JVC DLA-RS520 AVS Discussions Review

[stridsvognen]

The last few Harry Potter movies are excellent dark content to use as a torture test. No other projector will look anywhere near as good with these movies as these JVC projectors will.

True, we have been using the last Harry Potter movies as reference material with CRT projectors for years, i think they are the ultimate low level test material, wich is stunning when black is truly black.

[Dylan Seeger]

True, we have been using the last Harry Potter movies as reference material with CRT projectors for years, i think they are the ultimate low level test material, wich is stunning when black is truly black.

What kind of on/off contrast and lumen output are your CRT units capable of? I've only seen a CRT blend once and was not all that impressed with overall overall performance. But I don't want to base my opinion on CRT projectors from just one viewing.

[stridsvognen]

What kind of on/off contrast and lumen output are your CRT units capable of? I've only seen a CRT blend once and was not all that impressed with overall overall performance. But I don't want to base my opinion on CRT projectors from just one viewing.

We were at the same meet, and honestly that setup was a disaster.
I can do around 12fl on a 110" screen, have made a setup in NJ that boosts 17fl on a 100" 1.3 gain steward screen.
On off contrast im not capable of measuring, its to high.
Something you might relate to, the Marquee im running will put out more light than a calibrated JVC RS50 with a new lamp. But nowhere near what the X500 you put on the screen to that CRT meet, however a good blend should do at least 15fl + wich is more than enough for SDR material. Its all about screen size, and a single CRT maxes out on 110" neutral gain screen for me.

[DavidHir]

Indeed, I've watched the first seven Potter UHD BDs...will be watching the eighth movie this week after my Chad B tune-up cal.  But the dark scenes and shadow detail are a real treat on my RS440.

[AVSMike]

We were at the same meet, and honestly that setup was a disaster.
I can do around 12fl on a 110" screen, have made a setup in NJ that boosts 17fl on a 100" 1.3 gain steward screen.
On off contrast im not capable of measuring, its to high.
Something you might relate to, the Marquee im running will put out more light than a calibrated JVC RS50 with a new lamp. But nowhere near what the X500 you put on the screen to that CRT meet, however a good blend should do at least 15fl + wich is more than enough for SDR material. Its all about screen size, and a single CRT maxes out on 110" neutral gain screen for me.

The RS50 and RS60 were one of the worst performers, when it comes to light output.

[Dylan Seeger]

We were at the same meet, and honestly that setup was a disaster.
I can do around 12fl on a 110" screen, have made a setup in NJ that boosts 17fl on a 100" 1.3 gain steward screen.
On off contrast im not capable of measuring, its to high.
Something you might relate to, the Marquee im running will put out more light than a calibrated JVC RS50 with a new lamp. But nowhere near what the X500 you put on the screen to that CRT meet, however a good blend should do at least 15fl + wich is more than enough for SDR material. Its all about screen size, and a single CRT maxes out on 110" neutral gain screen for me.

The RS50 was very dim. Pretty much every aspect of the RS50 has improved immensely on the new models. A lot has changed in 8 years. Even the current JVC models outperform the X500 you saw back in 2014 at the home theater meet by a good margin.

Based on your screensize I'm guessing you're getting about 430 lumens. I can get 110,000:1 native contrast from my JVC with the irises closed down to match that level of brightness. I may have measured a little higher with my Minolta CL-200. I'll have to check my notes. If I enabled the dynamic iris I can get both high brightness and an extremely dark level of black. Dynamic contrast is measurable over 1,000,000:1.

When you factor in the performance in brightness, on/off contrast, ANSI contrast, color gamut capabilities, lens quality, ease of use (no need to adjust convergence and all lens functions are motorized), size, weight, audible noise, ect on these current JVCs, it's just hard for me to even want to attempt owning a CRT. The one area I think CRT is better is motion resolution, but the newest JVCs are decent enough (4ms response time) that 24p content rarely looks as if motion resolution is lacking. Motion resolution has greatly improved since the RS50. The 2010 models and older were awful when it came to motion resolution. Motion was by far my biggest complaint with older JVC models. Starting with the 2011 models (RS55 and newer) motion is considerably better in my opinion.

[stridsvognen]

The RS50 was very dim. Pretty much every aspect of the RS50 has improved immensely on the new models. A lot has changed in 8 years. Even the current JVC models outperform the X500 you saw back in 2014 at the home theater meet by a good margin.

Based on your screensize I'm guessing you're getting about 430 lumens. I can get 110,000:1 native contrast from my JVC with the irises closed down to match that level of brightness. I may have measured a little higher with my Minolta CL-200. I'll have to check my notes. If I enabled the dynamic iris I can get both high brightness and an extremely dark level of black. Dynamic contrast is measurable over 1,000,000:1.

When you factor in the performance in brightness, on/off contrast, ANSI contrast, color gamut capabilities, lens quality, ease of use (no need to adjust convergence and all lens functions are motorized), size, weight, audible noise, ect on these current JVCs, it's just hard for me to even want to attempt owning a CRT. The one area I think CRT is better is motion resolution, but the newest JVCs are decent enough (4ms response time) that 24p content rarely looks as if motion resolution is lacking. Motion resolution has greatly improved since the RS50. The 2010 models and older were awful when it came to motion resolution. Motion was by far my biggest complaint with older JVC models. Starting with the 2011 models (RS55 and newer) motion is considerably better in my opinion.

Its way to late to even concider CRT , that game is over.. Im in it and i find it still have qualities that makes me prefer it over any new JVC or Sony for that matter, but its been a long and very tough and expensive trip to get there, and nothing you can buy for money, or any factory build CRT will ever do, if ull like to see it once there is a Marquee in NJ that is pretty much identical to mine, maybe that would be a different experience for you.

