Sony’s new 4K laser projector will look great and cost you dearly

Sony wants to allow you to bring the 4K cinema experience into your home with its newest true 4K HDR laser home theater projector.

Rather than using a traditional lamp, the not-so-catchily named VPL-VW885ES uses new laser technology. Aside from sounding exceptionally cool, the use of lasers is beneficial largely because it means you’ll get around 20,000 hours of life out of the projector before anything needs changing. This equates to around 10 years of use if you’re watching two films of an average length every single day.

Aside from that, the projector is offering 2000 lumens of brightness, a native 4K resolution and HDR support, all of which should make for a high quality viewing experience.

A costly solution

It also makes use of Sony’s Triluminos display technology which essentially provides a much broader color range and should reduce any color fade that would usually occur when watching a projected image from an angle or in direct sunlight.

Should you want to hook up a couple more devices, the VPL-VW885ES also has two 18 Gbps HDMI inputs that support HDCP 2.2.

This is essentially a short throw projector and because it’s so compact, Sony says it’ll still be able to offer a large screen cinema view even when it’s installed in small rooms. If you don’t move the projector, its Picture Position memory means you’ll be able to switch between a variety of aspect ratios with one touch of a button.

Sony also promises it’s “whisper quiet” and although this will result in a sound environment quite different to a real cinema, we’re more than happy with that.

Sony has created an appealing piece of home cinema equipment with this new projector, so what’s the catch?

Well, that’ll be the price. With a recommended retail price of $24,999.99 (around £19000 / $ AU 31000) the VPL-VW885ES costs nearly as much as the deposit you’d pay on a house to put it in. You could always start charging family and friends cinema ticket prices for movie nights at yours, but that might defeat the purpose somewhat.

If that’s not enough and, actually, you think you’d like to spend more Sony has revealed that it’s partnering with Kaleidescape, the creators of the Strato 4K Ultra HD high-dynamic-range movie player. Those who buy one of Sony’s 4K HDR projectors and a Kaleidescape 4K player between September 1 and March 31 will receive movie bundles worth up to $350.

The VPL-VW885ES will start shipping in November of this year, though we’ve yet to hear details on its availability outside of the US.