Official JVC X30 / RS45 owner's thread! - Page 82

Kal - this is as close as I could get it to Rec709.

When measuring lumens I have noticed that it can vary depending on how hot the projector is and how long it has been in high bulb mode. Typically I measure brighter for the first 2-3 minutes after switching to high bulb mode than when it has been on for a long time. And here is the weird one, typically it reads higher after being in 3D for a long time and then go back to 2D. Clearly its the panel driving circuitry that is changing slightly rather than the bulb itself.

I have measured an absolute max of 1250 new down to about 1220 after 100 hours on my RS55 (RS55 is rated as 1200 unlike the 45 at 1300). Thats less than a 3% drop which is a very positive sign of a good bulb.

People should expect as much as a 10-15% drop in the first 100 hours and then a slow drop from then on. I realise that some are already showing that not to be the case.......

As a first time pj owner I've been lurking here for a while and thought it was time to weigh in.

I picked up my X30 just before Xmas (Dec. 19th). Apparently I just missed the deadline for participating in the JVC bulb data collection. That's okay though, I don't currently have a light meter and I'm not sure I could commit to the ongoing measurements.

My room is a multi use room with relatively good light control. I am projecting onto a 120" 2.35:1 Elunevision Perlux II screen. Walls are a medium tan color, as is the carpet. Ceiling is typical white (california knockdown). One of the main drivers for purchasing a pj is that my seating distance was about 20' away from my previous 65" rear projection CRT. The room is narrow and we have a rather large sectional that won't fully fit into the narrow area where the TV/screen is. All of this is in an "alcove" of a walk out basement, the darkest corner. Because the basement is all open concept it is difficult to convince my better half to allow me to blacken all the surfaces.

Since replacing the CRT I now have my screen mounted on the back wall (CRT was previously pulled out from the wall to bring it closer to the couch). This leaves me with a seating distance of about 24'. I plan to ceiling mount the X30 eventually but I'm currently throwing from a coffee table while I decide whether I want to build out a fake wall to shorten the distance between screen and seating. Current throw distance from the coffee table to the screen is about 17' and I have no problems switching between 2.35 @ 120" diagonal to a 96" diagonal for 16:9.

I'm pretty happy with the set up now that I've done some tuning. My primary source is a PS3 running through a Yamaha RX-A2000 via HDMI. Initially the projected image was very dark and I had a lot of black crush. I finally found that if I set the X30 HDMI input to 'enhanced' I could significantly improve shadow detail even after the required dropping of the brightness to about -5. I initially had things set to Superwhite, as well as the PS3 setting, but could not resolve the shadow detail without killing the blacks. Things are much better now.

I've been curiously following this thread for a while now and growing alarmed at some of the issues that others are expressing with poor convergence, fuzzy lettering, bright corners and poor lamp life. I spent some time last night specifically looking for some of the issues (though I didn't want to as I get a little OCD after seeing issues). I'm please to find that I do not have the fuzzy text, nor the bright corners. There is a slight vertical misalignment of blue convergence but it appears to be only slightly more than 0.5 pixels. One notch on the pixel adjust switches the deviation from top to bottom. It is only noticeable when VERY close to the screen and zoomed in for the 110" 2.35 image width. It's pretty hard to see at the 96" 16:9 size (about 84" wide). I haven't noted any significant loss of brightness from the lamp yet but honestly as this is my first pj and I've been juggling so many settings lately I really can't be objective. I'm currently around 90hrs on it so hopefully I don't see any catastrophic loss. I certainly don't look forward to dropping $400+ on lamps at any regular frequency.

Overall, I had a bit of buyer remorse after seeing how dark things started out. Since getting my settings straightened out I'm much happier. I didn't have a great deal of interest in 3D but I am anxious to check out some 3D PS3 gaming. It's a little disappointing to read about the ghosting and flickering that appears to be common. I only noticed a minimal amount of ghosting on the demo unit I saw before purchasing, some IMAX coral reef content I believe. Didn't see the flicker but I have minimal experience with 3D and just may not have known what I was looking for. Besides the bit of ghosting I though it was pretty impressive. I have no idea how much time they had on the demo and I didn't buy glasses or the emitter yet so I'm hoping by the time my X30 has some hours on it and I drop some extra cash on the 3D peripherals the experience won't be as bad as some have found it. I'm keeping my expectations low for now and don't plan on dropping money on the peripherals until prices come down, just in case.

Anyway, glad to see all the knowledgeable people here and just wanted to share my experience. So far, so good. Fingers crossed on the lamp and 3D performance.

I initially reported no bright corners on my 45 which is not the case I have come to find out. Apparently I did not look at this to close when first checking it out. I started noticing these on a few fade to black type scenes recently and confirmed with further inspection. Not horrible and you need a full black screen to actually see it, but they are there.

