SONY Vpl-vw290es much of an upgrade?

You know any difference we have will never break our friendship so I don’t think you will mind we saying that from view distance you simply can’t see the pixel grid on the Epson. In fact I did a video for members considering the 9400 on this very thing as proof.
100% can see the impact of the interpixel gap, that is what am saying :) I hope can appreciate the distinction …see in the screen shots I posted above … how can see the chicken wire ? it gives the Epson a digital look vs the jvc. It’s similar with lcd TVs vs plasmas / oled. This in some ways I’d say what people think is sharpness … but it’s actually coarse steps along with Epson out of box cranked up sharpness … I prefer the smoothness and more analog look of the jvcs .. as do over Sony reality creation artificial sharpened look.

It’s pixels that form the picture …and this quite noticeable to me from viewing position (thx immersion)

Re walking upto screen I can walk right upto jvc … no pixels … the Epson are a mess
 
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100% can see the impact of the interpixel gap, that is what am saying :) I hope can appreciate the distinction …see in the screen shots I posted above … how can see the chicken wire ? it gives the Epson a digital look vs the jvc. It’s similar with lcd TVs vs plasmas / oled. This in some ways I’d say what people think is sharpness … but it’s actually coarse steps along with Epson out of box cranked up sharpness … I prefer the smoothness and more analog look of the jvcs .. as do over Sony reality creation artificial sharpened look.

It’s pixels that form the picture …and this quite noticeable to me from viewing position (thx immersion)

Re walking upto screen I can walk right upto jvc … no pixels … the Epson are a mess
Completely agree when I walk up to the screen the image from the N5 you see no pixels but with the 9400 you did, I also agree it's that gap in the grid that gives perceived sharpness and again agree that I am no longer a fan of an over-sharpened image because it looks completely fake to my eyes.
 
As you suggest not convinced that the pixel grid is visible with the pixel shifting switched on unless very close. It makes it a fair bit smoother and I certainly can't see it.

Native 1080p without pixel shifting is more noticeable of course.

Having seen the 4K Epson it definitely is smoother again with 4 x pixel shifting. Obviously still not quite JVC in terms of the pixel fill but a lot better than you would imagine.
 
Completely agree when I walk up to the screen the image from the N5 you see no pixels but with the 9400 you did, I also agree it's that gap in the grid that gives perceived sharpness and again agree that I am no longer a fan of an over-sharpened image because it looks completely fake to my eyes.
Well having lived with an LCOS JVC for 14 years, a natural film like image is what I prefer vs an overly sharpened image.. would a 4k Sony LCOS not have similar attributes?

Not sensing much love for the Sony on here, if the consensus is that to properly step up from the Epson you need a JVC @ £7k+!
 
I picked up a Sony es290 ex demo but with a spare bulb and warranty for £3k a few months back - certainly has its limitations (we’ll documented above!), but I was in a similar position, with the JVC at an unjustifiable price point. It’s a terrific machine IMO, everything I need from a PJ. There are a lot of 5 star reviews for it out there, but your best bet is to demo it and take a view.
 
Not sensing much love for the Sony on here,
I love my 290es. I drop the brightness to 40 and get much better blacks.
 
Yes those are the deals I'm looking at - still a couple around. I guess one major trade off is lack of dynamic iris, as discussed, as you'll then miss it for the HDR if you turn brightness down too much.

Thinking I could get away with it for my set up - dark room no ambient light, smallish screen, using the lens at full telephoto.

One positive about the Sonys is their ability with upscaling. I have loads of blu rays, even kept some selected DVD's that I couldn't bring myself to throw out
 
I had my 290 calibrated by Gordon Fraser, the first one he’d worked on and he did comment that there was a noticeable improvement over previous entry level Sony models.

That’s why I think getting a demo is so important because it’s one thing to quote figures in relation to performance or potential lack thereof but for me it’s only when you’re playing one of your favourite discs and deciding if it looks better or worse for you than when you last watched it on a previous display that it justifies the outlay or not.
 
I always believe it’s best to listen to the guys that calibrate projectors as a profession because they see more projectors than you or I will ever see and more often than not these PJs are in rooms that are WAY better than your typical showroom.
 
I’m not sure how good these pics will look off my iPhone.

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If you want to compare I did a lot of those image when I had my Epson 9400, they are only my Dropbox. I know with the horses image I had turned the HDR slider on the Epson down to 15 but that was with the nit value set on the disc to 10000nits.

 
I think comparing screen shots off two different cameras is pointless.

I had the disc set to 600nits for mine.
 
I always believe it’s best to listen to the guys that calibrate projectors as a profession because they see more projectors than you or I will ever see and more often than not these PJs are in rooms that are WAY better than your typical showroom.
Indeed. what do they say about the Sony vs the Epson?
 
We’ll have to do some Maverick shots tomorrow.
 
We’ll have to do some Maverick shots tomorrow.
Ditto, I believe it's due out for deliver today. I have Bullet Train coming too and went and got a few from the local CEX shop I didn't already have.
 
I would ask one of them ;)
Sorry i thought you were alluding to some knowledge on this, in your earlier post (ie calibrators rate xxx brand highly etc etc). Guess I was reading between the lines and there were no lines!
 
Sorry i thought you were alluding to some knowledge on this, in your earlier post (ie calibrators rate xxx brand highly etc etc). Guess I was reading between the lines and there were no lines!
There might be some prior knowledge but I would rather keep that to myself. One thing you will get from any calibrator is the pros and cons from each brand because none are completely perfect.
 
A couple from Resurrections. I love the crispy native 4k look. I was only meant to take some screen shots but ended up watching the whole movie.

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There might be some prior knowledge but I would rather keep that to myself. One thing you will get from any calibrator is the pros and cons from each brand because none are completely perfect.
Am sure that knowledge informed your N5 purchase!

Sadly most of us on here have more modest budgets, hence we consider the compromises vs benefits of the older lamp based Sonys still available, that have warranty at least.

All the photos that folks post online look really good - more for eye candy than critical comparison of course.

So far from this thread and other research, my thinking, in context of this comparison to Epson's offer offerings:

Sony pros:
Motion handling
Detail/ future proof IRO native resolution
Pixel fill/ smoothness when displaying 4k as above
Native black levels and contrast - to a point
Upscaling & processing of 1080 (or lower!)
Colour reproduction fidelity?
Warranty for a new/ ex dem unit

Cons:
Light output eg for bigger rooms and/or HDR
lack of any iris/ dynamic / user control for HDR - impacting abilities to handle peak contrast and brightness
Price vs an older Epson
PANEL DEGRADATION???
 
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Ah man you beat me to it. Mine arrived at lunch time so will have to wait until tomorrow to post any because the wife wants to watch it too.

I also got Bullet Train so might watch it tonight instead and post some pics of it.
 
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