Sony VPL-CS4: Projector with Questionable Lamp

The Sony VPL-CS4 like most Sony products is an extremely, affordable, high-quality and popular item. The projector was first released in 2001 and continued to be manufactured for over a year – meaning that there were a lot of people buying this product. Undoubtedly Sony has benefited massively from the quality branding they have been able to build up over the years. But they also, as just mentioned, always seem to manufacture great consumer electronics.

The Sony VPL-CS4 is no exception.

The Sony VPL-CS4 uses a 120W projector lamp. This projector lamp produces a solid and acceptable 1000 ANSI lumens, though some user complaints have touched on the fact that the projector is not bright enough for their needs. Some manufacturers are taking note of this and trying to produce lamps for these projectors that have higher ANSI lumens rates.

We tested the Sony VPL-CS4 in two separate settings. Once with a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation and once with the film Napoleon Dynamite. The projector performed well, however, halfway through our first test the projector lamp went out and the fan went into overdrive. We quickly realized that the projector lamp had overheated because the filter had not been cleaned in what seemed like years.

We pulled the projector lamp out of the projector and made sure there was not too much dust blocking the cooling airways that the fan uses to cool the projector lamp. We also cleared out the filter so the projector lamp had more room to breath. After completing this process everything ran smoothly and the Sony VPL-CS4 received top marks.

The Sony VPL-CS4 is an excellent choice for a projector if you are looking for something that is small and that can take a lot of wear and tear from heavy usage, such as a classroom or in house movie hall setting.

Until next time – take it easy and make sure to keep checking back to MyProjectorLamps.com for all your projector lamp needs.