Sony's new 4K projectors look perfect for movie night
With a 27ms input lag they're not terrific gamers for the price. But the true 4K and big screens look pretty compelling.
Sony Europe's next-generation 4K Home Cinema projectors are built for movie night and sports, but they could let PC users down.
The VPL-VW870ES, VPL-VW570ES and VPL-VW270ES, which were rolled out at the IFA trade show in Berlin, have true 4K resolution, 27ms input lag and Sony's temporal-smoothing Motionflow for movie and sports viewing. They all use Sony's veteran SXRD technology: Silicon X-tal (pronounced crystal) Reflective Display, a variation on the commonly used LCoS.
But you may not want to shell out the money if you plan to connect these projectors to your computer. The specs indicate they can only display an HD-resolution signal from a computer via HDMI. But they seem just right for your Xbox One X or Playstation 4 Pro. Sony hits the 27ms lag spec via a "lag reduction" feature.
The top-end VPL-VW870ES promises 2,200 lumen brightness for whatever that's worth. It also claims that it can product more contrasty images for better HDR reproduction by adjusting it on the fly. It has sharp, all-glass lens elements for better focus across the picture and a 20,000-hour life for its laser light source.
The middle VPL-VW570ES drops back to 1,800 lumens and a mercury lamp that's rated for about 6,000 hours of viewing -- so long as you never crank it up to maximum brightness.
The lowest entrant, the VPL-VW270ES, drops the dynamic contrast adjustment. Its light output falls to 1,500 lumens from the same mercury lamp as its big brother.
The projectors have only been announced in Europe so far. Prices start at 4,000 euros, which converts to about $4,650, AU$6,400 or £3,600. But the CEDIA 2018 show is coming up next week in the US, so it's possible that's when we'll see an official dollar price soon. The high-end model sounds awfully like the VPL-VW885ES from earlier this year, which runs a cool $25,000.
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