In December, I wrote about my impressions of the Sony KDS-R60XBR1 rear projector.  I mentioned that I was so pleased with the performance of the SXRD 1080p chips that I decided to order, sight unseen, Sony’s VPL-VW100 front projector, code named Ruby, which uses the same chips.  The projector arrived a few weeks ago and I’m pleased to report that the gamble paid off; the Ruby is an amazing piece of equipment.

Once again, I will not occupy your time with an extensive technical review of this remarkable projector.  Instead, I’d like to address issues and details that haven’t been addressed elsewhere.  If you’re interested in reading conventional technical evaluations, I direct your attention to: Widescreen Review, December 2005, pages 32-47; and for a less rigorous critique, The Perfect Vision, January/February 2006, pages 98-103.  Greg Rogers in WSR wrote, “The Sony VPL-VW100 SXRD front projector is a breakthrough product . . .”  Jonathan Valin in TPV wrote, “The VPL-VW100 is the best digital projector I’ve ever seen.”  And the projector is TPV’s product of the year.  (I must admit, I was relieved to read both of those reviews after I placed my order and before the unit arrived.)

So it seems clear that this is a fine projector, and it has a precedent setting low price, outperforming Sony’s Qualia 004 at one-third the price.  Its impact on the front projector market’s pricing structure has yet to be felt, but I think that’s inevitable.  But you can read those kinds of observations elsewhere, too.  Let me take a slightly different approach, something consistent with the flavor of the Blandings series.

Installation and Setup

Since I’m replacing my venerable NEC PG-6000 ceiling-mounted projector, it was important to me that the Sony could be similarly mounted.  The Ruby may be mounted on the ceiling with one of two hardware options; I chose the model PSS-HS10 mount.  In my theater, that mount would locate the projector’s lens axis about a quarter of an inch below the top edge of the screen, which is a critical detail to avoid keystone distortion (more about that soon).  The mount also provides a simple means to change and lock the projector’s horizontal angles with a ball and socket arrangement that allows complete angular freedom.  This is critical to ensuring that the image’s edges are parallel with the screen’s edges and that the projector is dead level. 

Keystone is a form of image distortion that changes the shape of the image from a rectangle to an isosceles trapezoid.  Keystone causes the sides of the image to lean in; depending on the position of the projector with respect to the screen, either the top or the bottom of the image will be wider.  The Sony can compensate electronically for keystone distortion by remapping pixels in an inverted, complimentary pattern to create a rectangular image.  This has two unfortunate side effects: it throws away pixels, reducing the resolution; and, there may be visible artifacts in the form of interference patterns.  Fortunately, keystone can be completely avoided.

In The Perfect Vision review, Jonathan Valin wrote, “To avoid the need for digital keystone correction, you’ll want to make sure the projector is mounted high enough so that the center of its lens is parallel or nearly parallel to the center of the screen.”  This is not quite right.  Optimum results may be obtained if two conditions are met.  (I’ll assume that the screen is precisely plumb, 90 degrees from dead level.)  First, the lens axis must be perpendicular to the screen and it must fall on a line that runs down the center of the screen.  So the projector is leveled with a precise bubble level, and its mount located on a line that is perpendicular to the horizontal center of the screen.  The second condition is that the axis of the lens must be located vertically between the top edge of the screen and the bottom edge of the screen, a much greater range of position than Mr. Valin made clear. 

The vertical positioning range is made possible by the projector’s optics; there is a mechanism that shifts the image vertically without changing its shape.  But since that range of adjustment is limited, the leveled projector’s lens must stay within the no-keystone range between the screen’s top and bottom.  The adjustment works remarkably well, although I will mention that there is a tiny bit of optical distortion at the extremes.  With the lens located at the top edge of the screen and the shift very nearly at the end of its range, there is a barely perceptible bow upward at the center of the bottom of the image.  I measured about 3/16 of an inch, rather small on a 54-inch high image.  Expanding the image size ever so slightly easily masks the distortion, making the bow invisible.  For program material, it’s not even worth mentioning.

