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Sony VPL-XW5000ES £5990
This is the cheapest truly native 4K laser projector the home cinema world has yet seen. There are similarly priced DLP laser projectors that use ‘double flashing’ tech to achieve a 4K image, or pixel-shifting technology that achieves a 4K effect, but none carries a native 3840x2160 pixel count as this Sony does. To illustrate just how surprisingly cheap this projector is, stepping up to its mid-range XW7000ES native 4K sibling will set you back £14,990.
Despite its price, it still benefits from Sony’s X1 Ultimate processing, previously available only on its flagship projector. The X1 Ultimate platform powers digital contrast optimisation, object-based HDR remastering, object-based resolution enhancement, enhanced upscaling, clarity-boosting Reality Creation and, perhaps the most important element of the projector’s processing system, the Dynamic HDR Enhancer. This incredibly clever system analyses incoming content so that it can pick out relatively bright highlights and increase their intensity without damaging or changing other elements of the picture.
The XW5000ES’s Triluminos Pro colour engine is claimed to reach as much as 95 per cent of the digital cinema world’s DCI-P3 colour gamut, and an IMAX Enhanced mode is also on board.
