Why not slightly increase the size of the image, until it fills your height? The tiny bit of information that you lose on the right and left is not going to have anything critical in it. Using a 2.35 gives you a slightly bigger 16:9 image.

Thank you very much everyone for your answers.

I think it would be best to see the 675 in person in the owner's room to get out of doubt.

On the issue of black level and contrast, last year's 675 is higher than 385. By numbers of the manufacturer, it should be.

In the review of avsforum of the model 675 last year in contrast and level of blacks the score was 9 and in the review of avsforum 385 in contrast and level of blacks was 8.

a greeting

I second the use of the 'black velvet' trim that lets you 'over zoom'. I use a Da lite with 'Pro Trim' - works great!

I third the use; black velvet is a must for any screen.

No, your Sony importer is wrong. This year Sony introduced the 285, 385, and 885. All use the same lens system. It was originally derived from the 675 but it was improved. Some say that it was improved only by better QC but Sony says it is more stabile and improved overall from last year's 675 model.

Calibrated light output on the 385 has been higher than expected and is averaging between 1300 - 1350 lumens. Last year's 675 calibrated lumen output was measured around 1500 - 1550 lumens. So the calibrated light output range is somewhere between 200 - 250 lumens, not the full 300 lumens as advertised.

Last the 385 and last year's 675 have the around the same native contrast but the 675 has a more aggressive iris that boosts the dynamic contrast higher. This may or may not be much of a upgrade depending on your room and the content you watch.

The 675 is a nice unit. I am not trying to put it down but for the extra cost it isn't a good buy over the 385. If you want to go used, to get the price closer, just be sure to get the hours on the bulb, get the projector thoroughly checked out, and make sure the warranty is still good. It may not be honored by Sony if it isn't sold from an authorized dealer.

Ok GregCh

As I said the warranty is valid for 2 years to have 3 years warranty and 1 year of use.

The price as I said in my case is the same as the 675 and the 385 with the only difference that the 675 had more use about 1000 hours.

My room is a room dedicated to bats, so the greater contrast of the 675 will be better, right?

Those 250 plus lumens in favor of the 675 will come in handy for a better hdr imagino.

a greeting

Just IMO: I would get the new 385 for it’s 3 yr warranty. Brightness/lumens shouldn’t be a problem anymore with the custom gammas, hdr looks great in low lamp mode.

Exact Jbrinegar

But do not you think that with the personalized gammas, the 675 will have even more light, surpassing the 385?

I have 2 screens that drop down over a 75” SONY - a 1.78 and a 2.35. My Stewart screens have matte black borders but not black velvet and the overscan is visible. Even when I employ blanking to max on 600ES, I still get about 1” overscan on left and right sides when I zoom to fill height.

Best solution for me (aside from getting a “true” 2.40 screen) has been to keep the movie in it’s true AR without blanking and lower image to bottom of screen. The 1.5” of blank space at top is less distracting and I don’t think about.

That is, unless the movie is bad. Then I start to stare at it instead of watching the movie. So solution 2 is to only watch good movies. Not so easy.

I haven't messed with the blanking settings at all, can someone explain how they work? Can I crop the ends of the image to reduce the light spill over on my VPL-VW675ES? Will this cut into the image, or just the slight aspect ratio difference of these projects not being 16:9?

Just IMO of course:

Id rather have a new 385 with zero hrs on its bulb and a 3 yr warranty then the used 675 with 1000 hrs on its bulb and a 2 yr warranty. The difference in brightness will be small IMO. In my setup where I don't even use high lamp with iris wide open, when would I even use the extra lumens? If your setup needs high lamp with iris wide open to get the small bump up in lumens then it might be worth it to you. All just personal preference.

I received my 385 last week. What does setting the projector to HDR actually do? Does it just load HDR gamma curves or is there more involved?

I am trying to get the 386 to play nicely with my Radiance Pro.

Exactly why I went with 2:35.

Plenty of scams out there. Bottom line is Sony wants there product sold at UPP online ( Unilateral Price Point, the price on Sony's web site), you do not pay UPP online the dealer is not following Sony's guidelines.

I just saw AT&T / Direct TV will begin 4k HDR broadcasts - for those who are subscribers can report back on impression:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...300571658.html

Greetings!

I'm ready to pull the trigger on the 385, but after reading several comments and reviews of the machine failing to play [email protected] 10-bit depth, I've developed some doubts.

Can someone please confirm the 385 does, in fact, play HDR10 in all framerates? Also, how much of the DCI-P3 color space doe the machine actually reproduce?

Thank you in advance. I'd like to place my order by tomorrow if possible so that I can have delivery no later than this week.

The 385 is a great projector but does have it's limitations like all projectors.

