SETUP When it's time to hook things up, this TV hits all of the high notes - including a pair of HDMI ports and a VGA computer input. Note that JVC gangs up the composite- and S-video jacks on the same input slots with the component-video jacks and the VGA connector, which may prevent you from easily adding a VCR or older DVD player if you're already tapping those inputs for higher-resolution sources. There's an off-air antenna input for the built-in digital tuner and a CableCARD slot to allow you to watch HDTV without a cable box if you choose (but no TV Guide On Screen program guide as some manufacturers include). I found switching between inputs slow, requiring anywhere from 3 to 5 seconds - which adds up when you have to move across several input slots.

For most of my critical viewing I selected the JVC's excellent Theater Pro picture mode, which engages a mechanical iris to limit the TV's overall light output and improve the quality of dark areas of the picture. I couldn't simultaneously optimize it for each source, however, because the JVC doesn't memorize custom picture settings independently for every one of its inputs. Picture adjustments for the HDMI 1 input, for example, are shared by Component Video 1; ditto for HDMI 2 and Component Video 2. Probably not a big deal for the average joe, but this isn't an issue with most new HDTVs.

I also ended up disengaging a couple of the JVC's automatic picture features, Smart Picture and Dynamic Gamma, since both seemed to hinder performance in my darkened room.

PICTURE QUALITY Once the image was looking its best with test patterns, I sat back for some DVD and high-def programming on the big 70-inch screen. Immediately after I slipped Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith into my Denon DVD-5910 upconverting DVD player, it became apparent that the big problem in previous iterations of JVC's HD-ILA technology - namely, an inability to produce a convincingly dark "black" - is a thing of the past. The starscape behind the film's rolling introduction ("War! The Republic is crumbling under attacks by the ruthless Sith Lord...") was a rich black, neither too bright nor discolored greenish or reddish as on some HDTVs. I also appreciated, for example, the depth of black in Annakin's robe as he and Obi Wan stood before the elevator door - none of the folds in the fabric were lost in murk.

I didn't expect a 1080p HDTV to have any trouble resolving the detail from a DVD, and the JVC did not. As a ship battling above Coruscant passed by the virtual camera, its hull - with tiny blue porthole windows and lifeboat-style protrusions - looked real enough to touch.

Yes, the opening sequences of the film looked as good as I'd seen in a long time, but I have some caveats. All rear-projection HDTVs use a screen designed to heighten light output, which also introduces a subtle, stationary texture over the picture that's sometimes obvious during pans or with other moving images. But the JVC's screen texture was more visible than on most HDTVs I've seen. When the droid General Grevious orders the ray shields activated, for example, I clearly saw the texture in the white light and its reflections off Senator Palpatine's head.

Unlike just about every other DLP, LCD, or LCoS rear projector I've tested, the JVC doesn't get blindingly bright in its optimized-for-cinema preset, in this case Theater Pro. The tamer white areas looked great in our darkened home theater, and people who prefer a brighter image can use another picture preset - although the others don't reproduce dark areas nearly as well. In fact, the JVC's depth of black was the best I've seen from a rear-projection HDTV this past year.