Sony SuperLite VPL-DS100 Video Projector

Rating:
Summary: bigscreen is here without giganto box
Review: For those wanting to watch movies the way they were meant to be watched, there is no substitute for the real thing: front projection. When you go to the movie theaters, what do you see and hear? You see a big screen that is projected in a dimly lit or dark room with a sound system that comes from the front or the side walls. This Sony projects a large image that is bright enough for a dimly lit room. It is sharp and the colors look just right with the right adjustment on my dvd player. However, it is not as bright, not as sharp, no as contrasty as a tubed TV. I do not plan to use it for TV watching, but just for movies. You also need to worry about bulb life, which means you don't always leave it on- but only to watch movies. Really, there is no substitute for big screen than a projector. Rear projection is muddy and no better, LCDs are expensive and small, Plasmas are way too expensive. For way less than a grand, you can have this big screen that can be portable. Stop illusioning yourself by watching movies on a small screen- it is not even close to the real experience of a front projector.

This Sony is only 800x600, but looks clean and sharp. My DVDs never looked this large and movielike. With SVideo input, video is good, but needs some adjustment. Component input via additional cable is much cleaner and the colors are much more accurate- very little adjustment needed and no bleeding of colors. With the brightness on my DVD player bumped up, the image is so much brighter than a rear projection. Sony does a quality job with this projector and it shows- I would not have gotten anything else. Tiny remote is handy. Noise levels are average, but I am going to put it in an enclosure soon. Every movie from The Last Samurai to Before Sunset looks absolutely stunning. It really makes you feel like you are in a small theater.

My only drawbacks are that the lamp life is not like 10,000 hours and that even though right now the resolution is enough, when 2006 HD standards roll around, higher resolution would be nicer, but at this price, no boxed TV can touch the experience of true large screen.

Home theater is nothing without a big screen!