Sony Bravia 7 VPL-XW5100ES Projector Review

Sony’s VPL-XW5000ES was a monumental leap forward in terms of performance. Its higher brightness and vastly improved black levels meant it significantly outperformed its predecessors. Indeed, it’s been such a success that the manufacturer is continuing to produce it for the foreseeable future. So rather than the replacement we were expecting, Sony has released a ‘step-up’ model in the form of the VPL-XW5100ES. This uses many of the same technologies as the VPL-XW61000ES, which we reviewed last year, albeit at a higher price.

Equipped with a laser light source, the VPL-XW5100ES has a claimed 10% increase in light output compared to the VPL-XW5000ES, resulting in a quoted total of 2,200 lumens and a lifespan of 20,000 hours. It utilises the same Wide Dynamic Range Optics, which are claimed to improve control over the laser light source. Sony tells me it is able to achieve higher colour volume and enhanced contrast.

It’s also furnished with the same 0.61 SXRD chipset used in all of Sony’s newer projectors, providing a native resolution of 3,840 x 2,160. The newer SXRD chipset – first introduced in the VPL-XW5000ES and VPL-XW7000ES – has a high-reflectance liquid crystal with a narrower pitch between pixels. This is said to let the VPL-XW5100ES achieve brighter images and more stable black levels. It also introduces a new ‘Durability Enhanced Coating’ which the manufacturer says preserves contrast and brightness over time – a problem for some of Sony’s older projectors.

Like the more expensive VPL-XW6100, it features Sony’s new XR Processor, adapted from its Bravia line of televisions. XR Deep Black provides enhanced dimming to improve black levels, and XR Triluminous Pro Technology enables the projector to produce a claimed 95% of the wider DCI-P3 colour gamut. One of the more intriguing attributes of the XR Processor is its Depth Mapping and Focal Point Recognition. Sony claims the new technology improves the depth of projected images while enhancing objects at the main focal point. It’s coupled with XR Clear Image Technology, which performs object-based super-resolution, contrast enhancement, and noise reduction in addition to real-time upscaling.

The processor rounds off its feature set with XR Dynamic Tone Mapping, which detects peak brightness on a frame-by-frame basis to achieve greater gradation of both bright and darker scenes. It provides three modes, with Mode 1 producing a brighter image, while Modes 2 and 3 preserve greater high-level detail at the cost of some brightness.

The VPL-XW5100ES supports HDR and Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG). It also supports HDMI 2.1 and up to 4K/120fps with a quoted input lag of 12ms (21ms 4K60fps) and Auto Low Latency Mode, or ALLM. It also adds support for 4K/48fps. Like its predecessor, it does not support 3D. It is compatible with Control 4, Creston Home, Savant, and AMX, and is also compatible with remote monitoring systems such as OvrC and Domotz.

Getting Going

The VPL-XW5100ES comes securely packaged, with enough shipping foam to safeguard it from the occasional bump or knock. In addition to the projector, the box contains a remote control, power cable, and user manual. Save for the occasional button change, the remote is essentially unchanged from previous models. It’s a breeze to use even in a darkened room, thanks to the backlight button.

This new projector shares the same chassis as the VPL-XW5000ES. Touted as the smallest native 4K projector available, at 460x200x472mm and weighing just 13kg, its angular matte charcoal chassis is designed to fit into all but the most challenging installations.

It features a centrally mounted lens, accompanied by forward and rear-facing intake/outtake vents. The VPL-XW5100ES 4K lens assembly is comprised of a 10-piece lens assembly (nine-piece glass) with a Φ54mm aspherical optical resin outer lens. The lack of mechanical lens adjustment is an anomaly at this price, and was a sticking point for owners of scoped screens with the VPL-XW5000ES. It’s a problem that Sony has cleverly overcome on this new model with the addition of so-called Aspect Ratio Scaling.

This lets users switch between 2.35:1 and 16:9 content digitally, eliminating the need to adjust the lens manually. As it's performed digitally, aspect ratio switching is not only instantaneous but also accurate every time – something that cannot be said for mechanical adjustments. The V±71%, H±25% lens shift and a throw ratio of 1:1.38-2.21, along with its smaller form factor, made it easy to accommodate the VPL-XW5100ES in my small home theatre. A small flap on the bottom (top if not ceiling-mounted) of the unit opens to reveal controls for vertical and horizontal lens shift. Like its predecessor, it provides only manual lens adjustment.

Connections are housed on the side of the projector and consist of two HDMI 2.1/HDCP 2.3 inputs (HDCP 2.2), LAN input, 12-volt trigger, IR input, RS232C connection, and a USB-A input. The VPL-XW5100ES is a three-chip SXRD design which provides digital controls for adjusting panel alignment. It must be correctly adjusted to obtain the sharpest image. If you’re not confident enough to do it yourself, enquire with your dealer or calibrator, who can arrange this for you.

For the purposes of this review, the VPL-XW5100ES was connected to a Denon AVC-A10H AV receiver and fed by an Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player and Apple TV. Images were projected onto a 100” (1.0 gain) Severtson Cinegray 16.9 screen. Speakers consisted of VAF i91 front and centres, six VAF i90 surrounds, and ceiling-mounted front and middle Atmos speakers. Dual The Sub 16 Ascendo subwoofers rounded out the speaker configuration for a 5.2.4 Atmos layout.

Read on if you would like to learn more about how the VPL-XW5100ES was measured and calibrated. Otherwise, feel free to skip the following section…

Measurements and Calibration

The VPL-XW5100ES was calibrated with a Klein K10A colourimeter, which was profiled against a 2nm (high-res) JETI 1501 spectroradiometer. Test patterns were generated with a Murideo 6G pattern generator, with 10% windows used for light output measurements. Calman Ultimate (2025) Calibration Software was used in conjunction with Sony Projector Pro Calibration Software to calibrate the projector. Further tuning was conducted with the 2023 Spears & Munsil HDR Benchmark disc.

