JVC - DLA-NZ900

The latest top jvc projector is finally offering on/off contrast performance of the previous king the rs640 and 20LTD, but at a considerable 2-4× cost increase. A calibrated nz900 is going to offer the best image a projection enthusiast has ever seen in the price range. You have to move up to a Christie to get to the next level. I'd also say you'll need to help the nz900 with a Lumagen or madVR to gain the very best tone mapping, which projection needs. A calibrated lg 97" G3 is simply operating on a different level, while you only sacrifice on potential maximum screen size. While a $15k 97" lg G3 is a relative bargain compared to a top end projection solution, there is another alternative to consider. We are on the doorstep of emerging big tv tech with rgb mini-led, and tandem layer oled. So, an intermediate step might be grabbing something like $3-5000 98" miniLED and building out the rest of your HT, with a plan to upgrade in 2-3 years. This has been my plan, having bought and calibrated a tcl 2024 98" qm851g miniLED. This gives me time for rgb miniLED and tandem layer oled to evolve a generation before spending 2-4× on a 100"+ panel. My peak projection experience was a jvc rs640 with tone mapping support from Lumagen DTM and HdFury LLDV Dolby Vision. In our 25x16 HT I ran a screen innovations 10' wide 2.35:1 ar scope screen. This was roughly a $10k all in value proposition. You have many options to consider, and it sounds like you have a great HT canvas to work with. Congrats.

I am in a similar situation. I’m renovating my home theater and upgrading projectors. My room is 23wx25d with a sloped ceiling that’s 8 to 17ft. So along that 25ft depth the screen side is 25ft wide and 17ft tall. My screen is 180 inches I have been struggling with what projector to get and while there are some in the 10k price range that can work it’s going to be difficult to get that many lumens in a solid projector. Ultimately you have (and I have) a lumens problem. I’ve been working with Audio Advice to try to determine a projector and I am already looking at 20-30k projectors. One I found that would easily meet your lumen needs is the Epson QL-3000. That’s a $16k projector without the lenses and close to 19 depending on the lens’s. When I brought it up to Audio Advice they were not huge fans of the projector. I haven’t seen it in person but images I’ve seen of the video look good. But it’s doing 4k upscaling - so it really comes down to what you need lumen wise compared to image quality. I want cinema level amazing so I’m looking at the JVC-NZ900 now (30k! :(…)

https://preview.redd.it/1ul7a5snstvf1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=06073ce5d1601bc998177230231e2b68713a8010 Just for assistance. I put a separate post up talking about my new NZ900 (outside of your price range but as an example). This is a 25ft throw onto my wall, the screen size here is about 220 inches. The NZ900 is 3200 lumens. Your issue will be lumens as you need the brightness for your HDR pop. If native 4k isn’t a hard and fast requirement the QL-3000 is 6,000 lumens and is 18k-20k for the lens you’d need. I just wanted you to get a visual of what you’re looking for. This was taken directly out of the box, with zero config, image is 1080p. There’s no screen (hasn’t been installed yet, and it’s projecting onto a peopercorn gray wall). I know when I was looking I wanted to see what things looked like and know the variables to help me decide. One big item that could matter is your throw distance. The closer in the better (but there are zoom considerations). For example my pic is at a 25ft throw but I’m considering mounting at 20ft AND I’ll shrink the image down to a 180 screen. So my setup will actually get a bit brighter.

JVC DLA-NZ900 And a matching screen.

OLEDs are infinite contrast device but real world there is a limit to perceived contrast. You can do it with a cheaper projector. It won't measure as well as an OLED, it will give you an OLED experience. A JVC NZ9 with a lumagen or Envy processor and a good quality screen will do it. You can't throw a 300" image but you can do a 130" scope image and keep in low laser and get a real world OLED contrast experience. I have that setup and it looks just as good as a LG C4 OLED to the human eye in a dark room, just a lot larger. I'm not the only person that has made the same observation. This is on a white Acoustically Transparent screen btw, grey screens just lower your brightness. There are black screens on the market such as the Screen Innovations Black Diamond but they didn't have AT screens when I bought mine. They do help out projectors with a bad native contrast. If you want to go crazy you can do a Christie Eclipse with a dedicated fiber laser head, it can do large screen sizes as it puts out 25K ANSI lumens at 20,000,000:1 contrast ratio....

Another advantage is placing the speakers behind an acoustically transparent screen, so the sound comes from the image. Recently bought two 85 inch 8K TVs and an 8K projector with 200 inch screen. The contrast and black level with the projector is excellent. [https://www.jvc.com/usa/projectors/procision/dla-nz900/](https://www.jvc.com/usa/projectors/procision/dla-nz900/) One of the TVs already shorted out, Samsung. Since one of the TVs was dead when it was opened and had to be replaced that means only 1 of 3 is working.

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.

It is just dimmer. You can get nostalgia of watching a crt too, still a worse picture. You can always watch your tv with the brightness turned way down. I have JVC NZ9, would trade it for a tv when they get big enough.

I have a 97" oled and barely use it over my NZ9. There's just something about the big screen experience that is so fun. To be fair I also have a much better sound system in the theatre room, but I would not say that OLEDs are the best 'money is no object' purchase right now. A microled video wall definitely would be up there, but barring that, a very high end projector for me is the best.

I have a 97 oled and a 165” screen with JVc nz9. The oled is objectively better, but I never use it. Always prefer the big screen and better sound. But both are valid. But dedicated room? Projector all the way. Even a much cheaper projector will be great.

Or find a used NZ8/9.

NZ9. And I love it!

JVC laser 4K native ——that is all you need to know