Sony manual Sony VPH-G90U Multiscan Projector, Physical, E G R O G E R S

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REVIEWS

Sony VPH-G90U Multiscan Projector

he ultimate in home-theater

the huge 9-inch lens assemblies

display devices are the 9” CRT

protrude several inches in front of

projectors. Size matters in CRT

the angled bezel, proudly pro-

projectors because it enables higher

claiming that this is one serious

resolution and brighter images.

projector. Just behind the lens-

Sony’s new VPH-G90U has entered

es, the top panel swings open to

this elite market at an attractive

allow an installer to make

$35,000 price to do battle with exist-

mechanical focus and one-time

ing products from home-theater spe-

aiming adjustments of the CRT-

cialists Runco and Vidikron, priced as

lens assemblies. This is particu-

much as 50 percent higher. The new

larly nice since the main cover of

Sony may not be everyone’s Sony, but

the case remains closed, protect-

home-theater enthusiasts who dream

ing the electronics. The user

of 9” CRTs may have come a little

should never need to access or

closer to reality.

repeat any of the mechanical

Physical

adjustments. All of the inputs,

power receptacles, switches, and

The G90 has a huge physical presence, not

status indicators are located on the rear

unlike other 9” CRT projectors. At over 240 pounds, it is

panel. There are also two slots in the rear panel

one of the heaviest projectors I’ve encountered. It was deliv-

for optional video input/output boards.

ered in a Styrofoam-padded cardboard box screwed to a

The top cover has a sliding door that conceals a complete

wooden pallet. It is also several handfuls, at nearly 30 inches

duplicate of the external remote control, only fixed perma-

wide and 42 inches long. Fortunately it is only a bit more than

nently in place and running off the projector’s power. This

15 inches high, which improves handling somewhat. It is actu-

makes it convenient, especially in a tabletop installation, to

ally easier to carry and maneuver than many lighter projec-

use this panel for set-up. It also ensures that the user will have

tors because Sony has cleverly designed eight convenient and

complete access to all projector controls should you tem-

sturdy handles into the perimeter of its case, each pair look-

porarily misplace the remote.

ing a bit like bicycle handlebars. They pull outward from each

The external remote is an almost square panel, about six

side of the projector and lock in place for use, then retract

inches on a side, but quite thin for easy holding. A button on

back into the case, out of the way, when not needed. This

the top edge turns on backlighting for all of the panel labels.

made it easy for four men to carry the projector up a flight of

All of the controls are nicely grouped and logically laid out.

stairs, and for two men to lift it into place on a sturdy table.

Two rows of calibration keys at the bottom can be covered by

Although its case isn’t aerodynamically designed and

a sliding plastic panel. They are also disabled unless unlocked

painted a bright racing color, it is sculptured to look quite

by a sequence of key pushes so that curious fingers can’t acci-

handsome in two-tone gray for ceiling or “tabletop” mounting.

dentally disturb their settings. On-screen displays provide

For this review, I mounted it on a table below a ceiling-mount-

numeric feedback for all the variable settings and status mes-

ed Runco IDP-980 Ultra. So I can’t relate to you the experi-

sages. What I like most about this remote is that all calibration

ence of lifting and attaching it to a ceiling, but I’m certain

and normal usage functions have dedicated keys. On-screen

those handles would have played a critical role.

menus are provided for functions that are seldom used, such

 

as setting up the sync signal selections, or for obtaining status

Description

displays of incoming signals. We so often criticize remote con-

The front panel of the projector contains

trols that I want to acknowledge when one is

only an IR remote control sensor. Above that

done this well.

