[HDTV1080P]

JVC DLA-RS20U LCOS Front Projector

New State of the art THX certified JVC Front Projector is the best of the best that beats highend CRT projectors in almost all areas accept black levels.

The JVC DLA-RS20U LCOS ceiling mounted Front Projector is the new reference quality projector that all other projectors will be compared to this year.

(All quotes taken from July/August Widescreen Review magazine)

There is an excellent in depth review on pages 18-27 in the July/August Widescreen review magazine on the JVC DLA-RS20U Front Projector. This projector is the best Front Projector available for the consumer market. Widescreen Review made the projector its reference projector since it produces the sharpest image that beats any high-end CRT projector. The black levels are very good on the JVC DLA-RS20U and almost as deep as a CRT projector (CRT is still better in black levels). The JVC has higher brightness compared to the best CRT projector. At $7,495 this JVC projector is being called an incredible value projector that out performs all other projectors tested that cost several times more. When CRT projectors were still made they use to cost $30,000-$100,000+. In retail stores this JVC DLA-RS20U projector can be found for $7,495, mail order prices can be found for around $5,025.

Like all other JVC Front Projectors the DLA-RS20U will properly display 1080p/24 signals at 96HZ. 60HZ signals are refreshed at 120HZ.

A few select quotes from the Widescreen Review Magazine (July/August 2009, issue 141) Review located on pages 18-27

"24 Hz Input"

"Judder (irregular stuttering motion) is created when 3-2 pulldown is used to convert 24-frame-per-second film to 60-field-per-second interlaced video, or 3-2 frame repetition is used to create 60-frame-per-second progressive video from film sources. Many people become conditioned to ignore the stuttering motion after years of watching movies on broadcast television. However, some people are greatly disturbed by this temporal artifact, and even those accustomed to the judder of broadcast movies are usually quick to appreciate the smoother motion provided by displaying film sources at an integer multiple of the original 24-frames-per-second film rate. Fortunately, movies are stored on HD DVD and Blu-ray Discs with their original 24-frame-per-second film rate, and all current players output 1080p24 native video. Some standalone video processors can also deinterlace and upconvert DVD movies to produce 1080p24 signals without 3-2 frame repetition judder. The RS20 accepts the 1080p/24 signals through its HDMI inputs and displays them at an integer multiple of the 24Hz frame rate. I believe this is so important to reproducing the look of film that I wouldn't consider purchasing a front projector or a video processor without those capabilities."

"I was particularly anxious to watch DVD movies using the RS20 color-management system with my SMPTE C calibration. I used an external video processor to upconvert the DVD film format to 1080p/24 to take advantage of the projector's ability to display 24p video without 3-2 frame repetition judder. The resulting film-like motion, coupled with the extraordinary contrast ratio of the RS20 and its nearly perfect color accuracy, produced some of the most out-standing DVD images I have seen."

"Once again, all of my viewing was done using 24p video to eliminate 3-2 frame repetition judder. But this time, 1080p/24 was the native format of the high-definition film transfers, so no external video processor was required."

"The motion of the Formula One cars racing through the streets of Monte Carlo was fluid and natural, thanks to the 1080p/24 format, and the image depth was very impressive because of the projector's higher gamma."

"The JVC DLA-RS2U 1080p D-ILA video projector not only elevates the contrast ratio standard set by its predecessor, the DLA-RS2U, to new heights, it simultaneously produces significantly more light output for larger screens."

"The RS20 is also THX certified and includes a pre-calibrated THX Movie mode."

"Each of the projectors three D-ILA panels have the same 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution as the 1080i and 1080p high-definition video formats."

"The three-panel design eliminates the need for a color wheel and the potential rainbow color separation artifacts of single-chip DLP projectors."

"The RS20 produces a sharper image...
...than the finest CRT projector..."

"The contrast ratio was an extraordinary 39,960:1."

"This is bar far the best contrast performance I've seen from a non-CRT projector, without using a dynamic iris, and the RS20 still managed to produce excellent brightness."

"The new RS20 lens is a significant improvement compared to the RS2 lens."

"The RS20's higher contrast ratio, and subsequently lower black level with the same peak brightness, produced a more modest, but nevertheless, significant improvement compared to the already superb performance of the RS2."

"It produces extraordinary black levels with higher-than-CRT brightness..."

"While the best DLP projectors have a slight advantage in sharpness and a higher m-ANSI contrast ratio, the far superior full-filed contrast ratio of the RS20 and its subsequently higher useable gamma results in better image depth for most scenes."

"Of course, the 3-panel D-ILA system is completely free of sequential color artifacts (rainbows), which can still be a problem with some single-chip DLP projectors."

"The best high-definition film transfers look more like film than they do on any other lamp-based projector I've seen."

"Final Thoughts"

"The JVC DLA-RS20U merits more than my usual end-of-review summary. The holy grail of home theater is to combine the best qualities of the finest CRT projectors with the advantages of modern lamp-based projectors. The RS20 comes closer to that goal than any projector before it. As I watched many more films than I can discuss here, I consistently found myself thinking that the movie had never looked better - including DVDs that I had watched many times on CRT projectors."

"The extraordinary native contrast ratio of this projector, and its recent JVC brethren, is perhaps the most important technical achievement thus far in the era of lamp-based front projection. It produces extraordinary black levels with higher-than-CRT brightness, which in turn permits higher gamma levels, to render superb image depth without sacrificing shadow contrast. The RS20 has no lamp-based equal in dark-to-moderately-bright scenes, and thanks to its ability to effectively utilize a higher gamma, it holds its own in bright scenes."

"The RS20 is not yet that mythical "perfect projector" we dream about. There are some motion improvements that need to be made, and I highly recommend an external video processor to up convert DVD movies to 1080p/24. It would also be fascinating to see if a really high-end lens could further improve image sharpness, although that would probably double the price of the projector. But as is, the RS20 produces a sharper image with better high-resolution definition than the finest CRT projector, and yet it never looks edgy or digitally processed like some fixed-pixel projectors. It will reveal (and some-times be unjustly blamed for) film transfer flaws or video compression artifacts, but when properly calibrated it won't exaggerate film grain or add noise that isn't in the source. The best high-definition film transfers look more like film then they do on any other lamp-based projector I've seen. The new Color Management System provided the missing colorimetric accuracy that makes the JVC DLA-RS20U ($7,495) not only an incredible value, but also my reference projector.