New Sony 4K Flagship Projector Boasts OLED-Level Brightness
This projector will make your socially-distanced movie nights even better.
Sony Electronics on Tuesday announced three new 4K projectors, including the VPL-GTZ380 flagship and also the VPL-VW715ES and VPL-VW915ES. The home cinema projectors replace earlier models, the VPL-VW695ES and VPL-VW885ES, and promise “innovative processing, impressive brightness and best-in-class viewing experiences,” the company said.
All three projectors use the X1 processor, which is also featured in Sony’s highest-end TVs.
The VPL-GTZ380, the flagship of the line, offers a 0.74” native 4K SXRD panel, and is geared to both the home theater market and the “corporate, entertainment and simulation environments,” Sony said.
As for the other two projectors, they offer what Sony calls Dynamic HDR Enhancer, Digital Focus Optimizer and Sony’s Super Resolution “Reality Creation” technology, which upscales content to 4K resolution even if it was filmed in lower resolution.
“Sony has led the 4K projector market for nearly a decade, and we’re thrilled to announce a new range of powerhouse models for our customers and [custom installation] dealers,” Mike Fasulo, president and chief operating officer of Sony Electronics North America, said in the announcement. “Offering a big screen, immersive viewing experience that delivers the creator’s true intent is a core goal when developing our projectors, and these new models are no exception.”
Sony’s Digital & Home Cinema product manager, Christopher Mullins, said in an interview with TechRadar this week that the new flagship projector offers 10,000 lumens, which he likened to “the same brightness you’d get on an OLED panel—but on a 4-5 meter screen.”
“There are projectors out there that offer high lumens but not the contrast performance,” Mullins added in the interview. “SXRD is eight times the contrast of a DLP [digital light processing] panel.”
The VPL-VW715ES has a listed price of $9,999.99, while the VPL-VW915ES is priced at $19,999.99. The VPLGTZ380 does not have a listed price on Sony’s website.
The first two models are available to order right away, at Best Buy, Amazon and other retailers, in both black and white. The VPL-GTZ380 model will be available this winter.
In the home theater projector market, Sony competes with the likes of Epson, Optoma, JVC, LG and BenQ. CNET, earlier this year named the BenQ HT2050A the “best projector for the money,” while it called the Optoma UHD60 the best for 4K. The site picked another Optoma product, the Optoma HD28HDR, as the best for HDR.
Meanwhile, TechRadar, in its most recent rankings, named the LG CineBeam HU85LA its best projector for the United States, while giving BenQ’s TK850 highest marks for “best for brightness.” And Digital Trends last month named Optoma UHD50X as its top home theater projector.
Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
Image: Sony