This latter proprietary Sony system uses eight-stage, real-time processing to enhance various aspects of the picture, but especially colours and noise levels. For also onboard are an anamorphic zoom mode for people with anamorphic lenses, SonyвЂ™s 24p True Cinema system (via the two provided HDMIs) for purer playback of Blu-rayвЂ™s 1080p/24 format, and Bravia Engine 2. Yet more black level support comes from the option to run the projectorвЂ™s lamp at a low output level, and from a black level boosting circuit tucked away in one of the many well-presented onscreen menus.ДЄnd still weвЂ™re not done with the VW80вЂ™s picture features.

For as well as being able to select between two levels of вЂaggressionвЂ™ for the system in terms of how much brightness it cuts out, you can also adjust the speed of the irisвЂ™s reaction time to slow, fast or вЂrecommendedвЂ™ set the iris manually or even turn off iris control completely. Not forgetting, of course, that itвЂ™s not a вЂnativeвЂ™ figure, but one that depends on reducing and increasing the imageвЂ™s brightness.ДЄ particularly nice thing about this dynamic iris is the flexibility Sony has apportioned to it. Thanks to this dynamic iris, the VW80 claims a prodigious contrast ratio of 60,000:1 вЂ“ so far as we can recall, the highest such figure weвЂ™ve seen on a projector to date. Yet more impressively high-tech fine-tuning comes from an electronic panel alignment feature that enables you to achieve a perfect alignment of the red, green and blue elements within each pixel.ДЄnd then thereвЂ™s the VW80вЂ™s вЂAdvanced IrisвЂ™ system, which can automatically adjust the amount of light let through the projectorвЂ™s iris in response to how dark or bright a particular image is, thereby making black levels more convincing and expanding the possible contrast range. The beauty of this system is that it lets you pinpoint much more accurately the setting where either or both noise reduction routines go from aiding to actually spoiling the picture. For this allows you to pick your preferred block noise and mosquito noise combination by shifting a point along a вЂgraphвЂ™ where Block NR runs along the horizontal axis and Mosquito noise runs up the vertical axis. SonyвЂ™s imaginative approach to user interfaces can be seen, too, with the MPEG noise reduction system the VW80 carries. We should say that we donвЂ™t recommend messing about with RCP unless youвЂ™re pretty confident about what youвЂ™re doing, but that doesnвЂ™t make it any less worthwhile as a feature. This may look rather creepy at times, but itвЂ™s a truly inspired way of allowing you to see precisely what impact your adjustments are having. And so if youвЂ™re tweaking the red element, the picture is black and white except for where thereвЂ™s a red element in the picture.

While youвЂ™re using it, this system cunningly knocks out of the image youвЂ™re watching every other colour than the one youвЂ™re trying to adjust. The way it works is by letting you adjust the red, green, blue, yellow, magenta and cyan colour elements in the picture on an individual basis, using an adjustable вЂpie-chartвЂ™ interface that allows you to expand a particular colourвЂ™s range and/or position in the colour spectrum. In doing so it boosts contrast and, interestingly, reduces the appearance of judder, since it gives your eyes time to blend one frame into the next.ДЄlso good to find is SonyвЂ™s Real Colour Processing, a remarkably sophisticated toolkit for fine-tuning colours to within an inch of their lives. Of these the latter is the most straightforward, as at heart itвЂ™s simply SonyвЂ™s take on the idea of inserting extra, newly calculated frames of image data to make movement in the picture look more fluid and sharp.ДЇilm Projection is much less straightforward, but by and large what it tries to do is insert blank, dark frames of image data in a bid to recreate the sensation of watching a film in the cinema. MotionFlow on the VW80 comprises two elements, both individually adjustable within the onscreen menus: Film Projection, and Motion Enhancement. ItвЂ™s just as well, then, that the VW80 gives a very good account of itself on the specification front вЂ“ especially with its inclusion of the intriguing high-end MotionFlow processing first discovered on SonyвЂ™s flagship (not counting the stupid money and now aging Qualia 004) VPL-VW200 projector.

For with a pretty high estimated retail price of ВЈ4,995, itвЂ™s going to have to go some to make its mark against much cheaper high-spec DLP models like the InFocus IN82 and IN83, or JVC D-ILA models like the HD1 and HD100, not to mention JVCвЂ™s imminent new D-ILA models, the HD350 and HD750. With competition at the quality end of the projection market getting ever more fierce, SonyвЂ™s VPL-VW80 arrives at a crucial time for the brandвЂ™s exclusive SXRD technology.

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