I'm very curious how the Sony VPL-VW100 was dull and put you to sleep? I do not agree not because I own one, but it is because it is to me the best projection on earth money can buy yet, for the price, it puts some ultra expensive projections into pointless investment.

I've not tried as many projectors as many of you did, but through my experience, all aspects of this RUBY (western name) is superb to 3 guns projections, the blacks might not be as good, but come so close many will become lazy to compare.

first of all, the source is the main part to get any projector being reviewed properly. first look at the specs of this killer projector. it is a native resolution, yes, it is absolutely a true 1080i and 1080p projector. the auto iris is so perfect that I'm totally stunned by how good it can show the blacks. and, please, do not review this projector simply by just putting some dvd sources into it. believe it or not, even expensive dvd player (I mean players touches few RMk category) might not be a good source to get this projector to show its full potential.

further more, this projector is so future proof it can last many many years to come! again believe me or not, I've learned that getting a HTPC is one of the best source to get this gem to show off its potential. at first, I was using my new top Pioneer DVD player, and thought that it is pretty good. not at all, this newly bought player has been collecting dust right after I've got my HTPC. And the HTPC must be set to 1080p and must be recognised by the projector as 1080p (please do not ask how I do this). Watching HDTV will stunned anyone, again, I won't use the word impress, stun is better word (please do not ask me where to get HDTV sources too, it is not HD-DVD nor Blueray, but these sources are true HDTV format and can be only played from HTPC, with proper set up). I've quite some collections now of these HDTV movies and documentaries, like Lord Of The Ring, reference documentaries (which can turn your home theater to IMAX, I'm not exaggerating if you believe my review here), even the latest 2006 King Kong, just to name so few. You won't believe how well this projector can show off the power of HDTV if you see it for the first time, the King Kong is thrillingly sharp, again, all aspects of how a dreamer's projector should perform is close to perfect with this projector, some of my guesses described themselves watching a 160" screen HD LCD. Everything is so perfectly projected out that you will believe the projector costs RM350,000 instead of RM35,000. The black level is so good that DLP technology has been giving me an impression it has serious flaws in black level problem. Colour is really good too, as well as contrast and sharpness. I don't describe it as 'film like' what-so-ever, because it will convince many it is 'Imax like' with HD sources. This projector has 800 ansi lumen, but again, do not fooled by the value, I will not convinced even if it is compare to a 2200 ansi lumen DLP. 800 ansi lumen is already 1 time more powerful than the average 3 guns projector, with black level performance comes close to match (have I mention most of the DLPs, even the expensive ones, can't come close?).

ok, back to the point, I will review watching DVD is as impressive as watching HD. Again, I can proof that even the RM3500 Pioneer DVD player is really not good enough to compare playing from a HTPC (provided one knows how to set it up properly). technically I can't explain why here, but believe me, with proper source, this projector is as perfect watching DVD as to watching HD.

so far, I've not seen a projector with DLP projector can be as good at all. most DLP projectors (if not all) give us an impression it is seriously bright and with good color. But who care if it is twice or 3 times as bright if its black level is so poor? the brights are just too bright, and the black will be so black that it can never become a replacement of the old but still very good and expensive 3 guns projectors. Think of the way back, 3 guns projections are so deem compare to digital projectors. averagely 200 to 400 ansi lumen is how bright these old projectors are. normal DLP projectors can achieve so much more brighter, the lowest is 1200 ansi lumen I believed? some higher end home theater DLP has even 2800 ansi lumen and above. But do not fooled by these value alone first! 3 guns projectors have superb black level performance, you will not see it really that deem actually because the blacks level performance (extreme contrast area and shadows) is so much more capable than nowadays DLP. so far I don't think any DLP has 1080 HD resolution, even if it does, it is not really as native and as true HD resolution as the Sony does. I'm still extremely happy and proud to have these Sony. I'm not going into detail, but if one is doing some research about projection technologies, DLP seems not easy to achieve 1080 like the SXRD does. I've learned that DLP 1080 is like some kind of interpolation to me, that's why I said it is not as native as SXRD technology. Just to remind that this Sony comes with 3 SXRD chips!

as my conclusion here, putting HD source apart, watching DVD with this projector is superb in all aspects. please again, I would like to emphasize here, the source is extremely important before these projector can really shows up, same to others too, but not many will come close to it, especially to the price point. Did I mention this projector does look like a gem just by looking at it alone without switching it on? As you all know, this is Sony product design. And did I mention you need an Ultra Audiophile ears to hear its fan noise? Lastly, did I mention it is so much more heavy then it should look.

The only complain I have is the expensive replacement of the bulb, should be more than RM3k. And the bulb is not just actually a bulb by itself, but a big piece of solid chassis with the bulb inside. Also, the only problem (if this is a problem, but non so far) is where it is projecting a 160" screen instead of its recommended 138" max. I won't describe the draw backs here. Hope I share something valuable here.

the Sony is a Xenon lamp, am not sure if it is the first or other projectors use xenon too, as far as I concerned it should last at least 2000 hours, maybe 3000. But this is not end of the story just by looking at how long until the bulb will be blown off actually! Technologically, digital projectors such as DLP and also this Sony's Xenon will drop to 50% of it's original brightness after just 500 hours cycle! so make sure we all as a buyer knows this fact. I'm not sure this is really a problem as this Sony is my first digital projector. But so far the sony is really bright on my 160". but as i mentioned before, how bright a projector can be is not totally important. black level is more to the game, at least to me. Even if it drops to 50%, I'm confident enough it will still be very good. 50% drop, 400 ansi lumen (out of 800 ansi lumen), it is still the brightest performance a 3 guns can do, well, this is my own assumption, so don't take my word serious by calculating this way, but this seems logic right?

take the most conservative way to calculate the bulb's life span, 3 hrs daily out of 2000 hours cycles, it lasts bout 2 years before your wallet is being hurt again. but who will really watch 3 hrs movie every single day? therefore, a normal usage, the bulb should last 3 to 4 years, this is very fair to me.



This post has been edited by precsmo: Jan 27 2007, 01:52 AM

not really so. For projector, you only need to replace the bulb, that's not the life span of the whole projector, it's just the bulb.

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Added on January 30, 2007, 10:52 amso far I've not realized this yet, as i've mentioned, the source is real important. Also, when playing with HD contents, this projector will be a lead to most projectors, and this will be different story then. anyway, this projector is more for HD contents than DVD actually.

Sigh, I should have gotten the Superman Returns, Mission Impossible III and Jet Li's Huo Yuan Gia in HD-DVD, too bad due to the earthquake and submarine cable, it causes me big problem till now.


This post has been edited by precsmo: Jan 30 2007, 10:52 AM

it has been more than a month now. Not sure when it will be fully recovered, it seems like little progresses have been done as it is really difficult to repair the cables. 4000m feet below and bad weather making the waves as high as 15m! sigh, hope it won't take another month! this is really bad.

I don't buy them, if you know what I mean. For the living standard in Malaysia, watching a movie cost more than a RM100 is totaly insane to me. I will not do that for sure. I got HD contents from other sources. And it is not illegal actually, by the way, I'm having big time confusion as all enforcements all over the world trying hard to pull off the pirated copies, p2p sharing and so on, but there are so many official big company providers having another way to share files, and these are completely legalized companies! I'm really confused! In fact, this is the first source of most files in the world, just any files, before being circulated to p2p sources. So, have you guys heard about USENET?