Sony prices HDMI 2.0 upgrade for VW1000ES projector owners

Sony representatives today went into more detail regarding the company’s planned roll-out of an upgrade scheme for its 4K projector customers, following the introduction of the HDMI 2.0 standard for Ultra high definition video. The scheme is almost ready, but it certainly won’t be cheap.

The VPL-VW1000ES, which launched last year as the first commercial 4K home cinema projector, only came with HDMI 1.4a support out of the box. When the HDMI consortium announced the HDMI 2.0 specification at September’s IFA show in Berlin, it came as a blow to customers hoping to be able to watch native 4K content on their less than twelve month-old equipment.

Thankfully, Sony has a plan to appease early adopters. A board exchange scheme is due to begin in the coming months, where Sony will arrange a courier to collect the projector from a customer’s home, swap out the main circuit board for one that supports HDMI 2.0, and ship it back.

This naturally won’t be a free service, and the €2,500 (£2,130 before VAT here in the UK) figure Expert Reviews was quoted today is a significant investment, especially considering that the VW1000ES cost £17,000 when it launched, but it’s still significantly cheaper than buying a whole new projector just for native 4K content support.

There’s still no firm time scale as to when the board exchange scheme will begin, and the final price is still subject to change, but we’re expecting it to be finalised in time for the launch of the new flagship VPL-VW1100ES projector. It’s set to go on sale towards the end of November.