On June 7, Fedex delivered a factory new, seal, in box, VW675ES projector, as promised.
On the same day, United Radio (the authorized service center for Sony) sent back my new projector lamp which was in the old projector when I sent it in for service. So I have the new projector and the new lamp I bought for the old projector.
Now on to how the new projector works. Some slight differences in settings for brightness. I can go higher and still maintain good blacks. The new projector has black levels so black, that it's like the projector is off and this is in a near pitch black room.
The Lens Shift has much more range. While the old serial number 189 unit struggled to shift the lens down and to the left (the projector is mounted to the right of a support column), the new one has plenty of headroom to go way past the needed offset values.
When changing lens modes for 2.35 vs 1.85, the lens shifts
accurately to the new position/zoom level. I don't have to touch it up with the Shift controls.
Panel RGB alignment seems to be more stable. Old projector would have red/blue halos around the menu text for about 30 mins until fully warmed up. This one seems better in that regard.
Picture quality is flawless. No edge rolloff or discoloration or vignetting.
Was watching some reference movies for HDR characteristics and noted that when the camera looked up at the sun, it was
really bright and painful on the eyes. Checked out a few minutes of a 3D movie and found brightness with the glasses on to be comfortable.
I'm watching my drone footage on this big screen now and it's impressive. All I need is a music soundtrack to go with the scenery.
And this is the saga of how I got a $15K projector for $6500.