Official JVC RS55/X70 owners thread. - Page 93

They reviewed the 95 and the X70 more than 3 months apart.. I couldn't give an honest assessment between 2 projectors if I viewed them more than an hour apart. When I did the mini-shootout, I made it a point to have all the projectors at the same time, often in a stack to go A/B/C/D when looking at 2D and 3D quality.

Also, he is using a relatively small 96" where the e-shift isn't going to be as obvious as it is on my 142".

Plus they missed the much discussed 1:1 HDMI mapping issue on the Acer 9500 and the BenQ W7000 - perhaps easier to miss on a smaller screen, but quite obvious on my particular screen.

Cine4home and John Archer @ Trusted Reviews are the few reviewers that examined and explained the e-shift benefits for those that haven't seen it in person. I am hoping Home Theater Magazine re-reviews the X70 as the sample they had obviously has a problem if they only measured 10,700:1.

I think Art is probably pushed for time a lot.

Zombie's reviews were the best source, I don't think there is much need to go past the reviews he did to try to find the answers. He was able to spend much more time with each projector since he didn't have to review so many of them in one month like most reviewers.

glenned:
I wonder how you feel about the Sony 1000 vs RS65 -> if you felt the RS65's even higher contrast would sway you to choose it over the 1000, regardless of price.

- Andy

The positive about the Sony 1000 is that its brighter and has 4k panels. Since the JVCs doesn't have 4k panels, I doubt anyone would choose JVC over Sony if it was the same price. But for the price difference, it would be hard for some because when 4k material comes out, a 4k projector will be much less. Plus, you can probably get the Sony for half its price by then

The Sony 1000 added brightness is of no consequence unless screen is really big.
I'm mainly curious if the RS65 higher constrast would sway glenned's decisions on say a 10'-12' wide screen.
Larger than that, then Yes, one needs a bigger gun, so to speak.

- Andy

I will try and show you a pic of my laptop cord that got so hot it melted the rubber.

But until then is there anywhere to see the masters in 3d. I saw the repeat showing of the Sony open and it was pretty cool.

I guess on a screen up to 110, maybe its a different story. I have two screens myself, a 100in neutral screen and a 120in HP screen. After seeing the Sony 1000 myself, I would not jump at an upgrade. I thought my RS55 hold its on when it comes to 2D blu rays. But for the most part, the Sony was better in other areas. Like 3D, motion, and extra brightness if needed. However, I am only concerned with 2D. 3D is not anything that I would prefer to watch over the 2D version. I could not get a real sense of black levels, since a silver star screen was used with the Sony and compared to my neutral screen, it was hard to judge because my RS55 would appear blacker. I watch movies twice anyways, once on my neutral screen with the iris at -12, then on my HP screen with it closed. The movie experience is never the same, which is great. Most of the time, I prefer my neutral screen, since the blacks look so good. Plus, having it calibrated makes a big difference. I actually need to go see the Sony again

To my knowledge the new JVC's use a '003' version. Can you check your box label Noah and verify the lamp version (for instance the label on the box of the older RS-xx shows as CMX45051-002A).

I received a new one last month and was told it would definitely be "the latest version" as shipped w/ the RS55, but in fact it was the version above so I sent it back.

My first lamp had 003 written on the back of the lamp. The newer one has 135 on the back.

FWIW - I bought a high quality 14G right angle 20' power cord off Amazon when I bought the RS-50 so I could plug it directly into my Monster 5500 power center. I use this same cable now with the RS-55 and even after hours of 3D viewing the cable is not warm at all. I chose it because it still provided a flexible feel albeit just a tad thicker than the 18G cable JVC provides.

Rich - I also use right angle HDMI adapters which works well and provide a very flat profile. What sticks out the most at this point is the 3D interface cable but still looks very clean (my PJ is not butt up to a wall but did all this so it looks very clean in the back because it's visible in the theater as you walk around the room).


When did you get this one?

I received it last week. The first one exploded with less than 400 hours on the lamp.

Well that makes me feel so much better about the "new version".




Thanks for the update J-man!

Did you get the newer version yet? Or still waiting?
It should look like this


Old lamp the afternoon before it exploded

FYI, The -003 number referred to is stamped on the glass housing (along the side at the front edge). I believe it should read something like QLL0194-003.

Oh OK thanks Geof for the info.

Thanks for the pics and as Geof stated we would like to know the numbers on the side housing if you get a chance.

