Official Sony VPL-HW50ES Owners Thread - Page 14

Originally Posted by gnolivos 

I reviewed the user manual,and have a few important questions:

1) Is there only ONE custom user preset memory to store a custom image preset? If I understand correctly, one can modify any of the existing factory image presets (CINEMA 1 etc) and replace those specific memory settings (losing the original default settings). And then there is a single USER preset that one can additionally toy with. Correct? Im used to having 6 locked factory presets, and 6 user presets!

2) If I am modifying a factory image preset (CINEMA 1), and change contrast by 5 steps and exit the menu, Is this going to automatically 'save' the change permanently on that preset, or do I have to specifically go through a set of menus to 'save' and override the prior setting into that memory slot? I prefer the later, so one can test settings momentarily (or for a specific movie) without having to track down what was changed to revert it. (Note: I don't mean revert to default, I want to revert to PRIOR (last saved) setting configuration.

My experience has been that whatever modifications are made to image preset modes like Cinema 1 remain in place each time you exit the menu.

Only one User preset as far as I know. Though a PITA I guess you could modify each of the factory presets to achieve your goal.

Originally Posted by gnolivos 

Looking through the HW50 manual, I could not find any reference to those iris setting you mention.

Originally Posted by cbaseuser 

Yeah....I don't think we're "supposed" to get into the service menu, although all us tweaker do anyways. There's even a way to adjust the white balance of specific points on the screen if a uniformity issue arises. I just wish there was a way to adjust the overall gamma/brightness/white balance of a given IRE verses all those 'points' they give. Granted, it's very flexible, but very cumbersome.

Originally Posted by mark haflich 

those are settings for the various DI modes. when the DI is off and manual iris is selected in the user menu, the iris can be set between largest and smallest. that's the way it is in my 1000ES and from memorary that's what was in the 30 and the 95. Of course I could be wrong.

Originally Posted by gnolivos 

I reviewed the user manual,and have a few important questions:
1) Is there only ONE custom user preset memory to store a custom image preset? If I understand correctly, one can modify any of the existing factory image presets (CINEMA 1 etc) and replace those specific memory settings (losing the original default settings). And then there is a single USER preset that one can additionally toy with. Correct? Im used to having 6 locked factory presets, and 6 user presets!
2) If I am modifying a factory image preset (CINEMA 1), and change contrast by 5 steps and exit the menu, Is this going to automatically 'save' the change permanently on that preset, or do I have to specifically go through a set of menus to 'save' and override the prior setting into that memory slot? I prefer the later, so one can test settings momentarily (or for a specific movie) without having to track down what was changed to revert it. (Note: I don't mean revert to default, I want to revert to PRIOR (last saved) setting configuration.
3) Manual has typical disclaimer on 'dead pixels'. Are people getting users with any dead pixels at all on these units? For 4 grand, one dead pixel is enough for me to return it!!!
4) Is the firmware user upgradeable ?

Originally Posted by Kelvin1965S 

If you've properly calibrated your display there shouldn't need to be any 'tweaking' while watching a film especially over such major controls as the brightness and contrast: You are either clipping black/white or not once set correctly, so if you change according to disc content, then you're possibly just crushing blacks/whites just because you think the image should look different to what it does when calibrated. Ergo I think it's a non issue.
EDIT: I certainly wouldn't use it as an excuse to buy a Panasonic, IMHO there are better projectors out there for the money (or less) these days.

