Sony Vpl-vw80 Owners Thread

[EasterBunny]

Mine arrived tonight, had it out of the box and running a short time later, quick bit of setup and have been watching film clips ever since. Sorry no photos but the picture the thing puts on the screen is pretty bloody impressive.

Some immediate thoughts...

The increase in both native on/off and ANSI contrast from previous Sony pj's is obvious.

Motionflow/dark frame insertion works.

Colours are very good.

[BladeRnR]

Mine arrived tonight, had it out of the box and running a short time later, quick bit of setup and have been watching film clips ever since. Sorry no photos but the picture the thing puts on the screen is pretty bloody impressive.

Some immediate thoughts...

The increase in both native on/off and ANSI contrast from previous Sony pj's is obvious.

Motionflow/dark frame insertion works.

Colours are very good.

Thanks EB. Itching to get mine installed but too busy at the moment and I have a few other things to do before any equipment is installed. Will compare notes with you when it's up and running. This PJ should be an awesome match for the BDP-S5000ES BD Player.

Cheers

Blade

[PKK]

I am also considering this or the HW10. Too bad both are not available anywhere for audition. VW80 can be had in a few days but HW10 is still 1 month away. On spec the HW10 is brighter but some say otherwise. Can anyone who had view both confirm which is brighter in their best mode?

[Jacks2]

Mine arrived tonight, had it out of the box and running a short time later, quick bit of setup and have been watching film clips ever since. Sorry no photos but the picture the thing puts on the screen is pretty bloody impressive.

Some immediate thoughts...

The increase in both native on/off and ANSI contrast from previous Sony pj's is obvious.

Motionflow/dark frame insertion works.

Colours are very good.

Easterbunny

Does the motionflow work on 1080P 24hz material

[EasterBunny]

Easterbunny

Does the motionflow work on 1080P 24hz material

The Film Projection (dark frame insertion) part of Motionflow certainly does but a bit harder to pin down the Motion Enhancer option as we didn't devote much time to playing with it, left it on Low I think, but one thing I can say is that the image is very smooth even with fast moving and known difficult slow scenes. Didn't do any 24p/50hz/60hz comparisons as we only watched Blu-ray and HD DVD . If I get time I'd like to calibrate the beast this weekend and spend some time sorting out the various options and settings of which there are a lot. I'll keep you posted.

[whitey66]

The Film Projection (dark frame insertion) part of Motionflow certainly does but a bit harder to pin down the Motion Enhancer option as we didn't devote much time to playing with it, left it on Low I think, but one thing I can say is that the image is very smooth even with fast moving and known difficult slow scenes. Didn't do any 24p/50hz/60hz comparisons as we only watched Blu-ray and HD DVD . If I get time I'd like to calibrate the beast this weekend and spend some time sorting out the various options and settings of which there are a lot. I'll keep you posted.

Hi mate,just wondering how this projector handles a bit of ambient light?

With only a 800 Lumen output I thought it might be a bit dull with slight ambient light in the room.

My projector is set up in our lounge room so it's pretty hard to keep all the light out during the day.

I also sometimes like to have the lights on in adjoining rooms or the curtains opened a bit when watching football with mates.

It feels a little anti-social with no light in the room besides the projector.

I'm tossing up between this projector,the HC7000, Sanyo Z2000 (heaps cheaper),or wait for the Sanyo Z3000.

I can get a really good deal on the VW80,but the warranty of 12 months is a little thin compared to the 3 years (PJ and Lamp!) on the Sanyos.

You can get extended warranty,but that's more money you shouldn't have to spend.If Sanyo can offer a 3 year warranty and still keep the price competetive,all manufacturers should be able to do it.

Anyway,back to your projector.Have you got a PS3 or Xbox 360 hooked up to it?

I'm interested how it handles gaming,particularly high speed motion.

Thanks.

[oztheatre]

Hi mate,just wondering how this projector handles a bit of ambient light?

With only a 800 Lumen output I thought it might be a bit dull with slight ambient light in the room.