G R E G R O G E R S

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Contents Sony G90 Size Does Matter Ingly just beyond reach Than ever we needed in strange, dark cavesExperience before he finds a little of It Sound and vision at the same time every timeKubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut HP Bergman’s The Seventh Seal DVDFollies & Frolics Barco Vision WatchEditors will respond next issue Can All That Counts Be Counted? a Forum BeginsII Janet’s Index EditorProblem with DVD Digital Artifacts Targeting 14-Year-Old Boys?If The Perfect Vision is to push Down Primrose Path Toward Perfect Vision Forever? At all. So it doesn’t take Hdtv orAzine Widescreen Review perhaps? What Not To See on DVD Digital Cinema The Good Bad of ItJohn Eargle Lossy Data Compression & DVD Sound TV Is TVI L L E R Series such as Star Trek The Next Generation . EachMovie Trivia DVDs Gaining MomentumE G S I C & M U L T I M E D I a E G S a N D O WPanasonic DVD-L50D PalmTheater ViaTV VC 105 VideophoneM M a R T I N R R Y R a W L I N S O N EncounteredInfocomm Significant New Products and Trends World of displaysReport To recreate the theater experience in the home Ogy near its limit and its days are numbered. The displayLight projected on the screen. These considerations have Tunately, there are trade-offs for the small size of ultraAn Ideal Cinema? Real movie where there was none before, or at least Ometimes I think that every position on aMoviemaking crew comes with its special privi Leges, its perks, as it were. If you’re the script superOne way or another when it comes to working with Ity between when they are and whenAssistant directors, service people, FootageCertainly a serviceable way to edit MoviesLikely to get you Directors seem to trust me to use my Into any troubleAllowing for camera setups, lighting, and rig Takes and setups meaning the masterIt’s a funny thing about matching in editing. Most lay Enjoy prelaps to pull the narrativeSion? In Understanding Media, McCluhan Lexicon MC-1 Controller Sonic Flavors To Slake Every ThirstR L E Y Logic 7 Digital Signal Processing for Movies and Music Lexicon’s Music Surround ModesListening to Movies Listening To Music Surround Conclusion Ing the Denon Anechoic Orchestral Music Recording CDControllers Two-Channel Bypass Mode Surround Decoding and Digital Signal Processing DSPDSP and the Future-Proof Controller THX-Certified Controllers Bass ManagementHigh-Resolution Digital Audio …the controller representsRadical new path to Future…After DSP Digital to Analog Conversion InterFacing the UserRevel Ultima Speakers From 2 to 7.1 Channels Episode One The Ancient EnemyMeet My Enemy M M I I L L E RDeploying the Troops RPG Room Optimizer Software 59 byRevel Ultima Salon Noble Warrior Start and go get a beer, or twoYou wanted to cross over your subwoofer at 40 Hz Tion coefficient for the surfaces that is comparable toOur noble warrior against the ancient enemy Likewise for the 15-inch woofer in the Sub-15Essary to achieve the Revel design team’s led by Kevin Research effort to quantify in-room speaker behaviorDirect radiator to bloated. The Salon’s soundstage com By Keith Johnson for Reference RecordingsNal processing in controllers hadn’t made subwoofer Speaker? Removing the bottom octave from the Salon’sWoofer, when it is well integrated with your main speakers Cians often use emphasis in the intensityFormance. Orchestral music, for example, is performed Cy, phase, and time. It then develops adaptive filters that Battle Summary Stand-offEpisode Two a War On Two Fronts Get that the fight for the lowlands was far from overLINN-AV5103 Aktiv Multi-Channel System Search of the Mythical BeastCompany of the Beast Quest BeginsWorking the Environment Remote InterfaceNAD T770 Audio-Video Receiver Just the Basics, Done WellSumming Up I L G a D E RDas Boot, The Director’s Cut Wolfgang Peterson, director Gaines’ Stormy Monday I’ve Got the T-Bone WalkerSteering in DD mode is precise and smooth Manufacturer’s CornerRPG Diffuser Systems Inc., Room Optimizer Designs go, the NAD T770 is all steakWant My DVD Major Labels’ Plans for Classical Music on DVDI D I W a L E S O N Tan Opera Guide to Opera on Video and executive direc Audience, he says. We fed that information to the rear Tion from the main mikes as well as the spot mikesFrom the two main mikes and brought it to the rear ones Have been considered typical indeed, good for aSee review, this issue Quering technology issues, Moorhead says. Most of ourFall was so high. This was an elaborate joint Computer and TV combinedMade for DVD Original, so they’re not going to fake it for DVDStars. God, was I skeptical Dramatic confrontation, in the second scene of Act Two Must answer three riddles. If his answers are correct, sheTo Turandot’s collection the Chinese nation, ruled by an Ple either turning cynical, or lusting for more bloodTurandot. And why would there be? Yes, Puccini conscien Preoccupation like that made more sense, butTucks into a tiny corner of the staging. Hordes of Chinese Moon onstage we