I am thinking of replacing my four year old Benq 8700 with a 1080P projector. I've done my homework, and I'm sold on the JVC RS-1. I can get one for a pretty good price. However, I also hear the siren's call of the RS-2 with its double-RS-1-contrast ratio of 30k:1. The main reason I want a new PJ is for better blacks. Call me a black level fanatic.

I want a new toy for Christmas, but for better or worse there is nothing wrong with my current PJ, other than maybe the lamp has dimmed with time and the PQ is not what it used to be.

The RS-2 is way out of my price range right now, but I wonder if in 6 months it will be down to what the RS-1 is currently selling for. Will I be kicking myself if I buy the RS-1 now, and in a few months the RS-2 is selling for the same price?

And I've also read (on Projector Central, for one) that unless you have black hole for a screening room, the extra contrast of the RS-2 won't be apparent. My room has dark grey walls, a white ceiling, and I only watch the PJ at night with total light control. Not a black hole, but definitely pretty dark.

Although the other features of the RS-2 are nice (vertical stretch, motorized zoom etc) I'd be getting it pretty much because of the doubled contrast ratio.

Help me decide!

My guess is that even if you don't have a black hole, the contrast will still look better, just not that much better.

I doubt the RS-2 will drop that much in 6 months. After a year though, probably like a rock, but you will be wanting whatever is latest and greatest then.

I would get the RS-1 now. It is at a great price and you will then have a great projector for that six months you would have waited.

The motorized zoom and focus are important to me with my CIH setup and so I am going RS-2.

The RS-1 is alleged to be brighter too. That is a nice plus on the RS-1 side depending on screen size. I was hoping that the RS-2 would be 200 or so lumens brighter, but nothing is ever perfect in the projector world.

I'm SO happy with my RS1. If you can wait maby do a side to side comparison and look at your wallet. If not - pull the tricker and smile.. :)

I'm SO happy with my RS1. If you can wait maby do a side to side comparison and look at your wallet. If not - pull the tricker and smile.. :)

Waiting is always best. Problem is that you have to pull the trigger sometime. Hold out as long as you can and then buy what is out there at the time.

I don't forsee any dramatic price drops happening for the RS2 for quite a while. This PJ will likely be very popular out of the gate, and JVC won't have any reason to lower the price.

As far as the black level, I've installed many, many RS1's and I can tell you first hand that it has truly excellent black level.

I've also seen the RS2 and it is better, but it's not twice as good. Double the on/off contrast obviously doesn't equal double the overall picture quality.

If you don't need or care about the additional features, I'm not sure it would be worth the relatively large price difference for you.

I can't imagine prices are going to change too much on any of them for awhile now. The black pearl etc. are out on the market now so it doesn't seem like there will be any big competitive forces demanding a big price change over that we've already seen. Maybe a little more of a dip once the RS2 lands but didn't they already drop a little on the announced release of them?

From a brief snippit in another thread it's amazing what you get for <$5000 today. I paid more for my old lcd sharp XVS55U pj in 1997-98 than I did for my RS1 and that's not adjusting for inflation at all. It's hard to go wrong with any of the current crop of 1080p pj's, JVC, Sony etc.

Buy a Sim2 C3X and light up your screen. You thank me later.

Yeah the C3X for the guy that is wanting something less than RS2 price.

I still say get what you can now and enjoy it.

If the RS2 doesn't have better ANSI contrast than the RS1 I think you should go for the RS1 right now and enjoy it. The RS2 would have a slight advantage for dark sceen over the RS1 but without better ANSI your image would be the same for everything else. The numbers of scenes were the RS2 would shine over the RS1 would be very limited. If you don't need the other goodies that the RS2 provied I don't think it's worth it for the lower black. I think the perceive contrast between 15000:1 and 30000:1 is not as dramatic as you may think. My Sharp have 6000:1 and the RS1 were only better to display stars field. Most of the time the Sharp present darker black because ANSI was better.
Bruno

From what I gather, the RS2 is a significant enough improvement over the RS2. I think this will be evident as the reviews roll in here at AVS.

Well all things indicate that the RS2 is better, but I guess it remains to be seen how much. The original poster was wondering if the RS2 was going to drop in price pretty soon. I don't think it will.

I am getting an RS2 myself, but I need some of the stuff it offers over the RS1 besides the contrast.

Pertaining to pricing...they actually aren't that much different considering the improvement. No we are talking hundreds, but not thousands either.

thanks for the input everyone... I guess for me it really boils down to whether that doubled contrast would really make a difference. Can anyone tell me what the RS-1 was street priced at when it first came out?