Sony trips the light fantastic

This high-end laser projector does things with HDR that John Archer can barely believe

- John Archer

No consumer-focused home cinema projector manufacturer has more experience with both native 4K resolution and laser lighting than Sony. I've known this for a while, but I still wasn't prepared for the performance prowess of its £12,000 VPL-VW790ES. This is a premium beamer that's capable of leaving your jaw on the floor.

The VW790ES story starts with two new features not available on its VW760ES predecessor: a Dynamic HDR Enhancer, and the X1 for Projector processor based on (but not the same as) the X1 Ultimate processor found in Sony’s high-grade TVs.

The Dynamic HDR Enhancer is essentially a dynamic tone mapping system that analyses every frame of an HDR source so that the projector can continually judge the best combination of laser light output and iris opening provided by Sony’s so-called Dual Contrast Control system.

In other words, the VW790ES can brighten bright areas with signal processing while simultaneously dimming its light source to create more convincing dark areas – all potentially within a single frame. This sounds like something local dimming on a TV would do, even though local dimming on a projector isn’t actually possible.

The X1 for Projector processor drives the Dynamic HDR Enhancer – but it doesn’t stop there. Additional tricks include a ‘Super Resolution’ sharpness and detail booster, which claims to use pattern-matching algorithms derived from a vast image database to enhance picture crispness without exaggerating source noise, and is fantastically effective at upscaling sub-4K content.

The VW790ES sports the 4,096 x 2,160 native resolution we’ve come to expect from Sony’s ‘true’ 4K projectors, while claimed peak brightness is 2,000 Lumens (just as on the previous VW760ES model).