I really got lucky with the Sony’s mounting position and how it interfaced with my ceiling structure.  With less than an eighth of an inch to spare, the base of the Sony mount fit within my existing NEC steel ceiling mount.  The existing location provides more than adequate clearance for the heat exhaust at the rear of the projector.  And the position is well within the throw distance capability of the projector’s zoom lens.  All I had to do was drill three holes in the NEC hardware to attach the Sony mount to the NEC mount.  More good luck: for my 16:9 screen size of 110-inches diagonally, the projector’s position requires the zoom lens to be adjusted to nearly its widest field of view (shortest focal length), where the Sony’s lens also has its lowest f-number.  It seems that as the projector’s throw distance is decreased and the focal length made shorter, the amount of projected light increases.  So I’m getting very nearly the maximum amount of available light through the lens.

Filling the screen with the zoom lens, inverting the image, adjusting the vertical position of the image, and maximizing the focus were all trivial.  Those settings are accessible with the supplied remote control.  I’ll mention that in addition to new video cables, I also installed a thin 50-ohm coax to connect to my IR distribution system.  The Sony has two IR receivers, one on the front and one on the back.  I affixed a self-adhesive IR emitter to its back IR receiver and connected the other end of the cable to my IR signal amplifier.  I then disabled the front IR receiver from the Sony’s menu system.  And after I programmed my Marantz RC2000 learning remote control with all the Sony codes, I resumed one-remote control operation.

There have been published reports that it would not be prudent to try to illuminate a screen as large as mine with this projector; the image, it has been suggested, would not be bright enough.  This is an unwarranted fear.  Not all of you will have Digital Video Essentials or AVIA Guide to Home Theater, but you likely own a THX-certified DVD that contains the THX Optimizer.  If you’ve ever used that setup option, you’ll recall the contrast test pattern that displays eight rectangles of various amplitudes.  When I initially displayed that pattern, I could only make out two amplitudes; the display was crushing the whites.  The Sony is shipped with presets that are far too high, including contrast, even in the preferred Cinema mode.  But when I backed off on the contrast to 42 (on a scale of 100), the pattern properly displayed.  I also touched up the brightness using a brightness test pattern.  Thus set, when a film displays a full white screen as a transition between scenes, it’s so bright that it almost makes me squint.  This Sony projector’s image intensity on a 110-inch diagonal screen in a completely darkened room is not an issue.

I don’t yet own a colorimeter (I’m investigating those products, now), so I could not calibrate the grayscale to bring the projector as close to the 6500 degree Kelvin color temperature as possible.  Reports indicate that the “middle” color temperature setting comes closest to 6500 and that’s what I set.  I did, however, set any adjustment for which my test DVDs could provide guidance. 

Also, there have been reports of light spill from the projector.  If I’m correctly interpreting this as areas of light where there is no active image, this is also untrue.  The image is very tightly controlled and the entire illuminated area contains image data.  However, I will observe that light can be seen off axis coming from the lens(es) of all front projectors.  So any projector will slightly illuminate brightly painted walls around the screen and, if it’s mounted high, may illuminate the ceiling.  But as I wrote and recommended in an early chapter in this series, my screen’s frame is black, the wall on which the screen is mounted is flat black, and my ceiling is flat black.  So in my dark-as-a-closed-coffin windowless theater, scatter illumination is invisible.

And unlike many front projectors that have an audible fan to cool the electronics and light source, this Sony is remarkably quiet.  I had installed sound traps in my theater’s low velocity HVAC supply ducts, and the remaining subtle noise is more audible than the Sony’s fan.  My audio signal-to-noise ratio just improved dramatically.  For those at high elevations where the air is thinner, there is a setting that increases the fan’s speed.  That will increase the noise level; when I tried the high altitude setting, I could hear a gentle whooshing that was not intrusive.

