JVC announces some amazing Front Projectors and some other goodies (1 Viewer)

[RAF]

JVC has upped the ante on the Home Theater Front Projection front with some new products and an absolutely amazing prototype high end model as demonstrated at their CEDIA 2007 press conference on Wednesday. We'll learn more and answer questions after today once the show floor officially opens and, hopefully, Adam will provide some pictures.

As an owner of a JVC DLA-RS1 I was most interested in what they had done in the ~$5000 (Street Price) arena. They didn't disappoint as they rolled out their brand new DLA-RS2 (professional line) and essentially the same DLA-HD100 ("consumer" line) models, listing for under $8000 which means that they will probably street in the ~$6000 range when they arrive in November of this year. So what do you get for your extra $1K?

• Cosmetically, both models now sport the "black" color that was formerly reserved for the "pro" line
• Native contrast (that means without resorting to a dynamic iris) of 30,000:1
• HDMI 1.3 connectivity (2 inputs)
• Improved color rendition by broadening the color space
• A motorized Fujinon 2x zoom lens
• Custom on-screen gamma control, RGB controls individually adjusted
• V-Stretch function for use with anamorphic lenses (3rd party)
• All other functions appear to be almost identical to the RS1. In fact the devices look identical.

More to come on this unit as the show progresses.

And then they rolled out a prototype projector that might just become the "hit" of the show because it probably signals what we will all be looking at when it comes time to replace our "obsolete" 1080p projectors somewhere down the line.

Enter the 4K(4096x2400 pixel) D-ILA projector (as yet unnamed but generally known at CEDIA as the "JVC 4K")

All I can say is WOW!

The projector provided an absolutely astounding picture (as it should according to the specs). While this is a prototype (working!) here are some details:

• Light Output: 3500 ANSI Lumens
• Lamp 825W Xenon
• 3 D-ILA panels (1.3"Diag)
• 4096x2400 Pixels (Aspect Ratio 16:10)
• 4x input for RGB (4xDVI-D)
• 100BaseT Ethernet

There's a lot more and only a current "rumored" price around $100K at the moment. Obviously I'm not presenting this as something that mere mortals like ourselves would currently consider, but as a glimpse into the future of Front Projection. The price will come down as it always does (hopefully the day will come when the "4K" lives up to its name in pricing - don't laugh) but I saw the future at CEDIA 2007 and it works today.

And if that's not enough, the developer of D-ILA who spoke at the conference indicated that work is well underway on 8K chips!!!

Here are a couple of links to some of the press releases provided by JVC regarding introduced products:

http://www.jvc.com/press/index.jsp?item=603&pageID=1

http://www.jvc.com/press/index.jsp?item=605&pageID=1

http://www.jvc.com/press/index.jsp?item=606&pageID=1

http://www.jvc.com/press/index.jsp?item=604&pageID=1

http://www.jvc.com/press/index.jsp?item=607&pageID=1

The other "buzzword" at CEDIA involves LCD High Speed Technology (which is Generation 2 at JVC). This involves 120Hz display rates and there will be much more about this from all the manufacturers this week. Essentially, displaying the picture at 120 frames/second allows the best of all worlds since 120 is an exact multiple of both 24 and 30/60. But that topic will deserve a thread of its own.

 

[Tim Glover]

RAF, does the 'JVC 4K' mean our 1080p pjs will now...um....suck? Just when 1080p projectors were reaching affordability. Gotta love Home Theater!

 

[hodedofome]

Well I personally can't see a 4K projector being good for anything less than a 200" diagonal screen, but I've been wrong before.

 

[Chris S]

Wow!! Are we seriously already to the point where 1080p is passé?

 

[RAF]

Interesting comments, gang. No, 1080p is not obsolete by any means. Nor did I intend to suggest that this is the case. As Aaron pointed out, "normal" HT screens (up to, say, 120-130" diagonal) would probably not benefit from anything much above 1080p resolution. It's sort of the 720p/1080p argument all over again on a larger scale (pun intended.) You'd have to get REAL close to notice a difference and this wouldn't represent real world viewing situations.

Let's not start putting all those wonderful 1080p projectors up on eBay just yet.



Perhaps the higher resolution 4K and above technologies will be more appropriate in direct view situations providing "photo quality" with movement unheard of (or unseen) before. Who knows? It's much too early in the game to see where this is all going.

But I've seen the future of higher resolution projection brought off the drawing board and at least on the threshold of possible high end home applications. (4K has been around in limited release theaters for a while now.) And we all know that today's "high end" becomes "middle of the road" more quickly than anyone imagines.

That's the nature of the technology.

Exciting and scary at the same time.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I watched a Blu-Ray demo disc on the new Samsung 52" 120 Hz LCD at Best Buy last week. Very nice, although it didn't completely do away with the motion artifacts of LCD, especially with live-action stuff.

Cars, on the other hand -- jegus crikey, even at a viewing distance of one foot it was mind-blowingly gorgeous.