Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony VPLHS20 Cineza Digital Home Entertainment LCD Projector

I got my first HS20 in the beginning of January 2004. Out of the box, it didn't start up. The lamp / cover light kept blinking, no matter what I did. Sony support couldn't help me on the phone. I returned it.

I decided to give Sony another chance. Got a second one after 2 weeks. This one had a strange problem so that if I flip the picture using the menu (needed for ceiling mounting), there would be light and dark vertical bands all across the screen. I sent it to Sony's Laredo, TX service center to get it fixed. It returned back from the service center with a change in the prizm assembly, but the original problem was not addressed at all. I sent it back to the service center, and this time around, it was fixed.

I must admit though, it has worked beautifully since then. No start up problems at all. No bad pixels. No mis-alignment of panels. Colors are amazingly real.

Out of the box, picture didn't look sharp enough and contrast definitely wasn't impressive. But after some tweaking, it is now at a level where I don't think the image is washed up. Brightness is ample - it tolerates some amount of ambient light without problems. Sony's included PJ multi cable works pretty well - I couldn't find any difference in Picture Quality using the included cable or much expensive component cables.

DVI picture using Bravo D1 is stunning. It's not HDTV but very very close. And of course, HDTV is the best. The scaler seems top notch but the deinterlacer is not stellar. Most progressive scan DVD players will have a better deinterlacer.

Remote is the worst thing on this machine. It is lighted but you have to cycle through Inputs using a single button. Same for wide mode. And it's not like you can quickly cycle - there is a noticeable time lag when switching between inputs or wide modes.

Power Lens and Zoom are quite handy during setup.

Overall, I think I'm impressed for what I've got for under 3 grand - just make sure you get a working piece.

Ecellent Picture quality. Light in weight. Extremely high quality images with HDTV input(IO Digital cable). DVI inputs from DVDs give better-than-theatre picture quality. Component input is equally awesome. Compare it to the size, space and weight of DLP, Projection or Plasma TVs, this is and extremlely good and a great buy. I got a it for $2.8K in Dec'03. Also works great with the PC input. Overall one heck of a display. Hats off to Sony Corp.

Gorgeous colors from the HS-20. No screen door or fixed panel noise. Some reports of convergence problems. Many input options made this a choice over other units. Cons: you may need to buy several expensive cables ($50) for VGA analog input, HDMI port use. Also, HDMI port has poor quality when used with VOOM. May be a problem with all HDMI. DVI input (and component) looks great though. See avsforum dot com for futher discussions.

I've owned this projector for 5 years, and enjoyed it greatly. I was shocked to see it selling here for $2600, though. A brand new modern projector with vastly improved performance can be had for around $2000. I am about to upgrade mine, and doubt I could sell my VPL-HS20 for more than $500 or so nowadays. (Incidentally, I only paid about $2000 for this unit 5 years ago.)

Personal Experience
After an inordinate amount of research, I finally decided on this unit.

I've connected my HS20 to my Toshiba HD-DVD player and the look is nothing short of stunning. It's honestly hard tearing myself away from the unit. The picture is that good. Had a friend over to watch the Matrix and the superlatives were flying. Just like being at the theatre was one remark.

The unit is whisper quiet. Remote is fine, while the manual could include greater detail on the unit.

If I had one negative remark for this unit, I would have wished it to be brighter. The rated 1400ANSI is dramatically reduced when the optimal settings are set. I prefer to have all the lights off in my flat and I've already got a dark room where my PJ sits. I use it exclusively for movies. I still prefer my 25inch CRT for regular viewing of the news, etc.

Problems
Flawless so far.