Sony SXRD VPL-VW40 1080p Home Theater Projector Reviews

Average Customer Rating - 4.6 out of 5 stars

5 customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Sony vpl-vw40 projector review, February 3, 2010
This projector has allowed me to create truly the ultimate home theater system beside a 140" image in 1080p (it can shift all the way to 300" but my wall would single fit 140"). easy to install and maintain. The lone draw back is the 1 year warranty. This is the difference between the vpl-VW60 has a 2 year warranty but its $2k more.

5.0 out of 5 stars A+, May 16, 2008
Phenomenal. Compared to a 52XBR5, it bests it within just about everything minus that 120hz motionflow the xbr5 have. Great price, much quieter than my PS3 and/or my xbox 360, for it is just about inaudible. Colors do involve some tweaking out of the box. I would recommend a calibration dvd. No screendoor effect allows me to sit 8 feet close to a 103" screen. Great flexibility as ably.

5.0 out of 5 stars 1080p front projection finally at an affordable price, June 26, 2008
I picked up the Sony VPL-VW40 to replace an aging 720p VPL-HS51 that has worked pretty well for over 3 years. One warranty repair be needed on the HS51 for a problem with the blue filter about a year and a partially in, and it's now out of warranty and be also about due for another lamp replacement so it seem like a good time to upgrade.
I be a little worried that the VW40 might not be bright enough since it reportedly have a little lower maximum light output than the Epson 1080UB (which I also looked at), but I shouldn't enjoy been worried since I only project an something like 85" image (small room). To me the VW40 actually looks slightly brighter than the HS51 if anything. The big difference, though, is contained by resolution and black level. The image is much sharper and more detailed, especially beside a 1080p source. I think it even looks somewhat better on upconverted content. It's also quieter and I can't even hear the fan clamour unless I listen carefully for it. One thing I struggled near a bit is the sheer size and weight of the VW40. It's a significant increase in both size and counterbalance from the HS51 and I had to modify my home built ceiling mount to ensure it could handle it. It's over 24lbs while the HS51 be less than 13lbs.
My reasons for choosing this model over the 1080UB include a couple of primary factors. First, I've become accustomed to Sony projectors and I like the similar features/connections/menus/etc. Secondly, the Sony is an SXRD (LCOS) projector vs the 3-LCD Epson. It has a sealed wispy path, so the need for a frequently replaced fine fragment air filter is largely eliminated as is the menace of getting "dust blobs" in the picture. I've also heard some reports of convergence problems on the Epson. Otherwise, the enactment of the projectors is very similar, with the Epson have a slight edge in maximum wishy-washy output as well as black level, however both are so much better than the previous equals that the difference between them seems minor.
So far I'm very pleased next to the projector's performance, however, since it only comes next to a 1-year warranty and my HS51 needed a warranty repair after more than 1 year I went ahead and got the extended warranty on this one, and would probably recommend that others do indistinguishable. As such you may want to factor that in to the total cost when comparing this unit next to other models that may come with longer standard warranties (I believe the Epson have 2 years). I think you can even add the warranty to a refurbished part if you want to make up for some of the extra cost, and Sony sometimes has an extra 10% stale coupon for refurbished products.

5.0 out of 5 stars VPL-VW40, May 24, 2008
Only one word.....AMAZING.....The picture quality, the blacks, the contrast....all excelent. Thanks to Sony for spawn another great product.

4.0 out of 5 stars I'm in Heaven, February 9, 2008
I just hooked up my Sony vpl-vw40 projector and I'm really happy with it. I must plead guilty that I have little experience and don't have an extensive comparison backround, but it is more that I have hoped for. Nice blacks, vibrant colors. Also a very simple remote with intuitive functions. I newly had over 20 people over- we watch "Night at the Museum" on Blue ray with a superb full 1080 res and later "Crouching Tiger" on traditional DVD. Upscaling to 1080p was great. Not quite as perfect as the BlueRay but pretty dang good for making up info. Everyone was amazed at the clarity. I hooked it to a Denon AVR-2308CI Home theater A/V Receiver and Fluance(tm) 5 Speaker SXHTB+ Surround Sound Home Theater System SX-HTB+. The speakers a short time ago boggle me. So much for so little. Anyways- there's not any reviews I can see so far on this new projector, so hopefully this will be of use.

Jim


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