionists want the color balance to be right on the money, my friends coming through this theater, who really aren’t into the whole “home theater” thing, are just fine with these skin tones.

Bottom line on skin tones, could be improved with a slightly warmer color balance, but respectable, that is, very watchable, if not highly accurate.

All considered, the LG HU80KA may be a very unique projector in terms of ergonomic design and features, but despite it also having a laser light engine, it is behaving like mostl of the 4K UHD DLP projectors when it comes to black levels.  Even among the lamp based 4K UHD projectors several best this LG.  There are $700 1080p projectors that can match it too.

Of course, this is a big deal, in a good, really dark room. If you watch content with even very modest lighting on, the seeming difference is far less.

A few assorted black level type images, and then our traditional grey-scaled/overexposed – Daniel Craig Casino Royale night train scene, where (give or take exposure differences) see how the black levels compare to a lot of competitors.  If you want to know how you would want these images to look on a projector with great black levels, look at the JVC RS440, or even the $2499 Epson 5040UB.  As you will notice most of the DLPs do about the same (again, but for the slightly differing exposures), but that Acer VL7860 which I put next to the LG because it is also a laser projector (although $1000 more).  It looks far more like the Epson and JVC than the LG or, say, any of the BenQs or Optomas.

The LG is certainly no match for any of what I call “ultra high contrast” projectors, which includes Epson’s 5040UB/6040UB, as well as all of JVC’s LCoS projectors and Sony’s higher end models. There’s also one definite exception among the 4K UHD DLPs, that’s a direct competitor for this LG – Acer’s VL7860 which is also a laser projector, a bit brighter, and sporting a $1000 higher list price. But, for those really serious about home theater and black levels, it’s the only player I’ve encountered (at least in the under $15K range) that successfully is doubling its laser engine as a good dynamic iris. As such, that Acer can do what this LG cannot, and that is, deliver some impressive black levels.

Not bad. There’s just a little bit of crushing of the deepest greys just above black. Check out these images, but also go back to the night train images above.  There look at the tracks and shrubs right behind them in the lower right.  You can see that the LG is losing just a little compared to some of the others.  A finer adjustment of the Brightness control (which affects black levels – go figure), might reveal more. But, the LG does OK in this area.

We normally don’t comment on crushed near whites, but Eric has pointed out to me, having now calibrated about a dozen 4K UHD DLPs, that almost every one of them do crush a bit of near white.  (For Movies/HDTV, etc. we set white at 235 value.  If the projector an only distinguish up to 230, that means that 231-234 – all just a little more grey than white, end up white.

This is slight, and typical of the DLPs. Where will you see it?  Well, perhaps a bit less detail in clouds, or losing the near detail in white shirts and jerseys. That makes this LG typical.  As this is more home entertainment, and the losses are minimal, no problem!

LG HU80KA 4K Home Theater Projector Review – Picture Quality 2: HDTV and Sports, 1080p Movie Viewing, 4K with HDR, Overall Picture Quality

Being a “hard core” enthusiast looking for very accurate colors, etc. when watching movies, I’ve always been far, far, more forgiving when it comes to my sports viewing. Here, I want a very sharp and bright image, that can still have some decent contrast even with more than a little ambient light.  I don’t mind slightly incorrect colors, or a touch over oversaturation, or a too cool picture. Truth be told I’m much happier watching my football with color temps between 7000K and 7500K, rather than the “ideal” 6500K.  Not huge differences, but in this case, the LG HU80KA tends to be on the cool side, with mid 7000K temps after Eric adjusted the projector.  Standard mode starts out averaging over 10,000K color temp, way, way too cool, but the adjustments brought it down to pretty much the way I like my sports viewing, although for most other HDTV such as sitcoms and drama, etc. a little warmer still would have been better.

Works for me.   I also played with both Vivid and Sports modes.  Sports in particular is dramatically oversaturated, which only works if dealing with a whole lot of ambient light. Vivid is next in that regard. If your lighting control is decent though, you can stick to our adjusted Standard mode, which looks really good.  Use the others when there’s more ambient light around, enough to start washing out Standard mode.  It’s that easy.  Then you only have to deal with other aspects – do you want creative frame interpolation running for your sports, etc.

