I have been looking at the Sony VPLAW15 for the last view days and about to pull the trigger on it, but I am still worried about the constant comments about the projector not being bright at all. I am worried that this will degrade the picture quality. If you could please give me some insight on whether the AW15 is bright enough so as to projector and really nice HD image that would be great.

If you ask me i say too much brightness will degrade the PQ too.
It would have been nice to have about 50~100 lumen more but I have been happy with hs51A which is reportedly dimmer that AW15.
Your screen size and gain also affects the brightness.

if you are in a completely light controlled room, it doesn't take much power to get a great picture. That said, like in audio, its always good to have overhead. I would rather have a projector that is running in eco mode with the iris closed down, than balls out. From day one the bulb is only going to get dimmer so you want to be sure you have enough lumen's down the road.:o