We have once again dug up the proven classic from the depths of the film archive.
"Lawrence of Arabia", lovingly restored pixel by pixel years ago, is simply a repertoire pearl for the big summer cinema, and incidentally the aged screen epic is also suitable as an image reference when new projectors come into the test room: can the projectors produce shimmering air over hot Depict desert sand convincingly?
How clearly do the stars shine against a pitch-black sky when Lawrence and Sherif Ali are bivouacking somewhere in the vastness of the Arabian Peninsula?
Two new projectors had to face such questions, the Aura model from the Chinese manufacturer Xgimi and the VPL-XW 7000 ES projector flagship from Sony.
The two devices represent very different designs and product classes.
The Aura stands for the category of short-throw projectors, which you can simply place directly in front of the screen without much installation effort and without complicated preparation in order to start the presentation almost in no time at all.
And because such devices often also have their own loudspeakers on board, they are self-sufficient in the summer cinema.
The Sony, on the other hand, is a high-end model with an almost professional cut, completely optimized for stationary use in fine home cinemas, where a sophisticated surround system provides sound reproduction.
First to the aura.
The elegant low-rise building, priced at around 2,400 euros, creates images up to three meters wide.
Xgimi puts the brightness at 2400 ANSI lumens, a value that allows use in medium-sized living rooms even with moderate darkness.
The manufacturer specifies the resolution as 4k, but you have to put that into perspective.
Like most devices in this class, the Aura generates the images with a DLP chip whose surface is made up of tiny mirrors.
There is a micro-reflector for each pixel.
The DLP module used actually only manages Full HD resolution, but a trick called "Pixel Shift" brings additional fine structures to the screen.
The electronics transmit each individual image to the chip four times, offset by one pixel to the right, bottom, left and top.
A laser is used as the light source for the aura,
However, this technique is sometimes irritating when you blink your eyes and then perceive an artifact like a snapshot.
The projector connects to image sources via three HDMI connections, but it also accesses online videos if it is supposed to.
The Aura works with the Google TV operating system, which can tap into all conceivable streaming services and media libraries via built-in WLAN or a connected Ethernet cable.
Built-in speakers are responsible for the sound, which radiate to the front and to the side.
It is written on the upper deck of the beamer that they come from a cooperation with the American specialist Harman Kardon, and that's no misnomer.
The sound department sounds respectable, even in virtual surround mode, with decent bass and a spacious stereo panorama.
Although additional boxes can be controlled via Bluetooth, we actually found the external support superfluous.
We found the image quality of the Aura convincing.
Differentiated colors, good image sharpness thanks to a usable autofocus, and respectable contrasts were the keywords in our sight report.
So price and performance are right here.
Can you say the same about Sony?
After all, this high-end projector costs a breathtaking 15,000 euros.
However, we add as a consolation: There is a sibling model, called VPL-XW 5000, with similar basic technology, only less light transmission, for 6000 euros.
But to our flagship.
The heart of this projector is a chip with real UHD resolution, which, when illuminated by a laser light source, generates the images with a liquid crystal layer on its surface.
Sony calls the technology SXRD, a brand-neutral name is Liquid Crystal on Silicon, LCOS for short.
Sony specifies 3200 ANSI lumens as the brightness value, which is sufficient to illuminate even large home cinemas and enable convincing HDR contrasts.
Large optical lenses adjust the focal length and focus with motor support.
In the test run, the bolide made an outstanding impression.
We have never seen such deep contrasts on any projector, and the new Sony also sets standards with its sharpness of detail.
The projection remains so sharp right into the corners of the image that you could count the pixels if you wanted to.
We were also impressed by the Motionflow function.
In this way, the electronics smooth out jerky movements that can occur in films with the low frame rate of the cinema.
In short: the Sony is a home cinema champion, but that's what you can expect from a device in this class.