Perhaps I need to look again with my eyes fully adjusted to a dark room (tough to do when I've got my face buried in a laptop on AVS Forums. LOL) but if my unit exhibits it I'm going to say it's a very minor issue. I've watched a fair bit of content with a critical eye since dropping what I consider a good wad of cash on a "TV". My wife would tell you I'm pretty anal about picture quality. So far I don't see it and if it is there it's nothing I would call an issue. I'm often zoomed in for 2.35 viewing with the black bars projected outside my screen surface onto a medium tan wall. Unless I crank up the brightness or open the iris they remain invisible. If they are visible because I've turned up brightness they appear evenly illuminated across the entire width of the image.

Could this be an issue that develops as the lamp ages? You would think with almost 100 hours on mine I would start to notice it. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough.

Edit: I suppose the other thing impacting my observations is that light control is not perfect due to the light colored carpet, walls and ceiling. Reflective surfaces should be less of an issue on a black screen though, no?

To me, the bright corners are a non issue since it is VERY rare where you even get a full fade to black type scene which is the only way I can see it (even then, it is faint). Still worth mentioning though for those who are bothered by this.

Well, I just sold my Sony VPL-VW70 and bought the RS45, which I received yesterday. My wife was a little concerned that this wouldn't be an upgrade and I was just wasting our money. I think the Sony was sharper and had a bit more a pop to it, but it was just not bright enough. After calibration I would measure 9 fL tops with 100 IRE pattern. I honestly would have to squint in darker scenes. With the RS-45, after calibration, I was getting 16-17 fL. Much better and easier on the eyes. Once I popped in Scubasteve's demo disc, I noticed right off the bat, that the Sony throws a much sharper image. Coderguy may be able to validate this, as he was one of us that bought the VW70. Then again, maybe what I'm seeing is not lack of sharpness, but what you more experienced projector owners call "film like". It definitely has a theater look to the picture, if that makes any sense. It's not grainy per se, but its not sharp and digital looking either like the Sony. I've always kind of felt that commercial theaters' pictures were not quite as sharp as my Sony either. But, I liked the theaters' picture better. I feel the JVC is a better projector. Especially since there is no pixelation in dark scenes, the gamma can be adjusted without the use of an external processor, you can see the shadow detail because of the increased brightness, lens memory, no iris, etc. etc. It seems like I read that some people were complaining about the sharpness on these units. I just wanted to know if you guys think its a sharpness problem, or if the picture was intended to look like this way by the manufacturer. Any thoughts?

No problems with sharpness here as some have had, probably unit variance. I would check your convergence and for the streaky lines issue.

I initially had the same reactions. After more evaluation, the RS45 actually shows all the details. It just doesn't give you the chiseled look. If you follow my drift.

I'm guessing the pixel fill could be one reason? I've grown to like the look and not see it as a distraction. It is indeed much easier on the eyes than my former projector.

I'm considering picking up a used JVC 3D projector but need to know if it will work in my room. I am using a screen 96" in width. The projectors lens can't be placed any further than 135" from the screen. Will the JVC work in my room? I currently have the JVC RS2 clone at the same distance and my screen is filled with a few inches to spare. I tried projector central but it came out with a throw over 14 ft.. I know this can't be the min throwbecause I calculated my RS2 clone and it came up with a throw of over 14' as well. Can someone PLEASE help this idiot out?

Thanks,
Tom

Yes, the min. throw ratio is 1.37.
My calculator has it right, PJC has it wrong. I measured it myself with a laser.

11 feet 0 inches (132 inches) is the minimum throw for a 110" 16:9 diagonal on the JVC RS-45, and I assume most other JVC's are the same.
I round up, so you probably have 3.5 inches or more to spare. There is a MFR unit variance, but I doubt it's more than 1-2 inches.

PC's calculator is dead to me. Thanks for your accurate information!

Tom

Coderguy,
Will you please explain convergence to me and how to adjust it? Also I checked, there's no streaking.

Disregard. Found some pretty good technical info about convergence. And that it really can't be truly fixed completely. Oh well. This thing is still better than the Sony all-around. I'll just tell my wife it is "film like" if she notices.

If you haven't seen it.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/jvc_...tor_review.htm

Hi everyone. I got my projector, the rs45, from avs and I was wondering what could be my problem. So far I have seen about 6 films so far on my projector, and at least 4 of those 6 times the frame drops out from the picture. Sometimes it has happened at the beginning of the movie and sometimes at the end. When I rewind the playback it doesn't drop out. I have an oppo bdp93 that I also got from avs which is the video source. Has anyone else had this issue? Is it a projector issue or a player issue? Thanks in advance for your help or suggestions.

I just fired up my X30 last night and initial impressions are great on a 120" wide / 130" diagonal 2.40:1 SeymourAV Centerstage XD 1.0 gain screen.

The projector throws a beautiful picture. I have yet to make any adjustments at all. I do have a Disney WOW disc coming any day now, so I'll try a minor calibration when it gets here.

So far I have only two concerns:

The opening scenes of Hanna are of a snowy landscape with white skies -- basically the entire screen is white. The screen seemed to mildly pulse or strobe, it was very difficult to watch, and only noticable with the full screen bright white landscape. I'm hoping that can be fixed with some calibration.

