Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Calibration Page Posted on December 12, 2013 By Art Feierman 1. Review: Sony VPL-HW55ES Home Theater Projector - Video Summaries - Basic Description and Sample Image Quality - Sony VPL-HW55ES earns Hot Product Award - Sony VPL-HW55ES Highlights2. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector Special Features - REALITY CREATION - Panel Alignment - 3D Performance3. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector Special Features 2 - TWO TYPES OF 3D GLASSES FOR THIS SONY - Sony Dynamic Iris: Cinema Black Pro - SONY Wireless HDMI Option - Sony Motion Enhancer - Creative Frame Interpolation4. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Hardware Tour - VPL-HW55ES Projector: Starting In The Front - Lens Controls - Sony VPL-HW55ES - Control Panel: VPL-HW55ES - Inputs and Connectors: Sony HW55ES Projector5. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Hardware Tour 2 - Sony Remote Control - Sony VPL-HW55ES Menus6. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector: Image Quality - "Out of the Box" Picture Quality - Sony VPL-HW55 ES Black Level Performance - Descriptions of the Images Above7. Sony VPL-HW55 ES Image Quality 2 - Sony VPL-HW55ES Dark Shadow Detail - Dark Shadow Detail Comparison - Hunger Games8. Sony VPL-HW55ES – Image Quality 3 - Overall Picture Quality and Color - VPL-HW55ES Looks Great on a Wide Range of Scenes - It's the Lighting! Looking "Right" Under Different Lighting Scenarios - Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector For HDTV And Sports9. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Performance - VPL-HW55ES Brightness - Color Temp For Best Mode - Pre Calibration - Post Calibration - Brightness and Color Temp: "Best" Mode: - Effect of the Zoom Lens on Brightness10. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Performance 2 - Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector - Sharpness - Comparative Images For Comparing Perceived Sharpness11. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Performance 3 - VPL-HW55ES Lens Throw and Lens Shift - Image Noise - VPL-HW55ES Picture Mode Comparison: Brightness and Color12. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Calibration Page - A Note on Brightness Measurements - Post Calibration Color Temperature - Grayscale Settings: RGB Adjustments - Adjustments Made to VPL-HW55ES General Picture Settings13. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector Review – Advanced Calibration Information - Why no CMS for the VPL-HW55ES? - Mike's Notes - Sony VPL-HW55ES Calibration Charts14. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector: Warranty - Warranty15. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector: Summary - More Sony VPL-HW55ES Image Examples - VPL-HW55ES Summary: General - Sony HW55ES Brightness16. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Summary 2 - Picture Quality - 3D Performance - The Sony VPL-HW55ES In Your Room - Sony VPL-HW55ES: The Bottom Line17. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Pros and Cons - PROs - CONs18. Sony VPL-HW55ES Full Specifications CALIBRATING THE VPL-HW55ES PROJECTOR: GENERAL CALIBRATION AND GRAYSCALE (RGB) SETTINGS A Note on Brightness MeasurementsNOTE: This Sony VPL-HW55ES was one of the last projectors calibrated before Mike, our calibrator, changed out his equipment. As a result of the new gear, projectors reviewed since are measuring just over 10% higher. When comparing against newer reviews, such as Sony’s own VPL-HW40ES, BenQ’s W7500, etc., add 10% to our HW55ES measurements so that the change in equipment is accounted for. Our brightness numbers were lower than in most other reviews, and now our numbers are slightly more optimistic than others. Post Calibration Color Temperature Color Temp over IRE Range (Post Calibration) 100 IRE (White) 6414 90 6507 80 6504 70 6516 60 6506 50 6488 40 6474 30 6537 20 6516 The color temperature measurements for the VPL-HW55ES, shown above, are repeated from the Performance page, for your convenience. Below find the grayscale settings general settings Mike came up with as part of his calibration. Note that he did not do what we call a quick-cal of the brightest mode. Normally that means taking the brightest mode, and get the most improvement in picture quality without sacrificing significant brightness. In this case, those modes already look impressively good without any fine tuning. Grayscale Settings: RGB Adjustments Grayscale Settings: Custom Color 3 (color temp) Gain Red 3 Green 0 Blue 6 Bias Red 0 Green 0 Blue -3 The grayscale calibration is more than getting the projector to measure out 6500K from brightest to darkest areas. You can still have 6500K color temp, but with way too much or too little green. By having two controls for each color, that split up the bright from the dark areas (on most projectors there is overlap), most projectors can calibrate in a narrow range, typically 100K color temp to 400K color temp from 100 IRE down to 20 IRE. This Sony had no trouble working the whole range with total variation of only 123K. Stellar. Better still, the Sony averages about 6490K. That’s a wow. There is no advanced calibration page for our subscribers, for this Sony projector. As Mike indicated above, the color space was essentially dead on. Can’t ask for more than that. Plug in our settings see what they do. The changes will not be dramatic. Adjustments Made to VPL-HW55ES General Picture Settings General Picture Settings – After Calibration: Numbers in ( ) are Default Setting: Reference TV Cinema Film 1 Cinema Film 2 User Contrast (90) (90) (90) (90) (90) Brightness (50) (50) 51 (50) (50) (50) Color (50) (50) 53 (50) (50) Tint (50) (50) (50) (50) (50) Color Temp (D65) (D65) (D65) (D55) (D65) Color Space (BT.709) Color Space 1) Color Space 3) Color Space 3) (BT.709) Gamma (Off) (2.4) Gamma 8 