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Big, bigger, biggest
Sony's biggest rear-projection TV
by Michael Jones
May 2001
Sony Wega ES61 rear-projection TV $13999
Does size matter? When it comes to the size of a TV or video picture, most people would answer "yes!"
The importance of screen size has been shown in the growing popularity of larger screen TVs. When I bought my Sony TV some eight years ago, it's 25" screen was a decently big size. Now it looks small compared to the large numbers of bigger TVs sold.
But
to go really large, without going to the hassle of a darkened room and
a video projector, you need something different from a normal cathode
ray tube (CRT) television.
The answer lies in rear projection TVs. These have been around for several years and were first seen in bars and sports clubs. Over the past few years the prices have fallen and quality of picture have improved greatly, to the extent that they are now a viable and high-selling option for home theatre enthusiasts.
And for the enthusiast they don't come much bigger than this Sony. The Sony Wega ES61 is one of the largest rear projection TVs available in New Zealand, at 154cm (61 inches) screen diameter.
It is huge, being some 1372mm wide and 1547mm high. Yet the depth is only 662mm, so while is can dominate, the ES61 does not protrude too greatly into the room. It does weight 90 kg, so think carefully about where you want it, as you wouldn't want to move it around too many times!
Ins and outs
The ES61 comes well equipped with connections. The highest quality video
connection is component video, while S-Video and composite are also available
around the back as well. To hook up a camcorder or video game, a front
panel pops out, containing audio inputs, composite and S-Video.
For use as a conventional TV the Sony has Nicam stereo, teletext and various forms of picture in picture.
It seems as if no Japanese (or American, for that matter) mainstream product can be released without a few acronyms to show up some new technological breakthrough. And so it is with the Sony ES61. DRC (Digital Reality Creation) is the name Sony have given to two technologies used in the Vega rear projection TVs.
First up is DRC 1250. Effectively a variation on line doubling, DRC 1250 promises no visible scanning lines and a 400% improvement in picture resolution. Some bold claims.
Alternatively, you can use the DRC100 flicker free mode. This doubles the normal 50Hz scan rate of the TV and promises no flicker.
There are a few usability oddities with the Wega ES61. For example, while there are four picture modes, only one (Personal) is adjustable. If you like different settings for watching DVDs and watching TV, then you're out of luck.
A second oddity is that, while in widescreen mode, the ES61 will do anamorphic
mode with NTSC discs only, not with PAL discs. This is a curious oversight
by Sony.
Performance
Once the TV is set up with some care (convergence, black level, white level etc), serious watching can begin.
As expected, the first thing that struck me was the sheer size of the screen. One of my favourite TV programs is The West Wing, which also has extremely high production values. The scale and size of the picture made the program quite a different experience to what I'm used to.
Naturally the best picture quality came from DVD. Watching the Zone 1 disc of Toy Story 2 in 4:3 mode (the R1 version has both widescreen and 4:3 version; the local R4 version inexplicably has only widescreen) was a visual treat.
With such a large screen, even movies in widescreen still look very big. I saw parts of the very wide production of Lawrence of Arabia and portions of Ben Hur (one of the widest aspect ratios on film). The scale of the film's vistas remained intact.
Viewing movies in DRC1250 mode, the ES61 had no visible scan lines whatsoever. There was a little bit of flicker and some"uncertainty" to the picture though. I find that I'm more susceptible to this than many people, possibly because of the amount of time I spend in front of a a computer screen, so you mileage will probably vary.
The DRC100Hz mode had no visible flicker to me at all. There was a visible line structure to the picture though, which seemed to bother me less than my viewing companion. I guess it's a case of swings and roundabouts.
Overall the picture from DVD was extremely good. I believe that it's the best I've seen from a rear projection TV. The shadow and highlights were not as good as from a quality CRT TV, but for a RPTV they were excellent.
The Wega ES61 is expensive, but does offer a lot for the money. A huge screen with a high quality picture should make this an attractive choice for big-screen affficinados.
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