This past week, Alphatech (importers of Sony projectors and Grandview screens) held a 'relaunch' of their Sony projector lineup. It was held at their offices in North Riding JHB.
It was held over Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
Im not sure if the event was limited to dealers only, I ran into some people I know in the industry and it was great to catch up with them. Also to discuss market trends, what we're busy with etc. It was also catered and the hosts were most hospitable. Warren (Alphatech employee) guided me through the lineup and was extremely knowledgeable.
So what was on display: pretty much everything, Alphatech really did their best to display all their projectors. From large-venue projectors to ultra-high end home cinema. Although the 2 ultra-high end projectors were not on display (each costing approx. R1m). Actually typing that figure makes it even harder to comprehend that someone would spend that much... but I digress.
I don't think anyone here is really interested in the large venue and interactive stuff, so I'll skip feedback on that.
So I walked into the main demo room, where the Sony VPL-HW1100ES was on display. Firstly, the most noticeable thing about this projector is just how quiet it runs. It's virtually inaudible. Much respect to Alphatech for displaying it. This projector has a R550k price tag, and it ran consistently for 2 days. You may pass out when you hear the price of the lamps for these projectors.
Content displayed was from a native Sony 4K player, which was brought in specially for this event. Scenes included landscapes, football and satellite space images.
Sony is actually the only manufacturer to make native 4K projectors. JVC and Epson both claim 4K projectors, but it's a very smartly thought out diction in the description. Perhaps an article that I'll write in the future and post here (if there's interest, let me know below).
For me, looking at any projector, the first thing that I look at is motion processing. I'm a huge fan of frame interpolation which gives TVs and projectors that silky smooth, and 'dreamlike' feel image. Motion processing tends to be a controversial issue, some people tend to either like it or hate it - 'as the director intended' they say. The Sony was the best I've seen, silky smooth image with zero judder. There were literally no artifacts added which is normally a side effect of adding frames to an image. It works on an image prediction system.
Side note: always look at camera panning for judder, stationary cameras with moving characters on screen is not normally a test of motion handling.
This thread was more to talk about the event then it was to review the projector. So I've digressed a little, but hopefully interesting either way.
However, the most interesting part of the entire day was meeting the sales manager from Sony Professional Europe. I coincidentally sat next to him when I walked into the demo-room, and an over hour long conversation broke out unintentionally where we discussed all different elements of the Sony corporation. This was a fascinating insight into the group which is finally profitable again. And, in my opinion, make some of the best products out there today. Sony Professional is a different subsidiary of the Sony group to Sony Consumer. Sony Consumer is responsible for TV's, cameras, audio etc. Hopefully soon, we'll be able to buy Sony products again but this was not confirmed.
This is the first time I've been invited to an event where almost all the items were on display, it was brilliantly hosted and informative. In fact, I can't even think of another distributor hosting an event like this. I hope there are more similar events to come from other distributors and are hosted as well.
When I was left alone with the interactive projector, someone may have drawn this:
(Purely practical joke and harmless fun
)
Sony VPL-HW1100ES in action:
Anyone else who went past, please share your feedback.
It was held over Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
Im not sure if the event was limited to dealers only, I ran into some people I know in the industry and it was great to catch up with them. Also to discuss market trends, what we're busy with etc. It was also catered and the hosts were most hospitable. Warren (Alphatech employee) guided me through the lineup and was extremely knowledgeable.
So what was on display: pretty much everything, Alphatech really did their best to display all their projectors. From large-venue projectors to ultra-high end home cinema. Although the 2 ultra-high end projectors were not on display (each costing approx. R1m). Actually typing that figure makes it even harder to comprehend that someone would spend that much... but I digress.
I don't think anyone here is really interested in the large venue and interactive stuff, so I'll skip feedback on that.
So I walked into the main demo room, where the Sony VPL-HW1100ES was on display. Firstly, the most noticeable thing about this projector is just how quiet it runs. It's virtually inaudible. Much respect to Alphatech for displaying it. This projector has a R550k price tag, and it ran consistently for 2 days. You may pass out when you hear the price of the lamps for these projectors.
Content displayed was from a native Sony 4K player, which was brought in specially for this event. Scenes included landscapes, football and satellite space images.
Sony is actually the only manufacturer to make native 4K projectors. JVC and Epson both claim 4K projectors, but it's a very smartly thought out diction in the description. Perhaps an article that I'll write in the future and post here (if there's interest, let me know below).
For me, looking at any projector, the first thing that I look at is motion processing. I'm a huge fan of frame interpolation which gives TVs and projectors that silky smooth, and 'dreamlike' feel image. Motion processing tends to be a controversial issue, some people tend to either like it or hate it - 'as the director intended' they say. The Sony was the best I've seen, silky smooth image with zero judder. There were literally no artifacts added which is normally a side effect of adding frames to an image. It works on an image prediction system.
Side note: always look at camera panning for judder, stationary cameras with moving characters on screen is not normally a test of motion handling.
This thread was more to talk about the event then it was to review the projector. So I've digressed a little, but hopefully interesting either way.
However, the most interesting part of the entire day was meeting the sales manager from Sony Professional Europe. I coincidentally sat next to him when I walked into the demo-room, and an over hour long conversation broke out unintentionally where we discussed all different elements of the Sony corporation. This was a fascinating insight into the group which is finally profitable again. And, in my opinion, make some of the best products out there today. Sony Professional is a different subsidiary of the Sony group to Sony Consumer. Sony Consumer is responsible for TV's, cameras, audio etc. Hopefully soon, we'll be able to buy Sony products again but this was not confirmed.
This is the first time I've been invited to an event where almost all the items were on display, it was brilliantly hosted and informative. In fact, I can't even think of another distributor hosting an event like this. I hope there are more similar events to come from other distributors and are hosted as well.
When I was left alone with the interactive projector, someone may have drawn this:
(Purely practical joke and harmless fun
)
Sony VPL-HW1100ES in action:
Anyone else who went past, please share your feedback.
