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Official Sony VPL-HW30(A)ES Owners Thread

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#1 ·




Specifications:


Models (2) VPL-HW30AES (3D package) and VPL-HW30ES (projector only)

Brightness: 1300 lumens

Contrast Ratio: 70,000:1 (with Iris)

SXRD Panel: 0.61", 15.4mm

Panel Driver: 240Hz

Lens: F2.52 - F3.02 1.6x manual zoom

Lens Shift: +/-0.65 Vertical, +/-0.25 Horizontal

Lamp 200W UHP

Video Inputs: 2 HDMI 1.4a, Component and HD-Dsub 15 pin (VGA)

Other Connections: RS-232 (remote commands), Mini jack (IR input) and Ethernet (RJ45) Port (3D Emitter only)

Dimensions: 16 1/8"x7 1/8"x18 3/8", 407.4mmx179.2mmx463.9mm

Weight: 22.2lb, 10kg

Power Requirements: 100V to 240V AC, 3A to 1.3A 50/60Hz

Power Consumption: 300W, Standby 8W, Standby Low 0.5W

Fan Noise: 22db (max speed)

RS232 bi-directonal control

Replacement Lamp: LMP-H202

Glasses: TDG-PJ1

3D Emitter: TRM-PJ1*

*You must buy or have an ethernet cable (Cat-5 works fine). No ethernet cable is included and you can't use the emitter (3D) without one.


Features:


3D (all standards supported) and 2D to 3D simulation

Real Color Processing or RCP (aka: CMS)

Picture Modes: 9 (2 users defined)

Motionflow (240Hz): high, low and off

Color Temperature: 9 (5 user defined)

Gamma Settings: 8

Color Space: Normal, Wide 1, Wide 2 and Wide 3

Panel Alignment: 1/10 step

Sony Links:

Sony promo video

Owners Manual (PDF)


RS-232C Codes (PM me for the PDF manual)

Sony (USA)
Sony (Europe)

Marketing Specifications (PDF)
Product Sheet (PDF)
Projector Data Sheet (PDF)

Reviews:

ProjectorReview.com
AVS (First Look video)
Cinetson (French) and English Translation
LA Passion De L'image Et Du Son (French by AVS member kraine) and English Translation
Projector central
AVguide (The Perfect Vision)
Trustedreviews (British)

Measurements by

Tom Huffman

ChromaPure Software/AccuPel Video Signal Generators

ISF/THX Calibrations

Rockville, MD


Using Cinema X preset. However, all the presets do is select a pre-defined combination of settings in the user menu. You can emulate any of the presets by simply choosing a User preset and manually selecting all of the associated menu settings.

Light output

With the iris fully open, the lamp on high, the white point calibrated to D65, the Color Space set to Normal, and Contrast set at 85, I measured 832 lumens, which translated to a much-too-bright 30 fL on Mark's 110" Studiotek. You can get more light by raising the contrast control even higher, but then white begins to clip.

Contrast

Iris Open: 5400:1

Iris half closed: 6750:1

Iris fully closed: 7550:1

Auto 1: 25,500:1

Auto 2: 18,800:1

Grayscale Tracking

The best grayscale tracking was with the Low 2 setting. This gave an somewhat reddish white point with a dE average of about 8 in the CIELUV color space. Custom calibration improves this significantly. Post-calibration I got the average dE down to about 2 above 10%. At 10% the reddish tint was uncorrectable.

Gamma

There are several gamma presets and each one includes the ability to tweak the response at the low and high end. I got the best gamma with a setting of 3. Gamma set to Off was a close second.



Color Accuracy

The Normal color space is definitely the most accurate, although even here red and green are shifted slightly to blue. Wide 1, Wide 2, and Wide 3 get progressively more oversaturated, especially along the red-yellow-green line.

Normal


Wide 3



Suggested Settings for closest to D65 picture “out of the box”:


Pic Viewing Mode: Cinema 1

Cinema Black Pro (Iris): Auto 1

Motionflow: Low

Color Temp: Low 1

Gamma: Off (2.2)

Color Space: Normal


Alternant:


Pic Viewing Mode: Cinema 2

Cinema Black Pro (Iris): Off

Gamma: 8

Color: 45

Hue: 0



 
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8
#52 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by zombie10k /forum/post/20811569


what are the chances.. the first 3 owners posting all own HTPC's.

2011 baby!



Looking forward to your comparison shootout Zombie. I can only go by memory since I don't have any of my previous projectors on-hand. The more time I spend with the Sony the more I like it, especially for the price and nothing has ever really "wowed" me before. The image is a tad softer than I was hoping for but my room is far from optimal and it really works against the projector having a screen this size with such a minimal gain. I think calibrating will definitely help since the contrast is on 90 and brightness is at 50.