[Dylan Seeger]

Its way to late to even concider CRT , that game is over.. Im in it and i find it still have qualities that makes me prefer it over any new JVC or Sony for that matter, but its been a long and very tough and expensive trip to get there, and nothing you can buy for money, or any factory build CRT will ever do, if ull like to see it once there is a Marquee in NJ that is pretty much identical to mine, maybe that would be a different experience for you.

Everyone has their preference. I think a good DLP projector has the best image....until the content gets dark. My holy grail would be a native 4K DLP projector driven by LEDs with at least 2000 lumens with the on/off contrast performance of these JVC projectors. The only way that's possible is if TI allowed consumer manufacturers to use stacked DMDs like the commercial Dolby Vision projectors use. I would even take an XPR based unit (quasi-4K) if it had 100,000:1 native on/off contrast.

In the mean time however, JVCs overall performance can't be beat in my opinion, so that is where my money goes.

[stridsvognen]

Everyone has their preference. I think a good DLP projector has the best image....until the content gets dark. My holy grail would be a native 4K DLP projector driven by LEDs with at least 2000 lumens with the on/off contrast performance of these JVC projectors. The only way that's possible is if TI allowed consumer manufacturers to use stacked DMDs like the commercial Dolby Vision projectors use. I would even take an XPR based unit (quasi-4K) if it had 100,000:1 native on/off contrast.

In the mean time however, JVCs overall performance can't be beat in my opinion, so that is where my money goes.

Still think you should concider try arange a look at that CRT in NJ if your ever around there, i can promise you that you have never seen one like it.. It gives a different perspective on the hole Projector thing, its a 1080P 72hz setup. Not that its a option, just to get the experience. We can all see digital projectors daily, they are everywhere, and cn all be bought for money.

[LGabrielPhoto]

The last few Harry Potter movies are excellent dark content to use as a torture test. No other projector will look anywhere near as good with these movies as these JVC projectors will.

Thanks for the recommendation.
I finally got the projector and WOW this thing is stunning, the unit itself looks amazing and the image wow what an upgrade from my w1070!
Now its time to fine tune this. Right now it is close to minimum screen distance which from your review and other research I have done means I am getting the "worst" possible contrast ratio so I want to play with moving it as far as possible while still able to get the image projected on our screen without my head being on the way lol
Also, as my screen is just short of 165" diag (1.1 gain) the brightness level also comes into play.
What is the easiest way to measure contrast ratio so  can find a balance between distance and contrast ratio?
I own a Sekonin 858D so I assume this will be helpful and my source is only HTPC.


I plan to do the JVC autocalibration with my i1 Display after I pick a final location.


Thank you!

[Tom Bley]

Thanks for the recommendation.
I finally got the projector and WOW this thing is stunning, the unit itself looks amazing and the image wow what an upgrade from my w1070!
Now its time to fine tune this. Right now it is close to minimum screen distance which from your review and other research I have done means I am getting the "worst" possible contrast ratio so I want to play with moving it as far as possible while still able to get the image projected on our screen without my head being on the way lol
Also, as my screen is just short of 165" diag (1.1 gain) the brightness level also comes into play.
What is the easiest way to measure contrast ratio so  can find a balance between distance and contrast ratio?
I own a Sekonin 858D so I assume this will be helpful and my source is only HTPC.


I plan to do the JVC autocalibration with my i1 Display after I pick a final location.


Thank you!

I would leave the projector at the shortest throw that you can.  You can control brightness and contrast by using the manual iris in the jvc.  You can never have enough brightness for HDR.

[LGabrielPhoto]

I would leave the projector at the shortest throw that you can.  You can control brightness and contrast by using the manual iris in the jvc.  You can never have enough brightness for HDR.

Well for HDR I am more inclined to do madvr HDR to SDR instead as it seems my screensize is going to be an issue with HDR and honestly, I got the projector more for the blacks and contrast levels then resolution. HDR was not really a big feature I was looking for. not that I dont want to have it but based on so many reviews about how useful it will be with my setup, I am not so sure if its worth trying too hard.
But of course, there are lots of tweaking hours ahead lol

[Dylan Seeger]

I would leave the projector at the shortest throw that you can.  You can control brightness and contrast by using the manual iris in the jvc.  You can never have enough brightness for HDR.

I think he's looking to get as much contrast as possible. Using less zoom will allow for the potential of more native contrast. Unless he's needs all the brightness he can get, there's no reason he can't move the projector back further to gain more contrast.

[LGabrielPhoto]

I think he's looking to get as much contrast as possible. Using less zoom will allow for the potential of more native contrast. Unless he's needs all the brightness he can get, there's no reason he can't move the projector back further to gain more contrast.

Indeed I am but of course I will find a balance where I still get the brightness that I want.
Can you tell me how to measure contrast hopefully with my Sekonic 858D meter?
I want to make sure my changes are really making some progress lol

[AVSMike]

Indeed I am but of course I will find a balance where I still get the brightness that I want.
Can you tell me how to measure contrast hopefully with my Sekonic 858D meter?
I want to make sure my changes are really making some progress lol

At 165" 1.1 gain screen, you need all the brightness you can get. If you look at it brightness matched, there is very little difference in the contrast. So lets say you mount at shortest throw and in high lamp with iris closed down to -5 you get 16FL. If you go at longest throw, you probably can't get 16FL even with manual iris fully open. What good does it do you to get more contrast if the max brightness is only 14FL starting out with a new lamp? If you had a small screen with a decent amount of gain, then you could consider longer throw, but as I said, you need all the lumens you can get. If you mount at long throw, you will be needing a new lamp before 1,000 hours and you are already at 800. If you do anything besides short throw, you are making a mistake.