Had the opportunity to come by Mark's place yesterday and I must say thet the projected image is really up among the best that I have seen. The "Wow" factor is really there because of the pictures dynamic range with a max White level of 29ftL on a 132 inch screen. I can only get around 10 to 12ftL via 100 inch on a PT-ae3000! The difference between the vw100 to the vw85 is absolutelly night and day. The color was rich but not over saturated, flesh tones were spot on. Screen uniformity and overall PQ was also excellent as if you are looking out of a window. There's also a 3D feel to the picture, maybe because of its superior video characteristics.
What more can I say, just a gourgeous picture and an awesome LOW end audio to boot. 
Thanks, Alvin! It was an honor to invite you over. As I explained to you, I wasn't really planning to upgrade my pj till by accident, I read the reviews of the Sony VPL-VW85.
After calibration, the RGB levels were almost spot on and the gamma was nearly perfect at 2.2 for the entire grayscale. As others have noted, post-calibration light output has only a very slight drop, unlike the VW100, which drops by almost 25%. It's only weakness is that it doesn't have a CMS but other reviewers have noted that out of the box, it's already pretty accurate. The contrast ratio is pretty unreal: Dynamic contrast ratio of 120,000. The JVC RS35 is supposed to have an even better native contrast ratio but I guess the difference will not be huge.
As you and I have noted, pq is relatively simple -- does it look real, does it look 3D? Using that criterion, the pj is pretty good.
With regard to the bass, the combination of acoustic treatment, 4 big subs, the SVS AS-EQ1 and Audyssey Pro have all contributed to producing a very accurate bass sound. It has taken a long time to get here but I think that now, it's pretty good. My only complaint is that my subs go only down to slightly below 20 Hz ... maybe another SVS sub would help? Hehe.
Thanks again for coming!
