Short review of JVC DLA-HD1 video performance.
JVC has always made magnificent projectors. So, it's a big deal when a new comes out. Enter the JVC DLA-HD1, the newest member in JVC's D-ILA family. JVC has been known to create boxy, and ugly designs for the projectors, but the HD1 and it's brethren the HD10k is different, they're pretty handsome actually! The JVC DLA-RS1 and the HD1 have no difference, despite the fact that they are sold through divisions(The RS1 is sold through JVC's Professional division while the HD1 is sold through it's consumer division). JVC claims a 15000:1 CR without a dynamic iris along with other goodies, lets see how it performs.
I pop in one of the most beautiful transfers in Blu-ray, Happy Feet. The movie looks good, and sounds pretty good too. What do I see? The first thing I find out is the deepness and neutralness of the blacks, as well as the color accuracy made by this JVC, it is truly astounding. The colors just pop up in 3D-like motion in the scene where Mumble is being chased by the seal, while the blacks really show in one chapter where they find lovelace near an abandoned site, this scene is really dark and you can really see the blacks on the Killer Whales. The whites are bright too, without a hint of grey at all, just bright whites.
Moving on to detail, we popped in The Departed Blu-ray. In one scene where they celebrate graduation day, there is a close up of a shirt and you can see the weavings and stitches in shirt very clearly, sharp and clean. In Happy Feet again, there are some dark scenes which showcase it's blacks and details. The scene is dark as it should be, but the blacks aren't crushed and so detail is not lost in many things. Unlike the Sony VPL-VW50, the JVC's blacks are neutral and not bluish, while the Mitsubishi HC5000 is slightly grey.
I see no hint of SDE at all, maybe because it's a 1080p projector, but the Mitsubishi HC5000 like many LCD projectors tend to have visible SDE up close. On a 120" screen I saw no sign of SDE at 2 feet, only when I went as close as half a feet did I see SDE. This was not the case with the HC5000, I saw SDE at 2 feet, almost clearly. The menu is simple, and well laid out, test patterns was a nice touch. The remote is fine, with backlighting, but a bit too plain when the projector is that flashy.
The Projector is brighter than the HC5000 or the Sony Pearl, easily projecting a 10-foot wide image with very very acceptable picture. There are 2 HDMI inputs, one composite, one Component, and one S-Video. Those who have spent this much should probably invest in a Pre/Pro+Amplifier or receiver.
I didn't have time to check on the de-interlacing capabilities, its good to note that it uses Gennum's VXP technology. This will be done sometime this week or next week with Pioneer's excellent DV989-AVi DVD player, one of the few DVD players that can output 480i.
All in all I think JVC has done an incredible job with this one. This certainly puts it a notch above the Sony VPL-VW50 and VW-100(
Really! We'll do a shootout soon. Farhan), Mitsubishi's HC5000, Epsons Home/Pro Cinema 1080, as well as Panasonic's AE1000. It's closest competitor would be Sharp's $10,000USD XV-Z21000 and Marantz's RM57,000 VP-11S1. At RM22,999 it is much cheaper than the two and should definitely be worth a look if your planning to spend that much.
The JVC has earned psp _BOY's 'Breakthrough Performance' award as well as the 'OMG! Check out that Black level' award.
Equipment used:
Projector: JVC DLA-HD1, Sony VPL-VW50, Mitsubishi HC5000.
Cables: PCOM HDMI, IXOS Interconnects, etc.
Blu-ray player: Sony BDP-S1
Screen: Senemax Alum 120" fixed 2.0 gain.
AV Receiver: Yamaha RX-2600V (
I'll be using the Krell Pre/pre and amps next time, dammit! Farhan)
Speakers: Energy C-5 fronts, C-C1, C-R1 rears. (
Martin Logan's Electrostatic next time. Farhan)
Jun 7 2007, 06:09 PM
Quote
0.3749sec
0.41
6 queries
GZIP Disabled