I surprised the wife tonight (she didn't know I upgraded) and she was blown away by some of the scenes I showed her on this projector. There is NO comparison between a 60" 3D TV and a 140" projector screen and since the wife and kid are going out of town this weekend I will be revisiting all the good 3D scenes from various movies. The only time I felt the Sony was a tad too dark were in night scenes or really dark scenes from animated movies. When we watched Space Hubble 3D that movie is primarly dark because of the black space background and I didn't have any issues with the light output in Cinema mode 1.
 
#53 ·
WTH??? I finally log in tonight to see what's going on with the new Sony reports and instead drop into an HTPC love fest.....
From you guys no doubt this projector will be put through its paces in more than the usual review for that fact alone. Very much looking forward to what you find, especially compared to the JVCs (40s and 50/60s) if they'd had no lamp issues.
 
#54 ·
I received my projector today. My findings are very similar to what others are saying. I'm running a relatively small 100 inch screen in a dedicated fully light controlled room. I was able to switch the lamp to low power and have no problems with brightness on my 1.4 gain screen. I watched Tahiti Ultimate Wave and Despicable Me with the kids. Ghosting was almost non existent. It is probably also worth noting that I was able to use some of the Sony TDG-BR50 child size glasses. I had ordered the appropriate filters from Sony a few weeks earlier. I'm guessing these are the same as the ones that come with the VW90. The Sony part number is 145831421. The glasses worked perfectly once the filters were installed.


For the emitter I used two cat 5e patch cords. I had some extra cat 6 runs put in during construction. I used a patch cord from the projector to the wall plate then at the screen I used the other patch cord from that wall plate to the emitter. I placed the emitter below the screen. I had no sync problems at all in the first row or the second row which is elevated on a riser.
 
#55 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by RonF /forum/post/20811814


WTH??? I finally log in tonight to see what's going on with the new Sony reports and instead drop into an HTPC love fest.....
From you guys no doubt this projector will be put through its paces in more than the usual review for that fact alone. Very much looking forward to what you find, especially compared to the JVCs (40s and 50/60s) if they'd had no lamp issues.

Ron, I need some time over the weekend to calibrate both projectors @ D65 and will take some lumen measurements of both projectors, each with a new lamp.


My initial impression is that the Sony is handling 3D better than the JVC with the toughest of the 3D scenes using 3D frame packed blurays for the source. The lack of warmup time to jump right into 3D is a major plus. In addition, I am really enjoying the Motion Flow in 3D mode. It creates a rock solid 3D image that isn't overly processed.


There is also much less flicker on the Sony than I see on the JVC. I am hyper-sensitive to refresh rates and the slower refresh of the JVC panels is evident in comparison to the Sony. The HW30 + Motion Flow in 3D creates a more relaxing image for my eyes while viewing 3D. I think most folks who see this firsthand would appreciate it.


overall, a good report card so far for such an inexpensive projector that comes with the emitter and 2 pairs of glasses. Kudos to Sony for the 3 year warranty over JVC's 2 year.
 
#59 ·
I was looking closer at the Sony and saw a 'made in Japan' sticker but everything else (glasses, emitter) are made in China.


Is Sony the only projector manufacturer still making their product in Japan?


I would like the Sony that much more if it had the same style as the Qualia or VW200. Those were great, futuristic looking projectors.
 
#60 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by zombie10k /forum/post/20811530


@ William - it's difficult to tell with a handheld shot. Do you have a camera w/ tripod?..
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmalto /forum/post/20811511


William,


Bad news, I could not reproduce the fuzyness issue you are experiencing on mine. Here is my laptop hooked up to the projector and no other adjustments taken with my iphone4.


The good news is if you can't figure it out I live in Atlanta as well so maybe we can meet up and test your unit out over here or I could bring mine by.

I took a lot more pics and Mark has looked at them. It seems my HW30 is defective.
I guess I don't need to worry about 3D right now. To me it seems that maybe the lens elements are miss aligned (but then what do I know
). Time to unpack my JVC and hook it back up.
 
#62 ·
#64 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by William /forum/post/20812371


I took a lot more pics and Mark has looked at them. It seems my HW30 is defective.
I guess I don't need to worry about 3D right now. To me it seems that maybe the lens elements are miss aligned (but then what do I know
). Time to unpack my JVC and hook it back up.

That is unfortunate William. I did do a panel adjustment on mine before I took the picture I posted. I will try setting them back to 0 and see if it makes any difference. I was able to get perfect alignment using the built-in system but mine was only off by one pixel for red and green.
 
