The Short Form

Price $6,300 / jvc.com / 800-252-5722

Snapshot

Great picture quality with almost no compromises makes JVC's new projector the budget 1080p model to beat.

Plus

•Crisp HDTV picture •Clean upconversion of standard-def •Strong contrast and shadow detail •Flexible installation options

Minus

•No VGA input for computer connections

Key Features

•1,920 x 1,080-resolution LCoS display •2x zoom lens with 1.4-2.8:1 throw ratio •Manual zoom, focus, and horizontal/vertical lens shift •Inputs: 2 HDMI, component-, composite-, and S-video; RS-232C •17.9 x 6.9 x 16.5 in; 25.5 lb

Test Bench

With the JVC's Cinema profile and Low color temperature selected, grayscale tracked within ±443 K of the 6,500 K standard from 30 to 100 IRE - somewhat below-average performance. Adjustments in the User color-temperature menu improved this considerably, resulting in ±156 K from 20 to 100 IRE. Color-decoder tests showed 0% error for HDMI and only +5% red error on the component-video input. Red and blue primary color points measured close to the SMPTE HD specification, though green displayed noticeable oversaturation. Overscan measured 0% for 1080i/p signals with the Mask option off, and the projector fully resolved 1080i/p and 720p test patterns via HDMI and component video, albeit with a slight rolloff at the highest frequencies. The JVC accepted 1080p/ 24-fps signals via HDMI. Screen uniformity was very good, with only a slight pinkish tint visible on the far right side of the screen with gray full-field patterns. Standard- and high-def Silicon Optix HQV test discs showed picture softening when noise reduction was applied, although no ringing artifacts were visible in motion sequences. Full Lab Results

The dim environment required for front projection calls for a suitable remote control, and JVC has delivered a great one here. The keypad is fully backlit and consists of comfortably spaced buttons laid out in a thoughtful arrangement. Buttons at the top provide direct access to each input. The Aspect button toggles between three display modes: 4:3, 16:9, and Zoom, though you're restricted with HDTV programs to 16:9 display. Yet another cool feature I appreciated was a group of buttons for making on-the-fly color, brightness, contrast, sharpness, and gamma adjustments.

SETUP I set up the JVC about 13 feet away from an 87-inch wide Stewart Firehawk screen. After selecting the Low lamp-power option - which delivered adequate picture brightness in a dark room while minimizing fan noise - I chose the Standard setting for HDMI input level (the other selection, Enhanced, is for RGB signals via HDMI) and Auto for HDMI Video (other selections include RGB and two separate component-video settings), and set the Mask option to Off. The other Mask settings select either 2.5% or 5% overscan - useful if you see noise on the edges of your cable-TV picture. Another feature, Pixel Adjust, helped eliminate a color-alignment problem that showed up mostly as red and blue "fringing" on crosshatch test patterns. This feature allows adjustments of 7 pixels left and right and 5 pixels up and down for red, blue, and green colors in the image. As it turned out, the screen's right side required more tweaking than the left; unfortunately, the JVC's adjustments affect the entire screen area.

The projector offers three "Image Profile" picture presets: Cinema, Natural, and Dynamic. Cinema delivered the most accurate color, and its overall contrast and brightness levels proved adequately punchy. The individual picture settings for each Profile can be adjusted to taste, and you also get three additional User Profiles for storing custom settings. With most TVs and projectors, I prefer that each video input have its own User preset to which the display defaults after I switch sources - a system the JVC lacks. However, a full set of "Image Profile" buttons on the remote control made it easy to apply the associated preset after switching sources.