Price: $7,995 At A Glance: State-of-the-art blacks and contrast • Reference-quality 2D and 3D performance • Painful setup and calibration to achieve best performance
The Agony and the Ecstasy
JVC’s projectors have been fixtures in HT’s Top Picks in recent years. This year, the anticipation of getting our hands on JVC’s newest projectors was even more acute. Not only has the line been completely redesigned for the first time in a couple of years, this is JVC’s first series of 3D projectors. The $7,995 DLA-X7 reviewed here is the middle child, between the $4,495 DLA-X3 (reviewed by Kris Deering on page 58) and the $11,995 flagship DLA-X9, which is essentially a DLA-X7 with hand-picked parts and 3D paraphernalia—two pair of active shutter glasses and a 3D sync transmitter—included. The DLA-X7 is THX approved for 2D and 3D. It carries over virtually all of the significant features from last year’s JVC models, while adding 3D capability. If you don’t believe I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this projector, check with JVC. Their corporate communications guru suffered an incessant onslaught of phone and voicemail messages through the holidays until the DLA-X7 was safely on my doorstep.
File this one under Wasted Potential. The Green Hornet does have plenty of visual style, courtesy of director Michel Gondry. It also has the likable Seth Rogen as the title character, the awesome Christoph Waltz (Oscar winner for Inglourious Basterds) as the bad guy, and Cameron Diaz as the brainy eye candy.
File this one under Wasted Potential. The Green Hornet does have plenty of visual style, courtesy of director Michel Gondry. It also has the likable Seth Rogen as the title character, the awesome Christoph Waltz (Oscar winner for Inglourious Basterds) as the bad guy, and Cameron Diaz as the brainy eye candy.
File this one under Wasted Potential. The Green Hornet does have plenty of visual style, courtesy of director Michel Gondry. It also has the likable Seth Rogen as the title character, the awesome Christoph Waltz (Oscar winner for Inglourious Basterds) as the bad guy, and Cameron Diaz as the brainy eye candy.
I'm in the market for a 3D projector, and I'm considering the Sony VPL-VW90ES, JVC DLA-X9, Sharp XV-Z17000, Mitsubishi HC9000, and Samsung SP-A8000. Which would you recommend? Can I use the Samsung 3D glasses with all of them, or would I have to purchase the same brand?
Ron Williams, imaging consultant and CEO of the Landmark Group, talks about his four decades in the TV and film industries, including the transition from film to ENG (electronic news gathering) as well as from film to digital capture of TV programming, his dislike of LCD displays, OLED and SED flat panels, 3D, 4K, his work on the technical infrastructure for broadcasting the Beijing Olympics, movie piracy in China, digital cinema, and answers to chat-room questions.
The ownership of TV sets has dropped from 98.9 percent of U.S. households to 96.7 percent, a decrease of more than two percent, according to Nielsen. The last time TV ownership declined was in 1992 following a recession.
Nielsen attributes the decrease to drooping incomes and alternative media. The research company derived its figures from the 2010 Census as well as a national sample of 50,000 people.
While movie pundits squabble over whether or not 3D does anything besides eke out a few extra bucks per ticket at the box office, gamers have been reaping stereoscopic rewards for the past couple of months. Sony 3D games started making their way to market this past fall, and there have already been enough high-profile releases to keep those expensive glasses stuck on your face for the rest of the year.