CES 2022

JVC’s 8K Video Demo Impresses at CES 2022

Al Griffin  |  Jan 7, 2022

Ever since Sound & Vision posted Kris Deering’s in-depth review of JVC’s DLA-NZ9 D-ILA projector, a Top Pick of the Year winner for 2021, I’ve been wondering what true 8K video looks like displayed on a big screen by an 8K-capable projector. Well, I finally got my chance to have that experience at CES 2022, and it was, in a word, breathtaking.

JVC’S fully darkened Venetian hotel suite served as an 8K theater, with a 124-inch Stewart StudioTek 130 G4 screen—the largest size they could fit without drawing the attention of the fire marshall—at one end of the room, and a DLA-NZ9 at the other end. A 7th Sense video server served as an 8K source, supplemented by a Kaleidescape server for 4K movie content. Not visible in the blacked-out environment was JVC’s 48Gbps Active HDMI cable, a new product that will be widely available come March, that connected the 7th Sense server to an 8K/60-capable Denon AVR.

The 8K content running on the server was supplied by Mystery Box, a U.S.-based production company that specializes in creating documentaries and stock footage shot with RED 8K cameras. The 8K/60 HDR images displayed on JVC’s projector looked incredibly detailed, but with no visible pixel structure even when I put my nose up to the screen. Shadow detail was also stunningly good, with dark interior shots showing subtle gradations of black that I’ve never previously seen with a projector-based setup. Color rendition was also off the charts, with thefine gradations of red and green coming through clearly and with zero video noise—a far cry from the overdriven, attention-grabbing 8K TVs on display at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

COMMENTS
David Vaughn's picture
Submitted by David Vaughn on January 7, 2022 - 9:04pm

Al, I'm jealous I couldn't see that demo.

Al Griffin's picture
Submitted by Al Griffin on January 8, 2022 - 7:56am
Made it worth the trip!
Traveler's picture
Submitted by Traveler on January 8, 2022 - 2:03pm

Suite sounds as big as my whole house.

specialk's picture
Submitted by specialk on January 10, 2022 - 10:46am

You wrote that you've been "wondering what true 8K video looks like displayed on a big screen by an 8K-capable projector", but this projector is not a true 8K projector unless I'm missing something. JVC's own website says that it achieves 8K with their 8K/e-shiftX technology and their 0.69-inch 4K D-ILA (4096 x 2160) chip. It does say that it uses 3 of those but I don't see how that would make it a true 8K projector. Have they updated the projector to be true 8K or does it still use the e-shift tech to approximate 8K?

Al Griffin's picture
Submitted by Al Griffin on January 10, 2022 - 4:51pm
JVC’s new 8K e-shiftX delivers pixel perfect 8K resolution with over 35 million individually addressable pixels. JVC achieves this with proprietary technology that uses a 240hz driver along with 4-way, multi-axis shift to flash the screen four times to create each full frame of 8K video for true 8K in, 8K out.
specialk's picture
Submitted by specialk on January 11, 2022 - 9:01am

Interesting, thank you. Is this technology analogous to interlaced vs progressive where not all of the pixels are being shown at the same time, but are flashed so fast that it is imperceptible?

Al Griffin's picture
Submitted by Al Griffin on January 11, 2022 - 10:05am
The shifting occurs so rapidly that the eye experiences all pixels in the 8K image displayed onscreen at once.
X