The Bravia VPL-VW200 is the top-of-the-line successor to Sony’s flagship VPL-VW100 projector. The new model improves upon the old by new 1080p SXRD panels that can run at twice the refresh rate of the prior generation, pretty much eliminating any motion blur that you might see. They’ve also added a system that lets you tweak the positioning of the panels so precisely that you can get red, green and blue pixels perfectly aligned.

The projector has a bright 275W Xenon lamp that can kick out up to 4000 lumens (most sane people will use it in low power mode to save lamp life, and keep fan noise down). Sony claims a 35,000 to 1 contrast ratio thanks to their well respected dynamic iris system as well as improvements in the SXRD panel design. The VW200 also adds wide gamut (xvYCC) color support via dual HDMI 1.3a inputs.

On the downside, the VPL-VW200 costs nearly twice what the VW100 costs, at an MSRP of $15,000. It’s expected to ship this October. For those with slightly smaller bank balances, Sony has also announced a new, moderately priced model, the VPL-VW60, which loses the Xenon lamp, 120 fps and wide color support, but otherwise is quite similar. That model hits stores this month, and lists for $5000.

[Press Release]

Measuring just 3.7″ (h) x 9.2″ (d) x 10.8″ (w), the projector features full 1080p resolution. All those pixels come courtesy of a single Texas Instruments DLP chip. The projector is also one of the smallest that I’ve seen with TI’s BrilliantColor tech, which increases color gamut significantly over standard DLPs. Brightness is rated at a solid 1000 lumens, and the DLP’s 5x speed, 7-segment color wheel should reduce the likelihood of the dreaded “rainbow effect” common in many older DLP sets.

While it may be small, the projector comes with some serious home theater features, including compatibility with most digital home control systems using IP or RS232 control schemes. Each projector is also individually calibrated on the production line using projectiondesign’s RealColor suite, ensuring optimal image quality before the projector ever makes it to your home.

Pricing was not announced, but I’d expect to drop at least a couple of paychecks on this, given projectiondesign’s high-end track record.

[via ecoustics]