The player above shows the three modes on the same frame to show you the difference in saturation…

In my early attempts at viewing typical 1080p movies, I used Expert Dark Room, which Eric calibrated.  Initially I was rather disappointed but, I later discovered why, and it’s an important “cautionary tale”:  If you recall from the hardware pages, the two HDMI inputs are located at different parts of the projector. They are also separate in another way. You can put in settings, such as for the CMS, to only affect one HDMI port.  Apparently, I chose the other HDMI, and therefore never got all the benefits of Eric’s calibration. Mind you, at some point or another, when saving some settings it will ask if you want to also save to the other HDMI.

Bingo, I discovered Eric’s settings were not appearing, so I re-entered them, to the other HDMI and voila’:  Far better color.

The usual four bond images we use to show how the “director’s intent” and the environment, can dramatically affect, what skin tones look like, show that the Expert Dark Room mode produces some very good color. The color temps vary a good bit more over the brightness (IRE) range more than most home theater/home entertainment projectors, but the end result, not as highly accurate as some others looks very good.

The same Standard mode we used for bright room (sports, etc.), Eric chose to set up also for our 4K content with HDR (and BT.2020/P3 color space).

As I've discussed previously, he chose Standard despite not being one of the “Expert” modes that provides access to the full CMS system.  Eric opted for the brighter mode, since HDR demands lots of brightness, and Expert Dark Room is only going to provide about 700 lumens, vs over 1000 lumens.

I’m on the fence, in this case.  The brightness is needed, but better color accuracy would be nicer.  Tough call.  This is not an unusual situation. Consider, the Epson 5040UB I use, is calibrated by Eric for 4K HDR, and yields just over 1000 lumens.  I agree that’s definitely “thin” on brightness when watching 4K HDR movies at my full 124” diagonal, widescreen Studiotek 130 (1.3 gain) screen.  But I get the full P3 color space.

Many calibrators, instead, sacrifice full P3, by using Epson’s Bright Cinema mode which delivers a lot more lumens – around 1800.  Even Epson, demoing at CEDIA two weeks ago, had the 6040UB they were showing against the $8K, now just discontinued, Sony VW385ES, chose to use their Bright Cinema mode, to go for the lumens, vs the wider color.  Call it personal choice.

I would have liked to play with a fully calibrated Technicolor Expert mode, with only the 700 lumens, if for no other reason, to try observe the differences between REC709 (the old standard) and the better P3 (same as at your local movie theater.

More brightness with the LG comes with less color accuracy in Standard mode, The extra 50% brightness is a positive (1038 lumens), but the color accuracy is lower.  The average color temp across the brightness range, is over 7500K although 10 IRE (almost black) is 5000K so a virtually black background may show a trace of dark red.

Here’s an important thought.  If I was recommending this projector for dedicated home theaters and to hard core enthusiasts demanding the most accuracy, that would be one thing, but since I’m not, consider:

Bottom Line:  LG is marketing the HU80KA as a rather unique and smart projector and they seem to especially be taking aim at millennials, and apartment dwellers, etc.  While we home theater folks tend to think that projector image sizes should start no lower than 100” diagonal, many owners of the LG may well, be projecting smaller picture sizes.  Hey, if you have an 8 foot ceiling, and want to shine the projector on the ceiling as LG does in some of their ads, you are limited to about a 70” wide image.  Now that size image would be a good bit brighter in the less bright Technicolor Expert mode, than a 100” screen would be with Standard mode.

So what you are watching, and where, and your own tastes, should determine which way to go, if you are calibrating this LG projector to choose between brighter, with more pop, but less accurate color, or less bright, with pretty accurate colors, suitable for a smaller screen.

One more time.  Although not the most accurate projector, it does have very good color post calibration. Since black levels are not impressive, it can't take advantage of a dedicated home theater, but, overall, sports is a lot of fun to watch, and 1080p movies come out looking pretty great, if not overly bright, but with very good color.

