More of a technology update than a new projector, this is a direct replacement for the VPL-CX75 reviewed in PC Plus 225. To that end it inherits all the strengths and weaknesses of its older brother. Inside its well-styled, mid-sized case is an XGA 0.79in polysilicon LCD system. While this has a poor contrast ratio of 350:1, it does create a sharp, well-defined and clear image with little visible grid. Colours on the whole are lacklustre, particularly greens. While greyscales are consistent it struggles with muddy darker colours, as you would expect with the low contrast ratio.

Mediocre image quality aside it’s more than good enough to give presentations some punch. The 2,500 lumens brightness will handle the most difficult of office situations, even if it’s accompanied by a noisy fan. If total brightness isn’t essential, a low-power mode cuts noise to a pleasantly murmuring 30dB and still retains most of the brightness.

As usual with Sony, everything on this projector is ‘tricked-out’ as the kids would say, with electric lens cover, tilt, focus, zoom plus horizontal and vertical keystone. As flash as these are, the real reason you’re paying over the odds for this model are the 802.11g wireless capabilities.

This is reason for the new model, along with version two of the Sony AirShot wireless connection software. This allows you to deliver presentations wirelessly over a peer-to-peer connection or a wireless infrastructure. Sony claims a projector can support up to a 100 simultaneous PC connections or a single PC can transmit to five projectors simultaneously – all done over the supplied projector’s removable CF wireless card and USB wireless stick for the PC.

This is now quite mature software and firmware, and with the supplied remote and menu system, we had the CX76 connected in less than a minute to our running base station with full WPA and WEP security options. Despite the ‘G’ speeds don’t expect to be delivering video, as it’s not good for more than a few frame per second at best. A final trick is support for PC-less presentations from a Sony memory stick. Supplied software can convert presentations to still images or MPEG movies. The image quality isn’t stellar, but for many, the projector’s design more than compensates.