We stumbled across Sony’s flagship home theatre projector today, the VPL-VW85 and thought we’d let you know about it too. Unfortunately the price tag is a lttle extereme but the projector does sport 1080p full HD, 120,000:1 contrast ratio and Sony’s Motionflow technology to make those images super-smooth. So what is that price tag? Well, the VPL-VW85 will set you back around $8000. Still with us? Read on for a fuller set of specifications for the Sony BRAVIA VPL-VW85 projector.

* High Contrast Ratio – 120,000: 1 with Advanced Iris 3 technology
* Crisp, Smooth Action with Motionflow with Dark Frame Insertion
* 1080p Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080
* Digital Picture Processing - BRAVIA ENGINE 2
* Panel Alignment Function
* High Resolution All Range Crisp Focus (ARC-F) Lens
* Superb Low Fan Noise “20dB”
* 1.6x lens zoom ratio
* 2.50 – 3.40 / 18.5 – 29.6mm lens
* 800 ANSI Lumen
* LMP-H201 200W UHP lamp
* 40” - 300” / 1m-7.6m Screen Size (16:9 diagonal)
* 1.2m -14.1m Throwing Distance
* 1.47 - 2.18 Throw Ratio (16:9 diagonal)
* Inputs HDMI, Component, S-Video, Composite
* 3,000 Hours Lamp Life
* Every 1,500 Hours Filter Cleaning Time
* 470 x 179.2 x 482.4 mm
* 12kg

So it certainly has everything you’d expect for that price tag but what’s it really like? We decided to track down a few reviews for you to find out for yourself

Projector Central give the VPL-VW85 5 out of 5 for performance and ease of use and 4 for features and value, stating ‘It has some digital noise and a less-than-perfect frame interpolation system’ as negatives
The unit is a ‘Top Pick’ at Home Theatre Mag whose only criticism is ‘Color management system could be more effective’
Finally Trusted Reviews weighed in with scores between 8 and 9 out of 10 in various categories and a ‘Recommended’ tag

So while there are some concerns over image quality, the reviewers gave the Sony BRAVIA VPL-VW85 a big thumbs up even with its big price tag. If you actually have one of these at home, please do let us know what you think.

Update: Amazon have the VPL-VW85 projector for only $6347

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Sony today announced a number of new soundbars plus a new 5.1 surround sound system, the HT-SF470. We’ll be taking a close look at the HT-SF470 which sports the following bits and pieces

* 3D capable when paired with a Blu-ray 3D player
* 1000 watt (157W x 5 +167W sub) system
* 3D pass-through via the three HDMI inputs, HDMI repeater and audio return channel
* S-Air wireless technology and wireless multi-room capabilities
* Designed to match Sony’s 2010 Blu-ray Disc players and BRAVIA HDTVs
* BRAVIA Sync feature
* Digital Media Port for iPod (iPod cradle sold separately)
* Two digital audio inputs (one coax and one optical)
* Digital cinema auto calibration

Unfortunately the Sony HT-SF470 won’t be out until June, but will be price tagged at around $550. It’ll be available from Sony stockists as well as Sony Style.

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Today we’re going to tell you about yet another 2D only HDTV, the Sony BRAVIA KDL40NX700. Whilst not currently sporting nor gaining 3D functionality the NX700 is a very capable 2D HDTV as you would expect from Sony. The NX700 does sport LED backlighting, 120Hz frame rate and talks nicely with a number of Internet media suppliers such as Slacker. And just to aid the internet capability, this little BRAVIA HDTV is wireless, yes 802.11n wireless. Here are a few more numbers on the Sony NX700

* 40″ (102cm) Diagonal Screen
* 1920×1080 res
* 16:9
* Viewing Angle 178°
* Handles 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p (24 and 60 frame) formats
* 2 Composite inputs
* 4 HDMI inputs
* RJ-45 network input
* Power Consumption 109 Watts
* 99.7cm x 64.1cm x 6.7cm (without stand or speakers)
* 19.2 kg
* MSRP $1,599

All in all, the KDL-40NX700 is a pretty good purchase if you’re after a 40 inch LCD HDTV and don’t mind passing over 3D TV. Just to add a sweetener to the deal, you can get one of these suckers for only $1450 over at Amazon. Whilst there is only one customer review, it is a five star one, and of course if you already have one of these, plese let us know what you think.

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Whilst 2010 may be the year of the 3D HDTV, manufacturers of course are still producing latest and greatest two dimensional units for us to drool over too. Sony are certainly no exception to this and have unleashed a plethora of traditional 2D BRAVIA units on us at CES 2010. Ironically three of the series LX900, HX9000 and HX800 are in fact 3D capable with the LX900 series having ‘Integrated Full HD 3D technology’. For the other two series a 3D emitter and glasses are sold separately. These series are also not available until the summer.