And then there’s watching 4K content with HDR. BTW, another option is to simply not watch using HDR, which delivers a a much brighter, overall, image.  But one with less “pop”, that is with out all that HIGH dynamic range.  Of course all these projectors compromise on HDR to begin with.  LG’s design, which allows some (a little) control over the EOTF, which relates to gamma, and deals with those mid-ranges’ brightness.

Myself, I’m often torn between watching with HDR, and not, but I almost always do use HDR when available.  Only on a rare movie where I can’t remove enough dimness, will get me to bypass. HDR.

Sony VPL-FHZ61 Commercial Laser Projector Review – Special Features: Low Maintenance, Excellent Placement Flexibility, Advanced Picture Refinement Technologies, Advanced Projection Features

The Sony VPL-FHZ61 is a low maintenance projector, meaning that you will not have to constantly change lamps and filters over the projector’s lifetime. This is due to the projector having a laser light engine. As mentioned, lamp based projectors require the lamp to be replaced several times over its lifetime – every 3,000 to 8,000 hours, depending, and lose their brightness over several hundred hours rather than a laser light engine’s several thousand.

This particular light engine lasts up to 20,000 hours, which is typical of laser projectors. Some claim up to 30,000 hours, but 20,000 seems to be the average. While typical laser projectors will lose half their brightness by the end of that 20,000 hours, Sony has implemented a feature they call “Constant Bright,” which they claim maintains the brightness over the course of its 20,000 hours. Like I said, I have no way to test, but I would leave it to Sony to create something cool like that.

The filter in the VPL-FHZ61 is self-cleaning, and does so every 100 hours. This is the first of its kind I’ve come across – that isn’t to say other manufacturers aren’t using or at least working on the same technology, but it’s the first of the commercial projectors I’ve reviewed to be self-cleaning. That’s a cool feature. Most laser projectors will not need the filter replaced for up to 20,000 hours (unless the environment is incredible dusty – not common), and this Sony is no exception.

The FHZ61 has excellent placement flexibility due to multiple features. The first of which is that the projector has a quick-release, bayonet mount for interchangeable lenses, of which there are six total. The included lens is a 1.60:1 zoom, which offers some good placement flexibility in and of itself. Add to that its motorized lens functions, and you’ve got some real value. The lens has motorized focus, zoom, and lens shift – it can do +5%, -60% vertical, and ±32% horizontal.

The projector also has 360° installation, meaning the projector can be mounted whichever way you like. Want your projected image to be portrait-style (1200 x 1920)? No problem. This is valuable for installations in retail and other such venues where a little creativity is in order. The Sony VPL-FHZ61 has HDBaseT, another win in the realm of placement flexibility, as this feature allows AV signals to be run over long distances, so that your source material doesn’t need to be anywhere near the projector – a major plus for larger venues!

The Sony VPL-FHZ61 has advanced picture refinement technologies found on Sony’s high end home theater projectors. Reality Creation uses a pattern-matching database to optimize each pixel, so you can be sure that you are getting the absolute sharpest image the projector is capable of producing.

Contrast Enhancer improves contrast by refining dark and light areas within the projected image, adjusting highlights for maximum brightness and shadows for deep, rich blacks. More about that feature in action in the Contrast section on our Performance Page. The final picture refinement technology is Auto Calibration, a feature which re-calibrates the projector’s picture to factory settings after an extended period of time, effectively taking care of the color shift problem found on all projectors after they’ve been running for a very long time.

BenQ MW535A WXGA Business Projector Review – Special Features: Universal Multi HDMI & VGA Connectivity, One-Touch Access to Install Functions, Eco Cycle System, Wall Color

The BenQ MW535A WXGA Business Projector offers a convenient dual HDMI, dual VGA input layout.  These connectors are designed in a way that allows multiple computers or other HD devices such as BluRay players, media servers etc, to be connected at once.  By having duplicate HDMI and VGA ports, a presenter has the option of giving an engaging multimedia presentation, or multiple participants can collaborate instantly without the need for adapters and IT support.

