xPLAYRZx Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Sony Professional - VPL-VW790ES Sony Professional - VPL-VW590ES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xPLAYRZx Posted September 25, 2020 Author Share Posted September 25, 2020 Got sick of waiting for all the reviews so decided to pull the trigger on a new 790ES. Expected delivery and install in a few weeks. Will post my impressions once I've had some time with it. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TP1 Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 19 hours ago, xPLAYRZx said: Got sick of waiting for all the reviews so decided to pull the trigger on a new 790ES. Expected delivery and install in a few weeks. Will post my impressions once I've had some time with it. Congrats! Looking forward to you thoughts once it arrives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinewave Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 Very nice! I just bought a 590. pick it up on Saturday 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TP1 Posted September 27, 2020 Share Posted September 27, 2020 14 hours ago, Sinewave said: Very nice! I just bought a 590. pick it up on Saturday Exciting times ahead - keep us posted! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xPLAYRZx Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 (edited) A look at the new HDR Enhancer feature and comparison to madVR solution. Please keep any madVR talk for another thread. (I know DTM is a hot topic at the moment) Taken from first look review HERE Edited October 1, 2020 by xPLAYRZx 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinewave Posted October 2, 2020 Share Posted October 2, 2020 First viewing with my 590 last night and I’m shocked by how great it is. The colors and detail are astonishing, I couldn’t be more impressed. Especially at this price point. I will have to wait to see the 790 my dealer bought, once it arrives, but couldn’t ask for more than this level of performance in my room. PlayrZ I hope you enjoy your 790 and are as thrilled with its image quality as I am with mine! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TP1 Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 4 hours ago, Sinewave said: irst viewing with my 590 last night and I’m shocked by how great it is. The colors and detail are astonishing, I couldn’t be more impressed. Especially at this price point. When you have had a chance to get used to it, I'd be interested to hear how you think the dynamic HDR enhancer works with material such as UHD streaming and other 4K material you may watch. Comments to date have principally been in relation to extreme cases on selected discs but it would be good to understand how it performs with material most people would watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xPLAYRZx Posted October 3, 2020 Author Share Posted October 3, 2020 10 hours ago, Sinewave said: First viewing with my 590 last night and I’m shocked by how great it is. Awesome stuff. Great to hear it's exceeded your expectations, very encouraging. What projector did you replace? My 790 is scheduled to be delivered and installed this coming Friday. Can't wait 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinewave Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 (edited) On 03/10/2020 at 7:21 PM, xPLAYRZx said: Awesome stuff. Great to hear it's exceeded your expectations, very encouraging. What projector did you replace? My 790 is scheduled to be delivered and installed this coming Friday. Can't wait My system isn’t very impressive I’m afraid, but there is no doubt of it’s performance. My last projector was a Panasonic PTAE8000. It took a long time to find something that was orderers of magnitude better. Edited October 6, 2020 by Sinewave Clarity 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xPLAYRZx Posted October 7, 2020 Author Share Posted October 7, 2020 Two more sleeps 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinewave Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 On 03/10/2020 at 1:39 PM, TP1 said: When you have had a chance to get used to it, I'd be interested to hear how you think the dynamic HDR enhancer works with material such as UHD streaming and other 4K material you may watch. Comments to date have principally been in relation to extreme cases on selected discs but it would be good to understand how it performs with material most people would watch. So amusingly I only have 2 UHD blue rays, (I just bought 15 more) so I didn’t have much material to test with. But I did try several different settings and tried upscaling 2k blue rays in my Oppo 205 vs the 590 with mixed results. My room can be pitch black from external light, but as it’s a multi purpose room it’s not a bat cave. I will have to paint the roof black, or put 8x black Viacoustic panels on the ceiling between screen and projector as the light bleed from the screen was astonishing. I will definitely one day post photos of my setup as I’d really appreciate comments on how to improve my *everything*. my Pana 8000 was only ever used in ‘REC709’, my screen is a Screen Technics with zero gain. We watched Black Panther on ‘Cinema Film 1 and 2’ and.. I couldn’t se a damn thing. It was so dark. Contrast enhancer on mid, as were the other HDR settings. But on ‘Ref’ it was just about perfect. Actually it was shockingly good to be honest. And I’ve seen the entire Sony range in hi fi stores around the country. I have the Spears and Munsil test disc and will do as much adjustment as possible and report back! Anyone in Canberra getting a professional calibration anytime soon? Put me on the list if there are 