DLA-NZ700

Not true "all DLP projectors have it" Seen any IMAX or Dolby movies lately? No RBE there. They use DLP. Rainbow effect is caused by single chip DLP (one chip for all colors) and the use of a Color wheel to split the light into RGB, or in Valarion's case an RGB laser that modulates between the 3 primary colors. The color wheel is the worst, and RGB laser light tends to be better, but still shows up in very dark scenes with super bright highlights, during fast motion. Now not all Epson projectors have no RBE, but what are you looking for if you don't want that is 3 Chip products. The home cinema Epson uses 3LCD panels. JVC projectors use D-Ila panels (again 3, 1 dedicated to each color) All theater projectors and high end home models will use DLP chips but have 3, 1 for each color and do not have any issues with RBE. DLP isn't the problem. That being said, I own an Epson 3800, BenQ tk850, Optima HD27, JVC-Nz700, and the Valiaron Pro2 and MAX (not yet released) I currently have been using the Pro2 for everything and absolutely love it. Yes it's worth it and best in its class.

I would say yes only for the fact that it's less than half the price. and its far brighter than the JVC. JVC is a great projector, but I really love 3D, and the Pro2 does far better with 3D due to its brightness. 3D requires more light because shutter glasses AND the "split" of doing both eyes from the same projector effectively cuts your light in half. This is why people complain that 3D is dark. In the best scenario you build a 3D projector with two identical projectors so you double you light. This is what IMAX Dual Laser, and Dolby Cinemas do. But the JVC is a beast. It has a much better throw because of it optics, Native 4K vs pixel shift. But I only have the 2200 luman model. vs 3000 for the Valiron and I measured teh Vision Master outputting about 3150 with my own tests. Both have terrific color, but Valarion has built in tone mapping that really is a step above. You just can't beat it for it price. 7k more you get no rainbows, but thats alot of cash., and its pretty minor. (I use a 1.3 gain matte white 150" screen)

Yeah I don't have my MAX yet. but reviews have been very good on its RBE reduction. Black levels are really good on the Pro2 but supposed to be also even better with teh MAX. JVC is a great projector but its also a lot louder and kind of needs to be put in a doghouse. ( box enclosures ) But at this point its just not worth the Money when I can get almost as good for a 1/3 the price. ( even cheaper for me because I got it for the Kickstarter price of $2k)

Is mid-range $20 or $10? I have a dedicated room. This month I moved from Epson 6050 to JVC NZ700, the Epson is nice and has a great picture for the price, no doubt. But moving to native 4k made a difference in black levels, HDR, low light and the Frame Adapt tone mapping, filmmaker mode. And it’s “laser”. It’s not like the first time I saw 1080 HD on a Mitsubishi, but it’s definitely a step up, and I think you are future proofed for quite some time.

Most likely they're making that argument when comparing the NZ500 vs the NZ700 when the color filter to increase the color gamut being used. Since the NZ700 is actually dimmer than the NZ500 when the NZ700 has the color filter on due to the significant light loss it introduces (\~1700 nits). And without the color filter, the NZ500 has a bit wider color gamut than the NZ700.

Not an expert but at that screen size the steps up probably will not get you much noticeable improvements. There is the Bravia 8 at $16k, but the most obvious improvement is going to be brightness, which is already plenty high enough in the Bravia 7. The extra brightness might make a difference with HDR content, but other factors like screen type and ambient (or reflected) light might make a bigger difference, negating any potential improvements the extra $6k bought you. Some of this might change with a significantly bigger screen where you could more easily pick out the differences. Again, no expert, but I think the 7, and the JVC equivalent (NZ700) are probably the best mix of price/performance for 95% of the “I want to do this right, but I can’t just burn money” crowd. The LS12000 is probably another great option as it is about half the price, although I have a significant preference for the way Sony reproduces motion and colors.

If budget is not the primary concern, I highly recommend the JVC NZ series. Image is razor sharp, blacks are deepest you ca get in a projector. I have the NZ500 it’s *amazing*, and I do my fair share of gaming on it. Might also want to consider nz700 and nz800. And yes they are easy to set up and the higher you go on their range the less dark of a room is needed. I’ve seen the NZ900 is all daylight and it just works.