Sony VPL-VW95ES Pro Reviews

With the VPL-VW95ES, Sony has another winner on their hands. This premium projector emphasizes picture quality first and foremost, and every other aspect of the projector is constructed to complement the picture on the screen. While features like powered adjustments, Picture Position, and Motion Enhancer are helpful, they are not the reason why someone would buy this projector. We are giving the Sony VW95 our Highly Rated award on the basis of its 2D performance, as it is a magnificent machine for 2D home theater. However, its 3D performance is weaker than some less expensive competitors. This does not reduce the projector's value for those who need its strengths, those being a natural 2D picture and excellent gaming performance. The Law of Diminishing Returns is an economics concept, and I'm no economist, but a version of it applies here. Is the VW95ES incrementally better looking than the Epson 5010 and Panasonic AE7000? Yes. Color temperature is more consistent, shadow detail is smoother, and the picture has that film-like quality that identifies a truly exemplary image. So is the VW95 "worth it"? Videophiles think so. If your only concern is image quality, the VW95 has it in spades

Serious cinema fans only need apply, but the picture quality is well worth the price of admission

While I was a bit disappointed with the focus and contrast performance of the VPL-VW95ES, that’s me: Most of my nitpicks come from being a bit of a videophile snob and probably won’t even be noticed by all but the pickiest viewer. To put it in better perspective, I found the VPL-VW95ES a solid value. The out-of-box calibration is second to none, and Sony’s outstanding dynamic iris implementation and built-in 3D emitter make this one of the best projector experiences I’ve had right out of the box. Once again, Sony delivers a home theater experience that is easier than ever to enjoy—and now at a price that is even easier to afford.

The VPL-VW95ES is Sony’s flagship 3D projector, its mission to build on the performance of its HW30ES sibling. If it can better that fine design, Sony ought to be on to another winner here, despite the heftier price. The HW95ES is based on Sony’s SXRD projection technology, designed to deliver optimum brightness and contrast without the sometimes-distracting presence of a colour wheel (as used in DLP projectors). As you’d expect, the extra cash brings notably more power, with the VW95ES claiming a dynamic contrast ratio of 150:000:1 (more than twice that of the cheaper projector).

When one considers projectors in the $5,000 - $10,000, the number of choices starts thinning out, compared to the number of projectors, say, in the $2000 - $3500 range. This Sony VPL-VW95ES LCoS projector - SXRD - competes against projectors such as the Mitsubishi HC9000D, a couple of JVCs, an assortment of "high end brands", including Runco, SIM2, Digital Projection, and of course, the best of the much lower priced projectors.This is Sony's 2nd generation 3D capable projector, and as such, it has made some really big strides in just the year since the VW90ES came out. 3D is smoother, 3D is a lot brighter (huge!), 2D is brighter too, that can mean bigger screens folks! And of course the usual minor improvements as well.

The VW95ES is a huge leap forward over the disappointing VW90, to the point where its 2D performance is so stunning that it does enough in itself to justify the hefty £5,000 price tag. Crucially, though, the VW95ES is also a very enjoyable and accomplished 3D performer - even if Sony still has a little way to go before it fully silences its crosstalk critics.

What can we say, the VPL-VW95ES is without doubt Sony’s best projector to date. It offers exceptional 2D calibrated images with excellent dynamic range and black levels. Colour accuracy is superb with strong skin tones and a sharp, yet cinematic look to its images. This is the most important point for any projector, even in today’s 3D world. You can get exceptional 3D performance for very little money with projectors from Optoma and Epson to name two, but where they fall down in most cases is not being able to also provide the type of 2D image that makes the likes of the JVC X70 and this Sony VPL-VW90ES utterly exceptional. If you are a home cinema enthusiast who wants the very best 2D image and also some 3D escapism then the Sony offers an utterly compelling case in itself. During assessment of the objective data and real world viewing with the Sony it was extremely difficult to separate it from the JVC X70 which is its main rival. We had many days full of agony going over the entire plus and minus points of both machines, as well as hours and hours of side by side viewing and testing. With that we don’t envy anyone in the market looking at these two projectors, both are exceptional and to split them is like splitting hairs. And that is just with 3D material. Moving to 2D performance is just as hard and as you are likely to be watching 90% more 2D content than 3D it makes this area of assessment even more important. This is also where the VW95ES separates itself by some margin from the budget 3D projectors.