OK the number reads QLL0194-003

Pics of old lamp coming, if you look at Joesyah's pics, you will see the only difference is right above (or below depending on your view) the lamp. There is an opening, with the old lamp, it is just the plastic case opening. With the new lamp, the opening is now metal with 2 metal tabs, looks like it might be for cooling purposes.

Here are some pics of old lamp. Notice the filament is shattered and a crack on the face of the lamp. Scary stuff.

My 55 is on the way from AVS. Was looking closely at the Epson 5010 or 6010 but decided to spend a bit more and go with the 55. This is a new home build and a new dedicated HT installation. I also have a Carada 136" BW Scope screen on the way from AVS. Will be using this with a B&W 804s + HTM1 for front stage and B&W DM-602s for rear fill. Power from a B&K 307 Receiver. Just waiting for the delivery guys to show up some day this week, hopefully. Then I'm sure I'll be all over this thread looking for help.
AVS did a great job on recommendations for my application and also on pricing/service. Just want to give a +1 for them and lots of advice I've received from AVS Forum Members over the last couple of months during the decision process. Wanted to say thanks!

Got my X70 last week! It replaces a HD950.

When I turned it on the first time, I was startled by the added brightness, something I needed to fill my 130" screen. I had it sitting on a box when doing this.

On the weekend I mounted it to the ceiling, and now, suddenly that added brightness is gone?!? Its still nice, but roughly only slightly brighter than my 950.

Could all the vertical shift affect brightness?

Does zoom affect brightness? I am zoomed in all the way. I was zoomed in all the way when I sat it on the box too.

Lastly can anyone tell me how to disable e-shift so I can focus best?

Scott

Zoom has a big effect on brightness: the closer to the screen the brighter the image. OTOH, maximum On/Off CR is obtained with the projector zoomed out (farther back from the screen). Pick your pleasure....

Eshift can be turned on and off using the demo mode. To enter this mode push Right, Left, Right, Left on the remote. Subsequent R/L button pushes turn eshift on and off. Exit the demo mode using the exit key.

Thanks Geof,

So picture zoomed in gives me best brightness. This is what I want.

I have another couple questions, this time regarding the correct setup for HDMI input.

I am unsure what is the ideal HDMI input setting. I'd like to leave it at one setting and have ALL of my common inputs look good.

Here's my conundrum... When I set my HDMI Input to enhanced, My mac and PS3 menu look perfect, but Blu Ray movies on PS3 look all washed out:

- Picture from my Mac Mini looks incredible (depth in shadows is amazing)
- Picture from PS3 Menu system is also awesome
- Picture from PS3 Blu Ray Movies is very washed out. As a movie starts, the blacks suddenly become greys.

The only way to get the picture in movies looking good is to turn brightness down - but I never seem to be able to match the quality of the Mac with brightness at 0 in enhanced mode.

Inversely, if I set my HDMI input to Normal, the Mac looks very dark and I lose shadow details, however Blu Ray movies look okay and not washed out.

Ideally I'd like everything looking as nice as the Mac does with HDMI set to enhanced.

Any ideas?

I'm still putting together my theater room. I'm considering running an additional set of cables to support a second projector.

My X70 is going to be shelf mounted on the back wall of the room. I'm thinking of ceiling mounting a second projector.

I'd use the second projector for gaming and casual viewing - like cable TV. I'd save the X70 for bluray movies.

With my relatively short throw distance of 17ft and fairly large screen (140" X 60") with 1.0 gain, I'm looking at getting a cheap but bright DLP, like the Viewsonic Pro8200. I know coderguy is a fan of that pj and it can be had for under $800.

If 3D should take off, then I could switch out the Viewsonic for a projector that excels at 3D and gaming, likely a DLP model. I could buy a 3D projector now, but I'm not finding any that fit my needs. It would have to be under $2K, work with a scope screen, and be bright enough for a 140" 1.0 gain screen.

I'm posting here to bump the idea off other people who have the RS55/X70. Maybe someone else is running two projectors for this reason or has put thought into doing so?