The remote control included with the BenQ MW535A WXGA projector has a dedicated Quick Install button, which displays a menu with three options:  Test Pattern, Projector Installation, and Keystone.  Test Pattern displays a smaller menu which allows the user to toggle the test pattern on and off.  The test pattern that displays here is a black background with a bright white grid, which allows for a precision fit to any screen, and for quick focus.  Then we have the Projector Installation Menu, which gives four options for the setup location of the projector: Front Table, Rear Table, Front Ceiling, and Rear Ceiling.  Finally, we have Keystone, which opens a sub-menu to adjust the vertical keystone, allowing for square corners on the projected image.

Found in the Display Menu, the first option is Wall Color.  Wall Color adjusts the color output of the BenQ MW535A WXGA Business Projector to compensate for a surface that isn’t white.  The options are Light Yellow, Pink, Light Green, Blue, and Blackboard.  The MW535A is designed for small meeting spaces, which may not have a screen readily available, so this is an extremely convenient option to have.  Teachers will find the Blackboard option is convenient for their classrooms, as it allows the projector to be used directly on their blackboard.

LG HU80KA 4K Home Theater Projector Review – Summary: Summary, Picture Quality, The Competition, The Bottom Line, Pros, Cons

The LG HU80KA will work out as a great first (or maybe even 2^nd) home entertainment/home theater projector, for a whole lot of people.  On the other hand, many of those who are serious enthusiasts, demanding the best overall picture for the money, will probably be looking at some alternatives (more in the competition section below).  Considering everything though, the LG is one impressive projector, as long as your expectations are in line with its strengths.

While I found picture quality to be a bit of a mixed bag, the HU80KA definitely has lots of things really going for it. I forgave my concerns about less perfect color and less than great black levels enough to still award the HU80KA our Hot Product Award.  I even created a new Best In Class award for Innovation.  The HU80KA received that award in our recent Best Home Theater Projectors of 2018,

The HU80KA is as smart as LG’s smart TVs, which is to say very smart.  It makes almost all of the competition come across (when talking “Smart TV type” smarts), as dumb as a rock.  Oh, sure, Optoma has a projector that you can power on and off with Alexa, and Google Assistant (so far), but that’s nothing compared to the HU80KA’s smarts.

The images in the photo player above are a mix of  types and resolutions. The first four are HDTV - 1080i. Then two 1080p movie shots from Blu-ray disc, then four 4K images (Blu-ray UHD disc.)

Those smarts start with a nice collection of apps pre-installed, including Netflix, YouTube, Accuweather, and Hulu.  You can, of course add more.  The projector supports HDMI link so that the remote can control other devices, and vice versa.  This projector even has an input for an antenna to watch broadcast TV.  That’s something LG has on a lot of their small projectors, but its rare, overall, on projectors.  Many of this projector’s smarts aren’t big obvious things, but for a few weeks, I kept being surprised as I discovered more and more capabilities.

And let’s also not forget that the HU80KA is a laser projector – the least expensive 4K UHD one to ship so far, with a list price under $3K!

I’ve got a 1080p movie running as I’m writing this summary. A while ago, it was college football.  Overall I’m pretty pleased with the color handling on the 1080p movies.  Skin tones are very good, in our calibrated Expert (Dark Room) mode.  They aren’t quite so good in the “brightest” mode we selected, with the goal of getting plenty of brightness with as good color as possible, without sacrificing lots of brightness.  In that case, we ended up with around 1100 lumens – not bad for everything, except HDR, where one can almost always appreciate a lot more lumens.

When you need the absolute most brightness, it’s not about choosing a default preset mode, rather, it's all about changing the Color Temp of one of those modes, to “Natural”, which just about doubles the brightness of any mode, but at the expense of good color.  At best, “natural” mode is very thin on reds, and serves up a very goldish caste to most things.  It’s not a particularly pretty gold, more gold/brown. Disappointing.   It can be used for things like sports when there’s too much ambient light. In such cases, less than great color, but with more brightness and pop, is usually superior to not having enough brightness do avoid being washed out.  You don't really want to watch anything with great visuals, with Natural selected. No wonder LG doesn't use Natural as the default Color Temp for any of the Nine preset modes!