Originally Posted by Scott B 

I watched a couple of movies this weekend with the HW50 and am more impressed now than after my initial viewing. Unlike the JVC, the projector does not lose much brightness as it is changed from Max zoom to Min zoom. I ceiling mounted the Sony towards the back of the theater (something that I could not do with the RS1 since I would lose too much light output). At this position, the fan in high lamp mode is virtually inaudible - very nice. Contrast is very good on the Sony - better than the JVC in medium to high APL scenes. Presumably this is due to the ANSI contrast of the Sony. On very low APL scenes the JVC sometimes achieves a lower black level but this is partly due to its much lower light output, and not for scenes which are very dark for more than a few seconds. On extended low APL scenes the Sony has a lower black level than the RS1 due to its dynamic iris. This is evident by looking at the top and bottom bars of a 2.35 movie on my 1.78 screen. Shadow detail is MUCH better on the Sony than the RS1. I am not using RC. I find that RC even in its minimum setting adds significant noise to the picture which is evident in scenes where large parts of the screen have a uniform colour (i.e. blue sky). When there is detail throughout an entire scene, this video noise is not as evident, and RC offers a nice boost in apparent sharpness. The thing is, I am not going to sit there and constantly turn RC on or off depending on the scene, and therefore, I am leaving it off for now. I am undecided on my favorite gamma setting. I like 2.4 on very dark scenes, but 2.2 for everything else. For now, I have it set for 2.2.
Now that I have the Sony properly set up, I have had a chance to better assess its uniformity and sharpness. I noted brightened corners in my initial observations. This was with the projector setup almost as close to the screen as possible. WIth the Sony ceiling mounted near the back of the theater, the uniformity is better and the brighter corners are much reduced. Also sharpness with RC off seems pretty good across the entire screen and is at least as good as the RS1. I suspect that positioning the Sony close to Min zoom means that the center part of the lens is being used where the tolerances are higher.
Overall a very nice projector. Now who wants a perfect condition RS1 with two lamps at a good price?

Originally Posted by AV Science Sales 5 

Once I hear back from Sony with this answer, I will post the info.

Originally Posted by Scott B 

I watched a couple of movies this weekend with the HW50 and am more impressed now than after my initial viewing. Unlike the JVC, the projector does not lose much brightness as it is changed from Max zoom to Min zoom. I ceiling mounted the Sony towards the back of the theater (something that I could not do with the RS1 since I would lose too much light output). At this position, the fan in high lamp mode is virtually inaudible - very nice. Contrast is very good on the Sony - better than the JVC in medium to high APL scenes. Presumably this is due to the ANSI contrast of the Sony. On very low APL scenes the JVC sometimes achieves a lower black level but this is partly due to its much lower light output, and not for scenes which are very dark for more than a few seconds. On extended low APL scenes the Sony has a lower black level than the RS1 due to its dynamic iris. This is evident by looking at the top and bottom bars of a 2.35 movie on my 1.78 screen. Shadow detail is MUCH better on the Sony than the RS1. I am not using RC. I find that RC even in its minimum setting adds significant noise to the picture which is evident in scenes where large parts of the screen have a uniform colour (i.e. blue sky). When there is detail throughout an entire scene, this video noise is not as evident, and RC offers a nice boost in apparent sharpness. The thing is, I am not going to sit there and constantly turn RC on or off depending on the scene, and therefore, I am leaving it off for now. I am undecided on my favorite gamma setting. I like 2.4 on very dark scenes, but 2.2 for everything else. For now, I have it set for 2.2.
Now that I have the Sony properly set up, I have had a chance to better assess its uniformity and sharpness. I noted brightened corners in my initial observations. This was with the projector setup almost as close to the screen as possible. WIth the Sony ceiling mounted near the back of the theater, the uniformity is better and the brighter corners are much reduced. Also sharpness with RC off seems pretty good across the entire screen and is at least as good as the RS1. I suspect that positioning the Sony close to Min zoom means that the center part of the lens is being used where the tolerances are higher.
Overall a very nice projector. Now who wants a perfect condition RS1 with two lamps at a good price?

Originally Posted by Scott B 

I see it as a benefit to be able to place the Sony further back in my HT with little loss in light as compared to the JVC. The further distance of the projector from the first row of seating coupled with a much lower fan noise than the JVC makes the Sony virtually inaudible even in high lamp mode. Nice.