Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Performance 2 Posted on December 7, 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 SONY VPL-HW55ES PERFORMANCE PAGE 2 EFFECT OF IRIS, SHARPNESS, IMAGE NOISE Effect Of Iris Settings On Lumen Output (Brightness) Auto Fill 944 Auto Limited 673 Manual (Maximum opening) 843 Manual (50% open) 673 Manual (Minimum opening) 422 Column Content 944 As discussed in the Special Features section, this Sony projector has a dynamic iris. One that can be used dynamically – adjusting frame by frame to the scene changes, and manual, where it can be used to lower overall brightness. (Do you have a smaller screen?) There’s more though, and that’s one of three reason’s this iris design is impressive. Note the Auto Limited mode. This works just like regular dynamic iris function (Auto Fill) but you can limit how open the iris gets. Thus the home theater owner with a 90 inch 1.3 gain screen, who might find 950+ lumens calibrated a bit too bright, can still get the dynamic iris affect on black levels, while gaining the advantage of limiting overall brightness like a normal manual iris. Well done! (In fairness, this is nothing new for Sony ES series projectors.) The third strength of this iris is its iris action. I don’t know that it’s smoother than the Epsons, for example, but both are pretty smooth, rarely noticeable except on unusual content, and things like flashing credits. Bottom Line, the VPL-HW55ES projector has a flexible, well designed iris, and delivers deep blacks on dark scenes that rival anything at or around the price, and better than a number of more expensive projectors. Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector - Sharpness I never touched the Sharpness control. Reality Creation is much smarter. If you missed the section on Reality Creation in Special Features, check it out. I’ve picked out a few images for your consideration. The first two, however deal with Reality Creation itself, showing the difference on an image between off, and a modest setting of 20. 20 is the setting for all of these images except the football image where it was set for 50. All 3 panel/chip projectors (including 3 chip DLP projectors) have some degree of misconvergence, which is why single chip DLP projectors are known to be the sharpest (assuming good lens, good optical design of the projector). The combination of Sony’s excellent panel alignment solution (which truly impressed me), and the thoughtful use of Reality Creation, however, could easily fool you to think that you are looking at a single chip DLP projector. In some cases it might even look sharper. As noted previously, we’re not actually seeing more detail, but rather the impression of that, which if the eye can’t discriminate between those two, is effectively just as good. The bottom line, is that Reality Creation which is very “smart” in analyzing and improving the image, gives you a sense of clarity, without a noticeable loss of naturalness to the image, when used properly! Below is our usual very close up look as some of the Sony PS3 start up screen icons. Enjoy! Comparative Images For Comparing Perceived SharpnessThe Sony VPL-HW55ES with Reality Creation on 20, Sharpness at 0Epson Pro Cinema 4030Runco LS7 (3 chip 720p DLP)Optoma HD8300JVC DLA-X55RPanasonic PT-AE8000USony VPL-VW1000ES (true 4K)PreviousNext The reference image rotating through will be the one where the icons are very green, that’s the true 4K resolution Sony VPL-VW1000ES projector at roughly 6 times the price. Others of interest: The perceived sharpness of this Sony is really second only to that true 4K Sony projector. How’s that for impressive! 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 Sony VPL-HW55ES Projector – Performance 3