Sony VPL-VW85

[Oddiophile]

Originally Posted by Swede

Well, while you're probably right about the extremely pumped up CR of the 8500 (guess we'll have to wait and see) I'm not sure where you got the 6500ub numbers from, but I believe I read that most newer D7 panel projectors like the AE3000 and the 6500UB have a native contrast of 6,000-9,000:1 and that they can reach close to the spec'ed level of contrast ratio with the dynamic iris engaged, but depending on the speed of the iris it can sometimes take several seconds, so it obviously can't compare to projectors like the JVC RSxx series which can handle similar contrast levels without a dynamic iris.

Native contrast is what the display can do on it's own without any optical tricks. Dynamic contrast is what the display can do with a dynamic iris opening on bright scenes to give you the full amount of light and closing down on dark scenes to give you blacker blacks at the sacrifice of lumens, aka brightness compression.

Both Sony & JVC have been very good at rating there projectors around the D65 standard so there quoted on/off contrast is achievable. LCD manufacturers have been rating there products not at the D65 standard as an ISF tech would calibrate your display to, but overall, best case scenario what it can do. This is why once the LCD's have been calibrated there numbers fall so bad. Only in there dynamic mode do you see the LCD manufacturers quoted numbers and the dynamic modes like the manufacturers quoted numbers are worthless.

It looks like we were both slightly off. According to the recent first look by avsforum (I have just recently started to forgive them for their HD DVD fiasco ) the RS15 is rated at 32000:1 max contrast with a native contrast of 17000:1 and the RS25 is rated at 50000:1 max contrast (30000:1 native). That is what led me to believe that the new models incorporate some kind of DI, but apparently it is simply with iris open/closed.

I wasn't off I was rounding down. If you look at Jason's numbers on AVS, at a long throw he got just under 30,000:1 contrast on the RS15. I own the RS10 the projector the RS15 will replace. On the RS10 you have three settings for the manual iris or "aperture" as JVC call's it. Mode 1, 2, 3, in mode 3 the iris is fulling open and you get around 17,000:1 and 800 to 900 Lumens. In mode 2 the iris is closed half way and you get around 22,000:1 with around 550-650 lumens. Set the iris to mode 1 and it close-es down to give you 30,000:1 at about 300-400 lumens

The aperture is a great tool that you can use to dial in the brightness and contrast you want. When I first setup my RS10 in December out of the box the picthure was so bright it was almost unwatchable so I set the iris to mode 1 which gave me incredible on/off contrast and plenty of lumens for my setup. As the lamp has aged I have opened the iris to give me back the lumens the lamp naturally looses. Now at 1300 hours on the lamp I have the iris all the way open and the lamp in high mode as I get ready to purchase a new lamp.

I personally love the JVC's, they are the Kuro's of the front projector world. The LCD do throw an excellent image and represent a good value but after living with a achievable 30,000:1 there is no way in hell I am going about to a dynamic iris. It's not a solution to a problem it's crutch.