Review on Sony VPLHS20 Digital Entertainment Projector by Dave Hammon

I received my first HS20 in early January 2004. It didn't run out of the box. The lamp/cover indicator kept blinking no matter what I did. Sony support couldn't help me over the phone. I returned it. I decided to give Sony another chance. Got a second one in 2 weeks. This had a strange problem: when I rotate the image via the menu (required for ceiling mounting), light and dark vertical stripes appear across the entire screen. I sent it to a Sony service center in Laredo, Texas to have it repaired. Came back from the service center with the replacement of the prism assembly, but the original problem was not solved. I sent it back to the service center and this time it was fixed. However, I have to admit that it has been working great ever since. There are no problems starting at all. No dead pixels. No plate shift. The colors are surprisingly real. Out of the box, the picture didn't look sharp enough and the contrast was definitely not impressive. But after some tweaking it's now at a level where I don't think the image is blurry. Brightness is completely sufficient - a certain amount of ambient light is transmitted without any problems. The included Sony PJ multifunction cable works very well - I couldn't tell any difference in picture quality, when I use the supplied cable or the very expensive component cables. The DVI picture with the Bravo D1 is amazing. It's not HDTV, but very, very close. And of course HDTV is the best. Scaler seems top notch but deinterlacer is not stellar. Most progressive scan DVD players have a better deinterlacer. The remote control is the worst thing about this car. It's backlit, but you have to switch between inputs with a single button. The same goes for Wide mode. And that doesn't mean you can switch quickly - there's a noticeable lag when switching between inputs or wide modes. Power Lens and Zoom come in very handy during setup. Overall I think I'm impressed that I have up to 3 grand - just make sure that you get a working piece. The same goes for Wide mode. And that doesn't mean you can switch quickly - there's a noticeable lag when switching between inputs or wide modes. Power Lens and Zoom come in very handy during setup. Overall I think I'm impressed that I have up to 3 grand - just make sure you get a working piece. The same goes for Wide mode. And that doesn't mean you can switch quickly - there's a noticeable lag when switching between inputs or wide modes. Power Lens and Zoom come in very handy during setup. Overall I think I'm impressed that I have up to 3 grand - just make sure you get a working piece.