Sony VPL-VW85 Projector – Image Quality 11

The very bottom line on overall image quality and color:

The VPL-VW85 looks great. It’s one of those projectors that just tends to look right, when viewing a lot of different material. It even looks pretty vibrant, within the limits of its overall brightness.

Sony VPL-VW85 Projector: Performance, HDTV and Sports

The picture the VPL-VW85 puts up on the screen looks really good in terms of color. With only a 127 lumen difference between “best” and “brightest”, they are close enough, that if you have good room lighting control, you may choose “best” mode for first class color and skin tones, or you could opt for a brighter image, and lighter gamma (lower number), with our “quick-calibraton” user mode based on Dynamic.

The colors and overall image in “brightest” mode is still rather impressive, and much better than a few far brighter projectors that shift towards green, significantly, to get more lumens on the screen.

That said, brightest mode is dim, compared to most projectors, and many competitors put 50% and some even 100% more lumens on the screen, and most of those others, can produce really good color with lumen measurements in the 1000 – 1300 range. For example, the Epson 9500UB’s Livingroom mode isn’t as good as the Sony’s “brightest” but close enough, that unless the room is fully darkened, virtually everyone would much prefer to watch the Epson, for it’s huge brightness advantage on sports.

HDTV Sport Images:

The first three images were shot in my “testing” room on a Carada Brilliant White screen (1.4 gain), and all lights off. (A cave!) Not the way I like my sports, but, hey, the colors are rich and dynamic, and the Sony looks great.Next we try some ambient light. The two rear recessed lights (65 watt dimmable CFLs), were at 50% brightness in the image immediately below. The projector was set to our “brightest” mode. The front two recessed lights were turned off. Also note, due to where I need to place the VW85 in this room, I was only projecting about a 90 inch diagonal image, which is smaller than most folks have.Below is a photo of the back of the testing room, showing rear lighting (on full). Thanks to medium chocolate colored walls, dark woods, and even a ceiling that is a number of shades darker than off-white, the front of the testing room remains fairly dark, yet, even the recessed, dimmed lights, take a small, but visible toll on a 90″ diagonal image. With this modest lighting, a basic 110 diagonal screen starts to wash out more than I would like to view.