Sony announced Wednesday that it will launch an upgrade to its line of 1080p home theater projectors that will feature a contrast ratio of 35,000:1. Beginning Sept. 20 in Japan, customers will be able to buy the BRAVIA VPL-VW60 video projector at a price of 441,000 yen ($3,838), including tax. Could this unprecedented contrast level in fixed-pixel finally begin to challenge high-end CRT front projectors?

John DiLoreto
Analyst and Editor for
Insight Media

For years CRT front projectors ruled the high-end home theater space. Because they emit no light when there is no image, their on/off contrast ratio is practically infinite. The image quality of 9-inch, 3-gun (RGB) CRT projectors is still a favorite of videophiles for its "inky" blacks, unpixelated high-resolution images, excellent shadow detail, freedom from artifacts and high-lumen output. Running about $60K and up, it is still a popular choice for high-end home theaters.

The more pedestrian VPL-VW60 utilizes three 1920×1080, 0.61-inch SXRD (Silicon X-tal Reflective Display) imagers, Sony’s proprietary version of LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) also used by JVC, Canon, Gemidis, Syntax-Brillian and others. It’s a microdisplay alternative to widely-promoted DLP and traditional 3LCD in both front projection and TVs.

SXRD devices have been successfully used by Sony in higher-end Qualia front projectors, RPTVs, and even digital cinema projectors that now can produce 4K x 2K pixels, four times as many as in Full-HD.

The new 1,000-lumen VPL-VW60 is equipped with a 200W high-pressure mercury lamp for images from 40-300 inches. A response time of less than 2.5 ms was achieved by reducing the liquid crystal cell thickness to less than 2 µm and using vertical alignment liquid crystal mode, shared by other high-end LCOS makers. The native contrast of the imager alone is 5,000:1.

However, the higher contrast levels are achieved by a technique called "auto irising," used in this projector and its predecessor. Last year’s VPL-VW50 achieved 15000:1 with auto-iris technology, which modulates the iris aperture according to scene brightness. Reducing the iris, not only darkens blacks in dark scenes, but enhances intra-scene contrast, so there’s a double advantage. The Advanced Iris 2 feature used in this year’s model achieves 35,000:1, more than twice the contrast ratio of the VPL-VW50.

There is a downside to the auto irising, however. Dark scenes with the iris closed cannot show pixels with as much intensity, as with the iris open. This "brightness compression" can sometimes be noticed on dark scenes with bright stars or streetlights - they don’t have high peak luminance. But it still allows an awesome theater experience, especially combined with the projector’s xvYCC expanded color gamut capability.

So, is the CRT front projection high ground threatened? Perhaps not for now by a mere 1000-lumen $4,000 projector. But at 35,000:1 contrast, the black levels in many scenes will approach the elite "inky" status. And with improved engine optics and higher-MTF lenses, beefed-up versions of this projection technology could begin to make further inroads into this exclusive territory.

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