Interconnections

I had calculated that the shortest cable length that would reach between the projector and my source equipment is eight meters.  This is beyond the length for which manufacturers will guarantee proper performance from copper HDMI cables (fiber optic cables are a more expensive alternative).  So it was with some trepidation that I made my initial connections. 

(I performed these tests before I went through the painful process of pulling new cables through the ceiling and walls that separated sources and projector.  Here’s another lesson learned.  If you’re designing a custom home theater, don’t forget to install some PVC piping terminated with gentle curved bends between your equipment and your projector to act as a wiring channel.  Perhaps two or three inches inside-diameter will do.  And while you’re at it, always leave a pull in the tubing in case you ever have to run a new cable.  I forgot to do all of that and I suffered the consequences.)

My only choice for connecting HD disc players to the projector is digital; I must drive the projector’s HDCP-compliant HDMI input to view full resolution from high definition discs.  But for now, I want to determine the optimum signal paths from my Denon DVD player and my Panasonic HDTV set top box that will yield the best looking images. 

And there’s the question of which piece of equipment should do the scaling.  After I wrote about the Sony rear projector in my last chapter, several readers emailed to point out that the KDS-R60XBR1 is incapable of accepting 1080p.  They seemed concerned; one reader seemed critical of the Sony rear projectors for that failing.  (By the way, the front projector can accept 1080p over HDMI.)  Scaler performance issues aside, for film it simply doesn’t matter.  Fixed pixel displays have scalers built in.  They must.  Before the display’s pixels can be addressed, the incoming images must be remapped to match the display’s native resolution.  And since Sony’s front and rear SXRD projectors have true 1080p native resolution, they scale images to 1080p before sending the image data to the light engine.  And, of course, the Sony has deinterlacing and 3:2 pulldown capabilities as well.

So there are three choices for displaying standard resolution DVD: scale in an up-converting player; scale with an external scaler; scale within the projector.  Since I don’t own an up-converting player, I’m left with the latter two choices.  So the question becomes, which scaler creates a better-looking picture?  I started simple, driving the projector from the Denon’s analog component video outputs in both 480i and 480p to asses the Sony’s internal scaler.  (I had already been quite impressed with the Sony rear projector’s internal scaler.)  For all connections, I used the best interconnects BetterCables has to offer.


For this approach, it made little difference whether I drove the projector in progressive or interlaced mode; both produced annoying visible ringing at edges of high contrast.  Clearly, the fault lies with one of only three culprits, and considering the reputation of the Denon, I suspect you might blame the cables.  This will prove not to be the case.  Read on.

Discouraged by the analog connection, I tried putting the Key Digital HD-Leeza scaler between the player and the projector and driving the projector’s HDMI input.


I set the scaler to up-convert to the 1080p format and tried both the 480i and 480p modes from the Denon.  Key Digital warns in its documentation that better results are obtained with a 480i source and that proved to be true.  When driven with 480p, specific frames on the Starship Troopers Superbit DVD caused the scaler to break up, creating nasty looking pixelated streaks across the screen.  When I switched the Denon to interlaced video, those distortions disappeared.  But most important, for either interlaced or progressive, the visible edge ringing also disappeared.  I was left with very clean video and not a hint of dropped bits (but a small problem remained).

I’m very impressed that BetterCables was able to deliver error free signals from the scaler to the projector over a long 8-meter run.  1080p60 is a very high bandwidth signal, and carrying it without visible errors is very difficult to do.  To have delivered such error-free images stands as a testament to the quality of BetterCables interconnects.

But back to that little problem . . . If you’ll recall, when I set up the Key Digital to drive my NEC CRT projector, I scaled the DVD player’s images to 1440x960p60.  By precisely doubling the number of pixels found on standard resolution DVD in both dimensions, I minimized any potentially visible artifacts.  But since the Sony can’t accept 1440x960p60 over HDMI, I had to convert up to 1080p.  And when I did, there were some subtle visible artifacts.  Edges weren’t as clean as they should be.  Upon close examination, I found that (for want of a better way of describing it) the edges suffered from a delicate digital blur, an effect I had never seen before.  Hmmm.