The LG HU80KA does clip near whites (turns them into white, losing detail) and also near blacks – so there’s minor loss of dark shadow detail as well.   Clipping the whites seems pretty common on today’s 4K UHD DLP projectors, but it is hardly obvious.

It’s the black level performance that make one wonder why they would set up a dedicated theater for this projector – one that’s really dark, with lots of dark surfaces.  I ask that, because the projector delivers black levels not significantly better than most $600 - $1000 non-4K capable projectors.  It’s when one has a almost fully darkened rooms where the difference in black level performance will have a dramatic impact when viewing very dark scenes.  In such an environment, the HU80KA comes up short.

On the other hand, its much more at home in a family room that has some respectable lighting control, say including dark shades on windows (but not full black out shades).

I’ve been discussing the black level performance, much as I have for just about all (not quite) of the other 4K UHD DLPs, and most lower cost 3LCD projectors we’ve reviewed, by calling them mostly home entertainment projectors, rather than home theater.

Still, even in a living room, with off-white walls, at night, with the lights turned off, you will still see a significant difference between the HU80KA and similar projectors against a competitor with great blacks such as any JVC, or the Epson 6040UB/5040UB models.  Make sense to you?

Serious Home Theater

If you are looking for higher picture quality performance – especially great black levels, one pari of options you’ll be looking at are Epson’s 5040UB and 6040UB (or their expected replacements in a few months), for less money, but lamp based.  The LG will seem a touch sharper at best, and super smart, but black levels, and more accurate color, plus lots of placement flexibility, and support for wide screens (lens memory) are in Epson's favor.  The Epson’s will even be brighter.  At the same list price as the LG, is another lamp based projector – JVC’s RS540 (and X790 version), are now $4000 ($1000 more than the LG), and like the Epsons is a 1920x1080x2 pixel shifter, not as inherently sharp, but even better at black levels, and similar in other ways to the Epson.

Of course the LG blows these others away with its smarts, which I think all projectors should have.  And it can do cool things like project onto a ceiling. And, being more home entertainment, it has an especially respectable built in sound system.  Still, that’s no substitute for a really good external system, but hey, better than other projectors offering even less sound quality – about everyone with a speaker.  The mentioned Epsons and JVCs being more home theater, don’t offer speakers. They assume a good sound system.

Also add to this group, the Acer laser, which is, like the LG, another 4K UHD DLP projector (using the better DLP chip though).  It’s $1000 more (like the JVC) but offers far better black levels than the HU80KA.  That’s the way I would go, if I wanted the sharpness and a laser, and could afford the extra money.  (The Acer’s a bit brighter too). But, the Acer’s like all the others, smarts wise, not to bright, no apps, etc.

I’ll through in one more into this group, sort of.  Epson just launched their new HC4010 and PC4050.  Those are similar to the other Epsons, but lack the excellent black levels, but are at $1999 and $2399 respectively.  I always favor spending the extra few hundred, though, for those UBs, if you are serious.

Home Entertainment competition.

There sure are plenty, starting with some laser 4K UHD projectors – There’s the Dell, which is the most money, and really not geared for home anyway. I don’t really see that as serious competition, but the Optoma UHZ65 is. The Optoma is also more expensive, but a bit brighter.  It even offers better black levels, but not drastically better, definitely closer to the LG, than say, the Epsons.

The Optoma laser projector for the extra money, of course isn’t very smart.

That leaves lamp based 4K UHD lamp based projectors from just over $1000 to $2500.  (There are far more expensive ones from “premium brands” but their not in the same value proposition range – most over $10K).

