Eventually, Sony blamed this on sample variation that falls within range of its manufacturing tolerances and said "an experienced technician" can enter the service mode and adjust for uniformity using the projector's multipoint gamma control. I was able to remedy the problem using this adjustment, and chances are you can hire an ISF technician to do the same. This calibration would not be covered by warranty, however.

I also checked the projector's noise-reduction processing and was impressed at its ability to clean up noisy-looking standard-def cable programs without removing detail. And its handling of 720p HDTV, such as a Raiders vs. Seahawks football game on ESPN-HD, was also very good.

BOTTOM LINE Some moments I had with the Sony VPL-VW50 1080p SXRD front projector rivaled my experience with much costlier projectors. Granted, the uniformity problem I encountered with black-and-white and (to a much lesser extent) some color programming may not be an issue for some users, though it mars an otherwise great picture and necessitates professional calibration. Even with that said, however, Sony has produced a really impressive projector for the price.

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