Sony VPL-HS10

Sony VPL-HS10. I have 2, one for travel and 1 mounted in home theatre.

Excellent picture quality and user friendly.

A bit large to haul around.

I thought i would share my experience with my new Sony VPL-HS10 front projector. i was orginally going to buy the HS3 as the HS10 seemed so expensive but i was very lucky and found the HS10 whilst on holiday and bought it dutyfree plus free screen for under £1000 (the price of the HS3 at the moment is about £1100 without the screen and i can't find a HS10 for under £2000)

i couldn't afford a plasma screen (of the quality i wanted) and so this seemed reasonable. the projector is quite large 345 x 148 x 369 mm and it doesn't have the pivot stand available on the HS2 and HS3 but small enough to put on a shelf at home. the screen detail is terrific and i consider it to be far better than the budget range plasma screens. there is a small element of chicken wiring but i can't see it (my eyes a pretty good) if i am more than 2 meters from the screen. the brightness was the shock - it was much better than i expected and stood head and shoulders above the HS3 i auditioned in a darkened room. generally i can leave on 40watt bulbs in my room and comfortably watch dvds and play games.

the contrast isn't as good as a panasonic plasma screen unless you turn down the lights (perhaps one 40w bulb away from the screen) but not enough for you to remember whilst watching the screen. so not enough to annoy you. on the internet there are different opinions to the constrast ratio - i've seen 1:700 most often. in my manual it claims 1:1500 or something like that. i think the standard mode is 1:700 and if you turn on the cinema black setting (which also prolongs the life of the lamp to 3000 hours) it looks much better than the HS3 (to me anyway)

i'm thinking of doing away with the screen given with the pack and just either use the wall. i might paint the wall and nail a black border round it (you can buy nice black borders from B&Q). there is some silver paint (for the screen) from B&Q that has been recommended on the net - i'll give it a go and let you all know.

in terms of connections - i'm very happy - there isn't a scart - but i'm not interested in that anyway - there is video in, component, DVI, s-video and other stuff i don't use. the DVI is very nice and i'm looking around for a DVI DVD - any ideas?

the side shot thing is very useful - but was a little disappointed in how little it was able to side shot. there isn't too much movement you can get out of the projector - best to keep it dead on.

it's quite sensitive to overheating - you can't stack it on anything mildly warm - it needs to be sitting by it self rather than on a dvd player or something.

i'm trying to be as critical as possible - but to be honest its a dream - i would advise anyone to seriously consider a projector rather than a plasma due to it's price and image quality (i find plasma makes TV and playstation 2 games blocky - difficult to watch sports etc.)

in terms of this projector - i would have paided £1300 for the HS3 and this is a real improvement on that. so i guess below 2000 pounds if it is available? i think i'm very lucky or have i been con'ed?

does anyone know of an easy way to get progressive scan quality out of the playstation 2 games?