Friday, December 5, 2014

Sony's 4K VPL-VW1100ES Projector

While HDTVs still hold the dominate position as the leading technology in home entertainment, projectors are quickly becoming more and more popular. Using a projector, especially an HD projector with similar specs as an HDTV, allows you to watch TV, movies or play video games on virtually any surface and also cuts down on the space required for a home entertainment center.
But what is making projectors even better nowadays is the fact that they are able to keep up with the current display trends of HDTVs. Take, for example, the introduction of 4K displays for HDTVs. Well, projectors are right on top of that technology as well and Sony is offering a 4K projector in the form of the VPL-VW1100ES. Sony is billing this projector as a "premium home theater projector", though "premium" hardly begins to justify the price tag, but more on that later.

Of all the companies currently offering 4K projectors to movie theaters Sony is the most well known. However, Sony is also the only projector producer in the world that currently offers true 4K projectors for the home theater market, which means that they pretty much have the ability to set any kind of price they want because there is no other company fighting for consumers at the moment.


The VPL-VW1100ES is slightly large for a home theater projector, though it is definitely impressive. It comes with a 2.1:1 motorized zoom lens with power lens shift and focus and also claims to have a ridiculous 2,000 lumen output, meaning that, in theory, you could own a 200" diagonal screen and still have a picture as bright as a typical movie theater. In addition to this, the projector also has 3D capabilities that are impressive and has a decent amount of 4K movies that are available to watch right now thanks to Sony's 4K download service and the optional 4K media player.


Here's the kicker and the part that will turn away, I'm assuming, 99% of you. The VPL-VW1100ES will cost you $28,000. Yeah, you read that right, twenty-eight THOUSAND dollars. So if you happen to be one of those one percenters everybody hates then you can enjoy what is arguably the greatest piece of home theater technology currently available on the market today. Oh, I forgot to mention that the media player that you absolutely have to have in order to utilize 4K (if you're too impatient to wait for Blu-ray UHD) will cost you an additional $700 so the actual cost is more around $30,000 once you factor in cost, taxes, etc...

So if you want the latest and greatest in home entertainment projection technology then the Sony VPL-VW1100ES could be the projector for you, provided you don't need a new car, a new house or you need to send any children to college anytime soon.

No comments: