NEW JVC DLA RS66/X95 - Page 2

I finally installed a front projector and screen in my media room to replace a Pioneer Pro-1410 we had been using for 7+ years for weekend movies. A local firm installed a JVC DLA-RS66U and a DaLite JKP Affinity 16:9 120" motorized screen. I've currently setup the RS66 to use the THX settings with MPC set to "High Resolution" for watching movies (primarily bluray) and the picture is very good although I don't think it rivals the plasma it replaced in terms of clarity and color saturation. Part of that is probably attributable to the size difference, but I'd appreciate any specific settings information you guys can provide for optimally setting up this front projector. I may consider getting it professionally calibrated later, but that's not something I want to do now.

Hi!

I just got my JVC DLA RS66u about two weeks ago and I am playing with it also. I have a 110 inch screen and the projector is about 12 feet away. I did NOT know about the MPC settings so thanks for telling me. Generally I have been rotating through the THX, Natural and Cinema buttons. For live and taped shows I am finding Natural to be the best, and for my Blu Ray I alternate between Natural and Cinema. I have also found that as I break in the set, the picture is getting better. I also find, so far, that it should be on for ten minutes before I do anything. I have played with it on the weekends, Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to use it doing the week. That will change.

Please keep us updated on what you do! I like to share the experiences.

I have a Pioneer Elite 50 inch and do compare pictures too. The JVC in some ways is more pleasing, the size and the look of cinema. Yeah, there may be a bit more dertial on the Pioneer.

By the way, the only think I don't like about eh unit is activating those 3D glasses.

I would recommend setting HDMI to either Standard or Super white and not touching any of the basic picture settings (color, tint, contrast, etc.). Set color profile to standard and MPC to Film (if you use it at all). Make sure you change the noise reduction setting to zero (it defaults to 8 I believe). Also make sure the enhanced sharpness in the advanced menu is off as well. Use the 6500 preset for color temp. That will give you a pretty solid image with little in the way of issues. Use that for about 100 hours. After that I would recommend a professional calibration to get the most out of the projector but you could just leave those settings and probably be fine.

Also, I would select gamma to advanced and use the presets. For darker rooms I would recommend the 2.3 setting. For standard rooms 2.2.

I listed my settings in post 13 which I'm still happy with. I've since lowered the MPC (Film mode) Enhance control to zero however. Although having the control set around 40 can make program material look sharper, I was turned off by what I saw on test patterns. If you display the "Sharpness & Overscan" pattern on the AVS HD 709 test disc (http://www.avsforum.com/t/948496/avs-hd-709-blu-ray-mp4-calibration/0_40) and adjust the Enhance control you'll see artifacts similar to what the Sharpness control in a display might do. Although I haven't noticed problems viewing normal program material, any enhancement that makes test patterns look bad is something that I prefer to disable. My current MPC settings are Film 0,0,0. This scales to 4k without the artifacts. I now leave the sharpening duties to my Darblet (HiDef 40%) which does a better job of it.
Edited by henrich3 - 1/13/13 at 12:50pm

Thanks for the response Kris. Based on the posts I've read so far no one seems to be using the THX Picture Mode - I assumed that would be the best default, but apparently not:-)

The "Color Profile" chart on page 39 of my owners manual contains combinations of "Standard" based on "Picture Mode", which one are you recommending?

I'll try the MPC set to "Film" but what about the sub-settings for "Enhance", "Dynamic Contrast", and "Smoothing" which are now set to "50"?

I've set the "Environmental Setting" for the room color to "light" because even though I only use the projector at night with no lights, the manual recommends that setting unless the room color is "black". Is that also what you would recommend?

I'll try your recommendations and post my impressions. And I'll definitely consider getting the projector calibrated after 100 hours as you suggest. Thanks again.

Kris,

Thanks for responding, you helped me a lot. I too came up with the Fine Tuning issues mentioned above. But I also was unable to find the “noise reduction” or the sharpness seting you mentioned.

If I survive my trip to Antarctica in 2 weeks, I'll be buying an X95 in March and having it professionally calibrated soon after. I look forward to reading up on all the comments and reviews from you new owners out there. My 3 year old RS25 is in need to being replaced.

Yes, color profile to standard. For the MPC settings it is pretty much up to your taste. I don't use MPC on my screen. I would skip the environmental settings personally, but if you want to experiment with them feel free. Remember the end image is what you prefer more than anything else.

The noise reduction and sharpness settings I was referring to are in the advanced menu. I can't remember their specific names off the top of my head.

Curious to find out how this went - I have an X-95R and wondering if its worth spending the money on a Sypder4 Pro to use the auto calibrate function - is it useful, or comparable to a professional calibration?