So I next investigated the Sony’s ability to perform the scaling internally from an HDMI input.  I set the HD-Leeza to output 480p and retained the HDMI connection.


The digital blur disappeared.  Edges became sharper and better defined.  The Sony’s internal scaler would appear to be superior to the Key Digital HD-Leeza, at least when converting from 480 to 1080.  I should mention that the HD-Leeza does not have an HDMI output; it has a DVI output.  A simple adaptor allows an HDMI connector to mate with the scaler.  Now as I recall, DVI expresses each color channel with eight bits, yielding 256 possible amplitudes on each.  I believe HDMI expresses each color channel with ten bits, yielding 1024 possible amplitudes on each.  As the number of bits goes down, the risk of observing coring becomes greater.  Coring appears as distinct amplitude bands within a gradient instead of the gradient appearing as smoothly continuous.  I did not see any coring artifacts. 

(Admittedly, a digital path from the DVD player to the scaler would be ideal.  There are certainly quite a few DVD players available with HDMI outputs, but with HD disc players on the way, I don’t think this is a prudent time to purchase a standard resolution player.)

Pleased with the appearance of DVDs, I was left with the connection between my HDTV set top box and the projector.  Since I already discovered that the Key Digital would blur edges up-converting to 1080p, I wanted to avoid similar artifacts for ABC’s and FOX’s 720p transmissions.  I was left with only one choice: a direct analog component video connection.


Perfection.  None of the ringing I observed when I made an identical analog connection from the Denon to the Sony was visible over the connection from the Panasonic.  The high-definition images were remarkably clean, highly detailed, vivid, and artifact-free.  The Panasonic set top box drove signals down the 8-meter BetterCables analog interconnect to the Sony without a hint of distress.  The ringing problem I observed earlier was the Denon, not the BetterCables product.  The cable clearly maintained the proper impedance, was terminated in quality connectors, and did what a cable is supposed to do: not get in the way of the signal.  Perhaps the Denon player’s output impedance isn’t quite right.  Perhaps the Denon needs more drive current capability for that cable length.  Regardless of the reason the player didn’t perform well at its analog output, I was relieved to find that I found a combination of connections that satisfied.

Impressions

The Sony’s resolution is striking.  The finest details on resolution test patterns are revealed.  The resolution wedge demonstrated that the display is producing finely grained detail right up to the limits of DVD’s capability.  Brightness and contrast had been set just right.  And despite the dynamic iris that maximizes the contrast ratio, when the brightness adjustment had been made based on a calibrated test source, a completely black screen is slightly visible as an extremely dim black-gray rectangle.  With all the theater lights off, the screen is not quite as black as the flat black walls.

Some may object, asserting that since this projector is capable of producing CRT-like blacks, it should be set that way.  Two counter arguments: calibration test patterns guide me to set it otherwise; and, the last time I visited a THX-certified motion picture theater about eight months ago, I noticed that full black on the motion picture theater’s screen was brighter than the full black on my home theater’s screen.  And, no, the doors at the back of the motion picture theater were not open; they were closed.  And, yes, with the exception of the red emergency exit signs, all the theater’s lights were completely out.  So if the object of home theater is to reproduce the motion picture theater experience, I think my achieved contrast ratio is fine.

As in the Sony rear projectors, there are three chips, one for each of the primary light colors of red, green, and blue.  There is no color wheel to cause color fringing on the edges moving objects.  But there have been published comments about chip registration and I, too, found a slight vertical registration error: the red chip.  I have to stand within four feet of my screen to see it; I’d estimate the error to be no more than one pixel, and it manifests itself as an almost invisible thin red line on horizontal edges of very high contrast.  From four feet, it’s mostly visible on the tops of white letters against a black background, like during some closing credits.  For program material I simply didn’t see it.  And from my seating position at about ten feet, it’s gone.