It will definitely accept and play all [email protected] HDR10 content. The issue is that currently the video processor isn't capable of processing 10 bit color for 4K content at 60hz. As a result the Sony will convert the 10 bit color to 8 bit color for 60Hz 4K content. This can result in color banding and moire for certain content. Although that content is very rare as most content is native [email protected] HDR10 which the Sony handles beautifully for either 10 or 12 bit color depth. Many streaming devices also output at [email protected] HDR10 so they aren't effected either. I have been watching Netflix content on my Apple TV 4K at 24p and the HDR / DolbyVision content looks spectacular. Both color and HDR are outstanding.

The color space for the 385 is somewhere around 93% give or take a few % of full DCI-P3. This isn't really an issue as color is extremely good on the Sony and I doubt that you would see any difference with 100% P3. It is much more than REC 709 which is around 75% of P3. The advantage is that the Sony is able to achieve this color without the aid of a P3 color filter which cuts the light output on current implementations of 100% P3 color space.

All projectors have their limitations. JVC handles [email protected] HDR10 at full P3 color but it isn't true 4K, it is 1080p eshift. Also the P3 filter cuts the light output so that it isn't as bright as it would be without the filter. Epson is cheaper but also can't handle [email protected] HDR10, uses a P3 color filter, isn't true 4K and suffers from significant SDE.

The 285 is relatively cheap for true 4K output but doesn't have a dynamic or manual iris and doesn't auto-calibrate to compensate for bulb brightness decay over time.

To get no compromise full [email protected] HDR10 your need to spend over $25K for a Sony 885 or a JVC RS4500. Both are outstanding projectors but you pay a lot for that little improvement.

Thank you, GregCh! That's precisely what I was concerned with. Looks like I'll stick with my JVC RS620. I've been reading that the 640 isn't much of an upgrade either.

Exactly. The 675 with 1,000 hours, definitely will not be brighter. If anything, the 385 will be brighter. So you should factor in the cost of a new lamp, if you want the 300 extra lumens on the 675.

[quote=Craig Peer;55284894] And for those out there saying they have a new 675, I was told there is still only older stock in the states at tech data, and there has been no "new" into the us yet. That's direct from Sony...

I'm strongly considering the Sony 285/385 or JVC rs540/640 for my next projector after a 7 year hiatus (Panny PTAX200). My planned setup is mounting the projector 13ft from a 125" 2:35.1 diaganol AT screen.

My dilemma; I'd like to figure out which one of the proposed projectors would provide the LEAST amount of fan/eshift noise as the projector would hang roughly 1ft above and 2.5ft back from my head while seated. I also understand that fan noise can be largely subjective from person to person and unit to unit but thought I'd ask anyway. I've attached a pic to help you better understand my room limitations (slanted wall on one side). Excuse the mess, I'm 6 months out from demolition/reno of the opposite wall so everything is influx

Thanks in advance

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I have my 385 on a shelf just behind me- appox 3' away. In 'low light mode' it is virtually silent. It does have a unique cooling system- " It has a different cooling system with airflow exhausting out the rear of the unit to eliminate any possibility of heat exhaust affecting projected light". "In our testing, the Sony was very quiet: In low lamp mode it was inaudible, while in high lamp mode we could just barely hear it when there was no other sound in the room. The larger case size of the Sony compared with smaller entry-level projectors lets it more easily move air and keep cool while remaining quiet".

Didn't know that about the 385 wrt the rear exhaust (just started my research), that may work out in my favor since I wont have the fan whirring directly behind me. Is there a recommended distance from a rear wall?

EDIT: Just found information in the manual that seems to say otherwise about the rear heat exhaust. Or have I overlooked something?

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I just checked my manual- and it just says about 'keeping vents clear' . I guess you would want to allow at least the better part of 1-foot rear clearance to make sure ventilation is effective.

Any thoughts on the information I found in the manual above?

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Before I mounted mine on the ceiling, I had it on a box which was on a table directly behind my head. In quiet scenes I could still hear the fan, but it was not distracting. What was most distracting was needing to cover my eyes every time I get up and down during a movie. It can be quite bright when you get a glimpse of the light cone. Can you mount it higher? or even cut into the ceiling to make a shelf for it?

I'm unable to mount it higher because of the slanted ceiling. The higher I place the projector the further forward it goes, which in turn takes away my ability to shoot a 125" image. In the picture my proposed mounting position has the lens 13ft back from the screen.

There's only about 8" between the drywall and the roof which means cutting into the ceiling won't yield much. Interesting idea though, I'll go up tonight and take a look


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So intake back, exhaust front. I am putting mine on a shelf on the rear wall, and I was leaving plenty clear above and beside it, but wasn't actually thinking about leaving too much of a gap at the rear. Hmm. Maybe I should make the shelf a little deeper.

Intake front - exhausts to rear.

According to the manual at pages 3, 4 and 53:

• Intake: Front AND rear
• Exhaust: Front

So keep care with the rear side