Mikey it definitely helped but I don't think I would go out and buy a spyder just for the calibration of the JVC. I have not had mine professional calibrated yet. That will not happen until April.... I just now have about 50 hours on the lamp. After April I will be able to give you a better idea of the visual difference between the sypder and and the professional calibration. If I had to tell you which way to go at this moment I would say go professional. Its not that much more than the spyder.

Thanks - I went out and got an i1 Display Pro anyway, so will try and learn myself and do it the long way

My '66 just had a pro calibration (CraigR) last Friday. Initial readings were taken with a PR650 and the offsets used for his Klein K10-A. The 6500 color temp was adjusted in the pj's service menu and the rest of the calibration was done in a RadianceXE-3D. Other pj settings used were the Standard color profile and Normal gamma.

Calibration reports for 2D & 3D:
RS66_2D_CalibrationReportDetailed.pdf 101k .pdf file
RS66_3D_CalibrationReportDetailed.pdf 102k .pdf file

The calibrated image quality is terrific, both 2D & 3D!

If you don't mind, how much did the calibration cost?

My cost included flying Craig from Chicago to Denver and calibrating the Radiance, so your cost would undoubtedly be different. You can request a quote from his website: cir-engineering.com

There are plenty of Denver folks packing colorimeters that are happy to do calibrations, but Craig's results are worth the expense IMO.

Thank you

Just on the MPC settings, I had it in standard (film) and this seems to be the smoothest setting for my tastes. High Resolution setting seemed to make a negative difference and almost appeared to be a similar effect to maxing out the sharpness setting.
I tried Dynamic and this was terrible. Most evident on the "Universal" screensaver where if you look up close there are a lot of artifacts around the lettering as it moves, which disappears in Film setting.
What are others experiences with this?

the film setting (my preferred setting) is the closest to e-shift 1 and the most natural in appearance imo. The other modes are bit overcooked and look similar to the Sony reality creation when it's turned up too high. Sharp appearing at first but overdone once you study the changes.

Honestly, I think if you want to use MPC I would start with FILM with all of the sliders set to 0. This turns off all the sharpening and dynamic contrast enhancements and just does the E-Shift process. From there you can turn up each one to your end desire. I prefer the Darbee processing over what I've seen from the JVC.

something has changed this year with e-shift. e-shift 1 is on the top in these photos. It appears a bit more aggressive with the scaling. I was not able to dial in any of the settings to match the more natural appearance of the e-shift 1.

I'm considering upgrading my Samsung BD-C6500 bluray player with the new Oppo BDP-103 for use with this JVC projector. But because of some duplicate features (e.g.; 4K mode, 2D->3D) of the Oppo I don't know what the effect will be.

I've also been told by a local installer if I use the Oppo I should use the analog outputs for sound instead of HDMI.

Anyone have any experiences to share?

The JVC can't accept a 4K input, so that's one issue less to worry about, just output at 1080p and the Eshift will do it's thing.

2D>3D would just be a matter of comparing the two options, but I don't think you should expect miracles in any case.

Using the analogue outputs might be worthwhile depending on your amp: If it does a good job of decoding HD soundtracks then no need to use the analogue outputs of the Oppo. Again a matter of comparing the two options to see which gives the best result.

Unless he was referring to your specific setup, not everyone should be using the analog audio outs. The reason he suggested this is because the Oppo has better than average audio DACs and great circuitry that allows for superior audio compared to many AV receivers. That doesn't mean it is better than all. It is really dependent on what pre-amp or receiver you own.

Unless there is a specific feature the Oppo has that you want there is no need to upgrade. 2D picture on blu-rays should be equal. If you have a lot of DVDs that you want upscaled to 1080p the Oppo will provide superior upscaling over your current Samsung model. The Oppo also supports 3D blu-rays so that could also get your attention, though there are a lot of other great cheaper 3D players out there. If you only watch blu-ray and have a decent audio receiver there isn't a huge benefit to purchasing an Oppo.

I'm interested in the RS66u. Can someone at avs sales pm me. Thanks.

Call Mike Garrett at avs. His number is 585-671-2968. Avs will only discuss pricing etc. via phone. Mike ia a GREAT guy by the way.

Tom

I have the X75R/RS56 and as Kris mentioned the settings he gave are very close. I have 130 hrs on mine and calibrated it a couple of weeks ago and with the price of these projectors a good calibration will get the most out of them. I used a SpectraCal C-6 meter profiled to my X-rite i1Pro meter, a DPG-2000 pattern generator and Calman 5.1 enthusiast software. The results are very very good. Also, the nice thing about these projectors is when the Autocal is done for these models (X75R/S56/X95/RS66) the calibration process should be very quick and easy. I'm looking forward to SpectraCal release of the autocal. Also, wonder if the pro calibrators use this feature?

Hi. I'm upgrading my projector to the RS66. Does anybody have complete settings that seem to work well for you? If you do, can you please share them?

Thanks