The other issue I encountered was motion choppiness in any fast moving scene, especially panning camerawork. The panning was very difficult to watch for me. I'll have to play some with the Clear Motion Drive Settings to see if I can find a more tolerable setting. I didn't want to interrupt the movie with my wife and daughter to play around with settings, or even to make them aware of issues they might not otherwise notice, so I'll tinker with the settings over the next couple days.

Overall though, if I can fix or get used to the motion judder and the strobing/pulsing white scenes, I could be real happy with this projector. Maybe they'll make improvements to the CMD with firmware updates... I can only hope!

I did notice the pulse you talk about coming from a AE7000 to the JVC but have either got used to it or it's broken in and gone.
I will look for it over the weekend.
I assumed it was the really bright bulb, maybe dont see it as I now have the ap down to -15.
What I don't understand is all the talk about poor 3D, I went from the Panny to the JVC as it had better 3D (and we demoed quite a few discs)
It disappointing to hear about the bulbs loosing brightness again, I'm hoping it doesn't apply across the board or if it does JVC will help out this time round.
Loving this projector (X30) detail is superb!!

I joined the club... :-)

With 40 hours on the lamp, my first impressions are very positive. Coming from a Pana 3000, black levels and shadow detail are much better; this was my main reason to get a new PJ, and the JVC delivers in spades. Convergence on my model is perfect in the centre, a little less perfect towards the edges, but very good overall. I have the streaking issue with white text on dark background, but only faintly so; certainly nothing I would ever see from my seating position. I closed the iris all the way down and with lamp on normal (i.e. low), the JVC is still considerably brighter than the Pana was at 700 hours. Crossing my fingers that the bulb problems from last year have been dealt with... Colour and sharpness on my calibrated model are superb.

Negative points: the FI (Clear Motion Drive) is worse than in the Panasonic; the only usable mode (3) is ok, but occasionally produces artifacts and induces just a tad too much of the infamous "soap effect". The Pana FI on low was at the same time smoother and less "soapy". This is why I strongly considered a Sony VW95 with best-in-class FI, but after seeing the VW95 and the X30 side by side, the visibly higher native contrast (and lower pricetag) won me over. If the Sony HW30 would have had motorized controls and lens memory, my decision would have been a lot harder... 3D on the X30 looks great and is plenty bright for me even with the lamp on normal - except for the ghosting. Both with the new JVC glasses as well as Xpand 104 glasses there is lots of it, which is a shame. As I'm very insensitive to flicker (which other owners are reporting), the ghosting is my only issue with the 3D performance. Maybe after this early evaluation period I can stop looking for it...

All in all, I'm really happy with the X30 and expect it to tide me over until 4K laser projectors beome affordable... :-)

Just a note about motion issues. I noticed that running through an Onkyo pre-pro (5508) which I would assume would translate to all the Onkyo, even in through mode produces blurring. "Skipping" the video greatly reduced the motion artifacts. It also seemed to have a small effect on mid gamma. I noticed this with the RS-1 and again with the RS-45.

1. Have you tried reseating (disconnect, reconnect) the HDMI cables or swapping them?
2. Is the Oppo directly connected to the projector or going through a receiver/device?
If going through a receiver or CMS, it may be causing the issue.

Basically, try to eliminate cabling first than any other device in between the player and projector to help determine the fault.

There is a white spot on my screen. It is circular and is about 3 to 4 inches in diameter. It is from the projector because it moves when I shift the lens. The lens looks to be smudge free. It is always there on any black or dark screen. It almost looks like someone is shining a small focused light onto the screen. At first, I thought I had some light leakage from my blackout drapes. I have a window at the rear of the room. Do I need to return this thing to JVC or am I missing something simple here? Definitely would like some help. I have no streaking issues that others have had by the way.

Sounds very peculiar. Are you able to take a picture and post it on here? It does sound wrong to me, but I would like to be sure. The lightpath is sealed, but perhaps something became loose in transit and got into the optical pathway.

I'm not much of a photographer but here are the shots as best as I can could get them.

This is from Iron Man 1. If you look in the center of the screen, just to the right, you will see a faint purplish spot. It is more pronounced in person.


In this one, look right next to his face and you can barely make it out.


And this is the last one and the easiest to see the spot. This is the Oppo screen. Yes the letters are streaked but that is because of the lack photographing abilities. You can see the spot easily underneath the Oppo logo.


I'm going to try to get JVC on the horn and see what they can do for me. This is very frustrating. But if you guys have some knowledge or feedback then that would be great.

Good enough though. It looks like a dust blob to me, which implies some dust got in during manufacturing. You better get it swapped out.

Kkpro, I'm interested in trying this on my Onkyo 886 prepro. How did you "skip" the video? I'm using through now.

Hi. I cannot remove the old cable since it has been run through the wall but what I will try is to hook up my toshiba player that is in my bedroom directly to the projector and see what happens. Thanks for the advice and I will work on it tonight.

Brad

It does sound like a cable problem... I have the Oppo 93 and I connect it directly to the 45 and experience none of those issues.