Smart House Rating ♥♥♥♥♥ Price £5999 (inc VAT)
Pros
- Excellent 4K image and processing, the detail is amazing.
- Long life laser
- Lens can be moved
Cons
- The blacks are so black, HDR can lose some details
- It’s not the easiest to position due to the size
- No HDMI 2.1 inputs
- Better for a home cinema room where other kit will definitely be required.
Although the price tags seems high on this model of projector, it’s actually a pretty brilliant piece of kit and is one of the cheaper truly 4K native laser projectors on the market. Made by Sony, it’s got a great level of quality to it and will last for years. There are other laser projectors on the market obviously, but this is in a market all on it’s own.
Lenses & Processors
This laser move is a first for an entry level Sony projector who have previously relied on lamps so should last much longer without having to replace bits on it and you shouldn’t get the degradation of brightness that you get with lamps.
It has a 200 lumen output so should be good for most rooms, even with natural light coming in. We tried it in a few properties and very rarely had to make a lot of adjustments and could still see the image well.
It is fitted with Sonys X1 processor which has previously been only available on their flagship GTZ380 projector and adds some great features. It enables advanced data processing, with real time enhancement of each on-screen object. This means that you’ll get great contrast and colours coming through (which you would expect from Sony to be honest).
It also contains the new SXRD chip which gives the image an amazing sharpness in this range of projectors. As to colours, thanks to the new Triluminos system, the colours are balanced and natural.
The Body
It’s a nice angled design, available in black or white and has an angled top to help dissipate the heat. The fan isn’t noisy (unless you’re sitting quite close) and you shouldn’t get any light leakage on it either.
Although it’s marketed as the worlds most compact native 4K projector, it is quite chunky however and really better in a room which is a dedicated home cinema. We wouldn’t recommend it in a shared sitting room where it might be brought out for a Saturday movie night as it’s a quite heavy and chunky piece of kit and would benefit not being moved around much. (Obviously if you would like a hand with this, just get in touch).
A ceiling mount in a dedicated cinema room would be ideal for this model. Ideally get this fitted by a professional as you need to make sure that you use the right type of bracket with this as no one wants it landing on their lap during a movie night!
There aren’t any internal speakers on it, there are 2 2.0 HDMI ports and no audio connectivity so an amp and speakers will be needed.
Environmental concerns
Sony have said that they’ve designed this with a mercury free design with a laser light source. The amount of virgin plastics in the main body have been 25% and the packaging levels have been reduced by 15%.
Verdict
For the price this is a great projector, simple set up and easy to use controls. The image is great and the cost is actually reasonable for what you’re getting. It’s great quality and should last for years – great for movies and for gaming too ( although it is a shame that the HDMIs are only 2.0 input which limits it to 18Gbps – the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X are capable of more which is a bit of a pain.).
We’d only consider it for a dedicated home cinema room though and wouldn’t buy it for casual use in a shared living area. Also be aware that as such, you’ll need to think about the whole room set up (if it’s not already there) so your overall budget will be higher if you’re starting from scratch.
To buy a projector have a look at our shop or just get in touch.