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by Peter H. Putman, CTS
Projector Performance
ANSI Lumens 365.8
ANSI Contrast 130:1
Peak Contrast 170:1
Color Temperature 6670K
Average Uniformity 51%
Sony's VPH-G90U CRT projector is the culmination of several year's
work, and not a moment too soon - HDTV is upon us, and the consensus is that HDTV
images look their absolute best when projected by 9" CRTs. The VPH-G90U replaces
the VPH-1292Q in Sony's product line, but goes it one better with the adoption of
Digital Reality Creation (DRC). DRC is a scaling system based on fractals that results
in video as clean as an XGA image, but with an effective scan rate of 31.5 KHz -
the same as a line doubler.
The basic projector comes with one video input board and one 5xBNC port, and you
can add on several more jack fields or use an outboard switcher. Video connections
include a loop-through for composite inputs (both BNCs) and either dual-BNC or DIN
jacks for S-Video. The 9" tubes use liquid-coupled f1.0 lenses for optimum light
transfer. Sony's famous desktop console Remote Commander is standard for set-up and
operation. (Convergence and alignment took about one hour from start to finish.)
The VPH-G90U is the brightest 9" CRT projector currently available. I measured
320 ANSI lumens with 120:1 ANSI contrast (8x8 checkerboard) at 640x480 resolution,
and 365 ANSI lumens at 1280x1024 resolution. Peak contrast in both modes (full white
image) was 170:1, and peak contrast (small white area) was 521:1. Color temperature
was a pleasing 6670 degrees on center, and varied by 1120 degrees across the image,
and brightness uniformity was 51% with factory settings. (You can adjust white-field
uniformity on CRT projectors.)
In one-on-one comparisons with external scalars (NEC's IPS4000Q, Miranda's Quartz
and RGB Spectrum's VLI200), the DRC signal held its own quite nicely, eliminating
most of the scan line structure and increasing image brightness slightly. There were
some visible pixel artifacts that were not seen on the higher-end units, though.
I have always found Sony's control interface quite fast and intuitive - setting up
new scan and refresh rates is a pretty simple job, once you've converged for the
"big five" (video, VGA, SVGA, XGA, and SXGA).
As a bonus, I was able to view footage from a Sony HDW-500 broadcast HDTV recorder/player
and can tell you the results were spectacular. Flat-matrix imaging (LCD, DLP, plasma)
may be the "hot" display technology now, but there's still no way to top
the resolution and color fidelity you get out of a properly-adjusted CRT projector.
Dimensions: 29.5" x 15.25" x 42"
Weight: 242.5 lbs
Lens Type: 1.5:1, f1.0 EM focus LC lenses
Imaging Device: 3x 9" CRTs
Web Site: www.sony.com/professional
PHP Evaluation:
Brightness 10 White Balance 10
Contrast 9 RGB Quality 10
Hue 10 Video Quality 10
Saturation 10 Uniformity 8
RGB Scaling 10
© 1999 Peter H. Putman / Intertec Publishing
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