My projector is set up in our lounge room so it's pretty hard to keep all the light out during the day.

I also sometimes like to have the lights on in adjoining rooms or the curtains opened a bit when watching football with mates.

It feels a little anti-social with no light in the room besides the projector.

I'm tossing up between this projector,the HC7000, Sanyo Z2000 (heaps cheaper),or wait for the Sanyo Z3000.

I can get a really good deal on the VW80,but the warranty of 12 months is a little thin compared to the 3 years (PJ and Lamp!) on the Sanyos.

You can get extended warranty,but that's more money you shouldn't have to spend.If Sanyo can offer a 3 year warranty and still keep the price competetive,all manufacturers should be able to do it.

Anyway,back to your projector.Have you got a PS3 or Xbox 360 hooked up to it?

I'm interested how it handles gaming,particularly high speed motion.

Thanks.

My 2 cents. The Z2000 is finished now and will not handle ambient light at all well.

The HC7000 not sure, from all reports it's a corker of a projector, not sure with ambient light though.

The machine that will handle ambient light is the IN83, people are talking 'plasma brightness'

See projectorreviews.com for a good insight into this one. Hope that helps.

Rich

[glenncol]

My 2 cents. The Z2000 is finished now and will not handle ambient light at all well.

The HC7000 not sure, from all reports it's a corker of a projector, not sure with ambient light though.

The machine that will handle ambient light is the IN83, people are talking 'plasma brightness'

See projectorreviews.com for a good insight into this one. Hope that helps.

Rich

Hey Rich

I would be interested in your comments on the HC7000 when you get one set up, I had the oppertunity to see one fully calibrated today out at BBP in Knox. I will say this thing is as sharp as you can get and colours look really natual, black level detail was really really good but what i could not handle was the amount of motion blur on slow pans it bacame very distracting.

But over PQ was great i mean really good

[EasterBunny]

Anyway,back to your projector.Have you got a PS3 or Xbox 360 hooked up to it?

I'm interested how it handles gaming,particularly high speed motion.

Thanks.

Sorry, not much of a gamer but the Sony processing/panels have always been regarded as fast so pretty good on fast motion and not subject to the artifacts that some other LCOS systems are prone to. Certainly handles film fine, but I wouldn't be turning the Motionflow stuff on for games as it seems to suffer the same problem that all these frame creation systems suffer from which is tearing of stationary images like watermarks when there's fast moving bright scenes behind them.

As for ambient light, well it is a home theatre projector and none of the Sony's are overly bright but on a suitably sized screen and in hi lamp/hi colour temp "dynamic" mode it would probably handle some light okay.

[whitey66]

My 2 cents. The Z2000 is finished now and will not handle ambient light at all well.

The HC7000 not sure, from all reports it's a corker of a projector, not sure with ambient light though.

The machine that will handle ambient light is the IN83, people are talking 'plasma brightness'

See projectorreviews.com for a good insight into this one. Hope that helps.

Rich

Thanks for the reply, but because of my mounting and screen positions the IN83 isn't very suitable - quoted from review - "Limited placement flexibility due to lack of lens shift and limited, 1.2:1 zoom lens".

My room is 5 metres deep, it's 4 metres from ceiling mounted projector (NEC HT1100 at the moment)to the screen, ceiling is 3.2 metres high, the top of the 120" screen is 900mm from the ceiling,the electric screen comes down in front of my 52" Sony XBR LCD TV.

I can get a great price on the Sony VW80,but like I said before,I don't think i'd put that much money into a product that the manufacturer will only warrant for one year.

I'm also worried about 800 Lumens not being bright enough for ambient light.

I'm going to wait for the release of the Sanyo PLV-Z3000,it's supposed to have (their claims) excellent lens shifting and contrast ratio (65,000:1) even in ambient light.It also has 1200 Lumens and 2x zoom.

I also like the 3 year warranty and that snazzy auto closing lens cover.I may not end up getting one,but i'll wait for some reviews on this projector before deciding on what to get.

