Going all in on your home cinema?
If you’re putting the work in and converting one of your rooms into a dedicated movie-watching shrine, you’ll want a projector that can do it justice.
And there are few better than the Sony Bravia Projector 8, which has recently won its second What Hi-Fi? Award. Its exceptional contrast, sharp details and two HDMI 2.1 sockets make it our top pick at this level.
It is currently available at a new low of £10,999 at Richer Sounds with the code BLACK1000, which is a whopping £5000 reduction on its price when we reviewed it. It’s admittedly rather expensive, but it’s as brilliant as it is pricey and completely worth the money if you have pockets deep enough.
Expectations are understandably high at this price, but the Sony Bravia Projector 8 will reward you with an incredibly crisp and detailed picture that really lives up to the ‘cinema’ part of home cinema, as we saw during a test viewing of Oppenheimer.
“Sony’s penchant for delivering effective three-dimensional-looking images is clearly on show, with a panning shot of a watchtower in the New Mexico desert looking particularly striking,” reads our Sony Bravia Projector 8 review. “This is due to Sony’s expert handling of contrast, a strength found across its projector range as well as many of its TVs.”
Dark levels are also excellent by projector standards, with Gotham City’s night sky appearing rich and black in The Batman with no hint of murky grey.
Colours are superb too, appearing spectacularly rich yet also balanced and realistic. We think even scrupulous home cinema fans will be won over by the Bravia Projector 8’s picture.
A lot of the heavy lifting in picture quality is done by Sony’s excellent Bravia XR processor, which comes with a whole host of clever technology to help expand colour volume and enhance the accuracy of the laser output.
There are also two HDMI 2.1 sockets that support 4K/120Hz signals with Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), ideal for gaming. Sony also claims an input lag of 12ms with 4K/120Hz sources too, making it a great choice for fast-paced multiplayer games.
There are no built-in speakers or smart platform, as is expected with a home cinema projector at this level, with Sony focusing on performance above all else. Though if you’re eyeing up this projector, we expect you’ll be investing in a quality sound system and 4K Blu-ray player anyway.
If you are taking home cinema seriously and money is no object, then this is the projector we recommend as the centrepiece of your setup. It really will bring the magic of the cinema into your home, and a £5000 discount at Richer Sounds will surely help sweeten the deal.
MORE:
Read our JVC DLA-NZ800 review
Also consider our Sony VPL-XW7000ES review
Best projectors: budget, 4K and ultra-short-throw
