Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Hardware Tour 2 Posted on March 4, 2014 By Art Feierman 1. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Home Theater Projector - VPL-VW600ES Overview - Highlights of the Sony VW600ES Projector2. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector – Special Features - VW600ES offers true 4K Ultra-HD resolution - Multi-functional Dynamic iris on VW600ES - Reality Creation3. Sony VPL-VW600 ES 4K Projector: Special Features 2 - CFI - Creative Frame Interpolation on the VW600 ES - Auto Calibration - VPL-VW600 ES Panel Alignment - Gamma Control - Blanking - Instead of Overscan or Masking4. Sony VPL-VW600 ES 4K Projector: Hardware Tour - Hardware Overview: Sony VPL-VW600ES Projector - VPL-VW600ES Control Panel - Inputs and Connectors - VPL-VW600 ES Projector - Sony VPL-VW600ES Menus5. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Hardware Tour 2 - VPL-VW600ES Remote Control - VPL-VW600 ES 4K Media Player - Sony Xperia Tablet for VW600ES6. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Picture Quality - Out of the Box Picture Quality - VPL-VW600ES Handling of Skin Tones - Skin Tones Depend on Lighting - Sony VPL-VW600 ES Black Level Comparison7. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Picture Quality 2 - VPL-VW600ES Dark Shadow Detail Handling8. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Picture Quality 3 - HDTV and Sports Viewing on the Sony VPL-VW600ES - Overall Picture Quality of the Sony VW600ES9. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Performance - VPL-VW1100ES - Modes Brightness and Color Temp - Pre Calibration - Color Temp Readings for Reference Mode - VPL-VW600ES Post Calibration Color Temp and Brightness - Eco-Mode: Affect on Brightness, Power Consumption - Sony VPL-VW600ES Lens Position - Affect on Brightness10. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Performance 2 - VPL-VW600ES 4K and Sharpness Demonstration - Additional Sharpness / Detail Images - Sharpness and Detail - VPL-VW600ES Lens Throw Information11. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Performance 3 - Lens Shift Range - Image Noise - Audible Noise12. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector Warranty13. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector – Calibration - Sony VPL-VW600ES General Settings - VPL-VW600ES Grayscale Calibration14. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector – Advanced Calibration Information - Color Management Settings (CMS) - Mike's Notes - Calibration Charts (Before and After)15. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector – Summary - The VW600ES is not just about 4K! - VPL-VW600ES Brightness16. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Summary 2 - The Very Bottom Line: Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector17. Sony VPL-VW600ES Projector Specifications VPL-VW600ES PROJECTOR – HARDWARE TOUR, Page 2: Remote Control, 4K Media Player, Sony Android Tablet VPL-VW600ES Remote ControlThe Sony VW600ES comes with a typical Sony remote. It’s long, and relatively narrow, has a curved back so it fits the hand well. Sony varies the buttons slightly from projector to projector so here goes, from the top. Top right has the green power button. It’s the usual: Press once to power up (which takes about a minute), press twice to power off. Next to it is the input button, which by pressing more than once toggles you though the choices. To it’s left is the backlight button. The Sony remote control – RM-PJ24 – has a blue led backlight. Personally, I think it could be a little brighter, but with a little squinting, I can read the text on the buttons in a fully darkened room. Below those buttons is a matrix of three rows by three, which serve up the eight pre-set color (picture) modes, and the User mode. Underneath those, there are three larger buttons across, for lens control. From the left is Power Focus, then Power Zoom, and Power Lens Shift. They all work in conjunction with the up/down/left/right navigation buttons. Speaking of the navigation buttons, the four arrow keys, arranged in a round formation, surround an enter button in the middle. Three curved buttons are outside of the navigation ones. They are Position – which is the Lens Memory area, Reset (don’t worry, you have to confirm before Reset works, and the one at the bottom is the Menu button. Further down the remote, is another 3 x 3 matrix of buttons. This time the buttons provide dirt access to the key feature menus. From top left to right, then 2nd, 3rd rows: Aspect Ratio, MotionFlow, and 3D Color Space, Color Temp, and Reality Creation Gamma Correction, Contrast Enhancer, and Advanced (dynamic) Iris. We’re almost done, with only three left, and those are each rocker buttons, from the left: Sharpness (+/-), Brightness (+/-), and Contrast (+/-). That’s it. Good remote, very good range. My only two complaints – already mentioned is that the blue backlight could be slightly brighter. The other is that I do prefer having separate buttons for the different