Projector Reviews

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 16,558:1

All of the measurements here were taken with the projector in a User mode, adjusted for the most accurate image. The Lamp Control was in its Normal setting, the Gamma also set to Normal, and the Lens Aperture was in its Bright mode (3).

The full-on/full-off contrast ratio above (sometimes referred to as the peak contrast ratio, the sequential contrast ratio, or the dynamic range) is among the best we have measured. In this group, the Sony outdoes it in its Auto1 Advanced Iris setting, but the visible difference is subtle. The JVC outdoes it (as it outdoes all other non-JVC projectors in our experience) in the spread between its peak white and black levels. Even in its high lamp setting, the JVC’s black level on my screen was 0.0018 foot-lamberts and its peak white output was 28.74 ft-L, for a peak contrast ratio of 16,211:1. Of the three projectors here, the JVC will produce the brightest image, with superb blacks, on home theater screens of all sizes, large and small.

The Color Tracking charts show how well the JVC complies with the D65 standard white point; the tighter the overlap of the three primary colors, the nearer the result is to D65. Clearly the After Calibration setting is much better than the before result, the latter taken in the 6500K Color Temp setting.

The color gamut shown in the pie-shaped CIE chart above clearly shows the JVC’s oversaturated color. The correct color gamut (Rec.709) is shown by the black triangle. As with the Sanyo, a wider color gamut is inaccurate but will not displease most viewers. However, serious videophiles deserve an optional, more accurate setting.

Apart from middling results in 1080i and 480i component, the JVC’s luma (black-and-white) and chroma (color) ranged from very good to excellent across the board. Overscan was zero for all HD resolutions, in both component and HDMI, and never exceeded 0.5 percent (on one side of the screen only) in SD.—TJN