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Can I improve picture quality from Sony projector

2K views 23 replies 10 participants last post by  oc1979 
#1 ·
I have a 12 year-old Sony VPL-VW100 projector.

Is there a way to improve picture quality?

Thanks.
 
#2 ·
Maybe new bulb?
What needs to be improving if I may ask? What do you feel lacking?
The projector had 800 lumens when brand new which is not really that bright.
 
#4 ·
Other than fixing the room, IE dark non reflecting surfaces,as in ceiling ,walls, floor and furnishings and ambient light control their is not much you can do for a 12 year old projector. With out a perfect room nothing you can buy today will compare to a 4K HDR display other than picture size. With a close to perfect room an Epson 5040 for $3K might come close but you need $10k+ to get true 4K.
 
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#11 ·
A better screen could help possibly.

How much are the bulbs for that pj now? ... I remember them being expensive but I don't know if you can find them cheap now. If bulbs are $400 for example I would not be replacing the bulb again because projectors have improved over the last 12 years.

-Brian
 
#15 ·
I think there's a lot of recommendations, but not enough questions going on.

What source are you feeding the projector? (Blu-ray, Streaming, DVD, PC, game console???)

How are you connecting that source to the projector? (HDMI?)
How large is your screen?
What type of screen are you using?
What is the color of your walls?
What is the color of your ceilings?
What is the color of your carpet?
Is there any ambient light in the room?
Do you have all the lights out completely?
How many hours are on the current lamp?

The Sony is over a 10 year old design and the use of a Xenon lamp really is going to impact quality. The lamps are extremely expensive and have relatively short lives. Kind of like buying a used Ferrari, you may have gotten a great deal, but oil changes will be several hundred bucks. A new lamp for this projector is nothing approaching 'cheap', and it likely needs one.

The original lumens weren't that high, but the image was very well regarded in a proper theater on the right sized screen. For the time it came out, it was excellent. But, that's well in the past now.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/Sony-VPL-VW100.htm
 
#17 ·
I think there's a lot of recommendations, but not enough questions going on.

What source are you feeding the projector? (Blu-ray, Streaming, DVD, PC, game console???)

How are you connecting that source to the projector? (HDMI?)
How large is your screen?
What type of screen are you using?
What is the color of your walls?
What is the color of your ceilings?
What is the color of your carpet?
Is there any ambient light in the room?
Do you have all the lights out completely?
How many hours are on the current lamp?

The Sony is over a 10 year old design and the use of a Xenon lamp really is going to impact quality. The lamps are extremely expensive and have relatively short lives. Kind of like buying a used Ferrari, you may have gotten a great deal, but oil changes will be several hundred bucks. A new lamp for this projector is nothing approaching 'cheap', and it likely needs one.

The original lumens weren't that high, but the image was very well regarded in a proper theater on the right sized screen. For the time it came out, it was excellent. But, that's well in the past now.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/Sony-VPL-VW100.htm
Don't have answers to all, but what I know follows

Projector>>Receiver (w/o HDMI)>>DVD
100"
IDK type of screen
White ceilings, carpet and walls (I know not ideal)
Yes, there is ambient light
All the lights are out. I only watch in the evening.
Estimate 500 hours

Thanks.
 
#18 ·
So, the 100" screen size is great.

You aren't using a 4K source, if it's actually a DVD player, and not a Blu-ray player, then you aren't getting HD to begin with.

A huge concept to understand is that if you feed a high quality projector, a weak image, then your image quality will not improve, but be shown for how poor the source is.

You need a Blu-ray Disc player and you need to be playing Blu-ray Discs via HDMI.

If your receiver doesn't support HDMI, then bypass the receiver and go direct to the projector using HDMI. Connect audio separately to the A/V receiver. You will need a Blu-ray Disc player with digital audio out, and I'm assuming your audio system supports digital audio inputs. If not, you will need to buy a digital to analog converter (DAC) to get analog audio into your receiver.

If you aren't using component video (red/green/blue video connection) then you are likely using composite (yellow) video connectivity, which is about the worst possible video connection.

So, for the highest quality from this projector, you really must be starting with the highest quality source, and that's Blu-ray Disc. Not a DVD.

Watching with the lights out at night obviously helps the situation, but bright rooms are always going to take away quality. What's the last movie theater you went to that was white? There's a reason for that. Just something to remember and consider.

The 500 hours on the lamp will impact quality, but Xenon lamps should hold their quality very well. They just typically go bad at about 1,000 hours. I would expect decent brightness at 500 hours. Certainly enough for your 100" screen size.

You have some obvious room issues, but really, with lights out, if the projector is bright enough, then your big hold up on quality will be the lack of a proper high definition (HD) source. Once you have a Blu-ray Disc player, also get a video calibration disc like the Disney "Wow!" calibration disc.
 
#21 ·
Get a Oppo 103D player. Connect digital coaxial or optical out from the Oppo to the receiver and HDMI 1 from the Oppo to the Sony PJ.

Be blown away.:D
 
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