However we shall concentrate on what you can get your mits on right now and that’ll be the Sony Bravia NX800 series which sports screen sizes all the way from 46 inches up to the big boy 60 incher. Here are the details on the largest with any exceptions on its smaller siblings noted

* Edge Lit LED backlight
* Sony’s Monolithic design
* Integrated LightSensor technology automatically adjusts to your room’s ambient light
* Motionflow 240Hz refresh rate
* Full HD 1080p picture quality
* Built-in wireless connectivity to your home entertainment network
* USB port
* Handles 1080/60p (HDMI/Component), 1080/60i, 1080/24p (HDMI Only), 720/60p, 480/60p, 480/60i
* 60 inch 16:9 Full HD 1920×1080 res (52 inch and 46 inch)
* Audio Power Output : 20W (10W x 2)
* 60 inch - 1440 x 927 x 380mm and 50.6 kg with pedestal
* 52 inch - 1261 x 819 x 400mm and 36.1 kg with pedestal
* 46 inch - 1127 x 742 x 320mm and 28.8 kg with pedestal
* 5.1 Channel Audio Out

Perhaps the most unusual thing about the Sony Bravia NX800 series is the Monolithic design which presents the display at an upward angle of 6 degrees. This would present the viewer with an ever-so-slightly non-square display. Without actually seeing it in the flesh we’re not sure whether this is a good thing or not, but it is definitely different. Anyway on to possibly more important things the price tags. Pre-ordering these suckers will set you back $4600, $3400 and $2800 respectively through the Sony Bravia website. Whilst hanging on to see how the 3D market pans out may be a wise move, if you’re itching for HD love right now then these bad boys would certainly fill that need.

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Spent many frustrating hours hunting around for your favourite Blu-Ray movie, which of course wasn’t in its case? Well, Sony may have a handy, if slightly large, solution for you with their latest Blu-Ray player the BDP-CX7000ES MegaChanger. This unit, err, weighs in at US$1900 and can handle 400 Blu-Ray movie discs. Of course, it plays nicely with DVDs and CDs in case you don’t actually have 400 Blu-Ray videos. There’s also a nifty function called Gracenote which downloads relevant movie info when you load up a disc. Of course this assumes you have an internet connection wired up to your MegaChanger. A full set of specs seem to be eluding us, so here’s what we can gather from the Sony press release on the BDP-CX7000ES

* store and play 400 Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, and CDs
* download information from Gracenote’s MusicID® and VideoID™ products to organize movies and music
* outputs full HD 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema
* features an RS232 connection and IR-in
* 7.1 channel analog output
* Deep Color via HDMI (v1.3)
* upscales standard definition DVDs to 1080p
* Ethernet port for connectivity to a local home broadband network
* support 7.1 channel Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, and DTS-HD Master Audio
* plays nicely with BD-ROM/R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), DVD-+ Video/R/RW, CD/R/RW, and MP3/JPEG on BD/DVD/CD recordable media

Certainly seems like the BDP-CX7000ES MegaChanger has a heap of functionality but of course it comes with that rather large price tag of $1900. If you fancy something a little less heavy on the wallet then Sony will also be unleashing the BDP-CX960, another MegaChanger but lacking the RS232 connection and IR-in features along with Deep Color. The BDP-CX960 MegaChanger will be available for $800 in the fall, while the big boy BDP-CX7000ES will out and about in August.

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Finally Sony have unleashed their response to Apple’s iPod Touch with the X Series Walkman, which sports a 3 inch OLED touchscreen, Wi-Fi connectivity and 33 hours of music playback time. It comes in two capacities, namely 16 and 32 GB and has Slacker Radio integrated. Here are some more numbers on the Sony X Series Walkman

* 3 inch OLED WQVGA 432 x 240 res display
* Supports MP3/WMA/AAC/L-PCM audio formats
* Supports AVC(H.264/AVC)/MPEG-4/WMV video formats
* 2.2 x 3.9 x 0.5 inches
* 3.5 oz
* 5 band equalizer

The 32 GB version will set you back US$400 whilst the 16GB unit has a price tag of US$300, which match Apple’s prices for their iPod Touch exactly for similar capacities. The specs are relatively similar too, with the Walkman being slightly lighter, so we guess the difference will be in the displays. The iPod Touch boasts a larger display and resolution but what about the quality? Unfortunately we’ve seen neither unit in action, so if you’ve taken a look at either the Sony Walkman X Series or the Apple iPod Touch let us know what you think.

Source: Sony

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Only two years ago we were saying how Sony were getting desperate in the format war by slashing the price of their low-end BDP-S300 Blu-Ray player. Yet here we are and obviously desperation won the day. Their latest Blu-Ray player, the BDP-S360 is now available for a mere US$300 at Best Buy and features the following

* 2.2 x 16.9 x 8.1 inches
* 4.6 lbs
* Supports BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE, DVD, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, AVCHD, MP3, JPEG formats
* 1080p output
* Progressive Scan, Dolby Digital Decoder, DTS Decoder
* USB Port
* Optical and Coaxial Digital Audio Outputs
* Composite Component and HDMI Video Outputs
* Ethernet Port
* BD Live Ready
* 24p True Cinema playback
* Upscaling DVD to 1080p

The BDP-S360 has already scored a five-star customer review on the site and with those features and a price tag of US$300, it certainly gets a thumbs up from us. So if you haven’t already invested in the format war victor, the Sony BDP-S360 may just be what you’ve been waiting for.

Source: Best Buy

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