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinewave Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 Best results so far were with the Oppo 205 set to ‘Source Direct’ (as always.) I’ll definitely spend some more time trying out different settings but playing ‘Dark Knight Rises’ UHD: when you pause the IMAX scenes with my screen in its 16x9 configuration you see a wide vertical tilt shot of New York City - you can actually see into hundreds of individual windows in the buildings in exquisite detail and the beautifully subtle shadings of light reflected on the stone facade from one building to another. It’s breathtaking. This is in ‘REF’ with zero calibration so I imagine there’s far more to come. I’ll be doing proper contrast/gamma/black level adjustments as soon as I have time. I also installed (at great difficulty in my room with its 4 layers of insulation!!) a new 10M run of Kordz PRS Spectra7 active copper 18Gbs HDMI cable as I was concerned my 16Gbs active optical HDMI cable wouldn’t be sufficient for 4K 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xPLAYRZx Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 "Reference" picture mode out of the box is apparently excellent on the new models, so your experience would support that. Sounds like you have identified a few opportunities (and plans) to improve your space. It'll definitely make a difference, worth doing. Assuming you didn't test the your previous cable before replacing it? I ask because I'm also likely going to replace my current 12M Wireworld Chroma 7 HDMI, mainly due to the lack/conflicting information available on it's ability to handle 18Gbps over 12M. I've been recommended the AudioQuest Pearl in a 10M or 12.5M. I want to be sure I get the full 18Gbps as I do a good bit of gaming on my setup and will likely need the bandwidth. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xPLAYRZx Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 Also, review from Kris Deering is up on Sound & Vision https://www.soundandvision.com/content/sony-vpl-vw915es-4k-lcos-projector-review 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mckie1 Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 (edited) We have had our 790 for just on two weeks now and although not calibrated it is hands down night and day compared to our previous Mitsubishi lamp projector from 7 years ago. sadly we are waiting on 4k hdmi switches so we can test the 4k and hdr but the 1080p is glorious for our family. We even had to turn the laser down to 20% it was that damn bright! hopefully we can get it calibrated in 2021 Edited October 8, 2020 by Mckie1 Change text 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwt Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, xPLAYRZx said: Assuming you didn't test the your previous cable before replacing it? I ask because I'm also likely going to replace my current 12M Wireworld Chroma 7 HDMI, mainly due to the lack/conflicting information available on it's ability to handle 18Gbps over 12M. I've been recommended the AudioQuest Pearl in a 10M or 12.5M. I want to be sure I get the full 18Gbps as I do a good bit of gaming on my setup and will likely need the bandwidth. Ive got chroma 7 and it has little problem with hi framerate 4k/60 uhd so try it out before buying[ its about 30ft] . It would be prudent otherwise to get cabling that is 48gbps compatible for hdmi 2.1 and features it contains like ruipro 8k fibre ; xPLAYRZx it will take awhile before games come out that take advantage of 120fs and 8k frame rates so future proofing is a good move Edited October 8, 2020 by cwt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TP1 Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 9 hours ago, Sinewave said: So amusingly I only have 2 UHD blue rays, (I just bought 15 more) so I didn’t have much material to test with. But I did try several different settings and tried upscaling 2k blue rays in my Oppo 205 vs the 590 with mixed results. Netflix has quite a bit of 4k UHD material, as has Prime Video and Stan. 9 hours ago, Sinewave said: But on ‘Ref’ it was just about perfect. Actually it was shockingly good to be honest. And I’ve seen the entire Sony range in hi fi stores around the country. Nice! There is a lot to look forward to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TP1 Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 (edited) 7 hours ago, xPLAYRZx said: Assuming you didn't test the your previous cable before replacing it? I ask because I'm also likely going to replace my current 12M Wireworld Chroma 7 HDMI, mainly due to the lack/conflicting information available on it's ability to handle 18Gbps over 12M. I've been recommended the AudioQuest Pearl in a 10M or 12.5M. I want to be sure I get the full 18Gbps as I do a good bit of gaming on my setup and will likely need the bandwidth. I have attached a pdf of HDMI test results - it was done a couple of years ago but could still be relevant. I only use active optical HDMI for all equipment connections. Probably not necessary for for all connections but it does seem to give the best picture and fastest HDMI sync times. HDMI CABLES PERFORMANCE EVALUATION & TESTING REPORT #1 ~ 50FT 15M+ LENGTH CABLES v3 SML.pdf Edited October 8, 2020 by TP1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xPLAYRZx Posted October 12, 2020 Author Share Posted October 12, 2020 (edited) OK, so my 790 was delivered and installed last Friday. Since then I’ve managed to put just over 20 hours on it, much of that time spent fiddling with all the settings (as you do). Also watched a movie (Alita), some Netflix (HD & 4K HDR) and YouTube along with some gaming (Gears 