Projector Reviews

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 5,266:1

The measurements here were made using CalMAN measurement software from Portrait Displays (www.portrait.com), together with a Photo Research PR-650 color meter, Minolta LS-100 luminance meter, and a Murideo/AVPro (Fresco Six-G) test pattern generator.

Pre-calibration measurements were made with the Sony VPL-VW325ES's Cinema Film 2 picture mode active in the default settings. Post-calibration measurements were also made in the Cinema Film 2 mode. All measurements were made with the projector paired with a 1.1 gain, 92-inch diagonal Stewart CIMA projection screen.

The projector's full-on/full-off SDR contrast ratio was measured in Cinema Film 2 mode with the High Lamp Control and High Contrast Enhancer settings active. Using this combination, black measured 0.006 footlamberts (ft-L) and peak white 31.6 ft-L for a contrast ratio of 5,266:1.

Before calibration, the Sony's grayscale tracking was very accurate in Cinema Film 2 mode, the best of the picture preset options that I measured. I was able to improve things further using the 2-point RGB Gain/Offset adjustments in the Color Temperature menu, which yielded a maximum 2.5 Delta E at the 30 percent brightness level. (Delta E is a figure of merit indicating how close the color comes to the standards, either D65 for the white point or the color coordinates for each of the primary and secondary colors that define the color gamut under test. Values below 3 are generally unnoticeable.)

With most of the Cinema Film 2 mode's default settings active, the Delta E of the Sony's color points averaged out to 3.4, with a maximum error of 4.6 for cyan. After making adjustments in the projector's Color Correction menu, that number was reduced to 1.5. Coverage of the Rec. 709 color gamut reached 100%, DCI-P3 89.2%, and BT. 2020 65.8%.

Post-calibration, SDR gamma closely tracked a 2.4 target, with a maximum Delta E of 1 at 20% white. In HDR10 mode with the High Lamp Control and High Contrast Enhancer settings active, peak brightness was measured at 42.2 ft-L (144.6 nits) on a 10% white window and 0.006 ft-L for black, yielding a full-on/full-off HDR contrast of 7,033:1.

Picture uniformity was excellent: white full-field test patterns showed minimal brightness drops between the center and edges of the screen, and no color shifts. Our suite of video processing tests revealed very good performance, with the Sony passing virtually all of the tests.

Best case measured input lag with a 1080p source was 36.1 ms in Game mode, making the Sony an average option for high-def gaming.—AG