Sony VPL-VW50

A review of the new 1080p projector from Sony, selling for just $5000.

At almost half the price of the VW100, is the VW50 only half as good?

The Pearl produces an excellent overall image, and at its best, some of the best black levels I have seen to date. Find out more here!

At September's CEDIA convention in Denver, the Sony VPL-VW50 1080p SXRD front projector generated some serious excitement. It wasn't just that Sony had unveiled a new three-chip 1080p model (there were others); it was because the VPL-VW50 (codename: Pearl) is an SXRD front pro priced at less than $5,000. Given that Sony's first SXRD projector sold for $30,000 when it came out, the Pearl looked like a product that might just live up to its alias.

$5,000 1920x1080 threee-chip SXRD Key Connections: Dual HDMI inputs, two component inputs, one RGB on 15-pin DSUB, one Ethernet Features We Like: Full 1080p that not only accepts 1080p/24 signals, but displays it at frame rate that direct multiples of 24 for smoother motion, dynamic iris for deep blacks, uses less expensive lamp than previous SXRD PJs, and did we mention the price? Features We Miss: Please. Sony pretty much owned CEDIA 2006 as of day

Can its performance match its impressive stats?