Ask S&V

bmg105

Bias lighting can indeed improve the viewing experience, especially with bright displays, which means it might be less important with your Panasonic plasma than it would be with a bright LCD TV. Still, plasma TVs can be plenty bright, so putting a bias light behind it could well make viewing more comfortable by reducing eye strain. This can also improve the perceived black level, contrast, and picture detail.

It's important that the bias light be a certain color and intensity—the proper color is technically known as D65 white, and the correct intensity is 10 percent of the TV's peak light level. You can get a bias light called Ideal-Lume from CinemaQuest for about $60 and simply place it behind any direct-view TV. Ideally, the wall behind the TV should be a dark, neutral gray as depicted above—otherwise, the color of the wall could distort your perception of the color on the screen.

JVC Now & Then
Have you evaluated the JVC DLA-RS50/X7 3D projector? If so, is the unit's 2D capability as good as or better than the DLA-HD950? Is a special projection screen required?

Walt Rollins

Home Theater has a review of the RS50/X7 and RS40/X3 in the May 2011 issue. We didn't review the RS25/HD950, so I can't compare them from direct knowledge. I will say that every JVC projector I've seen provides outstanding picture quality, so I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of them. I'd guess that the RS50/X7's 2D performance is at least as good as the older RS25/HD950, and you get 3D to boot.

The JVC 3D projectors use active-shutter glasses, which means you don't need a special screen for them. Projectors that use passive-polarized glasses require a special silver screen.

Living Legacy
What are "legacy components"? Are they just components that are not HDMI or network capable?

mrh111

This term is used to identify older products that lack one or more modern features, such as HDMI and network capabilities, though it could refer to even older products without things like component-video connections, surround decoders, and so on. I've heard it applied most often to components without modern connections.

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