CEDIA 2007 - Day 1: JVC's New 1080p Projectors

JVC Announces DLA-RS2 and DLA-HD100

Coming back down to Earth, JVC talked about its two newest home theater projectors: the DLA-RS2 and the DLA-HD100.

The RS2 is marketed by JVC Professional, while the DLA-HD100 is marketed by JVC Consumer. Neither is designed as a replacement to current offerings, but rather to augment JVC's existing lineup for users looking for something better.

Both projector feature a native contrast ratio of 30,000:1 without the use of a dynamic iris. Improvements in the D-ILA chips themselves, lens improvements and digital processing enhancements all contribute to the higher native contrast ratio compared to older JVC models.

Both projectors are 3-chip 1920 x 1080p D-ILA displays, and both support vertical stretch for 2.35:1 constant image height scaling applications. The DLA-RS1 required the use of an external video processor to do the same.

An anamorphic attachment designed specifically for these two models will be available for 2.35:1 aspect ratio installations. JVC wasn't clear as to whether or not it would be using a Panamorph lens/slide for these projectors as it does with the RS1.

Both projectors seem to use the same lens with a zoom ratio of 2x, there's a motorized focus and zoom that can be controlled wirelessly or automated via RS232.

The projectors support an 80% vertical offset and 34% horizontal offset, these figures determine how far above/below and left/right of the center of the screen you can place the projectors.

The DLA-HD100 will be sold by JVC America, sold with limited production, no internet sales will be allowed - under $8K, shipments in November.

The DLA-RS2 will be sold by JVC Professional Products, MSRP at under $8K with shipments beginning in November. Like the HD100, the DLA-RS2 will be available through distributors and custom installer resellers, no internet sales will be permitted.

The two new projectors are identical, the only difference being which division of JVC sells it. Compared to their predecessors, we know that they are using new D-ILA chips but we're unsure as to whether or not the processors and optics are any different.

JVC demonstrated the RS2 at the press conference and as amazing it looked, it was tough to tell the magnitude of improvement over the RS1. A side to side comparison with a common source would be really necessary to tell the two apart.