Sony VPL-HW10 Projector Calibration Posted on October 21, 2013 By Art Feierman 1. Sony VPL-HW10 Projector Review - VPL-HW10 Projector Highlights - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector Overview - Sony VPL-HW10 Special Features - SXRD (LCoS) Panels - Iris Modes - Panel Adjustment2. Sony VPL-HW10 Projector – Physical Tour - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector - Appearance - VPL-HW10 Control Panel - Input/Output - VPL-HW10 Menus - Sony VPL-HW10 Remote Control3. Sony VPL-HW10 Projector – Physical Tour1 - Sony VPL HW10 Lens Throw - Lens Shift - Anamorphic Lens - Sony VPL-HW10 - Image Quality - Sony VPL-HW10 Out of the Box Picture Quality - VPL-HW10 Flesh Tones - VPL-HW10 Projector Black Levels & Shadow Detail4. Sony VPL-HW10 – Image Quality5. Sony VPL-HW10 – Image Quality2 - Shadow Detail Performance6. Sony VPL-HW10 – Image Quality37. Sony VPL-HW10 – Image Quality48. Sony VPL-HW10 – Image Quality5 - VPL-HW10 Bottom Line: Shadow details - Sony VPL-HW10 Overall Color & Picture Quality - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector: Performance, HDTV and Sports9. Sony VPL-HW10 – Performance - Sony VPL HW10 Brightness - Sony VPL-HW10 Sharpness10. Sony VPL-HW10 – Performance1 - Sony VPL-HW10: Bottom Line Sharpness - Light Leakage - Image Noise - Audible Noise11. Sony VPL-HW10 Projector Calibration - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector - Color Temperature - Basic Settings - - Sony VPL HW10 Post Calibration Grayscale12. Sony VPL-HW10 Projector Calibration1 - RGB Settings - CIE Chart: - Typical CIE Chart13. Sony VPL-HW10 – Projector Screens - VPL-HW10 Projector Screen Recommendations:14. Sony VPL-HW10 – Competitors - VPL-HW10 vs. Epson Home Cinema 1080 UB - Sony VPL-HW10 vs. Mitsubishi HC7000 - Sony VPL-HW10 vs. Sanyo PLV-Z3000 - Sony VPL-HW10 vs. Panasonic PT-AE300015. Sony VPL-HW10 – Competitors1 - Sony VPL-HW10 vs. Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB and Pro Cinema 7500 UB - VPL-HW10 vs. InFocus IN83 - VPL-HW10 vs. JVC DLA-RS1x, DLA-RS2 DLA-RS10 and DLA-RS20 - Sony VPL-HW10 - Warranty16. Sony VPL-HW10 – Review Summary - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector: Bottom Line - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector: Pros, Cons, and Typical Capabilities - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector: Pros - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector: Cons - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector: Typical Capabilities 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. Sony VPL-HW10 Projector - Color TemperatureLet’s start by looking at the color temperature range from white to dark gray, as measured in best (Cinema) mode, right out of the box, without any adjustments. Here are the measurements: 30 IRE (dark gray) 6915K 50 IRE (medium gray) 6820K 80 IRE (light gray) 6630K 100 IRE(white) 6502K Not bad at all, just a little cool, in the medium to dark ranges. Below we get into the various settings and adjustments, and report on the grayscale balance, post calibration. Basic SettingsIn 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), should be done first. Color saturation and gamma also need to be adjusted. With some projectors even Tint comes into play, although with most, the Tint control only works with the lower quality inputs (composite and S-video). Our settings (numbers in parens are the default numbers): Gamma Gamma 3 (averages an ideal 2.2 gamma) (gamma 1: 2.0, gamma 2: 1.9) Contrast 90 (90) Brightness 50 (50) Lamp Mode Standard (unless noted otherwise) Iris On (we have it off for brightness measurements but on for movie watching) Color Saturation 47 (50) Hue 50 (50) Zoom at mid-range, All other settings at default As you can see, Sony nailed the Contrast and Brightness with their default settings Sony VPL HW10 Post Calibration GrayscaleThe only downside to calibrating the projector, is that you cannot choose to start the