JVC RS4500 versus RS4100

[JOE-C]

I am a regular reader of this and other forums and rarely post but had to share a few of my thoughts on the 4500 versus the 4100. I also shared this on another forum but thought I would share it here too.
I had the opportunity to visit Craig’s home this afternoon and enjoyed viewing his new 4100.
We have very similar equipment with both of us having the Lumagen Pro, DCR lens and Stewart screens.
I still have the 4500 ( 4 years currently) and have a slightly larger scope screen (138 diagonal) to his 128.
We both have had our projectors calibrated by Kris ( mine was recalibrated a few months ago), Craig’s 4500 was also done by Kris as was his new 4100.
My 4500 is my 4th JVC projector so I am pretty familiar with what JVCs look like and was excited to view the 4100 to see if I am ready to “ upgrade.”
We viewed many different scenes from various movies played via discs ( Including Wakanda 
Forever, Fantastic Beasts: Secrets of Dumbledore, The Greatest Showman, Tree of Life, Guardians of the Galaxy, Top Gun Maverick,and Ghost in a Shell and a few others ) on a Reavon 4K bluray player.
The following is my take on this:
I will start with the mode 3 laser dimming:
Craig went back and forth on many dark scenes so I could see how Mode 3 laser dimming worked.
We watched the forest scenes from the Fantastic Beasts:Secrets of Dumbledore and some deep ocean scenes from Wakanda Forever including the scene at the 23 minute mark when the leader of the water people comes out of the water.
I am very fimiliar with the Fantastic Beast scene which is unwatchable with laser dimming turned on with my 4500 ( you can’t see much of the details- I use mode 2).
On the 4100 it looked good with mode 3 overall - although I did see the projector get tripped up ( turning slightly lighter than darker ) for an instant a few times in this scene and also the deep ocean scenes.
I will say these types of scenes are very difficult for any laser dimming to make look great and overall I was impressed with mode 3 in general throughout all our viewing as it doesn’t dim the brighter scenes like the laser dimming in the 4500.
Contrast:
The 4100 has better native contrast and it was noticeable ( without the laser dimming of course) in general on everything we watched.( my 4500 has 7000/1 and Craig’s 4100 has around 15000/1 for 4K). So it’s pretty much double the native contrast. Many scenes throughout different movies just looked stunning.
Eshift:
Craig played scenes of different movies with and without 8K Eshift and we both agree it adds some more detail to the image ( to me it made the image sharper and smoother).
I have to say I really liked the 8K Eshift feature and didn’t see any reason not to use it.
Brightness:
The brightness was very similar in mid laser ( which I also use on my 4500) with Craig’s 4100 maybe slightly brighter due to the smaller screen size ( we use similar throw distances also).
My 4500 puts out about 105 nits in 4K and I’m sure Craig’s is slightly higher ( he may be able to answer with the exact number). 
Noise:
The 4100 is pretty much silent ( to me) when going up close to it.
My 4500 is mounted above my head and I have gotten used to the noise it makes ( maybe a good thing) and I hardly notice it unless there is a quiet scene in a movie ( I do have good hearing lol).
Bright Corners:
My 4500 has zero bright corners and that is one thing that bothers me more than anything else on JVCs as I have had one other model in the past with them displaying such that they showed up in movies- and I returned it ( an RS500).
Craig’s 4100 has minimal to no bright corners with all laser dimming off in a black out - you would have to stare at it a long time to see them and then only slightly- but using mode 3 gives an incredible blackout ( more impressive than my 4500) with absolutely zero bright corners. 
Color:
Craig’s 4100 was calibrated with the color filter in place and the colors are more vibrant compared to my 4500 which is calibrated without the color filter ( due to the light loss while using it).
Some of the other differences between the projectors aren’t that important to me but may be to you such as the sync time.
So in summary:
In general the 4100 has a slightly different look to the overall picture versus a 4500.
The 4500 is still a darn good projector but I think the 4100 does bring some improvements to it as it should being 5 years or so newer. 
Is it a night and day difference- I don’t think it is BUT it does have enough subtle differences that collectively make it an improvement.
Could I continue to live with my 4500 and be happy- sure - but I think I will “ upgrade “ at some point in the not to distant future. I think it is dangerous for me to go see Craig’s setup because every time I do I wind up buying a new piece of video gear.
The big negative obviously is the cost to change projectors - everything else should be a positive.
I told Craig he needed to order one of the Limited Edition 4100s and I would buy his as an open box model but he wouldn’t go for it LOL. He definitely got a nice 4100.
Hope this is helpful especially to 4500 owners thinking of getting the 4100.
Thank you again Craig for an enjoyable afternoon and opening up your home so I could see the 4100.
Joe

[bmoney]

Great comparison. Thanks for the write up!

[AVSCraig]

Been watching the show The Expanse lately. Watched more of The Expanse last night, which has some of the best looking scenes of spacecraft in space type of scenes, some of which are extremely dark. Looks spectacular on the RS4100 - and I'm sure my wife is tired of my blurting out " right there - that's a great contrast money shot ". Mode 3 dimming works great on those scenes - good shadow detail that would be really hard to even see on other projectors.

[JOE-C]

A few other areas I didn’t mention before:
Motion
I think the motion ( without enhancements) has been improved slightly as it should be with an increased refresh rate.
ANSI contrast
Although  I haven’t seen any numbers ( not sure JVC publishes them) it appeared to me that it has been improved.
Craig’s 4100 had some very nice looking images ( very apparent in Wakanda Forever) which highlighted the intra scene contrast uptick.

[JOE-C]

I read in another forum where Kris mentions the 4100 having higher mixed contrast coming out of black  - that was also very noticeable 

[JOE-C]

Looks like I am going to join the 4100 owners club  sooner than I anticipated 

[JOE-C]

It seemed that my comments on mode 3 LD started a longer discussion ( in another forum) about how it can get tripped up.
To be fair the scenes I mentioned were very tough and not seen in many movies and in general I felt like it did a great job overall and definitely plan on using it.

[JOE-C]

Also I used to use the LD all the time on my 4500 but once I tried without it I have a hard time using it anymore as I feel the picture is overall nicer without it (even though the black level is raised) .

[JOE-C]

Anyone that is on the fence about getting the 4100 needs to call Craig today or very soon as it’s a great day to buy one!
Just finished up my purchase.

[AVSCraig]

Also I used to use the LD all the time on my 4500 but once I tried without it I have a hard time using it anymore as I feel the picture is overall nicer without it (even though the black level is raised) .

I certainly went back and forth on using mode 2 on the RS4500.

[JOE-C]

So I received my 4100 and installed it last week.
It was calibrated by Kris Deering before I got it and I use it with a Lumagen Pro and a DCR lens on a Stewart G4 130 screen (138 diagonal).
It was calibrated using the color filter to achieve roughly 105 nits in mid laser for 4K HDR.
I have been viewing it now for about 8 hours.
The 4100 I received has very good convergence, white uniformity, black uniformity with minimal to no bright corners ( Kris told me that and I agreed when I saw it).
I decided to view the same movie scenes that I viewed at Craig’s house when I first viewed his 4100 and I also was familiar with what they looked like on my 4500.
Those scenes looked very similar on my 4100 as Craig’s.
The increased contrast between my 4500 and the 4100 was the biggest difference that stands out between the 2 projectors. Mode 3 laser dimming is very nice despite a few hiccups here and there.
I discussed earlier in this thread my opinions on the other differences between these projectors and  after initial viewing of my new 4100 I still stand by those opinions.
Overall all the upgrades that the 4100 offers over the 4500 are not night and day but in combination are definitely worth it.