3D Projector Reviews

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 420,000:1

All of the measurements were taken with the projector in the THX preset with the lamp in high mode except as noted. The gamma correction preset was THX, which measured nearly ruler-flat at 2.3. Calibration was done with the lens aperture at 0 (fully open) and the Intelligent Aperture disabled; contrast ratio measurements were done in a variety of different aperture modes as noted. The lamp had 114 hours on it for calibration. All viewing and screen measurements were done on a 120-inch-diagonal Stewart StudioTek 130 screen (1.3 gain).

The full-on/full-off contrast was measured with a Minolta T-10 meter set 4 inches away from the lens. The chart (above) shows contrast measured with various settings of the manual iris and lamp mode, with and without the dynamic Intelligent Aperture system. Separate measurements were taken for peak white at the screen.

The highest native contrast ratio (Intelligent Aperture disabled) was obtained with the projector in low lamp mode with the aperture fully closed (–16) and measured as 90,000:1 with a resultant peak white of 3.5 foot-lamberts at the screen. Using the Intelligent Aperture in Auto 2 mode and the high lamp mode engaged resulted in a peak contrast ratio of 420,000:1 and 20 ft-L at the screen.

The 30,000:1 native CR with 14 ft-L on screen (manual iris open) is about what I saw last year from the JVC DLA-X95R and would normally constitute my typical viewing conditions with my reference DLA-X75R given my preference for peak white level. The 90:000 native CR (manual iris closed) falls short of the 120,000:1 advertised by JVC, but I did not adjust zoom for these measurements, which would affect contrast. Also, the projector was calibrated to D65 with HDMI mode set to Super White; Standard HDMI mode would result in both higher contrast numbers and slightly higher ft-L readings at the expense of clipping above-reference white material. User setup plays a significant role in the contrast performance you can expect from this or any other projector.

Furthermore, with the Minolta T-10 meter, a single-digit difference with low-level measurements results in a difference of nearly 100,000:1 in contrast, so these numbers aren’t absolute. They were repeatable, but measuring black levels this low results in a pretty large margin of error even with the meter tolerances.

The RGB tables were captured in CalMAN Version 5.3. RGB and gray-scale tracking out of the box were quite excellent, with an average Delta E of 1.3 (anything under 3 is considered reference and imperceptible to the human eye). Gamma averaged 2.29 with my reference set to 2.3.

The color gamut in the THX preset was nearly spot on, with no value exceeding a Delta E of 2. I didn’t have any of the hue shift issues with green that I saw on last year’s JVC models. Luminance and Saturation values throughout the inner gamut were also very accurate, representing the best out-of-box calibration I’ve seen from a JVC to date. Since this model has the same light engine as last year’s, I wouldn’t expect the end user to see a very significant shift in the calibration until nearing 500 hours. At that point, a professional calibration would be recommended.—KRD