Projector Reviews

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio (SDR): 27,400:1

These measurements and charts were produced using SpectraCal’s CalMAN software, together with Photo Research PR-650 and Klein K-10A color meters and a test-pattern generator from Murideo. The picture settings used here will be posted at soundandvision.com. All measurements were taken at approximately 14 feet from a 96-inch-wide, 1.3-gain Stewart Filmscreen StudioTek 130 screen.

The SDR peak white reading for this measurement was 27.4 ft-L (93.9 nits), and the black level was 0.001 ft-L (0.0034 nit). These measurements were read from my Stewart screen using the Klein meter in the approximate middle of the projector’s zoom range.

For HDR, as calibrated, the full-on/full-off contrast ratio measured 13,869:1 at a peak white level of 55.4 ft-L (190 nits with a 10% white window) and a black level of 0.004 ft-L (0.0137 nit).

The charts shown above are for SDR. Before calibration in the SDR Cinema Picture Mode, the grayscale Delta Es ranged from a minimum of 2.59 at 40% to a maximum of 5.1 at 60%. After calibration, the minimum was 0.57 at 80% and the maximum 1.71 at 50%. The post-calibration red, green, and blue SDR color Delta Es were all below 3.35 after calibration, but cyan, magenta, and yellow were a less impressive 4.1 to 5.37—with their errors primarily in luminance (the x/y coordinates were much more accurate than those Delta E values might suggest). At a setting of 2.4, the SDR post-calibration gamma ranged from a maximum of 2.4 at 90% to between 2.29 and 2.34 from 20% to 80%.

Delta E is a figure of merit indicating how close the result comes to the target value. Delta Es below 3—some experts allow for 4—are generally considered visually indistinguishable from ideal. From 3.0 (or 4.0) to 10.0, most viewers will notice the deviations but will not likely find them objectionable. The HDR results shown below were derived with the CMS off. The JVC’s HDR color performance, in my tests overall, was better with the projector’s CMS turned off—even after the latter had been dialed in during calibration.

Our experience suggests that postcalibration HDR Delta Es that exceed the recommendations shown above are not uncommon, particularly when luminance errors are included. But with luminance errors excluded, the projector’s post-calibration HDR Delta Es never exceeded 3.0.

As with all UHD/HDR displays we’ve tested, the JVC falls well short of full coverage of BT.2020. But it did an impressive job with P3—more significant today than full BT.2020, as no consumer material we know of exceeds P3. As calibrated (with the results from the same measurement on the DLA-X790R in its BT.2020 color profile shown in parentheses), and using the 1976 CIE standard, the DLA-X590R covered 69.2% (73.1%) of BT.2020 and 94.2% (98%) of P3 inside the BT.2020 container.

As is common for an HDR display, the HDR peak white varied with the size of the white window used for the measurement. On the X590R (the results for the X790R are shown in parentheses), these results, in nits, were 65 (50) for a 2% window, 140 (110) at 5%, 185 (141) at 10%, 205 (160) at 25%, and 203 (160) at 100%.—TJN