Review: Sony VWPRO1 Projector is Worth the Extra $1,000

With so many good projectors on the market these days, do we really need another one?

Sony thinks there is a special place for the new VPL-VWPRO1 and I do too. The manufacturer packs a few extra goodies into the $3,499 home theater projector, available now exclusively through the specialty A/V dealers and custom integrators. (Sony is working to quash unauthorized Internet resellers that have offered the product for sale.)

It’s the extra goodness that sets this projector apart from Sony’s popular VPL-HW15, which looks just like the new projector but costs $1,000 less.

I suggest spending the extra grand for the VPL-VWPRO1, which gives you a much brighter picture (1,300 lumens vs. 1,000) and higher contrast ratio (85,000:1 vs. 65,000:1). It also offers a feast for home systems integrators, who can create logs, macros and alerts thanks to a number of useful feedback mechanisms.

An Eventful Unboxing

So what’s in the box? Normally there isn’t much to report, but in this case, you’ll find a nice surprise inside. As usual there was the projector, the remote, some batteries, a power cable, a manual I will never read … and another box.

I almost tossed the extra box, thinking it was a packaging spacer, only to find out there was an extra projector bulb inside.

After a phone call to Sony, I learned that the extra bulb was not shipped accidentally, but is included standard with the purchase of a VPL-VWPRO1.

The bulb life I am told is 2,000 hours at the HIGH lamp control setting and 3,000 hours at the LOW setting.

This means out of the box you get 4,000 to 6,000 hours of bulb life.

Great Picture

Let’s start with the most important feature of any video projector: the picture. I won’t bore you with a bunch of calibrator speak. Suffice it to say, Sony has included all of the options that professional calibration demands.

I tested this projector on a Screen Innovations Black Diamond, an Elite white screen, and a Screen Innovations Gamma Maestro perforated screen.

The 1080p cinema projection and its unique SXRD panel display system alone sets this projector apart from others in its price range.

What this display system accomplishes is a smooth image, awesome colors, a contrast ratio that is an eye popping 85,000:1, and over 6.2 million pixels – like the image you might see in much more expensive units.

Compared to Sony’s existing VPL-HW15, this projector boasts exceptional brightness even after hours and hours of testing. Sony says it increased the lamp brightness on the VPL-VWPRO1 by about 30 percent over the previous model, and I found the new one to be a big improvement in combating ambient light.

Sony’s Advanced Iris 3 technology (see sidebar) is great for users who like white screens, as it helps to increase the black and shaded levels without compromising brightness, which Sony says is 1,300 lumens.

This implementation in the new projector corrects an issue I had with Sony’s previous efforts in this projector range.

I, for one, like my blacks to be as true as possible, which is why I usually complain about white screens, especially when ambient light is involved.

One of the notable features that I initially overlooked in the projector is 24p True Cinema for outputting video at the true 1080p/24 frames per second at which it was shot.

Just watching a movie you might not notice the improvement without a side-by-side comparison; however, the 24 frames per second keeps the theater experience intact. This nice feature is lacking with some of the other popular projectors at this price point.

Perhaps the most under-heralded feature of the VPL-VWPRO1 is its 10-bit color delivery, which is barely mentioned in the projector specs.

In the Sony implementation, you don’t see those nasty lines between different shades of the same color – a problem I experience with several PS3 gaming titles. When trying these same troublesome titles with the VPL-VWPRO1, I noted nothing less than smooth transitions in color, similar to what I have seen on much more expensive projectors.

In fast-paced action sequences, the transitional color changes are almost unnoticeable. “Almost” unnoticeable at this price point is quite an accomplishment.

While the picture is stunning, it didn’t just happen for me out of the box. With the factory settings, the skin tones, even in the cinema mode, were a little on the yellow side, and the reds were slightly depressing. This was an easy fix with Sony’s on-board calibration tools.

Finally, the viewing experience of the VPL-VWPRO1 was never disrupted by typical projector noises. When installed on the ceiling, I couldn’t even tell the unit was on.

Projector Connectivity

The inputs on the VPL-VWPRO1 are almost identical to the HW15:

• 2 HDMI
• 1 PC
• 1 Composite
• 1 S-video
• 1 Component

This covers all bases for just about any application for source equipment without overloading the unit with warts.


As with the HW15, inputs on the Sony VPL-VWPRO are located on the side

I have an aesthetic issue with the inputs on this projector, just as I do with the HW15. All of the inputs (as well as the power) are located on the side of the unit -- the bottom right if the unit is shelf- or table-mounted, and the top left if ceiling-mounted.

The configuration makes it practically impossible to bend the power cord so that it cannot be seen sticking out the side of the projector. You can also forget about bending an HDMI cable without the use of a 90-degree adapter.

Oh well, at least the input panel isn't at the rear of the projector.

Functionality

The VPL-VWPRO1 adds a lot of functionality to the usual presets we see on most projectors. This unit offers:

• Gamma Correction: 7 levels
• Black Level Adjustment: 2 levels
• Advanced Iris: Besides the Auto1 and Auto2 there is a manual setting.
• Color Temp: Custom 1 through 4 and high, middle, and low
• Color Space: wide and normal
• Picture Mode: User 1, User2, User2, Dynamic, Standard, and Cinema

On the projector itself, there are hard buttons for manual lens shift -- up/down and left/right – just like the HW15.

There is also an adjustment for the size and focus of the lens.

Additionally, there are buttons for power toggle, input toggle and menu. To the side of that are joystick-type buttons for up/down/left/right.

I have always had an issue with this joystick button configuration. After a projector is installed just right, even a fraction of a movement can skew the picture. So pressing a button that is off-axis only increases the chance of moving the unit.

Most installers will never touch those buttons, but I would rather see the adjustments made by good old-fashioned press-buttons.