11. What About The Picture?

We won't keep you in suspense: The quality of the Sony HS60's picture is hard to match on a tri-LCD projector. All the shortcomings of the LCD technology have been remedied or simply eliminated. If you're using it in a home theater setup, the blacks will be as good as what competing DLP projectors deliver, and the contrast ratio is incredible, letting you see all the details in dark scenes. The colors are natural and the available adjustments will let you calibrate the HS60's colors as you see fit.

Connected to a DVD player with decent 576p-to-720p upscaling, we enjoyed picture quality we wish we could see more often. Regardless of the type of video we displayed, it was a pleasure to look at.

Of course, nothing's perfect. We do have one little criticism regarding the automatic iris: The system is effective, but it doesn't operate fast enough for certain films. When scenes moved rapidly from light to dark, especially several times in succession - as in Empire of the Wolves, for example - the iris took a few seconds to react, and you became aware of the system's operation. It wasn't catastrophic, because in the great majority of situations it didn't bother us. Still, if you're a real stickler, we highly recommend that you adjust your projector to suit your type of use, leaving the iris closed for home theater and open for multimedia applications.

Characteristics: HS60

Technology: Tri-LCD, 1280x720, 16:9 Video Formats: 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080i PC Compatibility: max. 1280 x 1024 Brightness: 800 - 1,200 ANSI lumens Contrast ratio: 1,700:1 - 10,000:1 Fan noise: 23 dB Lamp life: 3,000 hours MSRP: $3,500 Guarantee: 2 years