Meet us at the JVC/SI projector event in Denver on March 4th & 5th

[AVSCraig]

Some useful info. 

[AVSMike]

In a quick A/B switch between the RS1000 and the VW695 you could clearly see the black floor in star scenes was much lower on the RS1000 and yet the stars on  the RS1000 had a higher brightness to them to go along with the lower black floor. So that image on the RS1000 had a lot more pop to it.

As for the DTM on the JVC, when set to auto, it did a good job on all the scenes, even when you switched between dark scenes and very bright scenes. The 695 could be adjusted to closely match the tone mapping performance of the RS1000, but it required adjustment movie by movie to do so. Means you would either need to preview a movie once, just to determine what settings to use on the Sony or set and forget, living with the lower performance of the tone mapping. Sony really needs to get on the ball and add DTM.

[DLCPhoto]

In a quick A/B switch between the RS1000 and the VW695 you could clearly see the black floor in star scenes was much lower on the RS1000 and yet the stars on  the RS1000 had a higher brightness to them to go along with the lower black floor. So that image on the RS1000 had a lot more pop to it.

As for the DTM on the JVC, when set to auto, it did a good job on all the scenes, even when you switched between dark scenes and very bright scenes. The 695 could be adjusted to closely match the tone mapping performance of the RS1000, but it required adjustment movie by movie to do so. Means you would either need to preview a movie once, just to determine what settings to use on the Sony or set and forget, living with the lower performance of the tone mapping. Sony really needs to get on the ball and add DTM.

Thanks, Mike.

I would expect that the Sony, even if set optimally for a given movie, would still not perform as well as the JVC with DTM, since the Sony is using a static curve for the entire movie, while the JVC is using a dynamic process throughout the movie.

In this way, I would think that the Sony could match the JVC for *some* scenes in a given movie, but not all, because of the static vs dynamic approach.  Theoretically, the Sony would need not just an optimal setting on a movie-by-movie basis, but also on a 'scene-by-scene' or even a 'frame-by-frame' basis.

Did your observations confirm this, or did you find that the Sony did just as well as the JVC once it was set optimally for a given movie?

[AVSCraig]

Thanks, Mike.

I would expect that the Sony, even if set optimally for a given movie, would still not perform as well as the JVC with DTM, since the Sony is using a static curve for the entire movie, while the JVC is using a dynamic process throughout the movie.

In this way, I would think that the Sony could match the JVC for *some* scenes in a given movie, but not all, because of the static vs dynamic approach.  Theoretically, the Sony would need not just an optimal setting on a movie-by-movie basis, but also on a 'scene-by-scene' or even a 'frame-by-frame' basis.

Did your observations confirm this, or did you find that the Sony did just as well as the JVC once it was set optimally for a given movie?

I'd say that's correct, although we didn't watch full movies. 

[AVSCraig]

We did spend a lot of time A/B'ing the two projectors. Quite interesting. 

Thanks to JVC for providing food and refreshments all day long. 

[AVSCraig]

Kris Deerings talk on HDR was the highlight of the day in my opinion. Super informative ! 

[AVSMike]

Thanks, Mike.

I would expect that the Sony, even if set optimally for a given movie, would still not perform as well as the JVC with DTM, since the Sony is using a static curve for the entire movie, while the JVC is using a dynamic process throughout the movie.

In this way, I would think that the Sony could match the JVC for *some* scenes in a given movie, but not all, because of the static vs dynamic approach.  Theoretically, the Sony would need not just an optimal setting on a movie-by-movie basis, but also on a 'scene-by-scene' or even a 'frame-by-frame' basis.

Did your observations confirm this, or did you find that the Sony did just as well as the JVC once it was set optimally for a given movie?

I would say that is probably correct.

[AVSCraig]

A couple of observations from a lot of A/B comparisons - 

1 - the VW695es does not have the native contrast of the RS1000. Pretty much no settings completely make up for this. Using the dynamic iris on the VW695 improves blacks, but dims stars etc. in dark scenes. 

2 - the VW695es can look as good HDR wise, but there is a good chance that the HDR settings will need to be adjusted on a case by case ( movie by movie ) basis. The JVC's dynamic tone mapping - even in the auto setting, works great in 95+ % of the case we looked at. Rarely, a manual setting of high looked better. 

3 - some scenes on the VW695es show banding - sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. I never saw banding on the RS1000 ( and don't on my RS4500 unless it's in the source - like HDTV ). 

4 - one scene on the 4K UHD Blu-ray " Farmageddon " looked better than the JVC, but with Reality Creation cranked up pretty high. It also could be considered by some to look a bit over processed - YMMV. 

Overall, I thought the RS1000 looked better since the contrast is better and there is no banding. In bright scenes the VW695 and RS1000 looked pretty much the same at times. 

[AVSCraig]

Mike - anything to add ? 

[Dylan Seeger]

I suspect that Sony will have to counter with a DTM processing mode similar to what JVC is offering if they want to continue to compete in the $5000+ price segment. Reading some of the Sony threads on the other forum I get the sentiment that a lot of Sony owners are a bit pissed off that Sony hasn't released DTM for their projectors. I think they're failing to realize that the Sony 4K models may currently lack the type of processor or have the correct processor but it may not have enough compute power to what is needed, which means it cannot be retrofit via firmware update. They'll simply have to wait for a new model to come out.

[AVSCraig]

I suspect that Sony will have to counter with a DTM processing mode similar to what JVC is offering if they want to continue to compete in the $5000+ price segment. Reading some of the Sony threads on the other forum I get the sentiment that a lot of Sony owners are a bit pissed off that Sony hasn't released DTM for their projectors. I think they're failing to realize that the Sony 4K models may currently lack the type of processor or have the correct processor but it may not have enough compute power to what is needed, which means it cannot be retrofit via firmware update. They'll simply have to wait for a new model to come out.

If Sony brings out new models with DTM, existing Sony owners will be even more pissed I imagine. And they really need to do something about the banding - I see it on my Father in laws Sony flat panel too.