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Sony VPL VW40

post #1 of 17
5/15/08 at 12:27pm
Thread Starter 
Hi All,

I think I am going to order the Sony VPL VW40 this week for my home theater. My room size is 17 (L) X 15 (W). It will be a dedicated HT room in the basement with a small window that I will cover up. I have a few questions. I am also thinking about ordering a 100' (Diag) Elite Ez screen. I will be watching mostly movies on this, however I might watch some sports on it as well. I have a few questions.

1. Any issues you see with the projector/screen size combo?
2. Should I get "Grey" or "white" screen for this projector?
3. I am a newb at calibrating these things, so looking for a good DVD or software that can help me calibrate this thing. Any advice?

Cheers,
Nepats
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post #2 of 17
5/15/08 at 1:06pm
How much do you want to get into a calibration? Generally it tales a calibrationist with equipment.

The projector and screen size seems fine.

I'd probably go with a white screen unless you know your prefer grey screens and their effect on whites as well as blacks.
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post #3 of 17
5/15/08 at 1:18pm
Your screen choice is wrong IMHO.You would be best to get your Sony from AVS and get the Highpower screen they sale also.Then you would have a excellent setup.The sony is one of the dimmer 1080p.The HP screen will let you get many more hours of life out of your bulb.Do you self a favor and Call AVS,They will fix you up plus you will save $.BOB
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post #4 of 17
5/15/08 at 1:25pm
I thought the EZ screen was 1.3 gain?

If not, buddahead has a point your right on the egde. As the lamp ages it probably is not going to make you happy with a 1.0 gain screen.
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post #5 of 17
5/15/08 at 1:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by buddahead View Post

Your screen choice is wrong IMHO.You would be best to get your Sony from AVS and get the Highpower screen they sale also.Then you would have a excellent setup.The sony is one of the dimmer 1080p.The HP screen will let you get many more hours of life out of your bulb.Do you self a favor and Call AVS,They will fix you up plus you will save $.BOB

The Sony is just as bright as the Epson 1080UB in best mode (the Epson is barely a tad brighter, not noticeably)- so your information is wrong.

I'm not saying the high power would be a bad idea though...
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post #6 of 17
5/15/08 at 1:43pm
Well the calc pro tells a different story on those two. I also found the VW50 to be very dim compared to others. It shows a vast difference between these two.

I'm not sure how the calc works, and I doubt anybody actually hits the numbers they give, but the relations represented from one projector to another sure seem accurate to me.
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post #7 of 17
5/15/08 at 2:17pm
Calc pro is does not give calibrated ftL in best or cinema mode and is probably based on manufacturer supplied data FWIW.
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post #8 of 17
5/15/08 at 2:20pm
Reviews also go all over the place on brightness, but the take home message seems to be that the Sony and the Epson aren't that different at best cinema settings, however the Epson has a lot of horsepower to spare and is said not to look too bad at all when you crank it up. I would be more worried about convergence and dust blob issues with the Epson. The Sony, JVC or and DLP wins there. BenQ W5000 for example won't get dust blogs. JVC-RSI and RS2. Sony VPL-W40 and W60.
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post #9 of 17
5/15/08 at 2:30pm
The BenQ W5000 isn't a bad choice at all and is a DLP with lens shift. It is cheaper, and a bit brighter than both the Epson & Sony in calibrated/cinema mode. Might want to look into comparing that one with the Sony.
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post #10 of 17
5/15/08 at 2:37pm
Agree. That said, I have seen the Sony W40 on a 100 inch screen in a light controlled showroom with lighter colored walls and it had plenty of pop and brightness. I don't know the screen gain for sure but the guy said it was 1.
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post #11 of 17
5/15/08 at 4:02pm
I'm about 20 hours into VW40 ownership (from AVS) and am projecting onto BOC. I just ordered a 112" 2.35:1 Carada Brilliant White screen today so I'll have a better idea next week, but for right now, 16:9 material @ 90" with the bulb on 'low' looks great. Blu-Ray @ 112" zoomed looks great. I know that it'll only be better with a real screen, but not sure how it will look in 500 hours.

My room is totally light controlled with a 12' throw and 11' seating distance.

Matte white at a minimum, something with gain would be better. No reason for the gray in my opinion.
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post #12 of 17
5/16/08 at 4:45am
Just bought one of the refurb HX2s from AVS and it has a brightness about the same as the Sony. Looks fine up to 120" in light controlled room on a CCC screen (gain of 1 specified - in practice, maybe a bit less)
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post #13 of 17
5/16/08 at 5:56am
i got my vw-40 on a 106" hi power, can watch it with the main lights on low power bulb too, hi power rocks, of course with lights off it looks amazing
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post #14 of 17
5/16/08 at 8:34am
The Elite EZFrame white screen material only has a gain of 1.1. I wouldn't consider a gray screen material with the VW40. Elite does offer a 1.8 gain screen material called Powergain but the only way to get it with the EZFrame to buy it as a replacement fabric, which adds to the total cost. Elite does offer the Powergain fabric as one of the standard materials with their less expensive SilverFrame series. The Dalite High Power, as suggested above, is a substantially more expensive option but you would need to mount the projector down low (near eye level) to get the full benefits from this screen, and this may not work for you.
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post #15 of 17
5/16/08 at 2:17pm
You might also consider the DaLite Hi Contrast Cinema Vision (HCCV), which is a very light gray (almost white), the down side is that it is only 1.1 gain.
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post #16 of 17
5/16/08 at 5:47pm
Thread Starter 
Hi All,

Thank you for all your comments, they are helping to make my choice clearer. I decided on the Sony VPL VW40 after hearing about all the dust issues with the Panasonice AE2000U, which was my first choice. Plus, I saw the Sony projector at a local dealer and it looked very good without any light control. They were using 92 inch DaLite screen.

I agree that I might need to get a higher grain white matte screen. Are there any other screens in the Elite price range?

As far as the calibration, I heard that this PJ is not calibrated out of the box. So, I am looking for some help to calibrate it and learn about calibration in general. Therefore, I am looking for "calibration for dummies" DVD or CD.

Hope this helps. Also, it looks like the price of this Sony PJ is dropping a bit below 3k price range. I wonder why?

Is it recommended to ceiling mount the PJs? Should I get an additional warranty since Sony only provides 1 year warranty? I have heard Mack warranties on this forum. Is this a recommended warranty since I live near Washington DC (Disclousure: This will be my first projector)

Cheers,
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post #17 of 17
5/20/08 at 11:50am
Thread Starter 
Alright All,

I have an interesting update. I ended up ordering the Sanyo plv z2000 projector. It was a really good deal and almost 50% off than the current Sony VPL VW400. It also comes with 3 year warranty. I know the quality of this projector is not as good as the Sony, however at this price difference I can upgrade in the next few years if I want to Also, I ended up ordering the Elite EzFrame 100' white with 1.1 grain. That was also on a good sale. Jason Turk's review and an ability to buy a higher grain material for around 100 bucks if needed made this decision easy.

Thank you for all your comments and suggestions.

Cheers,
SG
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