Hey all -

I am finalizing my front projection system, for which the Sony VPL-VW50 will be the centerpiece. As of now, I am sifting through various screen gains/viewing cones to get the optimal blend for my system. However, this has been somewhat challenging due to the widely varying ANSI lumen ratings I am seeing on the VW50. For example, I have seen a 800/485 ANSI lumens rating on this forum for High and Low Lamp mode respectively, but I also have product sheets from Sony quoting 1,200 ANSI lumens. Anyone have any definite knowledge on what the true ANSI lumen ratings are for this projector?

Thanks to all for your help!

Are you planning on running it in a video optimized D65 mode? How much zoom will you be applying? Bulb in high or low mode? DI enabled?

Based on these things you could be looking at anywhere from <300 lumens to a tad over 700. I would count on ~700 in high bulb mode, DI enabled, fresh bulb, min throw, DI on (or iris fully open) and a reasonably well calibrated setting. Counting on more than that is not wise. Also, if you account for brightness fall off with age, you should be sure that down the road 350-500 lumens will still work in your setup.

Are you planning on running it in a video optimized D65 mode? How much zoom will you be applying? Bulb in high or low mode? DI enabled?

Based on these things you could be looking at anywhere from <300 lumens to a tad over 700. I would count on ~700 in high bulb mode, DI enabled, fresh bulb, min throw, DI on (or iris fully open) and a reasonably well calibrated setting. Counting on more than that is not wise. Also, if you account for brightness fall off with age, you should be sure that down the road 350-500 lumens will still work in your setup.

I don't have the equipment (or honestly the know-how) for a d65 Video calibration. (On a separate note any recommendations you can provide to do this calibration would be appreciated. I have the AVIA calibration disc already, but I have so far only used the audio calibration section). As far as zoom is concerned, I am looking at a 110" Da-lite 16:9 screen with a throw distance of ~ 15 feet if that helps. I believe the exact dimensions are 52.31" x 97.66" (per Da-lite sales partner). I was planning on having DI enabled and I would prefer the low bulb mode (just because the bulb will last longer) if possible. 500 lumens would be pushing it, as I have a moderate amount of ambient light and a need for a wider viewing angle. I may have to forego the viewing angle and get something in the 1.5-2.0 gain arena.

The overall 700 lumen rating is in-line with other info I have found on this forum. How does Sony get to 1,200 lumens? It's starting to seem a little magical to me.

Sony arrives at the 1200 lumen rating by measuring it a totally unbalanced mode with an very large excess of green, at minimum throw and in high bulb mode. You'd never want to watch a movie this way. Sony isn't the only manufacturer to do this - most manufacturers inflate brightness and contrast specs. There are some exceptions to this, but Sony is not one of them.

If you want to use low bulb mode and think 500 lumens is too low, I don't think this pj will meet those parameters for you after a few hundred hours of use.

IIRC the Pearl spec is 900 ANSI Lumens

IIRC the Pearl spec is 900 ANSI Lumens

Is that in high bulb mode?

Also, I am assuming 500 lumens doesn't work for me based on the foot-lambert calculations I got from Da-lite. 500 Lumens would translate into 21.3 foot-lamberts if I used the Pearlescent surface Da-lite offers. My understanding is that a dedicated HT with complete light control is usually 20 foot-lamberts. Since I will have more ambient light than this most of the time (for day viewing obviously and I don't like to watch movies in complete darkness at night), I thought 21.3 foot-lamberts was cutting it a little close. 900 lumens would be much better, that would get me around 38.4 foot-lamberts using the same screen. At 900, I might even be able to go with a lower gain to get my viewing angle up.

I really like this projector (and can get a considerable discount), so I suppose I could stick with high lamp mode during the day and low lamp mode at night? Maybe I just stick with high-lamp mode all the time?

Love the Sony rating. Most AVR manufacturers do the same thing with wattage ratings-- why should projector be any different!