Great DVDs look splendid.  I sampled a number of discs I previously had awarded the rare video score of five.  Each was stunning.  Colors were vivid.  Finely grained textures exceptional.  Small object detail outstanding.  Shadow detail far exceeded my expectations.  Sampling a few other very good DVDs showed me that this projector reveals the slightest flaws.  DVD is certainly not HD, but the Sony brings me one step closer to the motion picture theater experience.

One source of annoyance that may affect owners who don’t have an external scaler is that Sony’s internal zoom function doesn’t work with the HDMI input.  That baffles me.  Non-anamorphic DVDs and full screen images require some kind of image manipulation to reestablish proper proportions.  Fortunately, the HD-Leeza can remap the image for both non-anamorphic widescreen images and full screen content.  I’m not sure how owners without an external scaler will manage using the digital path.  I suppose they could use an alternate, analog component video signal path for that special program material, since Sony’s internal zoom function does work with analog signals.  Or perhaps HDMI output equipped DVD players have their own internal zoon function.

But the real test of this projector is its ability to present high-definition content.  For a couple of evenings I surfed over-the-air HD transmissions available to me from New York.  CBS, NBC, the WB, UPN, and PBS all transmit in 1080i30; ABC and FOX transmit in 720p60.  I sampled a travel show and NOVA on PBS, a sitcom and basketball game and a late night show on CBS, a football game on ABC, a filmed dramatic comedy on the WB; all were quite remarkable, and the lower spatial resolution of 720p was clear when compared with 1080i.  Many people have characterized the appearance of good HD programming as three-dimensional.  It has to do with perceiving small details; you’re literally seeing things clearly that are farther away.  3-D may be pushing it, but I will say that the level of detail is startling.  Being able to make out the expressions of the fans in the stands during a wide shot of a basketball court is truly amazing.  Small details on familiar programs’ sets that had eluded me before leapt off the screen.  Even watching Dave Letterman became a wondrous visual experience.

I was pleased with the high-definition performance of my NEC, but this Sony projector clearly surpasses its performance.

Wrapping It Up

What is most amazing about this projector is its price.  Just as the Sony SXRD rear projectors set new precedents for price-performance ratios, so does the Sony VPL-VW100 Ruby front projector.  With an SRP of only $9,999, it outperforms projectors costing three, four, five times as much.  Simply amazing.

If you’re in the market, the projector is in short supply and finding a dealer that can fill an order may be difficult.  I would suggest giving Josh Lehman a call.  He’s an ISF/HAA Certified Master Technician and knows his stuff:

Josh Lehman
Rock Star Home Theater, LLC
2625 Piedmont Road
Suite 56
Atlanta, GA 30324
(404) 421-9909
jlehman@rockstarhometheater.com
www.rockstarhometheater.com

But despite how pleased I am with the Sony Ruby projector, I still resent the circumstances that forced me to replace my NEC.  Not only do I own that perfectly good NEC PG-6000 front projector, but I’m also holding three brand new unused projection tubes waiting on the shelf for the existing tubes to fail or become sufficiently dim to warrant replacement.  I even picked up a used NEC PG-6100 to use for replacement parts.  It, too, appears to be in perfect operating condition.  And I also have a bunch of high performance transcoders and switchers, all intended to convert from component to RGB-HV and control the signal paths.  I’m not sure what to do with all that material.  Perhaps I’ll put it on eBay and offer the lot to anyone who wants to step up to front projection and who isn’t planning on buying into a high-definition format for a while. 

A good film presented in high-definition should have a greater emotional impact than from DVD; it should draw the viewer further into the entertainment onscreen.  I’m psyched.  I simply can’t wait for high-definition discs to arrive.