JVC - DLA-RS640

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.

We switched from a 120" wide scope screen and jvc rs640 with Lumagen and hdfury LLDV support to a tcl 98" qm851g calibrated by ChadB, and we have no regrets. The 98" is mounted on a rolling stand with 24" of variable vertical shift. The jvc rs640 had native contrast only recently equaled by the nz900. The calibrated miniLED surpassed the jvc in every way, despite the rs640 having the benefit of excellent Lumagen DTM and DV support of hdfury LLDV. An emissive tv in your dark theme HT will offer an incredible experience. There have been excellent suggestions for improving the epson ls12000 tone mapping, but the poor native contrast will forever impact fade to black and deep black and shadow detail performance. If you must stay with projection, maybe a move to a nz500 would offer a significant upgrade and the lowest cost and least hassle. Good luck with your choice.

Well, it's debatable of course.  Projectors don't really do HDR that well to begin with so you're always going to be trading one thing for another. A new 4K projector capable of HDR is likely going to be twice as bright as an old JVC. So if you're looking for brightness, then you dont want a JVC.   But if you're in a dark room and you want inky black, you're not going to get anything better than an old JVC.   The RS 640 that came out in 2018 was the flagship of the last generation of 4K shift projectors and had a native contrast of 160,000:1. There is still not a projector that rivals that as far as I'm aware. Even their top-of-the-line current laser projectors are just under that despite bring much brighter overall.  

One cannot judge the black levels from camera footage. First, the camera has its own dynamic range limit it can capture, so in mixed scenes it won't blow out the highlights but it will crush blacks. Second, depends how the exposure was set. Third, your monitor would have to be an OLED to reproduce the result of a "perfect" camera capture (without dynamic range limitations). I bet in reality the Pro 2 in low APL level content is dark grey while JVC is black in a proper room. I had RS640 so I speak from experience.

People pay professionals good money to help them with answers to your questions. Equipment choice alone is barely half the equation. Good design and good integration are critical to achieving high performance. This isn’t something you should just freestyle, as there are many tradeoffs to manage based on your subjective preferences. Design informs equipment choice. It’s an iterative process as you converge on design and equipment choice simultaneously. Long throw projectors generally offer better image quality than UST at the same price point. UST are nice if you’re worried about people casting shadows or if this is a general entertainment space hosting karaoke night and dance parties. If it’s just for watching motion pictures while seated then get a long throw projector. For $5k I’d try to score a deal on a B-stock Sony VPL-XW5000ES or a lightly used JVC D-ILA projector, preferably with laser light source but if you’d rather spend less then a bulb is fine. You can find some screaming deals if you don’t mind bulbs and fake 4K pixel-shifting. If your viewing distance is >10ft then it shouldn’t matter. https://www.avsforum.com/forums/front-projector.252/ Fixed screens are cheaper than motorized screens. Acoustically transparent screens are nice because you can place the LCR speakers behind the screen, which not only looks better but sounds better. But this is also where you need to be careful as there is interaction between viewing angles/ screen size and speaker positions and seating distance. All have to be in harmony. Woven screens usually look and sound better than perforated screens, but this depends on the exact screen material, budget, viewing distance and preference. Like I said, there’s lots of tradeoffs to manage. I’d recommend minimum 7.1.4 speaker configuration, even if you have to built it in stages as funds allow. My preference in that size room is 9.1.6 but that’s going to break your budget in terms of AV processor capability, speaker count and amplification requirements. You’ll want a minimum of two subwoofers. What exactly do you mean by “sound conditioning is already taken care of?”

Black level champ, it's lcos jvc.