Sony HW 50 ES vs 95 ES

Neither of those projectors is going to fill a 135 feet screen and definitely not from a 14 ft throw either.

On a 1.0 gain screen from 14' and a 135' diagonal screen according to ProjectorCentral you will get 9FL from the 95ES and 14FL from the HW50.

From my research the HW50 is a bit brighter, may have slightly less ghosting, if using FI in 3D the HW50's FI is more aggressive giving more of a video look, the lens is not as optically sharp as the VW95ES and therefore needs Reality Creation(RC)to make up the difference. RC seems to be liked my many in the lower settings and does work in 3D and gives the overall picture a sharper image but noise and artifacts can be apparent in lower quality video. The first HW50ES do have a slight whine when being viewed in 3D. From what I've read in the US, Sony will presently provide an external emitter free of charge.

The VW95 has slightly better black levels (not sure how much), has a powered lens with lens memory, and as mentioned has better optical sharpness. The VW95 does not have the RC feature.

I only wish I could compare the two side by side.

Im looking at a 50ES.
Will a throw distance of 18' be okay with a 123" screen?

Yes. Take the screen width and multiply by 2.13 to get the farthest back you can put the projector. With 16:9 screen that would be around 107 wide so about 19 feet. My measured max throw was actually 2.16 so you can probably go even further back.

Is there really enough difference between the two units to justify the higher cost?

Yes. You get a much better lens in the 90ES. I think that alone warrants the difference of cost, especially considering the street cost difference on this is less than $1000. You'll also get better black levels, motorized zoom, shift, and focus, along with a lens memory system if you want to do an anamorphic screen setup. If you want an RC type system just buy a Darblet. The only advatage the 50ES has over the 95ES is the 3D performance is better and it's a little brighter.

I would pick the 95 over the 50. For the reasons mentioned above. Sharper image and motorized zoom/shift/focus.