The Optoma hd33 does pretty good at gaming and 3D, but not scope and it's not as bright. If you can get a deal on the Benq w6000, it'd be better than the Viewsonic other than the Benq has more RBE, and the Benq is not quite as bright but it should suffice. The VS cannot do scope either, the Mits hc4000 is the only one that can (too dim). Even the Optoma hd33 is probably slightly better (maybe) but it also has 3D. I definitely prefer gaming on the Viewsonic over the JVC, it's smoother and just feels right, something feels off when gaming on the JVC, not just related to lag (that's part of it though). I am not a serious gamer, very very occasional and never do FPS really. A JVC with near perfect convergence is a tiny bit sharper than the VS, but it's close and not enough to make a big difference in gaming or HTPC, but the w6000 is just enough sharper to add a touch more pop even then.

There are no real issues running a second projector except the matrix switch can freak out the JVC and cause lockups theoretically (I just swap the port on a shelf manually when changing bluray players just to be safe while the projectors are off), and for HTPC I don't use the JVC at all, I use the VS for that. I like the VS for me because it has such a low amount of RBE. So far the only other DLP (besides the pro8200) I can really stand the RBE on is the Optoma hd33 (or other PJ's with 5x or 6x wheels). The VS has 4x wheel, but it functions more like 5x because it uses a different design with an extra segment (7 segs instead of 6).

Thanks coderguy, you sure get around these forums!

I don't want to take this to far off topic, so I'll leave it at that.

The difference between HDMI Enhanced and Standard is Enhanced uses a data range from 0-255 whereas HDMI Standard uses 16-235. Either setting should give similar results but only if both the source and display are set similarly (ie, typically you do not want one set to Standard and the other set to Enhanced). Having different settings account for the "blacks turning to grays". I don't know if the PS3 HDMI range can be changed nor do I know if you can change this on the Mac Mini. But I would start there.

It is possible to use the enhanced setting on the projector and use the Standard setting on your source. But in doing so you will have to change the Brightness and Contrast setting in the projector to "fix" the HDMI setting mis-match. Typically this would result in setting the projector to -6 for Brightness and +12/13 for Contrast.

If you cannot change the HDMI settings on your sources what you could do is set the projector to HDMI Enhanced and then setup two user menus: Setup one user menu using the default Contrast and Brightness settings and setup the other user menu to use -6 for Brightness and +12/13 for Contrast. In this way you can effectively use one input for both HDMI Enhanced and Standard sources simply by changing the user mode.

In any event you should also use a test disc (like the AVS 709 disc) to properly fine tune the Brightness and Contrast settings.

I agree with Geof's advice and would like to add a little more. PCs and Macs when using HDMI use the full digital range of 0 to 255, with 0 representing Black and the value of 255 representing White. However, for digital video the standard is the digital value of 16 represents Black and the value of 235 represents white.

It appears that you have your PS3 set to output via HDMI in the "RGB Full" format. However, the most accurate video quality from the PS3 can be obtained by setting it to output in "Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr format" and you may want to also set the PS3 to turn on "super-white" mode (see the PS3 FAQ thread under the section on "Video and Display Settings"). Alternatively you can set your PS3 to output in "RGB Limited" format which limits it output to only the range of 16 to 235.

The key for setting up the projector is to create two different "user" settings with the reference white and black levels adjusted (using the projector's contrast and brightness controls respectively) to correctly match the type of source being used (i.e., for PC levels vs. video standard levels). The projector's HDMI input mode must be set to 'enhanced' to accommodate the PC levels.

As Geof indicated, the AVS HD Calibration Disc has the test patterns to let you easily set the reference black and white levels. By keeping the projector set for 'enhanced' you will be able to see the 'blacker than black' (i.e., below level 16) and the 'whiter than white' (i.e., above 235) video levels which makes adjusting the projector easier. The AVS HD Calibration Disc (ISO file that can be burned on a DVD +/- R) is described and can be downloaded HERE. Once downloaded you can use a commercial program such as Nero or a freeware program such as IMGBURN, to create a playable disc by burning this ISO image file onto a blank DVD (-R, +R or RW as long as it is a disc type that is compatible with your Blu-ray player).

I believe that even after you set the PS3 to output Ycbcr, there is still a separate setting for RGB limited (vs Full) that you need to set. Also turn on superwhite.

So it should be:

ycbcr - this is in the BD/DVD playback menu

RGB limited
superwhite ON

Both of those are in the Display menu. Even though you would think that the RGB setting would not affect ycbcr BD output, it actually does.

I do think that the ycbcr only affects Blu Ray playback and that anything using the XMB (home screen, games, trailers played from the PS3 store) are still output using RGB...not 100% sure but I think so.

Thanks for clarifying with additional info Ron.....