Sony VPL-VW665ES 4K Projector: Picture Quality 3

HDTV and Sports Viewing on the Sony VPL-VW665ES

I have watched HDTV and various sports using either Bright Cinema mode or Bright TV, they are slightly different, but both have more intentional “pop” than Reference (or Cinema).  I preferred either for my sports viewing as I always have some ambient light present.  This Sony is very bright, but it’s still not a real “bright room” projector.   I switched back and forth between Bright TV and the unadjusted Reference mode, and for almost everything (except maybe sports), if my room is fully darkened, Reference is what I preferred..

Based on our measurements, this Sony VPL-VW665ES projector measured over 1500 lumens at its brightest, which is more than enough to tackle a fair amount of controlled ambient lighting in your home theater.  It’s a basic “light canon” compared to most projectors a few years ago.  By today’s home theater standards its still very bright but there are now a lot of projectors pushing 1500-2000 lumens, primarily so that they have enough “horsepower” for decently bright 3D.

Please keep in mind that the VW665ES is bright enough to leave the home theater for some media or living rooms, the overall performance really does make you want to have a proper theater.  That said, I imagine the rich and famous can afford to put one of these anywhere they choose, and honestly, I wouldn’t be opposed to having 4K for sports viewing, in other rooms.  Still, if you have a bright room that can get pretty dark but can’t be fully darkened, the also new, but less expensive VW365ES probably makes a bit more sense.  The VW665ES will have better blacks, but if that room isn’t really darkened, you probably wouldn’t notice.

Bright TV mode seems a bit cooler in color temp than Reference, perhaps 7000K.  That’s nice because many of us favor a slightly cooler image for things like sports, finding 6500K to have just a tad too much red.

All the images above are 1080i shooting content from DirecTV.  One thing to note about that:  When I pause to shoot, the projector (as is normal) shows only one of the two interlaced frames, so the image upon really close inspection has some jaggies, and less real resolution than 1080p content.  The last two images above, however are 4K (and a closeup) from my 4K media player, just for your comparison. OK, skateboarding isn’t exactly football, but it is “sports.”

4K Picture Quality of the Sony VW665ES

Taking 4K content to the next level of viewing pleasure is what a good true 4K projector is all about.  The Sony is capable of displaying a rather glorious picture.  Some of the scenery shots, when viewed live on my 124″ screen, are basically – breathtaking.  Talk about “wow” factor.

This batch of images above are all from 4K source material coming off my Sony Media Player, most of the content was downloaded from the 4K Video Service, but some are from 4K files that I loaded from USB thumb drive into the media player.

In most cases you are seeing almost the full frame of an image, then a close up.  The close up was zoomed into optically, but I also saved those close shots at 2000 pixels across instead of the usual 1000 so you can take a close look at the sharpness.

It really is a challenge appreciating what the Sony is capable of, by looking at these images, viewing them on your computer or tablet, (or mine) just doesn’t do the Sony projector justice – not even close.

Still, enjoy them.  You can at least get a pretty good handle on the sharpness of true 4K content, compared to mere 1080p, such as the images below.

1080p (and 1080i) Content on the VW665ES

No surprises really on 1080p content. Smooth looking, natural colors, Reference mode is in no way over the top, although if you favor some extra pop, those HDTV images were taken with modest ambient light with Bright Cinema or Bright TV modes.

Being 4K, the Sony can take 1080 images and provide 4X the pixels. Then Reality Creation can create a sharper, perhaps more detailed seeming, image.  Image processing done on the better 1080p projectors, especially the pixel shifting ones, can appear to be about the same sharpness on 1080p content, but to get that comparable “sharpness,” as in the case of the LS10000, the image gets a little hard – less natural.  The JVCs by comparison never really rivaled the older VW600ES is perceived sharpness (nor the Epson).

VPL-VW665ES: Overall Picture Quality