Sony VPL-VWPRO1 Projector – Performance

Sony VPL-VWPRO1 Brightness

The Sony VPL-VWPRO1 (HW20a) projector brightness numbers below were recorded by Mike before and after calibration. They were taken using a full production VWPRO1 projector.

Note that User 1 is identical to Dynamic (to start), and User 3, identical to Cinema. (yes, User 2 is identical to Standard.)

Above, however, we are showing User 3, after Mike made the simple (and highly recommended) change of the color temp setting to Low, so those numbers are dissimilar from the default Cinema mode. Note there is a drop in lumens, and a huge drop in color temp, to a much better looking range around 7000K down from mid-8000K.

As noted on the first page of this review, a “best mode” with an average color temp around 9000 is not a good thing!

But, change that one setting – Color Temp to Low, and bingo, though still touch cool (compared to drastically so), but a good looking “brightest mode”.

Before we talk post calibration, let’s also consider the Sony projector’s iris. It not only has two dynamic settings, and off, but can be put into a manual mode, for those not wanting the dynamic feature. Here are the effects of the different settings:

Notice, that when in manual mode, the iris does not measure quite as bright as OFF or the “auto” (dynamic iris) modes.

Our “quick-calibration” of Dynamic mode ( which is designed to improve color as much as possible without sacrificing a lot of lumens), yielded 982 lumens, compared to 1044 lumens before Mike’s adjustments. Tell you the truth, though, the Sony color looks pretty good before Mike’s “quick-cal”. In other words, if you should need every last lumen, the Sony’s default, with Color Temp at 4, will get you by, when the ambient light is threatening.

User 3 – our calibrated Cinema mode, measures a whopping 763 lumens. Only two models ago, Sony was barely able to put out 400 lumens. Talk about stepping up! With mid-700 lumens, this Sony now is far brighter than the Epson UB’s it once couldn’t match, and it should be every bit as bright as the new JVC that is squarely in its price range, the HD250.

Here’s the post calibration color measurements. Not the tightest we’ve seen, and the Sony VW-PRO1 does have whites that are a touch cool, while the darkest ranges 20 IRE and below shift the other way, a touch too warm. With roughly a 525K spread, it still remains well balanced, even if we’ve reviewed other projectors that have calibrated the whole range within 200K. The bottom line is the picture quality, and the color looks really, really good, and natural! One might say “a sweet ride”.