Of those you can have some basic smarts: Alexa, Google Home, etc. (but no Apps yet, as of this time – but I expect they will have some), with Optoma UHD51A, at $1699.  So, more than $1000 less, slightly better color, slightly better blacks.  BenQ’s HT2550 and TK800, Optoma’s UHD50 Viewsonic’s PX727-4K and PX747-4K are all 4K UHDs that sell between $1000 and $1500, and are typically dumb, but other than the laser, are comparable in picture performance.  Some do an even better job on wide color spaces, despite being lamp based.  Know that if you are willing to give up on all the cool LG aspects, you can go lamp, and save a good $1000.

Then, of course there are 1080p projectors that can’t handle 4K at all.  Some of those offer comparable or even better color and black level performance, but, folks, 4K is here to stay.  With 4K projectors starting well below $1500, if budget allows get something that will handle 4K (with HDR, preferably).

That’s pretty much it.  For more detail on how the HU80KA compares, there’s other commentary in our recently published 2018 Best Home Theater Projectors report , and look for a post CEDIA update, factoring in new projector announcements.

I think the HU80KA is most interesting.  It’s great for moving from room to room, or just setting it up when you want to use it.  All those smarts let it operate like other TVs in your house, rather than like a typical home theater projector, and that’s a plus.

I like that it has great sound (relatively), for a projector, for those moving from room to room, or having that outdoor movie or Monday Night Football party.

After much experimenting, the calibrated best mode, produced some very good but not highly accurate color, does color well enough to please most folks just not those of us, really into best performance.  Brightest modes we’re either not all that much brighter than our selected “best” modes (around 1100 lumens), or one has to switch color temp to its Natural mode, which almost doubles brightness, but color quality is no where near as good – skin tones are more gold, almost no red content – that is, use for sports when there’s too much ambient light, but otherwise stick to the Warm mode, that all the modes default to.

BTW using the mirror – which most folks will, eats up about 7-8% of brightness.

Sharpness – no problem, great on 1080p content, and very sharp on 4K. Watch how you adjust that, and keep it clean.  Evenness of illumination – a lot of DLPs have problems with significant changes in brightness at different parts of the screen.  The HU80KA is also brighter on one side than the other, although barely noticeable, so not a real issue.  Just know some others are better still.

If you have the bucks, want a projector with today’s expected TV smarts, a very good home entertainment projector with lots of capabilities (picture sound and ergonomically), but aren’t demanding the deep black levels expected in serious home theater projectors, then the HU80KA is a good choice, definitely worthy of consideration. Yes you can get similar picture quality in some lamp based HE projectors for about half the price, but that laser engine will save you a replacement bulb or two over many years.

It is my hope that perhaps next year, LG will build on what they have here, and also offer us a very smart more serious home theater projector with much better blacks.  That could compete against the previously mentioned Acer, Epson’s $7000 laser projector, and the better lamp based projectors I’ve mentioned.

This one’s more for my daughter – perhaps that next one will be for me.

• Could definitely be brighter (with good color)
• Black level performance
• Not a good gaming projector: 71ms is considered too slow for fast games
• Wobbly fan motor noise (not very loud)
• Slight unevenness of illumination
• No backlight on the remote control
• No lens shift
• Using the mirror costs some lumens (estimated at 7%)
• Any level of CFI is too much for movies
• Warranty is 1 year parts/labor: Shorter than most projectors near this price
  • No rapid replacement program either

LG HU80KA 4K Home Theater Projector Review – Hardware Page 2: Remote Control and Menus

Meet the LG Magic Remote. They’ve been calling some of their remotes Magic Remotes for some years now best I can tell  Does it employ real magic?  I don’t think so, but it is a gyro type device.  This creates a faster, more precise remote control system than traditional remotes relying on arrow keys or a joystick for navigation.  Long ago, when I was selling projectors online, I was a huge fan of the Gyro Mouse – easily the best remote mousing system around in its day.  I assume that ultimately LG bought or licensed that technology, as it behaves the same.

The remote itself, is about six inches long, slightly tapered, but it’s much deeper at the bottom where all the weight is.  The gyro aspects kick in when you flick your wrist, and then get the remotes cursor up on the screen (default is a teardrop shape).  With a quick flick you can cross from one side of the screen to the other, or almost anywhere in the middle.  I always found the Gyro Mouse to be exceptionally good, and the LG Magic Remote behaves the same way.

