Sony Contrast Loss

A forum member who's pre-ordered a 5000ES contacted me about the issue. He spoke with W.Mayer on the phone (you might know him from the $20K+ forum) who had the several Sony Japan SXRD engineers and executives to his home a month or two ago to demo a pre-production 5000ES. When he asked them about the issue they told him it has to do with humidity and condensation building up on the chips. Apparently even a tiny amount of water on their SXRD chips will degrade them over time. As these chips go from hot to cool they attract condensation on them. This is a copy and paste of what I was told. Remember, please do not post this on the forum:


Quote:
I have been told this is an issue of humidity and built up of condensation on the panels.

That's why it seems the more frequent the projector is used the less the issue.

I also also been told even having the unit in a clean environment, with a dehumidifier can go a long ways helping the issue.

I have been told there is some sort of fix, maybe not permanent, but something that should help these chip degrade considerably slower. The "fix" wasn't talked about in detail but I suspect a new coating or material change to the SXRD panel to help fight against what any moisture on the chip does to contrast.

From what I understand, along with some sort of new coating on the chips, the fact that the 5000ES is liquid cooled will also help this problem. This should help keep the chips much cooler while they are in use, so there will be less change in temperature from when the projector is running and not running, and limit any humidity / condensation issue.