Sony VPL-VW50

By Kevin Miller, CNET.com, CNET Asia
Feb 19, 2007

Sony shook up the high-end front-projection market last September when it introduced the VPL-VW50 SXRD front projector at a list price of S$7,999 (US$5,694.86). The unit, dubbed the Pearl, is still among the least expensive 1080p front projectors available. It does some things really well, although it falls short in a couple of important areas of performance. Nonetheless, given its price point and image quality, it's hard to argue against the Pearl's status as one of the best values among 1080p front projectors.

Editors' note: This review is based on evaluations conducted by our sister site. Review ratings on similar products may differ due to differences in regional market trends and competing product lineups.

Design
As far as external appearance goes, Sony's VPL-VW50 is certainly one of the more attractive front projectors we've seen yet. It combines elegance and high-tech into a sleek look with smooth, rounded lines that are downright sexy. All of the connectivity is located on one side of the projector, cleverly hidden under the curve at the top of the chassis. The projector measures 173.5 x 395 x 471.4mm and weighs just over 11kg.

The remote control looks much like earlier Sony remote designs from the company's budget front projectors. It is rather basic with direct access keys for the picture formats, lens control, brightness, contrast, and aspect ratio selection. Fortunately the control is fully backlit, which makes its use in a darkened home theater much easier. Unfortunately, input selection is not direct, which means you have to scroll through all the inputs by hitting the input key repeatedly. The internal menu system is also identical to previous Sony projector designs, and we found it easy to navigate and fairly intuitive to use.

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