calibration from the defaults used for Cinema mode. There are 3 Custom areas, and each starts with a different color temp, but none is as low as the Cinema default, which creates a small problem. When calibrating the Sony HW10, white (100 IRE), basically isn’t affected by the individual RGB Contrast (gain) or Brightness (offset) controls. As a result of that, everything looks really great after calibration, right around 6500K, except for white, which is up around 6900K. This is a small shift, where it doesn’t seem to have significant effect. The end result of our calibration: White (100 IRE) 6956K Light gray (80 IRE) 6464K Medium gray (50 IRE) 6541K Dark gray (30 IRE) 6541K We normally just report on those 4 levels of grays, but for this review, here are the measurements of one additional level – 90 IRE – which measured 6412K. As you can see, as soon as you drop down from white (100 IRE), the measurements are all very close to the ideal 6500K. The inability to have any real effect on white, may not be absolute. We do not calibrate the individual colors – which is the next level of calibration. it’s possible that a professional calibrator who gets into that area can knock down the very slight shift to blue of pure white. Bottom line: While we often get much better post calibration measurements than the Sony (just due to the high value on 100 IRE), based on extensive viewing of the Sony, this slight shift is not impacting the overall image quality in any significant way. 1. Sony VPL-HW10 Projector Review - VPL-HW10 Projector Highlights - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector Overview - Sony VPL-HW10 Special Features - SXRD (LCoS) Panels - Iris Modes - Panel Adjustment2. Sony VPL-HW10 Projector – Physical Tour - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector - Appearance - VPL-HW10 Control Panel - Input/Output - VPL-HW10 Menus - Sony VPL-HW10 Remote Control3. Sony VPL-HW10 Projector – Physical Tour1 - Sony VPL HW10 Lens Throw - Lens Shift - Anamorphic Lens - Sony VPL-HW10 - Image Quality - Sony VPL-HW10 Out of the Box Picture Quality - VPL-HW10 Flesh Tones - VPL-HW10 Projector Black Levels & Shadow Detail4. Sony VPL-HW10 – Image Quality5. Sony VPL-HW10 – Image Quality2 - Shadow Detail Performance6. Sony VPL-HW10 – Image Quality37. Sony VPL-HW10 – Image Quality48. Sony VPL-HW10 – Image Quality5 - VPL-HW10 Bottom Line: Shadow details - Sony VPL-HW10 Overall Color & Picture Quality - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector: Performance, HDTV and Sports9. Sony VPL-HW10 – Performance - Sony VPL HW10 Brightness - Sony VPL-HW10 Sharpness10. Sony VPL-HW10 – Performance1 - Sony VPL-HW10: Bottom Line Sharpness - Light Leakage - Image Noise - Audible Noise11. Sony VPL-HW10 Projector Calibration - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector - Color Temperature - Basic Settings - - Sony VPL HW10 Post Calibration Grayscale12. Sony VPL-HW10 Projector Calibration1 - RGB Settings - CIE Chart: - Typical CIE Chart13. Sony VPL-HW10 – Projector Screens - VPL-HW10 Projector Screen Recommendations:14. Sony VPL-HW10 – Competitors - VPL-HW10 vs. Epson Home Cinema 1080 UB - Sony VPL-HW10 vs. Mitsubishi HC7000 - Sony VPL-HW10 vs. Sanyo PLV-Z3000 - Sony VPL-HW10 vs. Panasonic PT-AE300015. Sony VPL-HW10 – Competitors1 - Sony VPL-HW10 vs. Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB and Pro Cinema 7500 UB - VPL-HW10 vs. InFocus IN83 - VPL-HW10 vs. JVC DLA-RS1x, DLA-RS2 DLA-RS10 and DLA-RS20 - Sony VPL-HW10 - Warranty16. Sony VPL-HW10 – Review Summary - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector: Bottom Line - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector: Pros, Cons, and Typical Capabilities - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector: Pros - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector: Cons - Sony VPL-HW10 Projector: Typical Capabilities Sony VPL-HW10 – Performance1 Sony VPL-HW10 Projector Calibration1