Projectors can deliver an image of the size and scale that TVs can’t replicate (at least not yet), but they struggle in a few areas, areas that Sony’s newest 4K laser projectors aim to rectify.
The BRAVIA Projector 9 (VPL-XW8100ES) and BRAVIA Projector 8 (VPL-XW6100ES) are part of Sony’s revamped home cinema projector line-up as the Japanese brand looks to unify its home cinema range in a way that makes it simpler to have the best experience in the home.
Most projectors have struggled in reproducing the brightness of HDR, as well as deep blacks and contrast. That’s an area Sony has focussed on with its new projectors, utilising its XR Dynamic Tone Mapping, XR Deep Black, XR Triluminos PRO and XR Clear Image technologies for a better picture.
The XR Dynamic Tone Mapping can analyse peak brightness frame by frame to deliver “optimal tone mapping”, preserving the colour gradation and high brightness peaks within an image. The XR Deep Black holds sway over the laser dimming in dark scenes, allowing for detail to still be seen while producing deep blacks.
The XR Triluminos Pro feature amps up colours to make them more true to life, while the XR Clear Image upscales image to 4K quality by accessing a database that helps it to “intelligently recreate” lost texture and detail while minimising noise and artefacts. The Live Colour Enhancer that’s only available on the BRAVIA 9 projector is able to produce more vibrant colours without reducing saturation, which will be helpful when dealing with dark scenes where colour saturation is usually sacrificed.
Great for gamers
The BRAVIA 9 is capable of delivering 3400 lumens of brightness, while the BRAVIA 8 can output 2700 lumens. Gamers will be especially pleased to hear that both projectors support 4K/120fps gameplay, with latency as low as 12ms when in this mode. ALLM is supported through HDMI 2.1 to put the projector into its gaming spec when it recognises a gaming source.
Home automation solutions such as Control4, Crestron, Savant, AMX as well as remote maintenance services OvrC and Domotz are supported.
From a sustainability perspective, both projectors make use of mercury-free laser light source, while the XR Deep Black control over laser dimming on a frame-by-frame basis results in improved power efficiency.
The BRAVIA 9 replaces the VPL-XW7000ES in Sony’s home cinema line-up, and is priced at €25,999 / £25,999; while the BRAVIA 8 is priced at €15,999 / £15,999.
