Sony unveils ground-breaking range of WUXGA business projectors

Basingstoke, 10th January 2011 - Sony Professional today broadened its line of ‘F’ series business projectors with two new WUXGA models, offering outstanding picture quality and performance for fixed installation applications such as boardrooms, show rooms, and auditoriums. Based on Sony’s award-winning 3LCD Bright Era Technology, the new VPL-FH30 and VPL-FH500L deliver up to 7,000 lumens of Colour Light Output at extremely competitive price points.

Sony’s new range of WUXGA projectors deliver best in class picture resolution (1920x1200), slightly superior to Full HD. With more end-user content being created in HD, the VPL-FH30 and VPL-FH500L can ensure none of the image detail is lost when projected. Designed to cope in high ceiling environments, such as auditoriums, churches and old schools, the VPL-FH30 and VPL-FH500L are capable of horizontal and vertical shift of up to 63% and 113% respectively. This unique feature eradicates the need to tilt the projector, which can deteriorate image resolution.

“Even though XGA remains the dominant resolution in the market, feedback and research from our partners and customers has demonstrated that the market is driven to higher resolution, as HD content becomes widespread,” said Robert Meakin, Senior Product Manager, Business Projectors at Sony Europe. "Although our two new models are equipped with native WUXGA (1920X1200) and have leapfrogged WXGA, SXGA and 1080 resolutions, their price point is comparable to lower resolutions projectors."

As with VPL-FX500L, launched in September 2010, the VPL-FH500L has an innovative Twin Lamp System which provides fail-safe and economical operation. While the projector can generate a total of 7,000 lumens with just one lamp, a second lamp is built-in to provide automatic back-up should the primary lamp fail. The Twin Lamp System is ideal for applications such as university lecture halls, where downtime is unacceptable.

Built with practicality in mind, Sony’s WUXGA projector range features an innovative Quad Filter System which uses a single airflow system to stop nearly all common dust particles from entering the projector. This is ideal in lecture halls where there can often be dust issues. The filters themselves have an average lifespan of 15,000 hours for the VPL-FH30 and 8000 hours for the VPL-FH500L and can be replaced for free in tandem with an alternative lamp as part of Sony’s synchronized maintenance scheme.

Both projectors are extremely user friendly with tasks such as colour matching and panel alignment easy to execute. The projectors are also compatible with up to 13 of Sony’s existing projector lenses, making it possible for customers to upgrade all or parts of their existing installation.

Finally, the VPL-FH30 and VPL-FH500L both have a DICOM capability which conforms to official medical standards including GSDF (Grayscale Standard Display Function). It is therefore possible to use the projector in hospitals, medical centres and universities to show X-ray, CT and MRI images.

The VPL-FH500L will be available in February 2011, and the VPL-FH30 in March 2011.