Hi All,

I am getting ready to upgrade my projector soon and I am leaning toward the Sony Pearl or waiting for the VW-60. My only concern is that once calibrated, will it be bright enough for my room?

Here are the details:
Screen: Da-lite Cinema Contour Screen - 54 x 96" - 110" Cinema Perf High Contrast (1.1 gain)
Projector will be mounted 15' away from screen. Seating is 13-19 feet away.
This is a dedicated room with good light control, dark carpet & ceiling and medium gray walls... the screen is actually set back on a stage with a couple of feet of black all around it.
My current projector is a Sony HS-20 and I run it in the low lamp mode and find that it is bright enough for my tastes. Although with 1,200 hrs on the bulb I think its a little dim and I may switch it to high power now.

Anybody that actually has a Pearl, care to comment? I'm open to other ideas as well.

Thanks!

I run about the same size screen with the Pearl and it's plenty bright.

scott

I have pearl with draper M2500 133" diag. mounted 14' away from screen. Seating is 15-18 feet away. Believe me, this projector is plenty bright even with this size of screen and it is always operating in low mode. I'll post few pictures if some one show me best technique to take pictures with digital camera.

This sounds encouraging!

I was just a little worried because the HS-20 stated brightness is 1400 Lumens and the Pearl's is 900. Plus the projector calculator over at projectorcentral.com tells me it would only be 8 fL and reccomends a higher gain screen or reduced image size. But it looks like just about all the 1080p projectors in this price range are pretty close to eachother in brightness. From what I gather, the Pearl comes in just behind the RS1 in that department.

Most reviewers on the Pearl and a lot of owners tend to go with 110" as the largest size to mate with the Pearl. This is due to the loss of brightness with the bulb over time.

In addition if you are using a screen without strong gain, then it will fall off and you will be wondering how to "fix" the problem.

I agree with this assessment as a Pearl owner. When I first bought it, I had an Optoma Graywolf and even though the pj was relatively new, sometimes thought it could be better on this 106" screen. The Pearl does not need help with blacks so I gave away the Graywolf to a friend and got the projector many people paired, the High Power.

Has worked out really well, but I still don't know about going bigger than 110". I'm at 106" and I think that's the optimum size for the Pearl. Just one opinion.

Just wondering how close to maximum zoom you are, since it makes such a big difference. Romanesq, could you give us the position of the projector in relation to the screen? Thanks.

SRaoof--I'd love to see some pictures as I'm considering a similar set up (120" with M2500 at max zoom). As for taking pictures, I'd suggest setting the camera on a tripod or other stable surface as it will probably be a (relatively) long exposure. Keeping it stable will reduce blurriness. Also, don't use flash. :)

I have about 500 hrs on the leamp of my Pearl, which I have been using on low setting. My screen is a Da-Lite Cinema Vision, 133" diagonal, at 14' throw distance. Seating is at 12'. Perfectly bright image, can't compalin. :) :) :)

If you have some gain onyour screen, then bigger is no problem. I also have a 133" screen: a DaLite High Power. I run in low-lamp mode for the moment.

I have a Pearl with about 500 hours on the bulb, mounted about 12' from a Carada Brilliant White 106" screen. I run the PJ on Low lamp and it has been ISF calibrated. White cieling, dark brown walls and not perfect light control. with the shades down, or with even a couple of down-angled lights in the rear of the room the picture is very watchable. In a fully dark room, plenty of brightness in low lamp mode for the time being. I suspect that I will need to change over to High mode after about 1,000 hours. Hope that helps. I really enjoy the Pearl.