JVC DLA-HD100 review: JVC DLA-HD100

JVC's DLA-HD100 1080p resolution front projector is the company's new flagship model, while the DLA-HD1 from last year remains in the line at a lower price point. The HD100 adds some improvements that are certainly desirable--including improved black-level performance and contrast ratio--but oddly the color accuracy and light output are both better on the older HD1. Unfortunately, someone at the company decided to radically change the primary color points, making them even more ludicrously wrong on the HD100 than they are on the HD1. Red in particular measures way beyond the HDTV specification, causing severe oversaturation, so you will have to dial the color control down significantly to get pictures to appear reasonably natural. The high-end JVC HD100 does a lot of things right, but given its problems with color accuracy and relatively steep price, the competition offers better options.

Design
As far as appearance goes, the DLA-HD100 looks identical to its older sibling, which is to say relatively understated in terms of design flare and "cool factor." This squarish box has a high-gloss black finish and a relatively small footprint. The lens is centered on the chassis, which both gives it a more symmetrical look over designs in which lenses are near the side of the chassis, and will make ceiling installations easier in terms of aligning it to the screen.

The remote is nicely laid out and colored silver instead of matching black to the projector. The slender clicker arranges the important function buttons and the arrow keys for navigation at the bottom and I was pleased to find that all of the keys are backlit. The internal menu system is identical to the older JVC unit, and is simple and intuitive to navigate.

Features
A 1080p native resolution is becoming standard among projectors these days, and that's a great trend since all those pixels become increasingly important in larger screen sizes. The JVC's three 1080p resolution panels--one each for red, green, and blue--use JVC's proprietary D-ILA technology, a variant of LCoS that's similar to the SXRD panels used in Sony's projectors.

The main additions to the feature package include customizable gamma, electronic Zoom and Focus features, and a Vertical Stretch mode to accommodate an outboard anamorphic lens for 2.35:1 aspect ratio screen applications. Of course, the projector also offers selectable color temperatures, which include Low, Middle, High, Memory 1, and Memory 2. The last two potentially allow for two separate grayscale calibrations, one for color (6,500K) and one for black and white (5,400K) material. The Pixel Adjust lets you to make minor corrections to the panel alignment, which will sharpen up the picture slightly. A Mask feature is very useful in ridding the screen of compression lines created from cable and satellite boxes. However, I do not recommend you use Mask for Blu-ray sources because they require zero overscan to ensure you are getting all the resolution on the screen.

Unlike on most projectors in this category, the DLA-HD100 doesn't have an Iris control or an auto Iris setting, which I consider a good thing--those functions impair the overall picture performance in my experience, and I always leave them turned off.

Connectivity options are reasonably generous. Two HDMI 1.3 compatible inputs head up the list, along with one component video, one S-Video, and one composite video input. Finally, a DLA-HD10032 control port is on tap for touch panel remote control programming purposes.

Performance
Overall performance on the DLA-HD100 is a mixed bag. My biggest complaint is the terribly inaccurate primary colors, which causes severe oversaturation. This forced me to back the color way down from where it would normally be. At this level I expect at least some attempt at getting close to either SMPTE or HDTV color references, and the JVC's reds and greens are way off the mark. By way of comparison, the Sony VPL-VW200, although somewhat more expensive, does offer exceptionally accurate color. Blacks and contrast ratio on the DLA-HD100 are impressive indeed, and the projector delivers on its 1080p resolution promise at least with video material. If the company would give us more accurate color reproduction, it would have a real winner on its hands.

The JVC DLA-HD100's blacks appeared compelling and considerably deeper than on last year's HD1. Because of the increased black-level performance, however, the light output is down by just under 20 percent. Speaking of light output, I used the High Lamp mode, which can be found in the Function menu, and achieved 12.7 footlamberts of light output on my 80-inch wide by 45-inch high Stewart Grayhawk RS screen. This setting does make the projector a bit louder, but if it's mounted on the ceiling it shouldn't present too much of a problem.

The excellent Silicon Optix HQV test disc revealed a significant loss of resolution on film based material when fed to the DLA-HD100 via 1080i, although it's not an issue with 1080p sources.

White-field uniformity, as we've seen with many LCD and LCoS projectors, left something to be desired. This issue will show most on bright white scenes like hockey rinks and snow and ice. Take, for example, the beginning of Chapter 5 of The Italian Job, where the guys are celebrating in the Austrian Alps. I noticed that the snow covered mountains had a tinge of blue and red splotching.

The opening sequences of the new "final cut" of Blade Runner on Blu-ray are a testament to the DLA-HD100's exceptional black-level performance. In the very beginning, the text on the black background pops out at you because of the excellent contrast ratio. In fact, most of the movie will serve as an excellent black-level torture test for any projector, and the JVC passes muster in this area handily. The awesome transfer of The Departed on Blu-ray is a good movie to show off the JVC's excellent resolution. The opening scenes, starting with the diner scene and moving to the police academy scenes with Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio, looked razor sharp. However, I did find that skin tones in these scenes were exceedingly red, and I was forced to bring down the color level by eight clicks from where it should be set with SMPTE color bars to get skin tone to look natural.