[BladeRnR]

I'm trying to source a Chief RPA Universal Mount and Bracket for the VW80. Does anyone know where I can source one in Australia? I also need a Chief PAN-2 Lens Support Bracket.

Cheers

Blade

[glenncol]

I'm trying to source a Chief RPA Universal Mount and Bracket for the VW80. Does anyone know where I can source one in Australia? I also need a Chief PAN-2 Lens Support Bracket.

Cheers

Blade

Dude

Here is the Australian distributor details

Australia

Jan Mergen

+1 952 277 3857

jan.mergen@milestone.com

[oztheatre]

Thanks for the reply, but because of my mounting and screen positions the IN83 isn't very suitable - quoted from review - "Limited placement flexibility due to lack of lens shift and limited, 1.2:1 zoom lens".

My room is 5 metres deep, it's 4 metres from ceiling mounted projector (NEC HT1100 at the moment)to the screen, ceiling is 3.2 metres high, the top of the 120" screen is 900mm from the ceiling,the electric screen comes down in front of my 52" Sony XBR LCD TV.

I can get a great price on the Sony VW80,but like I said before,I don't think i'd put that much money into a product that the manufacturer will only warrant for one year.

I'm also worried about 800 Lumens not being bright enough for ambient light.

I'm going to wait for the release of the Sanyo PLV-Z3000,it's supposed to have (their claims) excellent lens shifting and contrast ratio (65,000:1) even in ambient light.It also has 1200 Lumens and 2x zoom.

I also like the 3 year warranty and that snazzy auto closing lens cover.I may not end up getting one,but i'll wait for some reviews on this projector before deciding on what to get.

The Sanyo sounds very good indeed. Keep in mind the new epsons coming also, tw3000 and 5000, should be great machines too.

[BladeRnR]

Dude

Here is the Australian distributor details

Australia

Jan Mergen

+1 952 277 3857

jan.mergen@milestone.com

You're worth your weight in Gold thanks Glen.

Cheers

Blade

[BladeRnR]

There's an interesting thread over on AVS Forum where an End-User saw a VPL-VW80 and JVC HD-100 compared. His views were the VPL-VW80 won hands down.

I only provide this link for interests sake as I was close to buying an HD100 before I even knew the VPL-VW80 was available. I purchased the Sony solely on savings over an HD100 alone but it appears it's superior to the JVC in quite a few important areas. Of course this is a Subjective review and not a measured, objective review so take the OP comments with a grain of salt.

VPL-VW80 vs JVC HD100

Until I have the Sony up and running I'll reserve any comment until I see it with my own eyes.

Cheers

Blade

[oztheatre]

There's an interesting thread over on AVS Forum where an End-User saw a VPL-VW80 and JVC HD-100 compared. His views were the VPL-VW80 won hands down.

I only provide this link for interests sake as I was close to buying an HD100 before I even knew the VPL-VW80 was available. I purchased the Sony solely on savings over an HD100 alone but it appears it's superior to the JVC in quite a few important areas. Of course this is a Subjective review and not a measured, objective review so take the OP comments with a grain of salt.

VPL-VW80 vs JVC HD100

Until I have the Sony up and running I'll reserve any comment until I see it with my own eyes.

Cheers

Blade

I read that too, quite interesting.

Once you have the sony up and running you will see how awesome it is our screens are : )

Edited November 21, 2008 by oztheatre

[EasterBunny]

Until I have the Sony up and running I'll reserve any comment until I see it with my own eyes.

Well I've seen both, not side by side though, but no contest as the Sony is the better machine and not just for not having motion blur, strobing on fast action and over the top colours the JVC suffers from but better blacks and more "pop" as some would describe image depth. The HD350 and HD750 may fair better but costing a lot more even if the rumoured price rise for the VW80 kicks in.

[BladeRnR]

Well I've seen both, not side by side though, but no contest as the Sony is the better machine and not just for not having motion blur, strobing on fast action and over the top colours the JVC suffers from but better blacks and more "pop" as some would describe image depth. The HD350 and HD750 may fair better but costing a lot more even if the rumoured price rise for the VW80 kicks in.

