Sony VPL-VW11HT

I have owned the Sony VPL-VW11HT for about 8 years and its been brilliant. The picture quality for HD sport is fantastic. But, the big problem is getting the air filter replacements. The filter is just a piece of pressed plastic with a gauze. The Sony Part No from the Operating Instructions is PK-VW11FL but Sony denies any knowledge of this and they cannot trace the part. There is another supplier called Nedis UK which has a different part No of X40393133 but they say that the filters are £28.85 EACH which is a profit of at least £28.00 on each filter.

So Sony SORT OUT YOUR CUSTOMER CARE and allow us to purchase spare parts at a reasonable cost.

I got the Sony VPL-VW11HT projector from ebay and i am very pleased. it is very easy to use with no power issues (you know Japan want this, US wants than, Europe needs another power thing you get a lot) you just plug it in and bingo. It supports just about every standard i have ever heard of for display, tv, pc etc etc etc. On the down side it is big and a little noisy. The noise level is like that of a quiet pc humming along but i have gotten use to it and don't notice it now. The picture is clear and crisp and the much maligned and hyped issues of 'is it really black' had me terrified until i switched it on and went 'what was all that fuss about'?. In fact, as i am Irish, i used a lot stronger language about the people who had delayed my decision on this for so long!!! I consider myself a serious movie watcher but the black issue is just the usual perfectionists sounding off. the only issues i can think of is that 1000 ANSI lumens is a little low for during the day )as i had hoped to replace my tv), but in a reasonably darkened room -- it's excellent (i have sunlight on a huge window behind the projector so the problem is more to do with house architectre then Sony!).

All i can say is if you get one of these -- you will never go back to a tv. On this point, projectors are not like a tv tho, you need to let then cool down and replace air filters but again this is a simple procedure and you get used to it. I have not mounted it on the ceiling yet because the ceiling mount is about 400 euro!!! The 11ht is excellent for games, in fact you will not want to leave the house..trust me playing your PS2 games on this with a good subwoofer is the BUSINESS!!

So for movies it is a must, watching SPR or Gladiator or Black Hawk Down with your sound up is just excellent. You will also find that the most recent pressing of DVD are completely different to older ones. Newer DVD's are extremely crisp but older ones have what i can only describe as what looks like a layer of dust as you watch!. THe projector makes this clear to see but it doesnt ruin your watching, it just makes you very aware of the progress in this area.

I have the power of the lamp on 80% as that suits me and you get about 2000 hours or so on a bulk. The cost of their replacement is about 400 euro, so it aint cheap.

The overall recommendations is a buy but i believe that a 12ht is out now. It does have competition but you will find a lot of them are playing 2 markets, the pc presentation market and then the TV home market. THis is the first to aim at the tv marketand go the other way around.

I am giving a low mark on value for money because it is just too expensive (altho the price has recently dropped) and maybe Sony will realise that they have this market at their feet if they just lower the price..overall rating is excellent..trust me -- you won't look back