Sony VPL-VW90ES Projector – Physical Tour – 1

Posted on October 21, 2013 By Art Feierman

Sony VPL-VW90ES Remote Control

This remote for the 90ES is almost the same one they switched to last year. In fact it is the same but for the addition of two more buttons. I like this remote. It’s a big one, very long. The backlight is a deep LED blue, with reasonably good visibility of the letters on the buttons.

Since this remote is essentially the same except for the addition of two new buttons, most of this content is borrowed from our Sony review of last year.:

This layout is now, perhaps my all time favorite remote control, at least of all the remotes I’ve worked with while reviewing home theater projectors. Keep in mind that I spend a lot of time using remotes, as I try out different settings. As a result, my usage is a lot different than the typical owner, but I still think everyone should find this to be an excellent remote control.

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I should note, this is one large remote – measuring a full 10 inches in length. Also of note, a few of the keys do glow dimly, so with some difficulty, you can find it in a fully darkened room. That may sound minor, but, I got so frustrated over the last year plus, with my remotes for my two Sony PS3s, when trying to locate them when the lights are off, that I finally put a couple of day-glow stickers on both of them.

Let’s start at the top, and work our way down…

Top right is a green power switch. It uses the standard protocol of Press once to power up, Press twice, to power down. Next to it, is the Input button allowing you to toggle through the different sources. To its left, is the Light button, that turns on the blue LED lights that illuminate the buttons..

The next two rows are for the six Picture modes: Cinema, Standard, and Dynamic, pluse User 1, 2, and 3.

Because this Sony remote can control other Sony Bravia devices such as Blu-ray players and camcorders, you will next find a full set of playback controls, such as play, fast forward, next/previous chapter, pause, etc.

Also included in that section are the Sync Menu and Options buttons, to define and select those other Bravia devices. Different options are available depending on the devices. This whole control section only works when the compatible Bravia devices are hooked up via HDMI 1 or HDMI 2.

Next comes the main navigation section. It consists of the usual four arrow keys (in a round configuration), with a center Enter button.

Surrounding the navigation area are three buttons in a larger circle. The one to the upper left brings up the Lens functions (focus, zoom, lens shift). The bottom one is the Menu button to launch the menus, and the top right one is the Reset button. Personally, I find large Reset buttons located near navigation to be scary. Nothing worse than, “oops” I just reset everything.” Still there is a confirm function, but, pay attention!

Below the navigation area are five buttons that provide direct access to some of the more frequently selected controls: Gamma, Black Level settings, Advanced Iris, Color Space, and Color Temp.

Next comes the two new buttons, the left one labeled Film Projection, and the other Motion Enhancer.

Then there’s a decent space, and three more buttons. On the left, is Wide Mode, which lets you toggle through different aspect ratios, RCP, which is Sony’s color management system, and lets you individually tune each primary and secondary color. Note; We do not work with this section as part of our own “basic” grayscale calibration of the VW90ES. Most likely, if you hire a good professional calibrator, they will adjust the individual colors, as well as the grayscale balance.

That leaves just six more buttons – actually 3 pairs of direct controls. They are Sharpness, Brightness, and Contrast.

Again, an excellent remote. It is logically laid out, the buttons have a good feel. It fits well in your hand (mine is pretty average sized), and has excellent range.

Sony VPL-VW90ES Lens Throw

The motorized 1.6:1 zoom lens offers a reasonable amount of placement range.. Per the user manual, if you have a 100 inch diagonal 16:9 screen, the lens allows the projector to be placed as close as 10 feet, 1 inch, or as far back as 16 feet 4 inches. That said, the Sony is not going to rear shelf mount in a lot of people’s rooms, due to the relatively shallow maximum distance, compared to most other projectors with 1.5:1 to 2.1:1 zooms. the 90ES can not be placed as far back as most projectors that are rear shelf mountable (has lens shift). Most of the non-DLP competition can be placed as far back as 19 – 21 feet, for the same sized screen.

The bottom line, therefore is while you can of course ceiling mount the VPL-90ES projector, many will not be able to place the Sony on a rear shelf, unless they are using an unusually large screen for a that room size. Let me restate that – you aren’t likely to be able to rear shelf mount unless your room depth is fairly shallow.

Lens Shift

The Sony VPL-90ES has vertical and horizontal lens shift. Both functions are motorized, and controlled from the remote, via the lens button.

For a 100″ screen, the center of the lens can be placed as high as approximately 7.5 inches above the top of your screen surface Actually Sony quotes in their manual, a maximum of 31 – 7/8 inches above the center of the screen, which is about 49.5 inches high, so top of the screen is about 24.3 inches above the center of the screen.