Sony’s Latest Bravia Home Theater Gear Gets Bolder, Brighter Leave a comment

Bravia Projector 7 (VLP-XW5100ES)

With Sony’s topline Bravia Projector 8 and Projector 9 clocking in at round $16K and $32K respectively, most of us cannot come near grabbing one. Whereas these fashions are aimed toward luxurious or skilled installs, the brand new Bravia 7 must be way more inexpensive, making it a contender for extra down-to-earth installs. Providing 4K HDR decision and a claimed 2,200 lumens of brightness from its laser gentle supply (the Bravia Projector 8 hits 2,700 and the 9 claims 3,400), the 7 packs a powerful punch. It shares plenty of tech with its siblings, together with XR Dynamic Tone Mapping for optimum brightness with shade gradients, XR Deep Black to manage laser dimming in darkish scenes and improve achieve in brilliant ones, and XR Triluminos Professional for enhanced colours. It is also appropriate with Imax Enhanced video, and low-latency gaming at as much as 4K/120 Hz.

Huddled in a small room within the depths of Sony’s demo halls, we acquired to see how the Projector 7 matched up in opposition to Sony’s high two projectors, its precursor, and some JVC fashions. The 7 actually popped within the showiest HDR demos with a lot much less white clipping and higher readability in high-nit scenes than the earlier Sony mannequin, the arduously named XW5000ES. It stood up equally effectively to JVC’s competing DLA-NZ7, once more displaying much less clipping in harder HDR scenes, although we’ll should see it in motion exterior Sony’s demo room for a greater thought of its expertise. One downside to the cheaper mannequin is that, not like the Projector 8 and 9, it requires guide lens focus. In any other case, it is an intriguing new possibility for these constructing out a high-end dwelling theater.

{Photograph}: Ryan Waniata

New Bravia Sounds

Bravia Theater System 6

We didn’t spend plenty of time with Sony’s new audio techniques, however the model’s new 1,000-watt 5.1 encompass system made the most important impression. The system contains a soundbar up entrance, included rear surrounds, and a large subwoofer. Marketed like an old-school HTB (Dwelling Theater in a Field), it makes use of an amp that connects to the bar wirelessly and feeds the proprietary rear audio system over speaker wires. It’s a fairly odd setup, however the sound was strong in our brief demo, with a heat and comparatively detailed midrange, strong encompass enlargement, and a thumpy sub. If it is available in at approachable pricing, it may very well be a fantastic new midrange encompass sound possibility.

{Photograph}: Ryan Waniata

Bravia Theater Bar 6

To not be confused with the Theater System 6, the Theater Bar 6 is a 3.2.1 system comprising only a bar and subwoofer, although it is appropriate with Sony’s new Bravia Rear 8 audio system for a further charge. The opposite huge distinction between the 2 techniques is that the Bar 6 presents upfiring drivers for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X video, and Sony’s Vertical Encompass Engine for digital 3D audio with conventional sources. Sony pitted the system in opposition to to Samsung’s Q600C in just a few movie scenes Sony Footage’ Gran Turismo and Sony’d mannequin strutted its stuff fairly effectively, particularly for a midrange possibility. The sub is a good bit greater and thumpier than Samsung’s mannequin, and dialog sounded clear and detailed.

{Photograph}: Ryan Waniata