Off Off Iris (Off) Auto Fill Auto Fill Auto Limited (Off) General Picture Settings – After Calibration: Numbers in ( ) are Default Setting: Photo Bright Cinema Bright TV Game Contrast (90) 90 (Max) (90) (90) (Max) Brightness (50) 51 50 50 50 Color (50) (55) (55) (55) Tint (50) (50) (50) (50) Color Temp (D55) (D75) (D75) (D55) Color Space (BT.709) Color Space 3) Color Space 2) Color Space 3) Gamma (Off) (9) (10) (9) Iris (Manual 50) Off Off Off Impressive, most of the settings proved to be dead on. That is, most remained on their default settings, post calibration. There are nine different modes, so we had to brake down the settings info into two separate tables. User is the calibrated mode, those are Mike’s settings. Mike explains the Color Space accuracy below. Mike’s thoughts on the VPL-HW55ES projector: As was the case with last year’s HW50ES, a number of modes are almost identical when it comes to default grayscale. Reference, Cinema Film 1, TV and User modes all have roughly the same RGB balance that is excellent right out of the box. Red and blue are slightly low, but that’s about it. The RGB balance is also consistent across the entire IRE range. The out-of-the-box grayscale is so good that if you switch back and forth between the calibrated User mode and Reference, they look the same to a naked eye. The User mode calibrated so well that Delta E was 0.5 or less from 30 to 90 IRE, rising only to 1.6 at 20 IRE and 2.0 at 100 IRE. Even before calibration, Delta E was only 2.8 at 100 IRE. These are the best default and calibrated grayscales I’ve seen to date. Uniformity is generally good, with only some red tinting along the sides of an all white screen that’s not noticeable in normal scenes. As far as picture quality is concerned, the different color spaces used by TV and Cinema Film 1 make for more saturated colors, but are less accurate. As usual, Sony provides a range of color spaces that tend to make a CMS unnecessary. BT.709 is about as close as you can get pretty close to the Rec. 709 standard. Color Space 1, 2 and 3 expand the gamut to varying degrees, with Wide 3 being the largest gamut of the three. There’s really not much to say about the picture quality other than it looks great. This is easily the most “plug-and-play” projector I’ve seen. You get almost 1000 lumens calibrated with accurate colors and decent blacks. I have one thing to add to Mike’s dissertation above. The red tinting would be the usual panel mis-convergence. However, Mike did not align the panels, I did that after he returned the projector. With the controls I was truly surprised by how effective it was. The red edge was effectively gone, even viewing the screen from a foot away. 1. Review: Sony VPL-HW55ES Home Theater Projector - Video Summaries - Basic Description and Sample Image Quality - Sony VPL-HW55ES earns Hot Product Award - Sony VPL-HW55ES Highlights2. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector Special Features - REALITY CREATION - Panel Alignment - 3D Performance3. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector Special Features 2 - TWO TYPES OF 3D GLASSES FOR THIS SONY - Sony Dynamic Iris: Cinema Black Pro - SONY Wireless HDMI Option - Sony Motion Enhancer - Creative Frame Interpolation4. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Hardware Tour - VPL-HW55ES Projector: Starting In The Front - Lens Controls - Sony VPL-HW55ES - Control Panel: VPL-HW55ES - Inputs and Connectors: Sony HW55ES Projector5. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Hardware Tour 2 - Sony Remote Control - Sony VPL-HW55ES Menus6. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector: Image Quality - "Out of the Box" Picture Quality - Sony VPL-HW55 ES Black Level Performance - Descriptions of the Images Above7. Sony VPL-HW55 ES Image Quality 2 - Sony VPL-HW55ES Dark Shadow Detail - Dark Shadow Detail Comparison - Hunger Games8. Sony VPL-HW55ES – Image Quality 3 - Overall Picture Quality and Color - VPL-HW55ES Looks Great on a Wide Range of Scenes - It's the Lighting! Looking "Right" Under Different Lighting Scenarios - Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector For HDTV And Sports9. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Performance - VPL-HW55ES Brightness - Color Temp For Best Mode - Pre Calibration - Post Calibration - Brightness and Color Temp: "Best" Mode: - Effect of the Zoom Lens on Brightness10. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Performance 2 - Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector - Sharpness - Comparative Images For Comparing Perceived Sharpness11. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Performance 3 - VPL-HW55ES Lens Throw and Lens Shift - Image Noise - VPL-HW55ES Picture Mode Comparison: Brightness and Color12. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Calibration Page - A Note on Brightness Measurements - Post Calibration Color Temperature - Grayscale Settings: RGB Adjustments - Adjustments Made to VPL-HW55ES General Picture Settings13. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector Review – Advanced Calibration Information - Why no CMS for the VPL-HW55ES? - Mike's Notes - Sony VPL-HW55ES Calibration Charts14. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector: Warranty - Warranty15. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector: Summary - More Sony VPL-HW55ES Image Examples - VPL-HW55ES Summary: General - Sony HW55ES Brightness16. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Summary 2 - Picture Quality - 3D Performance - The Sony VPL-HW55ES In Your Room - Sony VPL-HW55ES: The Bottom Line17. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Pros and Cons - PROs - CONs18. Sony VPL-HW55ES Full Specifications Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Performance 3 Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector Review – Advanced Calibration Information