Sony VPL-HS20 - Get It While It Lasts!
Written: Nov 29 '04 (Updated Dec 05 '04)
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Pros: At closeout prices, this projector delivers the best LCD quality for the money!
Cons: For once, I can't think of single one...
The Bottom Line: Sony quality at an unbeatable price, the VPL-HS20 delivers a vivid, top-notch picture. Perfect for HDTV and DVD viewing!
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| mrs-j's Full Review: Sony VPL-HS20 Multimedia Projector |
My husband and I built a front projection home theater in our first home. We loved the room, but knew that when we moved to a different house we'd want to upgrade our setup. That, plus selling our house with the home theater intact really generated a lot of interest in our listing - we actually ended up getting an offer for thousands over our asking price and our realtor was convinced it was the "Wow!" factor of the home theater that did it.
We had a DLP projector, the InFocus X1, which I reviewed here on Epinions in July of 2003. I loved the projector and I loved the price, but it did have its shortcomings. The one that bothered me the most was a rainbow effect common in lower end DLP projectors.
This time around I gave my husband carte blanche to pick the projector, at whatever price he thought was reasonable. After all, the proceeds we got thanks to our first home theater more than paid for our next one.
Our original purchase was a DLP projector because they were offered at such a low price point and also because DLP technology tends to provide darker blacks and less of a "screen door" effect (where you can see lines between the pixels). A year and a half ago, most LCD projectors didn't provide deep cinema blacks and tended to produce images with a heavy screen door effect. This time around though, there were more LCD projectors on the market and the pricing had come down substantially. My husband thought that with the new technologies on the market, it might just be the time to make the jump to LCD and I agreed. We ended up choosing the Sony VPL-HS20.
About the VPL-HS20
We chose this projector because of its great brightness and contrast numbers, its ability to manage keystone correction, both horizontally and vertically, its excellent throw distance, the HDMI input (for our High Definition TiVo) and the HDTV compatibility. In short, this projector had everything we wanted, including a great price.
Stats:
Brightness: 1400 ANSI lumens
Contrast: Full On/Off: 1300:1
Weight: 11.9 lbs
Throw Distance: 5.9 feet - 38.4 feet
Image Size: 40" - 300"
Warranty: 1 Year
Lamp Type: 180W UHP/3000 hour life
Display: Native & Maximum: 1386x788, 16:9 Aspect Ratio (WXGA)
While the VPL-HS20 has been very recently discontinued by Sony, a check on Froogle shows that this projector is still in stock at many retail outlets, for as low as $2399. We purchased this projector for $2600. The HS20 model has been replaced by Sony's VPL-HS51, a very similar projector but at a higher price point. This is the time to buy up this projector, as it's on closeout in many places!
Setting up the Projector
We received the projector before our screen snafu with B&H Photo/Video was worked out, so we had it about two weeks before we had a screen. We first used the projector on taupe/beige colored walls, and by simply jacking up the light output to its highest and making a few color changes we had a great picture even without a screen. Out of the box, the projector was set up, keystone corrected, focus corrected, and displaying a beautiful HDTV picture from our TiVo in under 30 minutes. My husband, who loathes reading manuals, managed to set up the projector with only a cursory glance at the relatively thick manual that came with it.
Perhaps my favorite feature of this projector is its keystone correction capabilities. When we set up the InFocus X1, which had limited keystone correction features, my husband got very frustrated. In the end, because of how the projector was set up, there was still a tiny bit of keystoning of the image. No one but my husband and myself noticed this, because we set it up, but it was frustrating. Before we even got a mounting bracket set up for this projector, my husband just put it on top of the box it came in, turned it on, and using a wonderful menu feature which shows hash marks that you can line up, he adjusted the keystone correction perfectly in just a few moments.
Picture Quality
Once we got the screen and our home theater was completely set up, the VPL-HS20 really shone! With almost no color correction we got accurate, deeply saturated colors and surprisingly dark blacks for an LCD projector. The HS20 comes with a feature to custom set the darkness of blacks in the picture - very useful. Still, if you're going to use this projector you'll want to use it in a room that can be completely darkened, or almost completely darkened. We have plantation shutters on the two windows behind our home theater chairs, and we also use velvet room-darkening drapes over those. The combination blocks out nearly all the light for daytime viewing.
High Definition television on the projector is just breathtaking. Our TiVo feeds the projector via the HDMI input and the resulting image is sharp and extremely crisp with no visible screen door effect. In fact, we saw more pixelation on the DLP InFocus than on the Sony. The colors are vibrant, there is no color bleed, noise or artifacting to speak of. At a throw distance of approximately 14 feet the projector renders a fantastic picture.
We did find while viewing DVDs on an older DVD player through component video that the image quality was not so great. We switched out to a newer progressive scan DVD player and the image improved dramatically but it's still no match for the high definition signal we get from DirecTV and over the air. If you use this projector with a large screen you'll notice the shortcomings of older style inputs and projectors. Stick with DVI and HDMI for the best pictures.
One thing I would not recommend this projector for is watching standard definition television. It's nearly unwatchable at larger sizes.
Features and Usability
The menus on the Sony VPL-HS20 are more intuitive than the ones on the InFocus and are a lot less intrusive while watching a movie. The focus and keystone correction utilities are extremely useful. Switching inputs and image sizes is simple.
Being a Sony product, this projector also comes with a memory stick bay so that you can insert Sony's proprietary memory sticks into the unit to view slideshows. This seems a bit far-fetched, since the projector is mounted on the ceiling. We don't have any Sony cameras, and I prefer burning slideshows to DVD anyway, so we have not used this feature.
Overall Impression
We're extremely impressed with our new projector and I'm very happy that the rainbows I saw on our older DLP are gone with the LCD projector. I haven't noticed a screen door effect, and we sit about eight feet from the projector with a 119" diagonal Da-Lite screen. With our InFocus I found that my eyes would tire after awhile and there's no problem with fatigue watching the Sony. I love this projector and I am thrilled with the image quality!
Projector Information, Warranty & Technical Support
The VPL-HS20 comes with a one year warranty which excludes the bulb. Sony provides technical support for this projector via e-mail, live chat, their website and phone.
Customer Service: 1-800-222-7669
Web Site: http://www.sony.com/help.html
Recommended:
Yes
Purchase Price (if leased, monthly payment): 2600
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mrs-j
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"Man was made for something better than disturbing dirt." - Oscar Wilde
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