#65 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Grubert /forum/post/20812497


Another HW30 in Spain had a similar problem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6_Dy_ghDXg



However other units (such as kraine's) didn't have it.

WOW,
misery loves company and that is exactly what I'm seeing (except for the French
). My theory of a defective lens assembly may mean that a few lenses were done this way.


Quote:
Originally Posted by jmalto /forum/post/20812656


That is unfortunate William. I did do a panel adjustment on mine before I took the picture I posted. I will try setting them back to 0 and see if it makes any difference. I was able to get perfect alignment using the built-in system but mine was only off by one pixel for red and green.

I did a panel adjustment too. All 3 panels were within 1/2 pixel all the way across and any adjustment was a detriment. On the far right I have 2 white lines instead of one.
Below is a closeup and detailed shot of how bad it is. This pic represents VERY well how it actually looks. Keep in mind the center of the pic is razor sharp.

 
#66 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by William /forum/post/20812371


I took a lot more pics and Mark has looked at them. It seems my HW30 is defective.
I guess I don't need to worry about 3D right now. To me it seems that maybe the lens elements are miss aligned (but then what do I know
). Time to unpack my JVC and hook it back up.

I thought I had focus issues the first night because of the manual focus / running back and forth to the screen to check, etc. I didn't take a close look at my 1920x1080 HTPC desktop screen. I am going to take a closer look tonight to see if there is a trend.


I had to send back my original RS40 because the focus wasn't even across the screen. The center was sharp, the left a bit softer and right really soft. It made an impact on the overall image and I had to send it back to JVC. The replacement RS50 (by some luck i'd imagine) is dead on from corner to corner, possibly the most even focus I've seen yet on a projector.


I'll take closeups tonight of my center and corners.




In your photo and the youtube video, it looks like a double image more than just softness. is this an accurate description of what your seeing in the corners?
 
#68 ·
Projector astigmatism?
 
#70 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmalto /forum/post/20812646


True story, I had 21 hours on my Epson 8700UB when I sold it
I have about a 6month threshold and try to keep them around 50 hours.


I have a problem, I'll adim it. lol!

Don't we all! Confessions from an equipment junkie. When you find something you like enough to keep longer that six months let us know and I'll put it on my short list.
 
#72 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by William /forum/post/20813048


The Dr. has made a diagnoses and written my prescription.
If followed I should be seeing fine in about a week.


Thanks AVS.

Exactly why I buy all my high-end projectors from AVS, great support from all the employees.


I'll try not to gloat too much during the weekend from all the 3D fun I am going to have while yours is away
 
#74 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmalto /forum/post/20813219


Exactly why I buy all my high-end projectors from AVS, great support from all the employees.


I'll try not to gloat too much during the weekend from all the 3D fun I am going to have while yours is away

Go ahead and gloat.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmalto /forum/post/20811536


Do you have the Nvidia 3D vision kit? If so hook it up and the options should show up in the control panel once you do the setup.


If you don't have the kit just get 3DTV from Nvidia's website for $40-50 and it will work since you have an HDMI 1.4 display.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/3dtv-play.html ...

Looking at this and trying to understand what it is and why I need it (other than I can't get 3D on my projector
). Is it a software BD player and if so will it play ISO mounted files ( I rip all my BD's to an unRAID server) and will it integrate into Media Center (I have my inure remote setup to work)?
 
#75 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by William /forum/post/20812761


WOW,
misery loves company and that is exactly what I'm seeing (except for the French
). My theory of a defective lens assembly may mean that a few lenses were done this way.




I did a panel adjustment too. All 3 panels were within 1/2 pixel all the way across and any adjustment was a detriment. On the far right I have 2 white lines instead of one.
Below is a closeup and detailed shot of how bad it is. This pic represents VERY well how it actually looks. Keep in mind the center of the pic is razor sharp.


Such a gross focus issue probably means something in the optics has become misaligned during shipment. However, many projectors when table/shelf mounted and with the vertical lens shift centered (i.e., with zero lens shift) will be projecting the image upward and likewise when ceiling mounted, with the projector inverted and with no vertical lens shift, the iimage will be projected downward. I know the HW30 spec. sheet lists the vertical lens shift at +/- 65%. Can you confirm that the middle setting corresponds to the projector being vertically centered with the screen? My point with this discussion is if you are actually having to use a lot of lens shift (but don't realize it) perhaps that is contributing to your focus problem. I suggest you first make certain the projector is level (use a bubble level if you have one) and is squared with the screen then try to set the vertical lens shift adjustment to its mid-point and see if the focus improves.
 
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