Projector Reviews

Measurements were taken in a variety of conditions with the bulk taken in the Natural picture preset with 6500 color temperature selected and the REC709 color profile. The selected gamma preset was 2.2. Calibration was performed with dynamic laser modes disabled and the contrast ratio measurements taken in various modes as noted. All viewing and measurements were done with a 140-inch diagonal 2.35:1 Stewart StudioTek 130 (G4) screen (1.3 gain).

The full on/off contrast was measured with a Minolta T-10 meter approximately 1 meter away from the lens face. I tested the projector in various aperture settings and with the dynamic laser modes 1 and 2 for dynamic contrast measurements. Refer to the table for details on the contrast results and measurements at different average display levels. Peak native sequential contrast varied based on the throw of the projector with the peak reading of 51,000:1 (aperture open) and 123,000:1 (aperture closed) coming from the longest throw. The table lists the contrast in the throw I used for the review, closer to the max zoom (short throw) of the projector in its out-of-the-box best calibrated state (Natural picture mode).

The calibration data was captured from a workflow in Calman 2020 from Portrait Displays (portrait.com). SDR calibration was measured with REC709 and a gamma of 2.2 for targets.

The color gamut in Rec.709 was good with no value exceeding a Delta E (dE) of 4. No adjustments were needed in the color management system after grayscale was dialed in and all colors were well below a dE of 2. Luminance and saturation values throughout the inner gamut were also very accurate. Grayscale/gamma before calibration had an average dE of 4.5 but an average of 0.8 after calibration with no level exceeding a dE of 2. Overall, this is excellent performance and in line with other projectors at this price point. I would like to see JVC add a multi-point grayscale adjustment with 11 or more points, like we see with flat-panel TVs, but the company does offer free auto calibration software that provides greater flexibility than the standard menu controls.

Scaling artifacts were minimal overall and in line with what I've seen from previous JVC projectors. De-interlacing HD signals in 1080i was a bit disappointing, with most of the tests on the Spears & Munsil test disc failing even the most basic cadences. It is rare to find interlaced signals from most modern output devices these days, but some cable boxes and over-the-air broadcasts are still in 1080i (which is crazy, by the way), so resolution may be compromised in these situations.—KRD

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