5 & COD) For context, I’m coming of another Sony, the VPL-VW520ES (which is also for sale in the classified section at a cracking price). Video chain is 790 > 10M Audioquest Forest HDMI > Anthem AVM60. Screen is 130” 16:9 1.3 gain. Sources are Panasonic UB9000 and Xbox One X. Never really reviewed a projector before so I’ll try and keep it short-ish – SDR.709 – 11/10 Any SDR.709 content I viewed looked amazing. Contrast, colour and brightness are all improved. I think “pop” is the word all the kids are using to describe this. The colour is just next level, I’m hesitant to use the word “colour volume” because that’s not it, but the quality of the colour is another tier up on anything I’ve seen before. It really is stand out and one of the most noticeable differences I have found so far. SDR.2020 – 9/10 Again, excellent. All the benefits of SDR with wider colour space. Do recommend. Currently switching between this and HDR for movies. HDR.2020 – 8/10 Before I comment on HDR performance, let me preface this with my general view on HDR on projectors…. it’s crap. I also hate having to use different profiles for different content, adjust anything on a per movie basis, blah, blah. It’s ridiculous. You put the movie in, press play and it should look amazing. Period. Now that we have that out of the way, how does the 790 do with HDR content. Not terrible. Although there are very little controls you have over how the projector handles HDR, what it does do with it’s magical X1 chipset and “enhancement” isn’t all that bad. I did compare this to the Panasonics HDR optimizer settings using the movie Oblivion, both Low (350 nit) and High (500 nit) luminance projector settings and thought the Sony did a better job of the tone mapping, at least to my eyes. Although the Sony did appear to throw away more highlight detail, it maintained a much better APL in the process. When you flick back and forth, any lost highlight details didn’t really add anything to the scene. So “technically”, yes you lose more details but gain a better viewing experience. The purists will not agree. Netflix and YouTube HDR content did seem to fair a little better compared to UDH Blu Ray. Not sure why, perhaps just the content I chose but it was overall very good. Gaming – 9/10 Excellent for gaming, everything looks beautiful. Input lag reduction feature seems indistinguishable from the 520 but that’s probably just me, apparently it’s improved. I have no way to verify this. Seems to handle all the content you throw at it. Most games have the ability to fine tune your video/HDR settings on a per game basis, along with the consoles ability to have an independent HDR calibration makes for a much better HDR gaming experience. A few things I like/dislike. Like Independent settings for SDR and HDR Amazing SDR and gaming performance Usable HDR performance Laser light source (you know you want it) Instant on/off Out of the box colour (Reference mode is almost perfect) Noticeable uplift in overall sharpness (probably DFO) Dislike Price Fan noise/tone (I find this louder/more distracting that 520 on low lamp mode even on low laser settings) Slower than expected HDMI sync times (although this may just be my specific combination of devices) Price Overall I’m very happy with the purchase, there is much to like about this projector, it is certainly a step up from previous models. I will obviously be spending a lot more time with the 790 and hope to continue improving and experimenting with different settings. I also imagine we will see further refinement via firmware changes into the future. Who knows, I might be wowed by HDR yet! Edited October 14, 2020 by xPLAYRZx 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xPLAYRZx Posted October 12, 2020 Author Share Posted October 12, 2020 I also had a crack at a few photos of the images produced by the Sony so I could share. Not as easy as I thought as it really is difficult to capture the full range and colour accurately. Enjoy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wooferocau Posted October 12, 2020 Share Posted October 12, 2020 3 minutes ago, xPLAYRZx said: SDR.709 – 11/10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xPLAYRZx Posted October 12, 2020 Author Share Posted October 12, 2020 It's that good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TP1 Posted October 12, 2020 Share Posted October 12, 2020 (edited) 50 minutes ago, xPLAYRZx said: SDR.709 – 11/10 Any SDR.709 content I viewed looked amazing. Contrast, colour and brightness are all improved. I think “pop” is the word all the kids are using to describe this. The colour is just next level, I’m hesitant to use the word “colour volume” because that’s not it, but the quality of the colour is another tier up on anything I’ve seen before. It really is stand out and one of the most noticeable differences I have found so far. I thought the laser light source was one factor that would make colour pop more, and also add to the image stability. Sony scaling from regular video to 4K is the best in the business and the image usually has more resolution than what would be produced by 2K displays. As a matter of interest, what output resolution do you have the source equipment set to? Edited October 12, 2020 by TP1 typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xPLAYRZx Posted October 12, 2020 Author Share Posted October 12, 2020 Not sure on the specifics for each device, but output would be maxed on all of them, so 4K, 12bit, etc. where possible. Fairly certain the projector sees 3840x2160 for almost all content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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