Front Projectors

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 23,218:1

All of the measurements were taken with the projector in a User mode, adjusted for the most accurate image. The lamp power was on High for these readings, the Gamma Correction on Gamma 4, and the Advanced Iris set to Auto 1.

The full-on/full-off contrast ratio is state of the art (the higher contrast ratios specified by many manufacturers notwithstanding). Note also that even with the iris set to maximum in Manual mode, the measured black level was still superb (approximately 0.002 foot-lamberts with a white level of 17.94 ft-L).

The Color Tracking charts show how well a display adheres to the D65 standard white point; the tighter the overlap of the three primary colors, the nearer the result is to D65. The Before Calibration result is for the Low Color Temp setting. In the After Calibration chart, the result is significantly better. In fact, apart from some small deviations at the extreme top and bottom, it’s as good as it gets.

The color gamut in the pie-shaped CIE chart above shows the Sony’s slightly undersaturated colors in the Normal Color Space setting. A Wide option is also available, and it produces a gamut that’s almost identical to the JVC and Sanyo’s overripeness. Take your pick, but Normal will get you closer to what the director intended the video transfer to look like.

The measured luma (black-and-white) and chroma (color) HDMI resolution was good but just a trace short of excellent at 1080i/p and good to excellent at other resolutions. Component resolution was good as well, except for a merely satisfactory result at 1080i, with a clear rolloff visible at the format’s maximum limit.

Overscan was zero at all high-def resolutions in both component and HDMI. At 480i/p, it increased to a maximum of less than 1.0 percent on any side.—TJN