That's reassuring to hear mate

Cheers

Blade

[BladeRnR]

I read that too, quite interesting.

Once you have the sony up and running you will see how awesome it is our screens are : )

Hey Richard,

Received the screen yesterday and will be putting it together tomorrow. Will take pictures for the folk here although that's not nearly as exciting as seeing a projected image on it to be sure.

Cheers

Blade

[Guest mmoderni]

Hello all,

i am Maurizio and i am from Italy, so please be patient with my poor english!

I am looking in these days to buy a new VPR to substitute my old Yamaha DPX-1200. At this point, the choice is between RS20 (professional version of JVC 750) and the Sony 80. Since in italy is still quite difficult to have a good demo of this projector, i am here to ask some questions about.

First, some of you has compared this to the new series of JVC HD? If so, Pro's and Cons?

Is it true that JVC colours are slightly over-satured compared to the sony? The motionFlow algorithm, in it's film mode setting, reduces very much the overall brightness of the pj?

Last question for the moment: without any motionflow settings, how is noticeable the motion blur problem?

thanks in advance to anyone will answer me.

Maurizio

[EasterBunny]

Hello all,

i am Maurizio and i am from Italy, so please be patient with my poor english!

I am looking in these days to buy a new VPR to substitute my old Yamaha DPX-1200. At this point, the choice is between RS20 (professional version of JVC 750) and the Sony 80. Since in italy is still quite difficult to have a good demo of this projector, i am here to ask some questions about.

Hello Maurizio, and your English is better than some on this forum for whom it's their native tongue

First, some of you has compared this to the new series of JVC HD? If so, Pro's and Cons?

Not available yet in this country and the VW80 won't be released in the USA, so someone in Europe is probably your best bet for a comparison of the two.

Is it true that JVC colours are slightly over-satured compared to the sony?

Yes, but in Wide mode the Sony could be considered to be as bad as the JVC although more balanced without the obvious green bias. The RS20 includes a form of CMS and as long as you can use it then it should be possible to achieve a correct colour gamut.

The motionFlow algorithm, in it's film mode setting, reduces very much the overall brightness of the pj?

The Dark Frame Insertion part of it when using Mode 1 which inserts plain black frames does reduce image brightness a lot, Mode 2 (which I prefer) a little and Mode 3 not at all.

Last question for the moment: without any motionflow settings, how is noticeable the motion blur problem?

The Sony panels/processing have always been considered faster the JVC and as such not as prone to this problem. All the motionflow does is remove some of the judder/blur that's inherent in the source.

[PKK]

I like to know how Sony compare to JVC in terms of contrast with auto iris off. JVC claim 50000:1 without the help of AI is their selling point.

[EasterBunny]

I like to know how Sony compare to JVC in terms of contrast with auto iris off. JVC claim 50000:1 without the help of AI is their selling point.

Well I have measured native on/off but I'd rather see someone like Cine4home post the first numbers.

As for the JVC numbers these graphs provide a bit more detail...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread....36#post14971936

[chan]

The Sanyo sounds very good indeed. Keep in mind the new epsons coming also, tw3000 and 5000, should be great machines too.

tw3000 is now available in japan (price japan).

[Guest mmoderni]

The Dark Frame Insertion part of it when using Mode 1 which inserts plain black frames does reduce image brightness a lot, Mode 2 (which I prefer) a little and Mode 3 not at all.

The Sony panels/processing have always been considered faster the JVC and as such not as prone to this problem. All the motionflow does is remove some of the judder/blur that's inherent in the source.

About DFI in Mode1, do you think should be still enough for a 100" in a like bat-cave pj room?

That's good to hear about blur problems...just another question about AI2: when you make a calibration (gamma, gamut, etc...) you need to keep the AI off or not? The results you have on a "static iris" calibration are consistent with the dynamic iris condition during movie projection?

thanks.