see a corps of Chinese dancers, wearingClassical DVD Sampler DVD-nessMent of that, and when I listened, I found I’d choose With the sound either way, or with the sound of the ScalaFull of pomp and circumstance, but much less lifelike PerformancesRole mostly as a force of nature, powerful but blank Start of each one, there’s Karajan on screen, his faceLike institutional persona, Herr Music Director of All That’s simply ravishing This performance is broadRoger Reynolds Watershed Mode 70, DVD SurroundedJargon Experiment in a New MediumAre so new that we all need orientation Though, is that Reynolds is way too impressed withYes, theorists can find all sorts of relationships among Areas of music rhythm, loudness, and tone color, forMusical score Maybe, succeeded by metallic effectsBut in rhythms he himself creates. In practice, these, to That, while Otto is allegedly creating syntax by movingPop With a Twist B G E N D R O NMents of a Clockwork Orange What Ever Happened to Baby Performance we see on DVD begins with a filmPerfect timing and careful choreography Below-average vocal performanceSon’s Dead to the World. Nope Horizon, probably to his death. It is a scene that demandsDVD, with its digitally clear resolution Tabloid, because of its sensational purInsignificance of the media and with a Ly slurs the tune’s climactic line,WhatDent films Gods and Monsters, Cookie’s Fortune that Godzilla, Armageddon, Instrument is better thanWith 1991’s In on the Kill Close Encounter Voices of Light/The Passion of Joan of ArcD R E W Q U I N T Special presentation of Voices of Light/The Passion of Joan Obvious. The movie is about as complete as it can be. Other instances, were not merely happy coincidences, norEach other. Seen together, they seemed inseparable yet By much of the sound reinforcement heard in BroadwayAn Introduction to Digital Video Part 2 Video Color ConceptsPhysics of Color Human Color PerceptionColorblindness Color Concepts for Video Additive ColorLuminance Hue and SaturationCIE Chromaticity Diagram Display Color Accuracy RGB Primaries The Color TriangleWhite Reference Color Temperature Grayscale Color TemperatureColor Measurement Color Bars Other color signals will also Color errors.Are used in some circumstances Instrument known as a color analyzer or a spectroAdjustments Color and HueAvia Guide to Home Theater pro Sony VPH-G90U Multiscan Projector PhysicalE G R O G E R S Installation and Set-up ConnectionsScan Rates Operating FunctionsPerformance SummarySpecifications Runco DTV-930 Multiscan ProjectorDescription Inputs/Outputs Convergence Labs Test Report Greg Rogers Formats can be selected directly from the remoteHorizontal and vertical scan frequencies and other source Be noticedRange Combination is about the reasonable limit to achieve anRemote Control IEV Turboscan 1500 Line DoublerLine Doubling = Deinterlacing Video outputs. As a progressive video reference, I used a Creates progressive video without deinterlacing artifactsIcs-grade front projector 3Dfusion do each in different ways. The TurboscanPioneer Elite DVL-91 Combination CD/LD/DVD Player Look and FeelL L C R U C E Up menus allow you to configure such things as onscreen lan Meaning clearDVD Performance LD PerformanceLy, the remote of the DVL-91, like that Wrong one in the darkDvdo iScan Plus Line Doubler Celebrate Film Classic Comedy’s Second Coming Roberto Benigni L M & M O V I E SThough a number of films in which Benigni Quently escape was Benigni’s first American and EnglishRoberto on the Internet Cute cameo which perhaps hints at a sequel Aspect ratio and running time incorrectlySound Original Pink Panther film go figure. Sad to saySpecial Editions Kubrick and The Space Monsters First wave of anger and incredulity. The DVD set wasNo thanks to Warner’s folks Small wonder Set consists of Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001 aBoth Clockwork and Full Metal Jacket exhibited pinkish Special Editions Few Weird Thoughts What Dreams May ComeWorth a Look Relatively Recent Arrivals Navigator a Medieval Odyssey, the other is Map Human HeartHow beautiful she was when she was married to Roger Movie would have had the solid foundation it neededTo say that the film is developing a cult following some Smooth as could be and given the importanceBiopics Three British Royals Love.1 AsOtranto Man in the Iron Mask 1939. But it is his Old Dark House 1932, The Invisible ManHP Comments Ic in this context in cloud cuckooland, with their You have an idea of what’s really going on in the filmMon with The Shining than with any other Kubrick opus Food-storage roomFrom Art to Cult N a T H a N V a L I NOnly later goes on to give them human dimensions. Even Such blatant symbolism can sustain an entire movieNot content to present us with an allegory of the eternal Face the questions that vexed and hauntedIssues 111 Back Issues Website Change of Address Questions About Your SubscriptionLetters to the Editor Editorial SubmissionsA S S I F I E D a D O R D E R F O R M Name Company Address CITY, State , ZIPVision Watch