The VPL-XW5100ES has ten selectable picture modes: Film 1, Film 2, Reference, TV, Photo, Game, Bright Cinema, User and Imax Enhanced. In addition to basic controls such as brightness, contrast and colour, the projector offers 2-point grayscale controls, nine selectable gamma presets and a 6-point colour management system.

In Cinema Film 1 with the laser set to 100% and all other settings in their default position, the VPL-XW5100ES produced 144 cd/m² and a very respectable black level of 0.003 cd/m². Disabling the Dynamic Laser reduced the black level to 0.025 cd/m². It’s important to note that these measurements are based on my room and can vary, particularly black levels, in other rooms. I chose to calibrate in Reference Mode for SDR. Out of the box, it produced a greyscale with an accurate white point. However, the rest of the greyscale tended towards blue, with DeltaE ranging between 0.384 at 100% and 3.350 at 50%. Gamma tracking was very good, and out-of-the-box colour tracking was excellent.

After calibration, the Sony yielded 114 cd/m² with almost pinpoint greyscale and gamma tracking. DeltaE ranged between 0.272 at 40% and 0.859 at 20%, well below the visible threshold. Colour accuracy was likewise superb, with DeltaE ranging between 1.410 for blue and 0.149 for yellow.

In HDR mode, the VPL-XW5100ES offers the same picture modes, with the option to choose different laser, brightness and contrast settings. It forces the colour space to BT.2020 with three EOTF options: Auto, HDR10/HLG, HDR Reference and HLG. In addition to the XR Processor’s Dynamic Tone Mapping, the Sony carries over the Dynamic HDR Enhancer of the VPL-XW5000ES/7000ES. Working as a contrast enhancer, this attempts to emulate the look of Sony broadcast monitors by boosting brightness and perceived black levels, albeit with some clipping.

In HDR mode, the VPL-XW5100ES produced 92.54% of the UHDA-P3 (1976 uv) gamut and 90.06% of the UHDA-P3 (1931 xy) gamut. BT.2020 coverage was 68.5% (1976 uv) and 65.85% (1931 xy), respectively. It produced 136 cd/m² after calibration.

Vision On

The VPL-XW5100 delivers bright images with inky blacks, providing SDR and HDR material with a heightened sense of dimensionality. This is further enhanced by the XR Processors' Focal Point recognition, which improves the dimensionality of images while providing a more filmic look than its predecessor.

In typical Sony fashion, colour reproduction was accurate, with the unit delivering a pleasing range of colours with both SDR and HDR material. The biggest differentiator between the new and old models is the addition of dynamic tone mapping, which vastly improves HDR images on the former.

With the impending release of Final Destination Bloodlines, it was time to rewatch the original Final Destination. At twenty-five years old, the SDR Blu-ray can appear a little dated by modern standards, although its dark transfer was perfectly suited to test the black levels of the VPL-XW5100ES. Tasked with the dark transfer, the Sony proved more than up to the task, putting me very much in mind of JVC’s inky blanks. While it couldn’t quite match JVC’s blacks natively, with the dynamic laser engaged, it comes very close, fading to black and plunging my home theatre into darkness.

Unlike projectors with lower black levels, where dark scenes can become a muddy mess, the VPL-XW5100ES delivers dark images with a sense of depth and substance. Where the X1 chipset of the older model may appear a little too clean or TV-like, the new one’s XR processor produces a more filmic image with the aged transfer. ‘Reality Creation’ plays a significant part in this, and those who like their pictures as squeaky clean as possible will use it at its default level or higher. Purists, on the other hand, will either disable it or use it judiciously.

The 4K HDR of Oblivion offers reference-grade video and audio, and the extra brightness – combined with the excellent black levels of the VPL-XW5100ES – creates beautiful-looking HDR imagery.

Yet, it’s this latest Sony’s Tone Mapping that really sets it apart from the VPL-XW5100ES. It’s a big leap forward over the VPL-XW5000’s Dynamic HDR Enhancer and brings the VPL-XW5100ES closer to its rivals. It helps create bright, poppy HDR images, while darker scenes are suitably dimensional, neither appearing washed out nor crushed.

Oceans 8 is another 4K Blu-ray with reference-grade video. It features a broad colour palette, with the occasional burst of bright colours. Here, it excels with the saturated primaries while avoiding the realm of artificiality. Skin tones are thoroughly convincing. Meanwhile, Sony’s focal point recognition, coupled with its brightness and black levels, gives images a wonderful sense of depth and pop, while fine detail is wonderfully rendered. As with many things, though, a little goes a long way, and the VPL-XW5100ES can appear too sharp or artificial at times. However, I found that adjusting ‘Reality Creation’ quickly brought things back into line, with an image that was sharp and detailed yet not overdone.

The Verdict

Given that Sony has continued the VPL-XW5000ES, it begs the question of whether it’s worth ponying up for the more expensive VPL-XW5100ES. For owners of scoped screens, Aspect Ratio Scaling makes the latter a no-brainer – but what about owners of 16:9 screens?

On paper, the differences may seem small, but in practical terms, the VPL-XW5100ES is an entirely different animal, particularly when it comes to HDR. The Dynamic Tone Mapping algorithm on the new projector significantly outclasses that of the older Sony. Of course, Sony’s Focal Point Recognition doesn’t hurt the case of the newer model one bit either. It gives images a sense of depth and pop that the older model can’t quite muster; it’s the visual icing on the cake. Overall, then, the VPL-XW5100ES joins its VPL-XW6100ES big brother in being one of the finest HDR projectors that Sony has ever produced.

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