Sony VPL-VW60 Home Theater Projector Review - General Performance-2

Posted on December 10, 2007 by Art Feierman

VW60 User Memory Settings

There are three main user savable settings in the Mode area, in addition to Cinema, Standard, and Dynamic. In addition, there are thre custom settings for Color Temperature. These can be incorporated into the Custom mode settings.

User defined modes will also retain settings for most other controls such as Iris, Gamma, Brightness, Contrast, and more.

Considered together the Sony is more than reasonably flexible, in this regard. No issues.

VW60 Projector - Remote Control

Click to enlarge. SO close

The VPL-VW60 remote control is new, with more buttons and control that the one that accompanied the VW50. Overall, I liked using the remote a great deal. Not my favorite, but very good.

Across the top, from right to left - a green Power button (press once for on, twice for off), in the middle top, the Input select, and on the left, the backlight button (note - none of the buttons on the top row light up).

Next comes two rows of three, mostly image quality controls, from left to right: Color Space, Color Temp, Black Level. On the next row: Gamma, Advanced Iris, and Lens (lens controls focus, zoom and vertical lens shift), and brings up a green test pattern for focusing and placement.

Further down you'll find the reset on the right, and the four arrow keys with center Enter button for menu navigation. Right below that is the wide Menu button itself.

Next, a row of three, with Aspect ratio, RCP (color management) and Adj. Picture, which lets you toggle through most picture settings in order.

After some space, the next row down has three buttons, one for Cinema, Standard, and Dynamic, immediately followed by User 1, 2, and 3, for all your presets.

Lastly there is a row of rocker switches: One each for Sharpness, Brightness, and Contrast.

Buttons are reasonably large, and the remote should work well for even those with really large hands. That's about all I can think of, about the Sony remote.

Click Image to Enlarge

Sony VW60 Lens Throw and Lens Shift

This Sony projector has a 1.8:1 zoom lens, which provides for excellent flexibility. Owners can choose between ceiling mounting or shelf mounting in most rooms. And yes, of course, you can put it on a table.

To fill a 100" screen (16:9 aspect ratio), the closest the VPL-VW60 can sit to the screen is approximately 10 feet, 2 inches, and the furthest back, 17 feet 6 inches.

Considering the 19 inch depth of the projector, and some space behind that, for that 100" screen that works out working in a room of up to about 20 feet deep.

The Sony has motorized vertical lens shift. It will allow the projector (measured at the center of the lens), to be about as high as almost 7 inches above a 100" screen (surface), or as low as 7 inches below the bottom of the screen. The projector also has a very small amount of horizontal lens shift, which is set manually. This is enough if you have to mount the Sony just slightly off center, or if your measurements were off slightly. This differs from other projectors with horizontal lens shift, most of which have significant range. The adjustment is not handy, rather designed to be accessed by your installer, if needed. I better also mention that some Sony materiels, notably the first brochure, incorrectly state that the horizontal lens shift is 25% (which would be significant). Consider yourselves warned!