Sony VPLBW5 3-LCD 720p Home Theater Projector

by Sony

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4.3 x 10.6 x 12.4 inches ; 7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 11 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B001FB53P0
• Item model number: VPLBW5
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,351 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

Enjoy the Big Game on an Even Bigger Screen

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great projector... when it works., September 5, 2010

By 

Patrick O'Hanlon - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sony VPLBW5 3-LCD 720p Home Theater Projector (Electronics)

I've owned one of these for a year. It is great when it's here, but the image chip has completely failed TWICE.

The first time was after less than 55 hours of use and 5 weeks of ownership. It showed only pink and green vertical bars. I couldn't even see the internal menus. It was gone for about 2 months because the repair facility had to obtain the part. (AND AMAZON REFUSED TO ACCEPT A TOTAL FAILURE AS A RETURN EVEN THOUGH IT WAS ONLY A WEEK PAST THEIR RETURN POLICY.)

The second time was after less than 400 hours of use and about 7 months of ownership. Both brightness and color temperature began flickering irregularly. I tried replacing the bulb to no effect. It was a couple of weeks waiting to get a bulb and then gone to the repair facility for another 3-4 weeks.

Professionally, I work with dozens of projectors of various makes and models (including Sony) and have never seen a unit behave like this. When it is working, it shows a great image and - when it is working - it has good features for the price. There is a 2-year manufacturer's warrantee to cover the work I've needed done, but shipping to the repair facility and buying a new bulb to try and fix the problem myself added about 33-40% (so far) to the overall cost making it less of a value. I'd like to think that I just got the one poor exception, but the experience has been frustrating.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Happy with quality, but there are caveats for some, July 31, 2009

By 

J. Roussel (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sony VPLBW5 3-LCD 720p Home Theater Projector (Electronics)

Something to remind people is that many electronics are designed to be near the viewing source, so when you have a projector TV of any type, there are some caveats. If you have a Wii, speakers, or something similar that you'd usually have by the TV, remember that the sensor bar has to be near the screen to make sense while playing, and since the projector is on the opposite side the room, you'll find yourself having to accommodate that by running wires all over or purchasing third party wireless accessories.

That being said, this product in particular is great from a resolution standpoint. It has an odor at first from the burning bulb, but it goes away over time. There is only 1 HDMI input, and I wish there was 2.