Once you get past the pointing aspects, though, like most remotes the LG’s has lots of buttons so let’s see what all those options are:

Let’s start, as usual, from the top.

The Magic remote control

The power button is on the left. Press once to turn on, and when on, press once to turn off.  (LG doesn’t use the usual press twice to power down, as, like many laser projectors, it can be fired back up in a couple of seconds so there’s little harm if someone accidentally powers down. With a lamp based projector you are lucky if you can get your image back in under 2 minutes.

Across from Power is the STB Power button. STB stands for Set Top Box, such as my DirecTV box.  If you have fully configured the projector, one of the features is to have this Magic remote control your set top box, including powering it on, and off. That’s always a convenient improvement, being able to eliminate one more remote.  (Typically you’ll still want that setup box remote around, though for accessing setup and making more complicated settings changes than most smart remotes allow for.)

Still once set up properly, you should be able to shove your set top box into a drawer, and forget about it until something weird happens.

After those two power buttons, comes the numeric keypad part of the LG remote control.  The lower left most key in the keypad, it says –List, and brings up a list of channels. (see photo).

On the other side of the 0, is a icon for a remote, that brings up a menu system along the bottom (can be moved to the top) including: Menu, Guide, controls for players (fwd, back, play, etc. and more.

Directly below the 0, is Audio Mute, and to its left are Volume Up and Down buttons; a + and a -. To the right are the Channel Up and Down controls.  Right below that is the STB menu, if you have configured the projector to work with your set top box. A Home button sits opposite it.  And that brings up the “smart” menu, with apps, inputs, etc. as per this photo

That takes us to main navigation:  The four arrow keys are in a round formation with the Enter button in the center. No surprises there.  Below to the left is the Back button for the menu structure.  Opposite it on the right is the Caption button.

Right below Back is the Picture button which brings up the main projector menu on the right of the screen with small icons.  If you want more than the basic controls for any of those settings (Picture, Sound, Aspect Ratio, projector position, and the lowest button takes you to the expanded menu.

For example, you can select from all the picture modes from the simple pull down on the left, but to adjust color, brightness, contrast and a half dozen more things, you need the expanded menu.  Same is true for other short options on the left, such as the Sound control. The short menu provides about 8 options, relating to controlling the internal speakers, using Bluetooth or DAC (digital audio out) to control external speakers. But in the expanded menu, for example you can select Auto Volume, which automatically adjusts volume as you channels, so you don’t actually end up with a big, unexpected jump in volume.  There’s also AV Sync, should either sound and the picture be slightly delayed compared to the other…

Back to the buttons:

On the right, is the general setup button which, like the Picture button takes you to the menu icons on the right.

Right in the middle there, is a button for selecting the input (TV, HDMI 1, 2, USB, etc.

Almost done.  Next row – four small colored buttons – red, green, yellow, blue – most of you have those same four buttons on whatever Blu-ray or Blu-ray UHD player you own.  They may be used for different purposes, depending on what device you are also controlling.  For example, they could be used for adding, deleting bookmarks, advancing or going back 12 hours in the Guide (that’s a guess, I haven’t tried that, but that’s what the 4 colored buttons do on my DirecTV remote.)

That’s it but for a Play, and Pause button, below, and on the right is a button marked Ratio which is a short cut to the Aspect Ratio short menu on the right (choices such as 16:9, 4:3, zoom and stretch).

And let’s not forget the main Magic menu, which I only mentioned in passing above.

You can see the various apps, and input (left)

And in this image directly above, here’s the Netflix menu once I selected Netflix

Bottom line on the LG remote control.  Overall, pretty awesome, but with one flaw: No backlight.  Overall, this remote works better in the dark than most remotes we encounter without backlights, but we still believe that having a backlight is a key ingredient of a great remote.

I really like the gyro pointing aspects, you can navigate keypads and on screen keyboards faster than with other remotes. That’s a real plus.  Overall, backlight notwithstanding, I can highly recommend the remote’s functionality.