The IFA Show is currently on in Berlin - This is the worlds leading trade show for consumer electronics and electrical goods, and is now in its 10th year.
Sony has announced three new projectors at the show, all featuring 4k (resolution of 4096x2160 pixels) displays and HDR (High Dynamic Range imaging).
Sony 4k Projector featuring HDR and SXRD
There are three offerings from Sonys 4k line all of which feature Sony's SXRD Technology. This technology is also sometimes referred to as LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicone) or as D-ILA (when JVC touts it). Here's what Sony say about SXRD -
“Advanced SXRD™ (Silicon X-tal Reflective Display) panels with an ultra-fast response rate of 2.5 milliseconds minimize the space between pixels for a smoother, more detailed image. Consisting of a thin LCD layer backed with a highly reflective silicon plate, SXRD splits the white light of the lamp into different colors using mirrors and sends them to a red, green, and blue panel in 4K resolution. Light passes in and out of each panel, allowing more effective light blocking for exceptionally deep blacks.”
Sonys Top of the line VW870ES 4k Projector
Basically as per the wikipedia page ; Liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS or LCOS) is a miniaturized reflective active-matrix liquid-crystal display or "microdisplay" using a liquid crystal layer on top of a silicon backplane. Effectively light is blocked from passing through the LCD when blacks are meant to be shown.
The VPL-VW870ES ($35,000/€25,000) is Sony’s premium offering, with 2,200 lumens brightness and an 18-piece All Range Crisp Focus lens said to ensure high precision within a compact and lightweight design. Its Digital Focus Optimiser further provides refined image quality and accurate focus without distortion.
“All three of our new models, from the affordable VPL-VW270ES, to the premium VPL-VW870ES feature a new input lag reduction mode which dramatically improves the performance of the display reaction speed to ensure gamers can enjoy the best possible experience alongside the breathtakingly detailed image quality they have come to expect.”
Sony have provided their 4k Motionflow technology in all of the new projectors, enabling smoother and clear motion by adding extra frames to reduce blur and maintain brightness. They also offer up HDMI 18 Gbps compatibility and 4K 60P 10bit processing, and Reality Creation analyzing each element of an image to provide gamers with enhanced clarity and resolution without noise.
In the middle of the range sits the 1,800-lumens VPL-VQ570ES ($10,000/€8000), which features Picture Position Memory to quickly change settings for ideal format as well as high dynamic contrast by Advanced Iris, while the VPL-VW270ES ($5000/€5000) brings a 4K HDR picture at the company’s most affordable price point yet.
Sony at IFA 2018
“A growing number of our customers are not only using our home cinema projector range to enjoy the latest blockbusters in their living rooms, but are also enjoying immersive 4K visuals powered by the latest generation of videogame consoles”