AudioTrends, one of Melbourne's flagship HiFi and Home Theatre specialists hosted an evening in April for press and VIP customers to witness the magic this projector can produce, along with extraordinary cinematic detail, color and contrast.

Combining an advanced laser light source with the same Sony 4K SXRD panel technology found in their professional cinema projectors, crisply detailed native 4K images (4096 x 2160) offer four times the resolution of Full HD, pulling you right into the heart of the action with unprecedented clarity.

Sony tech gurus on-hand, they gave a brief explanation why they'd held off releasing a UHD BluRay player to date and made use of a Samsung unit for the evening. A series of ultra high-definition content was demo'd, and as expected punters were not dissapointed.

With more than four times the resolution of Full HD, Sony explains that 4K offers 8.8 million pixels for a picture that’s so incredibly lifelike, you could believe you’re looking at the real thing. Every detail is perfectly clear, with less jagged edges and visible pixels than with a conventional Full HD projector.

Extremely powerful 5000 lumen brightness provides clear and sharp big-screen pictures even in well-lit rooms, but most of the time you could run the projector at more economical output, extending life but also reducing the cooling fan speed and noise. At full brightness Sony suggest a life of around 20,000 hours, where as at the reduced brightness (which was still superior to all other domestic grade projectors we've seen), life expectancy is pushed out to 40,000 hours. That's more than most would need in their lifetime. At 8 hours viewing a week, that's about 100 years!

The laser light source provides virtually maintenance free operation with no lamp swaps or potential failures. The result is stunning picture, with a little more outlay but far less ongoing costs.

It's not compact. Not even remotely. This beast weighs in at 43 kgs and measures 550mm W buy 880mm L and 262mm H. You'll want to beef up those beams!

Features

• Cinematic 4K clarity with four times the detail of Full HD
  SXRD panel technology featured in our professional cinema projectors delivers native 4K (4096 x 2160) resolution images, with no artificial pixel enhancement. Every detail is wonderfully clear and natural, without jagged edges or visible pixels.
• Very high brightness and contrast
  With an impressive 5,000 lumen brightness and a spectacularly high contrast range, 4K images are clear and bright with sparkling highlights and rich, deep blacks – even in well-lit rooms.
• Long-lasting laser light source
  Inside the VPL-VW5000ES is an ultra-pure, reliable laser light source with Z-Phosphor technology.
• TRILUMINOS™ Display with even wider, cinema-like colour gamut
  You will enjoy an extended range of spectacular colours, far wider than a standard projection system. The VPL-VW5000ES supports the same DCI-P3 colour space as professional cinema projectors, as well as the new BT.2020 colour space (emulated) that accurately captures an even wider range of true-to-life tones.
• Smooth, fluid on-screen action
  Coupled with the panel's super-fast response rate, Motionflow technology means you’ll see every detail with minimal blur - no matter how fast the action.
• HDR compatible
  Take full advantage of High Dynamic Range (HDR) for stunning contrast and an impressive range of brightness levels, from searing highlights to richly detailed dark scenes.
• Future-proofed support for the latest HDMI standards
  The VPL-VW5000ES can project Ultra HD content at up to 60 frames per second (4K 60p YCbCr 4:4:4 8 bit/ YCbCr 4🔢2 12 bit) for even smoother images with superior colour and realism. Support for HDCP 2.2 lets you enjoy the latest 4K content services.
• Reality Creation upscales movies to 4K
  As well as projecting native 4K content, the VPL-VW5000ES upscales your Full HD Blu-ray™ or DVD movie collection to 4K with Reality Creation - Sony's Super Resolution processing technology that enhances lower-resolution content, and even upscales 3D movies to 4K resolution.
• Compatible with ‘Mastered in 4K’ Blu-ray™ Discs
  Enjoy a near-native 4K experience with discs ‘Mastered in 4K’. It’s as close as you can get to the 4K-pixel resolution and expanded colour range of the original.
• Picture position memories
  Memorises up to five zoom lens positions for future viewing. Stored settings can be matched to a movie’s aspect ratio, including 16:9 and Cinemascope.
• Flexible home installation
  ±30° tilt capability allows flexible installation in a wide range of home cinema environments such as rear projection.
• Auto calibration
  Set-up is quick and easy: auto calibration ensures superb pictures without effort.
• Industry standard RF 3D compatible
  The projector's built-in RF transmitter synchronises with any RF 3D glasses for wider coverage and greater stability, so there’s no need for an external transmitter.
• Quick start
  Don't keep your audience waiting for the show to begin. With quick start, thanks to laser light source technology, you’re all ready to start projection right after initial power-on.

The Sony VPL-VW5000ES 4K Home Cinema Projector is available now, at an investment of $90,000.00 RRP

Sony projectors are distributed in Australia by Audio Active.

See this amazing projector and more of the Sony range at the 2016 International HiFi Show, Melbourne, July 1st-3rd.