inputs. Neither is a serious complaint. Click Image to EnlargeVPL-VW600 ES 4K Media PlayerThe 4K server is round, almost one foot diameter. And it’s part of the Soy VW600ES projector package. It stands about three inches tall. There is no keyboard or display, instead Sony supplies one of their Android tablets. The Sony 4K Media Player – the FMP-X1, has a power switch, USB and an SD card slot, along with indicator lights for network and hard drive, along the front and sides. The back has a recessed area with HDMI outputs, and a jack to plug in the DC power from the included power brick. If I have a complaint, there’s no separate Digital Audio Output, which would come in handy for a lot of setup. In my theater, as an example, I had to output HDMI from the Media Player to the switcher, so I could extract the digital audio output and feed it directly into my audio system. Well, if you can afford this projector, you can certainly afford a couple of low cost switch boxes if needed. The only concern is to make sure the switcher can handle the 4K HDMI. Ultimately we want HDMI 2.0. What it’s all about is working with Sony’s new 4K download service. I didn’t bother to count but there are probably 20 movies and several dozen assorted other pieces of content. Sony of course has the Sony Pictures library and other partners, so expect the content to grow quickly. Sony just released Ender’s Game to Blu-ray, and they have it on their 1080p service, but I was disappointed that I couldn’t download and watch in 4K. The CGI is impressive. Ender’s Game is one of my all time favorite sci-fi books. The movie’s pretty good, but doesn’t begin to do the book justice. Getting the Media Player up and running isn’t too complicated, as Sony provides a very respectable step by step setup guide. I did have to update an app, but they anticipated that as well. Sony Xperia Tablet for VW600ESI’ll get back to you on using the tablet. I’ve been on vacation writing up most of this review, and I want to spend some more time, and have the tablet and media player in front of me when I go into some detail. The Sony tablet itself has a very large screen. It uses wifi to talk to the media player. Click Image to Enlarge 1. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Home Theater Projector - VPL-VW600ES Overview - Highlights of the Sony VW600ES Projector2. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector – Special Features - VW600ES offers true 4K Ultra-HD resolution - Multi-functional Dynamic iris on VW600ES - Reality Creation3. Sony VPL-VW600 ES 4K Projector: Special Features 2 - CFI - Creative Frame Interpolation on the VW600 ES - Auto Calibration - VPL-VW600 ES Panel Alignment - Gamma Control - Blanking - Instead of Overscan or Masking4. Sony VPL-VW600 ES 4K Projector: Hardware Tour - Hardware Overview: Sony VPL-VW600ES Projector - VPL-VW600ES Control Panel - Inputs and Connectors - VPL-VW600 ES Projector - Sony VPL-VW600ES Menus5. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Hardware Tour 2 - VPL-VW600ES Remote Control - VPL-VW600 ES 4K Media Player - Sony Xperia Tablet for VW600ES6. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Picture Quality - Out of the Box Picture Quality - VPL-VW600ES Handling of Skin Tones - Skin Tones Depend on Lighting - Sony VPL-VW600 ES Black Level Comparison7. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Picture Quality 2 - VPL-VW600ES Dark Shadow Detail Handling8. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Picture Quality 3 - HDTV and Sports Viewing on the Sony VPL-VW600ES - Overall Picture Quality of the Sony VW600ES9. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Performance - VPL-VW1100ES - Modes Brightness and Color Temp - Pre Calibration - Color Temp Readings for Reference Mode - VPL-VW600ES Post Calibration Color Temp and Brightness - Eco-Mode: Affect on Brightness, Power Consumption - Sony VPL-VW600ES Lens Position - Affect on Brightness10. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Performance 2 - VPL-VW600ES 4K and Sharpness Demonstration - Additional Sharpness / Detail Images - Sharpness and Detail - VPL-VW600ES Lens Throw Information11. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Performance 3 - Lens Shift Range - Image Noise - Audible Noise12. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector Warranty13. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector – Calibration - Sony VPL-VW600ES General Settings - VPL-VW600ES Grayscale Calibration14. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector – Advanced Calibration Information - Color Management Settings (CMS) - Mike's Notes - Calibration Charts (Before and After)15. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector – Summary - The VW600ES is not just about 4K! - VPL-VW600ES Brightness16. Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Summary 2 - The Very Bottom Line: Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector17. Sony VPL-VW600ES Projector Specifications Sony VPL-VW600 ES 4K Projector: Hardware Tour Sony VPL-VW600ES 4K Projector: Picture Quality